Eighty-three percent of the population of Ethiopia depends directly on agriculture for their livelihoods, while many others depend on agriculture-related cottage industries such as textiles, leather, and food oil processing. Agriculture contributes about 46.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) (World Bank 2008) and up to 90 percent of total export earnings. As part of the current five-year (2006–2011) Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP), the government is continuing to invest heavily in agriculture. A core part of the government's investment in agriculture is the public agricultural extension system. This study was conducted to assess the strengths and constraints of the public extension system and to provide suggestions on "best fit" solutions and their scale-up opportunities. The review used a variety of analytical tools to develop the overall findings, including extensive field visits to six of nine regions in Ethiopia; interviews with farmer trainees at farmer training centers (FTCs), more than 100 extension personnel, extension experts, nongovernmental organization (NGO) groups, and government representatives; and a literature review on Ethiopian extension. The study assessed strengths and constraints in the field-level extension system, the ATVET system, and the extension institutional environment. The researchers also considered the overall enabling environment within which extension operates. The field-level extension service has a strong foundation of FTCs and trained development agents (DAs) already in place in the field. Roughly 8,489 FTCs have been created throughout Ethiopia, and about 62,764 DAs have been trained in total, with a reported 45,812 staffed on location. Woreda (district) and regional offices are adequately staffed. DAs and woreda staff have strong technical skills and theoretical knowledge, and are generally trained as specialists. Pockets of entrepreneurialism and innovation exist in specific FTCs and woredas. While acknowledging these strengths, the researchers also identified several sets of constraints within the field-level extension system that will require attention. Basic infrastructure and resources at the FTC and woreda level remain a major constraint, particularly in relation to operating funds: the vast majority of FTCs and kebeles do not have operating equipment or inputs to pursue typical extension activities on the demonstration farm. There are major "soft" skill gaps for DAs and subject matter specialists (SMSs) in the FTCs and woredas, and their ability to serve farmers is limited given a lack of practical skills. Finally, the overall field-level system is often limited in its ability to meet farmer needs and demands; mechanisms to make it more farmer-driven and market-oriented would yield greater results. The authors employed a similar approach at the ATVET level to identify strengths and constraints. Strengths at the ATVET level include a strong record of training broad groups of DAs, a strong technical curriculum, and some pockets of innovation and practical training, including linkages to markets and farmers. Constraints include limited success in enabling DAs to gain practical experience, particularly related to their internships at the woreda level; limited linkages to the broader educational system and research system in Ethiopia; and a general lack of resources to effectively transmit the required skill set to DAs. The countrywide enabling environment in which extension operates is critical to extension efforts. Various aspects of the enabling environment were considered, including seed and other inputs, water management, and credit systems, as well as producer groups. Constraints were also assessed, leading to the conclusion that the enabling environment requires strengthening, particularly in the areas of seed and credit, if extension is to achieve its full potential impact.


— In molecular biology it is often desirable to find common properties in large numbers of drug candidates. One family of methods stems from the data mining community, where algorithms to find frequent graphs have received increasing attention over the past years. However, the computational complexity of the underlying problem and the large amount of data to be explored essentially render sequential algorithms useless. In this paper, we present a distributed approach to the frequent subgraph mining problem to discover interesting patterns in molecular compounds. This problem is characterized by a highly irregular search tree, whereby no reliable workload prediction is available. We describe the three main aspects of the proposed distributed algorithm, namely a dynamic partitioning of the search space, a distribution process based on a peer-to-peer communication framework, and a novel receiver-initiated load balancing algorithm. The effectiveness of the distributed method has been evaluated on the well-known National Cancer Institute's HIV-screening dataset, where we were able to show close-to linear speedup in a network of workstations. The proposed approach also allows for dynamic resource aggregation in a non-dedicated computational environment. These features make it suitable for large-scale, multi-domain, heterogeneous environments, such as computational Grids.


A novel ATP synthase subunit 9 gene (atp9) was identified in the mitochondrial genome of a Petunia somatic hybrid line (13-133) which was produced from a fusion between Petunia lines 3688 and 3704. The novel gene was generated by intergenomic recombination between atp9 genes from the two parental plant lines. The entire atp9 coding region is represented on the recombinant gene. Comparison of gene sequences indicate that the 5' transcribed region is contributed by an atp9 gene from 3704 and the 3' transcribed region is contributed by an atp9 gene from 3688. The recombinant atp9 gene is transcriptionally active. The location of the 5' and 3' transcript termini are conserved with respect to the parental genes, resulting in the production of hybrid transcripts.


The integration of DNA variation information with molecular and cellular data may help to elucidate disease mechanisms. A complete characterization of genetic and epigenetic variations in germ-line and somatic DNA can provide a blueprint for understanding causal relationships between genes and phenotypes, from hydrogen production in bacteria to glucose homeostasis in humans. Detecting small nucleotide differences, structural variations (such as duplications), and a range of chemical modifications to nucleic acids have pointed to variations that potentially underlie the risk of disease, disease severity, and response to treatments for specific diseases. However, these changes alone are not sufficient to explain how a given variant or constellation of variants increases the risk of disease. What is needed is an integration of many different kinds of genetic and molecular data to elucidate regulatory networks underlying disease (1). On page 1190 of this issue, Maurano et al. (2) contribute such data by characterizing how DNA variants associated with common disease traits are concentrated in noncoding regulatory regions of the human genomes that are marked by hypersensitivity to the enzyme deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I). When appropriately integrated with other molecular, cellular, and physiological data, such information may improve the way we understand normal conditions and diagnose and treat disease.


This thesis is concerned with the application of Lie's group theoretic method to the Einstein field equations in order to find new exact solutions. We analyse the nonlinear partial differential equation which arises in the study of nonstatic, non-conformally flat fluid plates of embedding class one. In order to find the group invariant solutions to the partial differential equation in a systematic and comprehensive manner we apply the method of optimal subgroups. We demonstrate that the model admits linear barotropic equations of state in several special cases. Secondly, we study a shear-free spherically symmetric cosmological model with heat flow. We review and extend a method of generating solutions developed by Deng. We use the method of Lie analysis as a systematic approach to generate new solutions to the master equation. Also, general classes of solution are found in which there is an explicit relationship between the gravitational potentials which is not present in earlier models. Using our systematic approach, we can recover known solutions. Thirdly, we study generalised shear-free spherically symmetric models with heat flow in higher dimensions. The method of Lie generates new solutions to the master equation. We obtain an implicit solution or we can reduce the governing equation to a Riccati equation.


TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. FOUR PHASES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET ECOSYSTEM A. Phase 1: Incubation B. Phase 2: Privatization C. Phase 3: Commercialization D. Phase 4: Diversification II. THE LEVEL 3-COMCAST DISPUTE III. THE CABLEVISION-FOX DISPUTE IV. DOES THE FCC HAVE JURISDICTION TO RESOLVE INTERNET CLOUD DISPUTES? A. Rationales Favoring FCC Intervention 1. Ancillary Jurisdiction 2. Titles I, III, and VI of the Communications Act B. Rationales Opposing FCC Intervention V. WHAT SHOULD THE FCC DO? A. Case Law Supporting FCC Authority To Resolve Interconnection Complaints 1. Must Carry/Retransmission Consent and Other Types of Mandatory Content Access 2. Madison River 3. Data Roaming 4. Pole Attachments 5. Truth in Billing, Avoiding Bill Shock, and Sanctions for Deliberate Overcharges CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide end users with access to and from the Internet cloud. (1) In addition to providing the first and last mile carriage of traffic, (2) ISPs secure upstream access to sources of content via lines leased from telecommunications service providers and also via other ISPs typically on a paid (transit), or barter (peering) (3) basis. Because a single ISP typically operates in two separate segments of traffic routing, downstream to subscribers and upstream to other carriers, the terms and conditions of network interconnection and the degree of marketplace competition can vary greatly. In this two-sided market, (4) ISPs typically have many transit and peering opportunities upstream to content providers, but downstream the ISP may face limited competition from other ventures providing so-called first- and last-mile broadband Internet access. Regardless of the scope of retail Internet access competition, consumers usually select only one ISP to handle all traffic requirements. (5) The variability of competitiveness in the market for upstream and downstream Internet access has motivated some stakeholders to claim that national regulatory authorities, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), (6) should intervene to remedy market failures and existing or potential anticompetitive practices. The so-called Network Neutrality (7) debate has focused largely on the potential for ISPs serving end users to favor affiliates in the delivery of content to subscribers, or to offer priority content delivery to any content provider, subscriber, or both willing to pay a surcharge. (8) The Network Neutrality debate primarily addresses the potential for anticompetitive practices to harm consumers, but the debate occasionally also addresses the potential for ISPs to favor or disadvantage specific content sources. (9) Advocates for regulatory intervention note that end users have limited broadband access options, (10) but generally the marketplace for long-haul carriage of Internet traffic operates more competitively. Notwithstanding such upstream competition, content and software applications eventually route through a single retail ISP to end users. Recently a long-haul carrier, Level 3, sought FCC intervention to resolve a traffic dispute with Comcast. (11) Level 3 had contracted with Netflix to serve as a primary distributor of online movies, thereby substantially increasing the volume of traffic that Level 3 needs retail ISPs like Comcast to deliver to their subscribers. (12) In response to the increase in terminating traffic generated by Level 3, Comcast imposed a surcharge. Level 3 objected to being singled out for a surcharge, asserting that Comcast had installed an Internet tollbooth for only certain traffic that happens to compete with Comcast's pay-per-view cable television service. Another interconnection dispute raising Network Neutrality questions occurred when Cablevision, a provider of both broadband Internet access and cable television services, could not meet a deadline for extending a retransmission consent agreement with the Fox Broadcasting Company to continue carrying content on Cablevision's New York systems. …


In 2015, the Waking the Feminists movement (WTF) was formed as a grassroots organisation dedicated to campaigning for equality for women across the Irish theatre sector. What started as a sharing of professional frustrations amongst the professional Irish theatre community quickly became a global phenomenon, garnering support from celebrities on social media (Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Gabriel Byrne, etc.); winning international recognition (the first ever international Lilly Award – an award that honours women in American theatre); and prompting a wave of sister organisations and responses to spring up across disciplines (the Equal Representation for Actresses 50:50 campaign founded in the UK; Sounding the Feminists founded for Irish musicians; a Six Point Plan on Gender Equality instituted by the Irish Film Board). In 2016, thanks to support from The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaion, #WakingTheFeminists commissioned groundbreaking research into the gender balance in Irish theatre. The research was conducted by a team of six researchers led by Dr. Brenda Donohue, in collaboration with Irish Theatre Institute and the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance at NUI Galway. This report work looks at key creative roles in ten of the top Arts Council-funded theatre organisations in the country over a ten-year period from 2006-15. In The Guardian, Helen Meany praised the report for giving "concrete, quantitative evidence to something that had previously been muttered about in private and anecdotally" (2018). Following the publication of the report, the then-Minister for the Arts, Heather Humphreys, organized a gender-policy workshop for National Cultural Institutions, the Irish Film Board, the Arts Council, Culture Ireland, senior officials from her department and Waking the Feminists. The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht also officially requested that all publically-funded cultural institutions put gender policies in place in time for the centenary of women's suffrage in 2018. Numerous sub-committees, policies and programmes have been put in place to combat gender inequality in arts organisations across Ireland. The Arts Council of Ireland/ An Chomhairle Ealaion (the main funder of the arts) also instituted an internal gender equality policy, and is reviewing whether a gender equality policy will become a condition of funding for all arts organisations in the future.


In this study, the effect of wood fiber concentrations on the mechanical properties of composites, prepared by using MAPP as the coupling agent, was investigated. In the sample preparation, four levels of fiber loading and three compounding temperatures were used. Most major changes in composite performance occurred at fiber contents above 30 wt%.The results clearly showed that the fiber loading of 30 and 40 wt% at 190oC was provided adequate reinforcement to increase the tensile and flexural strength of the PP powder. The modulus also increased with increasing the fiber content, because poplar fibers are believed to be more rigid than polymer. However, the addition of wood fibers resulted in a decrease in elongation and impact properties of the composites.


In my life I have wished a million thousand times for a puppy, so I was officially over the moon when I finally obtained Parental Consent to get Honey - the most absolutely softest and velvetest golden Labrador you have ever imagined.

Since she moved in we have had some extremely funny adventures while dealing with my weird sister April's frankly unfortunate love crush on Honey's vet. It has all been rather manic, but luckily I am an expert in Defusing the Tension and Staying Ahead of the Game when it comes to this sort of situation, as you will see.

This is the first book in a precisely charming new series about me and Honey.


Partial information leakage in deterministic public-key cryptosystems refers to a problem that arises when information about either the plaintext or the key is leaked in subtle ways. Quite a common case is where there are a small number of possible messages that may be sent. An attacker may be able to crack the scheme simply by enumerating all the possible ciphertexts. Two methods are proposed for facing the partial information leakage problem in RSA that incorporate a random element into the encrypted message to increase the number of possible ciphertexts. The resulting scheme is, effectively, an RSA-like cryptosystem which exhibits probabilistic encryption. The first method involves encrypting several similar messages with RSA and then using the Quadratic Residuosity Problem (QRP) to mark the intended one. In this way, an adversary who has correctly guessed two or more of the ciphertexts is still in doubt about which message is the intended one. The cryptographic strength of the combined system is equal to the computational difficulty of factorising a large integer; ideally, this should be feasible. The second scheme uses error-correcting codes for accommodating the random component. The plaintext is processed with an error-correcting code and deliberately corrupted before encryption. The introduced corruption lies within the error-correcting ability of the code, so as to enable the recovery of the original message. The random corruption offers a vast number of possible ciphertexts corresponding to a given plaintext; hence an attacker cannot deduce any useful information from it. The proposed systems are compared to other cryptosystems sharing similar characteristics, in terms of execution time and ciphertext size, so as to determine their practical utility. Finally, parameters which determine the characteristics of the proposed schemes are also examined.


Phencylidine (PCP) is a psychotomimetic noncompetitive glutamate antagonist that has been used in studies of the neural substrates of psychosis. Both schizophrenic patients and PCP-treated rats exhibit reduced amounts of prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle reflex, which is the normal inhibition of startle that occurs when the starting noise is preceded 30 to 500 msec by a weak prepulse. The present study assessed the effects of seroquel (ICI 204,636), a mixed D2/5-hydroxytryptamine2 antagonist with a preclinical profile suggestive of potential antipsychotic efficacy, on the PCP-induced disruption of PPI. Clozapine, risperidone and haloperidol were also studied as comparison compounds. PCP (1.25 mg/kg) significantly reduced PPI, with prepulses that were 1 to 12 dB above background. Seroquel and clozapine significantly restored PPI in PCP-treated rats, whereas haloperidol and risperidone did not. Similar findings were obtained in studies using separate animals, a slightly lower dose of PCP (1.0 mg/kg) and a high dose of each of these antipsychotics. Separate studies verified that risperidone and haloperidol restored PPI in apomorphine-treated rats. In the present studies, seroquel exhibited a profile consistent with those exhibited by other "atypical" antipsychotics.


The support vector machine (SVM) is a state-of-the-art technique for regression and classification, combining excellent generalisation properties with a sparse kernel representation. However, it does suffer from a number of disadvantages, notably the absence of probabilistic outputs, the requirement to estimate a trade-off parameter and the need to utilise 'Mercer' kernel functions. In this paper we introduce the Relevance Vector Machine (RVM), a Bayesian treatment of a generalised linear model of identical functional form to the SVM. The RVM suffers from none of the above disadvantages, and examples demonstrate that for comparable generalisation performance, the RVM requires dramatically fewer kernel functions.


Recently we introduced a new computational tool for the analysis of waveguide diffraction gratings based on Rouard's method, a recursive technique used in thin-film coating design. In this paper we compare the reflectivities predicted by Rouard's method with those found by using the ideal mode expansion of coupled-mode theory for both periodic and aperiodic gratings. We find empirically that the two methods are in excellent agreement, with typical differences in reflectivity of less than 1%.


Hailed as "the best comic fantasy since Tristram Shandy" upon its publication in 1964, The Dalkey Archive is Flann O'Brien's fifth and final novel; or rather (as O'Brien wrote to his editor), "The book is not meant to be a novel or anything of the kind but a study in derision, various writers with their styles, and sundry modes, attitudes and cults being the rats in the cage." Among the targets of O'Brien's derision are religiosity, intellectual abstractions, J. W. Dunne's and Albert Einstein's views on time and relativity, and the lives and works of Saint Augustine and James Joyce, both of whom have speaking parts in the novel. Bewildering? Yes, but as O'Brien insists, "a measure of bewilderment is part of the job of literature." Set in the late 1940s in the village of Dalkey (some twelve miles south of Dublin), The Dalkey Archive also includes in its cast the mad scientist De Selby (featured in O'Brien's novel The Third Policeman), the magniloquent Sergeant Fottrell (whose "molly-cule theory" holds that a man can turn into a bicycle), and the local da Vinci, a looderamawn named Teague McGettigan. Doing his damnedest to find order in this metaphysical chaos is Mick Shaughnessy, who-with the aid of strong drink, his friend Hackett, and Mary, the young woman for whom they both compete-undergoes a crisis of faith both sublime and ridiculous.


Abiraterone acetate is an orally administered potent inhibitor of cytochrome P450, family 17, subfamily A, polypeptide 1 (CYP17), which is essential for synthesis of testosterone from cholesterol. Although decreasing serum testosterone through inhibition of testicular function is the first line of treatment for men with metastatic prostate cancer, residual androgens may still be detected in patients treated with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists or antagonists. Treatment with abiraterone results in rapid, and complete, inhibition of androgen synthesis in the adrenal glands and potentially within the tumor itself. An overall survival benefit of maximal androgen suppression was recently shown in a randomized placebo-controlled phase III clinical trial of abiraterone with prednisone versus prednisone in men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer previously treated with docetaxel chemotherapy. Abiraterone's efficacy shows the importance of androgen signaling in patients with castrate-resistant metastatic disease, with additional confirmation from recent studies of other novel agents such as MDV3100, an androgen receptor signaling inhibitor. These promising results now pose a new angle to an old problem about hormonal therapy and raise new questions about how resistance develops, how to best sequence therapy, and how to optimize combinations with other emerging novel agents. Clin Cancer Res; 18(7); 1848–54. ©2012 AACR.


Practice as research is now an accepted mode whereby artists can obtain a higher degree in our universities. But what conditions pertain for them there? Daily experiences of the misfit between the university, particularly in its current corporate guise, and the embodied practices upon which I draw have helped me, paradoxically, to clarify certain dance values which can perhaps have wider resonance. These values relate to concepts and ideas that can be found articulated by many practising artists and a number of other thinkers and practitioners including Winnicott, Alexander and Arendt. Focusing on here and now practicalities and issues, such as the nature of the studio floor, this article explores and argues for the importance of aesthetic experience and attention to life as we are living it: to experience, paradox, action, and sensation.


Nauplii of the branchiopod crustacean Artemia spp. are widely used as live food in aquaculture. Their nutritional value depends essentially on the fatty acid profile of their lipids, which can be very variable. Study of this variability (often species- and/or ecology-related) proposes inter- esting theoretical and applied questions. In the present study, cysts (dehydrated dormant eggs) from Argentinean Artemia spp. populations were analysed for their fatty acid profile. Most of the cyst samples analysed (n = 16) were obtained from Artemia persimilis populations, but 3 belonged to A. franciscana. Previous research indicated that A. persimilis populations are confined to inland biotopes, but in this study we report the presence of A. persimilis populations in coastal ecosystems. Cysts from all populations exhibited fatty acid profiles typical of either marine or freshwater, irrespective of the inland or coastal origin of their biotope. This study represents the first time that a significant amount of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) was detected in A. persimilis cyst sam- ples. We hypothesize on some factors that presumably influence the fatty acid profiles of Artemia spp. cysts: (1) food resources from different habitats, which in turn can be influenced by environmental parameters, (2) the genetic make-up of each population, and/or (3) mechanisms of selective feeding.


Non-point source pollution is notoriously difficult to asses. A relevant example is mineral emissions in the Netherlands. Since the mid 1980s the Dutch government has sought to reduce emissions through a wide variety of measures, the effect of which in turn is monitored using modeling techniques. This paper presents the current generation of mineral emission models from agriculture based on microsimulation of farms in combination with a spatial equilibrium model for the dispersion of manure from excess regions with high livestock intensities within the country to areas with low livestock intensities. The micro-simulation approach retains the richness in the heterogeneity of farm household decision making that are the core cause of the difficulty of assessing non-point source pollution, while using the best available data to track corresponding pollution. Using scenario analysis we are able to assess the possible effects of further tightening of agro-environmental policy.


The rights and needs of victims have become an increasingly controversial issue in post-conflict societies. Yet to date, the views of victims concerning the new political arrangements in post-conflict settlements remain unexplored. Mindful of this omission and using Northern Ireland as a case study, this article investigates the relationship between victimhood status and attitudes towards the new political arrangements of devolved government in Northern Ireland, namely the Assembly and its power-sharing Executive. Based on the 2010 Northern Ireland Election Survey, the results suggest that individual victims – those who had directly and indirectly experienced violent instances and perceived themselves as victims – are notably more supportive of these new political arrangements and this relationship remains regardless of whether Protestants or Catholics are considered. A key factor in accounting for this phenomenon is their greater endorsement of its systems of governance, or underlying consociational principles of inclusion and decision making, as well as a positive view of its current political leaders. The Northern Ireland evidence suggests that victims can act as 'moral beacons', providing a positive and inclusive force for political accommodation and societal reconciliation in societies emerging from conflict.


Summary
Parent–offspring conflicts are likely to occur when resources are limiting either at pre- or post-natal stages due to intergenerational trade-offs over resources. Current theory posits that such conflicts may influence the evolution of parental allocation as well as reproductive modes. While energy allocation to the offspring has received considerable attention, the distribution of water – another potentially limited vital resource to both the mother and offspring – and the resulting outcomes remain grossly understudied.
Here, we explored the intergenerational trade-off related to water resources in the viviparous aspic viper (Vipera aspis) by examining the effects of water deprivation on female physiology (body mass, haematocrit and osmolality), water transfer to developing embryos and reproductive performance.
As a result of water deprivation, females became dehydrated, with the effects more pronounced in pregnant compared to nonreproductive females. Among pregnant females, the impacts of water deprivation on water balance were correlated with fecundity. In contrast, water deprivation had no effect on water transfer to the offspring or on reproductive performance.
Our results demonstrate that, under water-constraining conditions, female water balance is compromised in favour of the developing embryos, highlighting a significant intergenerational trade-off for water. Although ectothermic reptiles are particularly tolerant in water balance perturbations, our results suggest that, like energy, water can be a conflicting resource between mother and offspring. Parent–offspring conflict over water should therefore be further investigated to better understand reproductive modes and reproductive trade-offs in terrestrial organisms.


A generalist robot must be able to complete a variety of tasks in its environment. One appealing way to specify each task is in terms of a goal observation. However, learning goal-reaching policies with reinforcement learning remains a challenging problem, particularly when hand-engineered reward functions are not available. Learned dynamics models are a promising approach for learning about the environment without rewards or task-directed data, but planning to reach goals with such a model requires a notion of functional similarity between observations and goal states. We present a self-supervised method for model-based visual goal reaching, which uses both a visual dynamics model as well as a dynamical distance function learned using model-free reinforcement learning. Our approach learns entirely using offline, unlabeled data, making it practical to scale to large and diverse datasets. In our experiments, we find that our method can successfully learn models that perform a variety of tasks at test-time, moving objects amid distractors with a simulated robotic arm and even learning to open and close a drawer using a real-world robot. In comparisons, we find that this approach substantially outperforms both model-free and model-based prior methods. Videos and visualizations are available here: http://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/mbold.


This paper presents an improvement of Lagrangian relaxation techniques that are now widely used for optimizing the operational planning of power systems. It is a precise algorithm for maximizing the concave and nondifferentiable dual function: a proximal point algorithm. This algorithm is applied to an important operational planning problem: the scheduling of pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant outages. Compared to the more classical Uzawa algorithm, numerical examples show that the proximal algorithm significantly improves both the solutions and the indicators of their quality.


The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Development provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for gender and development policy making and practice in an international and multi-disciplinary context. Specifically, it provides critical reviews and appraisals of the current state of gender and development and considers future trends. It includes theoretical and practical approaches as well as empirical studies. The international reach and scope of the Handbook and the contributors' experiences allow engagement with and reflection upon these bridging and linking themes, as well as the examining the politics and policy of how we think about and practice gender and development.


-- Approximately 422 million people across the world have diabetes, particularly in countries where the average income is in the middle and lower end of the economic spectrum. Statistics reveal that every year, about 1.6 million deaths are recorded which can be directly attributed to diabetes. The graph suggests that number of cases as well as the prevalence of diabetes have been steadily incrementing over the past few decades. Through this new implementation of the Bayesian Classifier, raw medical data is analyzed and the risk of diabetes diagnosis based on each patient's medical information can be calculated. The raw data is converted into class labels and the likelihood of a positive potential diabetes case is derived, as a probability (≤1). This can not only be used by healthcare professionals but also by common users, and can be useful in detecting the risk and preventing it in time without taking any medical tests. This classifier uses very basic information that would be known to each patient or can easily be obtained.


Anthropogenic climate change is a problem more confounding than commonly appreciated. For while greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions lead to a positive climate forcing and hence rising global mean surface temperature, parallel emission of particulate aerosol species does much the opposite, in parallel to their deleterious effects as local air pollutants. Through direct radiative interaction with incoming sunlight and complex indirect microphysical effects on cloud, anthropogenic aerosols exert a significant negative forcing — a counteracting cooling influence. Global temperature rise to date is thereby substantially less than would have occurred due to past GHG emissions alone. In fact, painstaking investigations find that aerosols mask between about 35 % and as much as 50 % of current GHG warming.

What is more, where GHGs remain in the atmosphere for decades to centuries after emission, aerosols are washed out within days to weeks. This large residence time asymmetry means that the 'protection' afforded by aerosol masking depends entirely on their continual emission. But that masking comes at the expense of well-documented damage to natural systems, physical infrastructure, and human health. Crucially, many activities that produce GHGs also emit aerosols and their precursor gases, fossil fuel combustion prominent among them. Climate change mitigation policies that abate GHG emissions therefore simultaneously reduce aerosols — not only their emissions, but actual atmospheric loading. Yet due to the residence time asymmetry, the positive forcing of existing GHG concentrations is little affected in the short term, while the aerosol mask weakens in direct consequence of those lost emissions. this weakened mask constitutes a 'negative abatement feedback' of mitigation efforts.

 If unmasking is large enough, near the full effect of existing GHG forcing will be exposed, leading to potentially strong and rapid increase in temperature. As thresholds for dangerous climate change are quickly approaching, including a range of climatic tipping points, a lost aerosol mask as an unintended side effect of genuine GHG abatement may hence, paradoxically, exacerbate rather than mitigate against dangerous anthropogenic interference. The current trajectory of ever-rising global GHG emissions and unambitious, ineffective international mitigation efforts therefore suggests that a policy response to lost aerosol cooling will be needed when abatement finally begins in earnest, as it must. However, critical assessment of current policy making and instrument design finds that this systemic risk is largely unrecognised, and that normative ontological bias in the conception of pollutant effects hinders adequate recognition of aerosols'full role. The objective of this thesis is then to investigate policy approaches by which that risk may be contained.

To do so, I construct a set of policy design criteria that must be met by any effective mitigation framework that explicitly confronts the aerosol abatement paradox. Chief among these is the need to avoid distortion of underlying real GHG abatement; to account for aerosol emissions via metrics that accurately represent their negative forcing character; to properly recognise temporal constraints on their removal; and to ensure that withdrawal of aerosol masking is 'managed'. Analysing a range of conceivable implementation models uncovers further critical insights for effective design, in accordance with the physical science.

From these foundations, I propose the 'balancing market'mechanism, a prototype policy instrument compliant with those criteria, integrated with a pre-existing carbon price mechanism under an assumed, and necessary, future international agreement. The central feature of the underlying implementation model is to prioritise abatement pathways in which GHG-emission sources without coupled aerosol emissions are shutdown first. The balancing market does this by paying for the quantity of negative forcing deemed required until mitigation efforts restore a 'safe' atmospheric configuration. In a stark illustration of the abatement paradox's unprecedented challenge, this translates as payment for continued aerosol emissions during a transitionary period while alternative compensative technologies are developed — likely including carbon dioxide removal, and forms of geoengineering.

It is my hope that this proposal and the analysis on which it is founded may assist in expanding the policy discourse so as to take full and unvarnished account of all components of anthropogenic interference in the climate system — and the danger they represent. The ethical implications are enormously confronting, but such is the nature of the age of consequences.


Diet composition has been suggested as a factor that influences the variability of responses when Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) is fed to ruminant animals. Diets based on lucerne hay (462 g/kg DM) and maize silage (488 g/kg DM) were fed to determine the effects of 0 or 5 g SC 47 (8´109 cfu/g) on ruminal digestion, fermentation and protozoa population. Ruminal pH, acetate, propionate, degradation rate and effective degradability were significantly affected by the forage sources. The addition of SC caused an increase in degradability of forage neutral detergent fibre (NDF), and tended to enhance degradability of total diet organic matter (OM), and the concentration of propionate and result in a decrease in protozoa numbers at 3 h post feeding. Ruminal crude protein degradation, ammonia-N concentration, acetate : propionate ratio and pH were not elicited by the addition of SC. Although the ruminal environment was significantly affected by the forage sources, no interaction between SC and forage sources occurred for ruminal digestion parameters: pH, ammonia-N and protozoa populations. However, compared with the maize silage, the SC increased the initial degradability (3 h after feeding) of forage NDF (4.6% vs. 1.7%), total diet OM (3.1% vs. 1.0%) and crude protein (CP) (5.5% vs. 0.1%) to higher proportions for lucerne hay. Moreover, acetate concentration was increased on the diet based on maize silage and decreased on the diet based on lucerne hay with supplementation of SC. Although ruminal environments were considerably altered by the forage sources, the SC exhibited a transitory effect (3 h post feeding) without overall improvement on ruminal digestion and fermentation; nevertheless, this observation was more pronounced for lucerne-based diet. Keywords: Rumen degradability, fermentation, protozoa, forage sources


We show that the problem of computing sharp upper and lower static-arbitrage bounds on the price of a European basket option, given the prices of other similar options, can be cast as a linear program (LP). The LP formulations readily yield super-replicating (subreplicating) strategies for the upper (lower) bound problem. The dual counterparts of the LP formulations in turn yield underlying asset price distributions that replicate the given option prices, and the bound on the new basket option's price. In the special case when the given option prices are those of vanilla options on the underlying assets, we show that the LP formulations admit further simplifications. In particular, for the upper bound problem we derive closed-form formulas for the basket's price bound, and for the corresponding superreplicating strategy. In addition, our LP approach admits efficient modeling of additional features such as basket options with negative weights, bid/ask spreads, transaction costs, and diversification constraints. We provide numerical experiments to illustrate some of our results.


I. INTRODUCTION When the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA" or "Agreement") celebrated its five-year anniversary in 1999, all of the trade statistics compiled at the time suggested that the NAFTA was an unparalleled success. For example, from 1994 to 1999, Canada's trade with the United States rose 80%, while its trade with Mexico doubled.1 By 1998, "the total three-way trade among Canada, Mexico, and the United States reached approximately $752 billion, with Canada-U.S. and Canada-Mexico trade accounting for $484 billion."2 Also, from 1993 to 1999, foreign direct investment in Canada rose 54% to $218 billion, of which about 68% came from NAFTA countries.3 Despite the glowing reviews about the increase in trade and investment among NAFTA countries, the Agreement has come under rising criticism, in particular for the Chapter 11 investor-to-state dispute resolution regime. In fact, Chapter 11 proceedings have resulted in broader interpretations and far wider applications of the statutory framework than many of the NAFTA's drafters envisioned.4 However, given NAFTA's lofty objectives and purposes, it is not surprising that Chapter 11 has been interpreted broadly.5 IMAGE FORMULA3 The strongest critics of Chapter 11 claim that the NAFTA countries have risked their national sovereignty and their ability to freely engage in democratic law-making processes without the fear of having to compensate foreign investors for every regulation that negatively affects them. These critics claim that Chapter 11 has become a "sword" for investors, allowing them to attack the NAFTA countries, rather than the "shield" it was intended to be. This Comment will show that the Chapter 11 dispute resolution regime is indeed a "shield" necessary to protect foreign investors, while at the same time containing the potential to become an offensive "sword" to be used against the NAFTA countries. This Comment will also recommend possible solutions and demonstrate that by making appropriate amendments to Chapter 11, foreign investors will still be afforded a viable forum in which to address grievances with their host nations, and the NAFTA countries will be able to better protect their vital interests. Part II reviews the historical background of Chapter 11 dispute resolution as well as its substantive and procedural structures. Part III considers key case studies forming the foundation of many of the various issues and points of contention among NAFTA's critics and proponents. Part IV specifically outlines some of the most contentious points regarding Chapter 11 dispute resolution and considers whether the most common criticisms of Chapter 11 are warranted. For the sake of brevity, this discussion focuses only on issues related to sovereignty, constitutional questions, statutory definitions and the environment. Part IV also recommends several ways to improve upon the Chapter 11 dispute resolution regime. Finally, Part V concludes that the Chapter 11 regime can be improved by providing more openness in the arbitral process, clearer statutory definitions, and improved procedural safeguards. IMAGE FORMULA5 II. FOUNDATIONS OF CHAPTER 11 INVESTOR-TO-STATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION A. Historical Underpinnings Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, colonial powers usually resolved disputes in foreign investment matters by imposing their will upon their subjected colonies either by implied or actual force. This inequitable method of resolving foreign investment problems has been referred to as "gun-boat diplomacy."6 Surprisingly, it was not until the 1950s that the United Nations ("UN") Charter outlawed the use of force in settling foreign investment disputes.7 Prior to the enactment of the UN Charter, disputes were commonly waged between states because private investors lacked standing under international law. …


We present spatially and velocity-resolved echelle spectroscopy for NGC 7009 obtained with the UVES spectrograph at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. Our objective is to analyze the kinematics of emission lines excited by recombination and collisions with electrons to determine whether similarities or differences could be useful in elucidating the well-known abundance discrepancy derived from them. We construct position–velocity maps for recombination, fluorescence, charge transfer, and collisionally excited lines. We find a plasma component emitting in the C ii, N ii, O ii, and Ne ii recombination lines whose kinematics are discrepant: they are incompatible with the ionization structure derived from all other evidence and the kinematics derived from all of these lines are unexpectedly very similar. We find direct evidence for a recombination contribution to [N ii] λ5755. Once taken into account, the electron temperatures from [N ii], [O iii], and [Ne iii] agree at a given position and velocity. The electron densities derived from [O ii] and [Ar iv] are consistent with direct imaging and the distribution of hydrogen emission. The kinematics of the C ii, N ii, O ii, and Ne ii lines does not coincide with the kinematics of the [O iii] and [Ne iii] forbidden emission, indicating that there is an additional plasma component to the recombination emission that arises from a different volume from that giving rise to the forbidden emission from the parent ions within NGC 7009. Thus, the chemical abundances derived from either type of line are correct only for the plasma component from which they arise. Apart from [N ii] λ5755, we find no anomaly with the forbidden lines usually used to determine chemical abundances in ionized nebulae, so the abundances derived from them should be reliable for the medium from which they arise.


'I go about the street with water-creases crying, "Four bunches a penny, water-creases."' London Labour and the London Poor is an extraordinary work of investigative journalism, a work of literature, and a groundbreaking work of sociology. Mayhew conducted hundreds of interviews with London's street traders, entertainers, thieves and beggars which revealed that the 'two nations' of rich and poor in Victorian Britain were much closer than many people thought. By turns alarming, touching, and funny, the pages of London Labour and the London Poor exposed a previously hidden world to view. The first-hand accounts of costermongers and street-sellers, of sewer-scavenger and chimney-sweep, are intimate and detailed and provide an unprecedented insight into their day-to-day struggle for survival. Combined with Mayhew's obsessive data gathering, these stories have an immediacy that owes much to his sympathetic understanding and highly effective literary style. This new selection offers a cross-section of the original volumes and their evocative illustrations, and includes an illuminating introduction to Henry Mayhew and the genesis and influence of his work. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.


Small intestinal biopsies from 43 patients with dermatitis herpetiformis have been studied. The diagnosis of dermatitis herpetiformis was made on clinical and histological criteria and the presence of IgA deposits in the uninvolved skin. The macroscopic appearance of the intestinal biopsy was flat in 13, convoluted in 10, leaves only in eight, and fingers and leaves in 12. Twenty small intestinal biopsies from patients who did not have dermatitis herpetiformis or gastrointestinal disorder showed leaves only in three and fingers and leaves in 17. The mean total lymphocyte count per 1000 epithelial cells for this control group was 159 ± SE 13; for the dermatitis herpetiformis patients with flat biopsies it was 464 ± SE 27; for the convoluted biopsies 365 ± SE 59; for leaves only 535 ± SE 39; and for the fingers and leaves biopsies 301 ± SE 31. The counts for all four groups are significantly greater than the control group (P < 0.001). Three of the 43 patients with dermatitis herpetiformis had lymphocyte counts below 200 per 1000 epithelial cells, and four of our controls had counts greater than 200 but none above 300. In the control group the mean counts for lymphocytes per 1000 epithelial cells in the basal position of the intestinal epithelium was 79 ± SE 8; in the dermatitis herpetiformis flat biopsies it was 89 ± SE 11; for the convoluted biopsies 93 ± SE 12; for the leaves only biopsies 121 ± SE 18 and for the fingers and leaves 98 ± SE 13. However, the mean lymphocyte count in the perinuclear position was 81 ± SE 7 for the controls, 362 ± SE 23 for the flat dermatitis herpetiformis biopsies; 251 ± SE 46 for the convoluted specimens; 402 ± SE 43 for the leaves only specimens, and 195 ± SE 25 for the fingers and leaves biopsies. The mean lymphocyte count for the supranuclear position was 0·55 ± SE 0·22 for the control group; 13·7 ± SE 2·3 for the flat dermatitis herpetiformis biopsies; 20·0 ± SE 6·9 for the convoluted biopsies; 14·5 ± SE 3·3 for the leaves only biopsies; and 8·3 ± SE 2·6 for the fingers and leaves biopsies. Thus in gluten-sensitive enteropathy the increase in lymphocytes in the intestinal epithelium is in the perinuclear and supranuclear position. The ratio of basal lymphocytes to peri- and supranuclear lymphocytes appears to be 1:1 in normal intestinal epithelium, but approximately 1:4 in the gluten-sensitive enteropathy of dermatitis herpetiformis.


Summary
Background and Objective. Sensitization and allergy to shrimp among Italian house dust mite allergic patients are not well defined and were investigated in a large multicenter study. Methods. Shrimp sensitization and allergy were assessed in 526 house dust mite (HDM)-allergic patients submitted to the detection of IgE to Der p 10 and 100 atopic control not sensitized to HDM. Results. Shrimp allergy occurred in 9% of patients (vs 0% of 100 atopic controls not sensitized to HDM; p minor 0.001). Shrimp-allergic patients were less frequently hypersensitive to airborne allergens other than HDM than crustacean-tolerant subjects (35% vs 58.8%; p minor 0.005). Only 51% of tropomyosin-sensitized patients had shrimp allergy, and these showed significantly higher Der p 10 IgE levels than shrimp-tolerant ones (mean 22.2 KU/l vs 6.2 KU/l; p minor 0.05). Altogether 53% of shrimp-allergic patients did not react against tropomyosin. Conclusions. Shrimp allergy seems to occur uniquely in association with hypersensitivity to HDM allergens and tropomyosin is the main shrimp allergen but not a major one, at least in Italy. Along with tropomyosin-specific IgE levels, monosensitization to HDM seems to represent a risk factor for the development of shrimp allergy among HDM allergic patients.


Novel cooperative intelligent transportation systems (ITS) serve as the basis for the provision of a number of services for drivers, occupants, and third parties. The vast amount of information to be collected, especially in vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication services, requires new algorithms and hardware platforms to cope with real-time requirements; however, this combination is not properly addressed in the literature. In this paper, we introduce a high-throughput hardware–software infrastructure to gather information from vehicles and efficiently process it to provide novel ITS services. We propose a parallelization approach of a fuzzy clustering technique on heterogeneous servers based on CPU and several GPUs, tailored to classification problems in V2I. The infrastructure is empirically tested to offer a geo-located pollution information service through the periodical collection of both vehicle's position and status data. We offer a real service that correctly identifies highly polluting traffic areas and drivers. The results indicate a good performance of the system under high loads, and our scalability analysis reveals a good operation in real-ambitious deployments thanks to the use of the both CPU and multiple GPUs, showing that our proposal can efficiently host cooperative services involving high processing in the ITS context.


The character of the stutterer in three works of German literature is the focus of this master's thesis, Der Stotterer als Sündenbock: Eine marginalisierte Figur in drei deutschen Prosawerken. Two novels and one story were chosen for this project: Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz. Die Geschichte von Franz Biberkopf, published in 1929; Gottesdiener by Petra Morsbach, published in 2004; and "Der Stotterer" by Lutz Seiler, published in 2009. These works were chosen because they are among the few that portray stuttering characters in major, rather than in peripheral, roles. The main goal of the thesis is to examine the characteristics of stuttering and the portrayal of the three stutterers. On the basis of four categories concerning the phenomenon of stuttering, a detailed analysis of these three characters is provided. These categories examine the symptomatology of stuttering itself and the contentious explanations of its origins. The effects of stuttering on the social-psychological level are also of great interest. Further, the analysis will examine the theme of healing, and the effects on the narrative of the stutterers' self-aware reflection on their condition, or lack of such reflection. On a second interpretative level, two theoretical works are applied to the characteristics of the stutterers. The first is the theory and definition of 'stigma' by American sociologist Erving Goffman in his work Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity (1963). This will be used to identify characteristics that mark the stutterer in a negative way. The second theoretical work is Der Sündenbock (Le Bouc émissaire; 1988), written by the French historian and critic René Girard. On the basis of Girard's work, the hypothesis is put forward that all three stutterers show characteristics of the scapegoat. The interpretations of the stutterers as scapegoats are thus based on the stigma (in Goffman's terms) and criteria of victims or sacrifices (in Girard's terms). Furthermore, these two theoretical works are connected by the notion that differences and deviations are important for the maintenance of norms in society. One of the results is that there seems to be an increasing tendency to describe the attribute of stuttering as a 'normal' attribute. The stutterer nonetheless remains a


This thesis presents findings from a study of first tier managers (FTMs) in Further Education colleges, a role that has been largely neglected by the extant literature. The study investigated the role in four general FE colleges and adopted a case study approach, employing semi-structured interviews as the main research method. The findings suggest that the FTM role is extremely diverse and heterogeneous, elastic and poorly understood. Yet FTMs themselves enjoyed a high degree of autonomy in how they performed their roles. Within colleges, FTMs worked within a trialectic of students, team and organisation and could be identified in one of four positions defined here in terms of metaphors of faith: for fundamentalists, students were the priority; priests put their teams first; converts prioritised the organisation; martyrs attempted to meet the demands of all three elements of the trialectic and suffered the highest degree of home invasion by work.

Within the resistant context of FE, FTMs found themselves the audience for a variety of forms of routine resistance by lecturers, from gossip and rumours to making out and withholding enthusiasm. However, as they were rarely the target of resistance, a number of FTMs colluded with their teams or turned a blind eye in the hope of continued cooperation; few were willing to challenge resistance. FTMs were also highly active in their own resistance, expressing principled dissent overtly to senior managers as well as manipulating data and even fiddling paperwork. Yet while change management within colleges appeared generally poor, resistance was not to change but to managerialism, surveillance and the culture of performativity.

Despite the challenges of the role – the stress, the immediate gratification needs of senior managers and the fire-fighting – FTMs were found to be highly committed and highly motivated. Where the stress became too much, the articipants employed a range of coping strategies including non-compliant coping, strategies intended to resist stressors rather than manage them. Finally, a new approach to job design with FE is suggested, one that involves idiosyncratic deals, a process of negotiating roles that potentially meets the needs of both the organisation and the employee.


The objective of the present study on tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) was to determine the relationship between TBSV p22 protein domains that control its viral cell-to-cell movement function versus those that regulate the p22-mediated elicitation of necrotic local lesions on selected resistant plants. For this purpose, eight site-specific p22 mutants were generated that targeted clustered or individual charged amino acids that were presumed likely to be exposed on the protein surface and therefore candidates for interaction with viral RNA or host factors. Three cell-to-cell movement impaired mutants were identified, but expression of two such mutant p22 genes from a potato virus X gene vector showed that their encoded proteins retained the ability to elicit the formation of necrotic local lesions on Nicotiana edwardsonii. Conversely, inoculation of this normally resistant plant with two movement-positive p22 mutants resulted in chlorotic rather than necrotic lesions on inoculated leaves and infectious vir...


Angiogenesis plays a critical role in tumor biology and may someday be a target for novel therapeutic interventions. To date, however, relatively few markers have been identified that can specifically distinguish between microvessels in benign versus malignant lesions. Here we report that the cationic heme-protein eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) was localized by in situ immunohistochemistry on the vascular endothelial cells and/or connective tissue stroma in 16 of 16 cases of human endometrial carcinoma and in 12 of 15 cases of ovarian carcinoma. Similar deposits of EPO were not detected in normal endometrial tissues or ovaries from five healthy subjects, in adjacent uninvolved tissues from four tumor-bearing subjects, or in any normal organs from five other subjects. These findings imply that eosinophil degranulation is a significant and previously unappreciated component of the interaction between ovarian and endometrial cancers and the host. Moreover, the abundant and highly specific nature of the EPO deposition near and within the microvessels of these cancers suggests that eosinophil degranulation is a new marker for tumor blood vessels that potentially could be exploited to treat these important types of cancers that currently lack highly effective therapies.


Introduction. Part I: Understanding the Basics of Quality Control. Chapter 1: Defining and Explaining Quality Control. Chapter 2: Understanding the Importance of Quality Standards. Chapter 3: Using Quality Assurance for the Best Results. Chapter 4: The Role of Inspection in Quality Control. Part II: Putting Fundamental Quality Control Methods to Use. Chapter 5: Starting Down the Road to Quality. Chapter 6: Detecting the Voice of the Customer in Quality Issues. Chapter 7: Preparing to Measure Your Current Quality Process. Chapter 8: Collecting Your Quality Data. Chapter 9: Evaluating Quality with Statistics. Chapter 10: Assessing Quality with Statistical Process Control. Part III: Whipping Quality Control into Shape with Lean Processes. Chapter 11: Gathering the Nuts and Bolts of Lean Processes. Chapter 12: Keeping Your Eyes on the Process: Value Stream Mapping. Chapter 13: Focusing on the 5S Method. Chapter 14: Empowering Workers to Make Changes with Rapid Improvement. Chapter 15: Looking at Lean Materials and Kanban. Part IV: Surveying Other Quality Control Techniques. Chapter 16: Combining the Best of All Worlds in Total Quality Management. Chapter 17: Fixing Tough Problems with Six Sigma. Chapter 18: Delving into Quality Function Deployment. Chapter 19: Considering the Theory of Constraints. Part V: The Part of Tens. Chapter 20: Ten Steps for Incorporating Quality into a New Product and/or Process. Chapter 21: Ten (Or So) Web Sites with Quality Control Tips and Techniques. Index.


Nutrient management can be difficult for land receiving nonuniform and sometimes very large applications of animal manure. The objective of this research was to document spatial variability in soil P status and develop a management strategy to help producers avoid problems related to past manure management practices. A 60-ha center-pivot sprinkler irrigated cornfield was intensively sampled (12.2 by 24.4 m alternate grid) and analyzed for Bray-1 P. The average Bray-1 P concentration showed that only a maintenance application would be sufficient; however, 74% of the individual data points indicated a positive response to P fertilizer could be expected. A map revealed unusually high soil P concentrations around a previous farmstead. Other spatial patterns were related to depositional areas with relatively high organic matter content. Consultants are beginning to collect soil samples on a 100 by 100 m grid (1.0-ha cells). The study field was separated into 1.0-ha cells from which P availability maps were generated using data from a single point in the center of each hypothetical cell and compared to the map using data from the cell corners. These maps were similar in some respects but would result in considerably different variable-rate P application maps. Results document the limitations and potential fallacies associated with grid sampling. A more reasonable approach might be to use a bare-soil photograph, crop canopy image, or yield map to identify sampling areas with similar characteristics to define sampling zones. Every effort should be made to identify past manure history prior to soil sampling.


Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law. By Antony Anghie. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Pp. 378. f 110.00 cloth. Reviewed by Leslye Obiora, University of Arizona Anghie posits imperial interests as the crucible for the improvisation of the norms, structures, and processes that constitute the international rule of law. Identifying the seminal works of Francisco de Vitoria as a watershed that engendered juridical techniques and institutions manifestly appropriated as license to live by plunder, he copiously depicts the chameleonic persistence of Vitorian epochs belied by rituals of innovation in the international legal framework. Exploring the politics that inform the complex of rules refereeing what entities are sovereign and ascribing relevant powers (p. 16), Anghie analyzes the doctrine of sovereignty not merely as a fetish albeit impotent to fetter imperialism, but precisely as a simple expedient contrived to entrench colonial exploitations. Addressing the intimate connection between the doctrine and the question of culture, the author critiques the construction of sovereignty as the intrinsic preserve of a racialized elite simultaneously vested with the prerogative to arbitrate the ripeness (or lack thereof) of competing entities for induction. In a similar vein, Anghie invokes an array of vivid arguments to demonstrate the contemporary significance of the self-sustaining exclusions that inaugurated the jurisprudential resources of international law as a strategy of European imperialism. Illuminating the ideological and material constraints that predetermine dominations and the dependencies that thwart the substantive self-determination of third world states, he illustrates the incoherence of the axiom of sovereign equality and its corollaries as models of universal applicability. Underscoring a constellation of fictions that reinforce the disparate integration of the third world into the global order, the author chronicles a genius of creativity that legitimizes and perpetuates imperialism as a pervasive constant. Dissecting iterations of the colonial encounter as fossils with discernible imprints of historical shifts in the global political economy that incubate perenniai inequities, Anghie draws on the Mandate System to exemplify the genesis of egregious extremities that precipitated the Rwandan carnage (p. 191). The instructiveness of Anghie's insight into the profound influence of the global political economy on localized violence falters in light of the explanatory force he imputes to ethnicity and racial determinism in lieu of rigorous attention to the objective conditions underlying conflict over resources (p. 206). The work would have been further enriched had the author turned his piercing gaze to explore, animate, and engage the third world's agency in its own predicament. An undertone of the work suggests an unquestioning embrace of the passivity of the third world that is rather curious. …


In frequency-domain optical diffusion imaging, the magnitude and the phase of modulated light propagated through a highly scattering medium are used to reconstruct an image of the scattering and absorption coefficients in the medium. Although current reconstruction algorithms have been applied with some success, there are opportunities for improving both the accuracy of the reconstructions and the speed of convergence. In particular, conventional integral equation approaches such as the Born iterative method and the distorted Born iterative method can suffer from slow convergence, especially for large spatial variations in the constitutive parameters. We show that slow convergence of conventional algorithms is due to the linearized integral equations' not being the correct Frechet derivative with respect to the absorption and scattering coefficients. The correct Frechet derivative operator is derived here. However, the Frechet derivative suffers from numerical instability because it involves gradients of both the Green's function and the optical flux near singularities, a result of the use of near-field imaging data. To ameliorate these effects we derive an approximation to the Frechet derivative and implement it in an inversion algorithm. Simulation results show that this inversion algorithm outperforms conventional iterative methods.


Abstract. Many global aerosol and climate models, including the widely used Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5), have large biases in predicting aerosols in remote regions such as the upper troposphere and high latitudes. In this study, we conduct CAM5 sensitivity simulations to understand the role of key processes associated with aerosol transformation and wet removal affecting the vertical and horizontal long-range transport of aerosols to the remote regions. Improvements are made to processes that are currently not well represented in CAM5, which are guided by surface and aircraft measurements together with results from a multi-scale aerosol–climate model that explicitly represents convection and aerosol–cloud interactions at cloud-resolving scales. We pay particular attention to black carbon (BC) due to its importance in the Earth system and the availability of measurements. We introduce into CAM5 a new unified scheme for convective transport and aerosol wet removal with explicit aerosol activation above convective cloud base. This new implementation reduces the excessive BC aloft to better simulate observed BC profiles that show decreasing mixing ratios in the mid- to upper-troposphere. After implementing this new unified convective scheme, we examine wet removal of submicron aerosols that occurs primarily through cloud processes. The wet removal depends strongly on the subgrid-scale liquid cloud fraction and the rate of conversion of liquid water to precipitation. These processes lead to very strong wet removal of BC and other aerosols over mid- to high latitudes during winter months. With our improvements, the Arctic BC burden has a 10-fold (5-fold) increase in the winter (summer) months, resulting in a much-better simulation of the BC seasonal cycle as well. Arctic sulphate and other aerosol species also increase but to a lesser extent. An explicit treatment of BC aging with slower aging assumptions produces an additional 30-fold (5-fold) increase in the Arctic winter (summer) BC burden. This BC aging treatment, however, has minimal effect on other underpredicted species. Interestingly, our modifications to CAM5 that aim at improving prediction of high-latitude and upper-tropospheric aerosols also produce much-better aerosol optical depth (AOD) over various other regions globally when compared to multi-year AERONET retrievals. The improved aerosol distributions have impacts on other aspects of CAM5, improving the simulation of global mean liquid water path and cloud forcing.


In this article, we explain how we envision the further interconnection of existing initiatives of online local memory collecting into a new social infrastructure, that is beneficial to the whole of Amsterdam. Three examples of local memory websites show how large districts in the East, South and West are represented thoroughly by local residents, in spite of differences in organizational characteristics. The concept of empowerment, as a multilevel construct, lends itself to frame these examples as important building blocks of socially sustainable districts and neighborhoods. Local knowledge, experiences and people become connected across Amsterdam when local memory websites become interconnected, by introducing city-wide compelling themes. Discussing this social infrastructure in relation to the concept of smart cities, leads us to a plea for more research focus on sociably smart cities.


Neutron stars are unique stellar remnants with extreme properties, as their density and magnetic field. Their study can be the key to a number of unanswered problems in fundamental physics and astronomy, ranging from stellar evolution to strong field gravity. One of the best ways of studying these objects is with observations at radio wavelengths, the efficiency of which can be vastly improved with the combination of data from multiple radiotelescopes. In this thesis, we use the largest European radiotelescopes for performing high quality studies of the properties of objects belonging into two separate categories of neutron stars, millisecond pulsars and magnetars. In the first part of this thesis, a complete description of the observing systems and calibration procedures for the multiple telescopes used is presented. Specifically, all observations were made with the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) telescopes, which are the Effelsberg 100m radiotelescope in Germany, the Lovell 76m radiotelescope in UK, the Westerbork 94m equivalent synthesis radiotelescope in the Netherlands and the Nan\c cay 94m equivalent decimetric radiotelescope in France. In addition, the different procedures for the data acquisition and improvement of the latest and archival data of the Effelsberg radiotelescope are described. Finally, the techniques and advantages of the combination of multi-telescope data sets are being presented. In the second part of the thesis we concentrate on the study of millisecond pulsars using the pulsar timing technique. Specifically, we analyse a set of 15 millisecond pulsars from the Effelsberg source list, showing that most of them are good candidate sources for the EPTA efforts to detect gravitational waves in the nano-Hertz regime. We present, in most cases only for the Effelsberg data set, improved preliminary results for their astrometric, spin and binary parameters. Finally, we report on the complete timing analysis of one of these sources. Specifically, we present results from the high precision timing analysis of the pulsar-white dwarf binary PSR J1012+5307 using 15 years of EPTA multi-telescope data. All the timing parameters have been improved from the previously published values, at least by an order of magnitude. In addition, a parallax measurement is obtained for the first time for PSR J1012+5307, being consistent with previous optical estimations from the WD companion. Combining improved 3D velocity information and models for the Galactic potential the complete evolutionary Galactic path of the system is obtained. While a new intrinsic eccentricity upper limit is acquired, being one of the smallest calculated for a binary system and providing evidence for the stellar evolution of this system, a measurement of the variation of the projected semi-major is also constraining the systems orbital orientation for the first time. Finally, combining the fact that PSR J1012+5307 is an ideal laboratory for testing alternative theories of gravity, with a measurement for the first time of the change of the orbital period of the system, stringent, general, theory independent upper limits for the dipole gravitational wave emission and the variation of the gravitational constant are being derived. In the final part of this thesis, we study the category of magnetars and specifically the case of the first radio emitting anomalous X-ray pulsar (AXP) J1810-197. With a simultaneous and quasi-simultaneous multi-frequency and multi-telescope campaign from July 2006 until July 2007 we obtained flux density measurements and spectral features of this 5.5-sec radio-emitting magnetar. We monitored the spectral evolution of its pulse shape which consists of a main pulse (MP) and an interpulse (IP). We present the flux density spectrum of the average profile and of the separate pulse components. We observe a decrease of the flux density by a factor of 10 within 8 months and follow the disappearance of one of the two main components. Although the spectrum is generally flat, we observe large fluctuations of the spectral index with time. We conclude that AXP J1810-197 is not like any other radio pulsar we know with spectral properties and temporal fluctuations differing remarkably from normal pulsars. Significant variability exists on all considered time scales, from pulse to pulse, day-to-day and over the time of weeks and months. Analysis of the interstellar scintillation for AXP J1810-197 shows that only some of the variability is affected by scintillations and most of it is due to intrinsic variations, better described by a model of turbulent magnetosphere. Further analysis on the single pulse properties of AXP J1810-197 confirms these results.


Application of Career Guidance to increase Talent and Interest of students in MA'ARIF13 Middle School Curahtakir Tempurejo Jember Regency.Research on the Application of Career Guidance to increase Talent and Interest of students at MA'ARIF Middle School 13 Curahtakir Tempurejo, Jember Regency with the respondents studied were 32 students. The methods used in this study were Observation, Reflection and Questionnaire.Based on preliminary research results obtained data with a percentage number (37%) which is 12 students in the high value category, (63%) which is 20 students in the moderate value category and there are no students in the low value category, after being given action in cycle I the application of career guidance to improve the talents and interests of students has increased with the percentage (81%) that is 26 students in the high value category, (19%) that is 6 students in the medium category and not found in the low value category.Thus concluded:the application of career guidance to increase students' talent, has increased. Research activities are categorized as successful because they reach a percentage above the success indicator which is set at 75% of students get or are in the high value category.In this thesis also provides suggestions for the perfection of further research and the closing is the end of this thesis research report.
Keywords: Career Guidance, Talents and Interests


Option theory designed to value puts and calls on traded financial instruments has been profitably extended in many directions, one of which is to "real options." Real options refer to choices that can become economically valuable in the future and whose existence can be valued in the present using (one hopes) more or less standard option pricing techniques. Most examples involve investment projects and similar choices at the firm level. In this article, Afik looks at some real options that are offered to individuals, that is, car buyers. A customer buys a new car from a dealer, who commits to buy it back as a used car in the future at a pre-specified price. The exercise price may vary according to how old the car is when the customer exercises the option. The option's moneyness is a function of prices in the used-car market. A second related optional contract allows the customer to swap the old car for a new one of the same type at a fixed price difference. The swap contract (actually an option to exchange one asset for another) is influenced by prices for both used and new cars on the exercise date. The author presents valuation models and a simulation to illustrate valuation of these consumer real options.


As CubeSat formation flying missions relying on differential drag control become increasingly common, additional missions based on this control must be studied. A mission planning tool is investigated to control the relative spacing of a CubeSat formation where differential drag is the sole control mechanism. System performance is investigated under varying perturbations and a range of system parameters, including limiting the control duty cycle. Optimal solutions based on using a pseudo spectral numerical solver, GPOPS-II, to minimize maneuver time. This study includes the development of a mission planning tool to work with the modeled CubeSat mission to calculate optimal maneuvers for its mission architecture. The effects of mission altitude, solar cycle, various maneuver sizes and formations, limited control, various computational methods, and error checkers were evaluated. The mission planning tool developed can properly execute all desired run parameters and options, though it suffers from computational complexity. Pseudo spectral methods executed in MatLab were determined to be poorly suited to the problem due to memory requirements involved. Limited duty cycle control can be applied with differential drag with varying effectiveness dependent on mission parameters.


According to the new European telecom regulation, incumbent operators are required to provide access to such bottlenecks on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. We explore different interpretations of this general rule in a model in which the bottleneck can be used by external (to the bottleneck firm) as well as internal service providers, and also derive some properties of the solution to the bottleneck owner's maximization problem as well as that of a welfare-maximizing regulator. In particular, we derive an ECPR rule that also corrects for synergies. Next, by imposing certain symmetry requirements we establish a benchmark in which the external service provider is a competitive fringe and internal and external end-users face identical prices and buy identical quantities of the two services. This, we argue, can be dubbed a non-discrimination benchmark. We then show that introducing certain synergies makes the bottleneck want to favour external supply, while making the fringe less competitive has the opposite implication.


We have cloned the gene for the rhesus macaque beta 1-adrenergic receptor. In addition to the protein coding block, we have sequenced its 5' (1424 bp) and 3' (1534 bp) flanking regions and aligned them with comparable sections of the rat beta 1-adrenergic receptor gene. The rhesus macaque gene contains a 1440 bp open reading frame which codes for a deduced protein of 480 amino acids that is 95% and 89% similar to the human and rat beta 1-adrenergic receptors, respectively. The rhesus macaque beta 1-adrenergic receptor contains conserved sites for potential N-linked glycosylation and cAMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation identified within the human and rat receptors, but differs in the structure and length of the third cytoplasmic loop. The 400 bases of 5' flanking sequence proximal to the protein coding block are highly conserved (84% similarity) between the rat and rhesus macaque genes. The entire 3' flanking sequence, which extends beyond two potential polyadenylation sites at 1050 and 1337 bp relative to the translation termination codon, is also highly conserved between the two species. Comparison of the flanking sequences of the two species reveals conserved regulatory sequences which may be important for beta 1-adrenergic receptor expression and transcriptional modulation.


A 65-year-old White man was examined in our outpatient clinic. Fifteen months ago, at the end of spring, he noticed a pruritic eruption, which was more intense on his sun-exposed skin. He did not use any continuous medication or fragances. Skin examination showed erythema with edema and scaling on the face (Fig. 1a), neck (Fig. 2a), forearms and dorsum of the hands. On his neck a clear demarcation between the exposed and the protected skin could be seen. Lymph nodes were of normal size. Light microscopy showed a eczematous dermatitis, without epidermal microabcesses or an interface dermatitis. Phototesting with UVA was able to reproduce the eruption on his back. Internal investigation ruled out visceral or lymph node enlargement. Serology for autoimmune diseases was negative. He was initially treated with systemic and topical steroids, associated with high-protection sunscreens, which improved his skin only slightly. Dihydroxycloroquine 250 mg a day was also prescribed and was ineffective. Before using systemic immunosuppressors, such as azathioprine, topical 1% pimecrolimus was prescribed twice daily associated with a potent sunscreen. This therapy controlled the disease (Figs 1b and 2b). After 3 weeks the desquamation and the edema disappeared; topical pimecrolimus was then reduced to once a day. After a further 4 weeks the treatment was reduced again to three applications a week, and maintained at this level until the end of autumn (the southern region of Brazil has a temperate climate with four well-defined seasons). Pimecrolimus is a macrolide with immunosuppressive properties, whose topical use is effective in inhibiting T-lymphocyte activity. Together with tacrolimus, the other approved substance in this group, pimecrolimus ushers in a new era in dermatological therapy, replacing in some situations corticosteroid treatment. These drugs are effective in atopic and allergic contact dermatitis, conditions mediated by T lymphocytes. The treatment of chronic actinic dermatitis is sometimes disappointing, and frequently complex systemic therapy with potential side-effects must be used. 3–5


Injuries to the skin elicit homeostatic repair responses. Nearby cells increase in size and migrate to close the wound, responses that necessitate increased protein synthesis and changes in gene expression. The expression of genes encoding keratins--which form epithelial cell intermediate filaments and thus contribute to formation of a cytoskeletal scaffolding network--is up-regulated (see Omary and Ku). Noting that mouse embryos lacking keratin 17 (K17) show delays in repairing wounds to surface ectoderm, Kim et al. took a closer look and found that neighboring epithelial cells in K17–/– embryos failed to enlarge in response to injury. Cultured K17–/– keratinocytes were smaller than wild-type cells and showed slower rates of peptide chain elongation and of amino acid incorporation into protein. K17–/– keratinocytes also showed decreased activity of Akt and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), components of a pathway that regulates protein synthesis and thereby cell growth, but not of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K, which acts upstream of mTOR in growth factor signaling). The mTOR inhibitor rapamycin had less effect on translation in K17–/– than in wild-type keratinocytes, and both stimulation of protein synthesis in response to serum (which contains growth factors) and mTOR activation were blunted. K17 bound to 14-3-3σ and serum promoted 14-3-3 movement into the cytoplasm of wild-type but not K17–/– keratinocytes (in which 14-3-3 preferentially localized to the nucleus). Transfection of K17–/– keratinocytes with wild-type K17 increased cytoplasmic 14-3-3 content, Akt and mTOR activity, protein synthesis, and cell size, whereas a form of K17 in which 14-3-3 binding sites were mutated did not rescue these defects. Thus, K17 appears not only to play a structural role but also to help regulate epithelial cell growth. S. Kim, P. Wong, P. A. Coulombe, A keratin cytoskeletal protein regulates protein synthesis and epithelial cell growth. Nature 441, 362-365 (2006). [PubMed] M. B. Omary, N.-O. Ku, Skin care by keratins. Nature 441, 296-297 (2006). [PubMed]


laban movement analysis, specifically effort-shape analysis, is offered as a system to study musicians' bodily expression. It proposes others' intentions are manifest in expressive bodily activity and understood through shared embodied processes. The present investigation evaluates whether the basic components of Laban analysis are reflected in perceptual judgments of recorded performances and, specifically, evaluates interjudge reliability for effort-shape analysis. Sixteen audio-visual excerpts of marimba pieces performed by two professional solo marimbists' (female and male) served as stimuli. Effort-shape analyses and interjudge reliability thereof were assessed through three different tasks: 1) verification task, 2) independent analysis task, 3) signal detection yes/no task. Professional musicians - two percussionists, a violinist, and a French hornist - acted as participants. High interjudge reliability was observed for transformation drive and shape components, but less so for basic effort action components. Mixed interjudge reliability results for basic effort actions, and differences between frequency observations, point to differences in participant's embodied expertise, task implementation, and training issues. Effort-shape analysis has potential to drive comparative and predictive research into musicians' bodily expression. Effort-shape provides a fine-grain temporal analysis of ecologically valid performance sequences.


Stress is an unavoidable aspect of human life, and despite a large body of research on stress, the relationship between chronic or traumatic stress and cognition is not yet fully explained. One component lacking research is visual attention, an area of visual cognition which is an essential part of our ability to interact with the world around us. This is especially true in the context of trauma and stress related disorders, and having a better understanding of how traumatic stress impacts attention and perception can inform psychotherapy for these issues. The current study aims to conceptualize how stressors impact the visual perception abilities of college students in a non-clinical population. Utilizing stimulus presentation software, student ' s sustained attention, change blindness, and inattentional blindness was measured before and after exposure to either stress inducing or neutral tasks. Participants' preexisting stress levels were measured before engaging in the tasks, and performance of participants with both high and low preexisting stress were compared. Results suggest that acute stress may not have a significant impact on visual attention performance, but that chronic stress does appear to have a detrimental effect on sustained attention and change blindness.


Abstract We combined radiotelemetry, plasma metabolite analyses, and macro-invertebrate prey sampling to investigate variation in putative fattening rates (estimated as plasma triglyceride levels) at the flyway scale in Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri) migrating between Punta Banda, Mexico (31°N), and Hartney Bay, Alaska (60°N), a distance of 4,240 km. Birds were caught at a wintering site (San Francisco Bay) and eight stopover sites along this Pacific Flyway. Body mass was higher in females than in males at six sites, but variation was not correlated with latitude for either sex, and the relationship of change in mass by date within sites was uninformative with regard to possible latitudinal variation in fattening rates. At San Francisco Bay, triglyceride levels were higher in the spring than in the winter. Mean plasma triglyceride varied among stopover sites, and there was a significant linear trend of increasing triglyceride levels with latitude as birds migrated north. At San Francisco Bay, length of stay was negatively related to triglyceride levels. However, plasma triglyceride levels at wintering or initial stopover sites (San Francisco and Punta Banda) did not predict individual variation in subsequent rates of travel during migration. We found no significant relationship between triglyceride levels and prey biomass at different stopover sites, which suggests that the latitudinal pattern is not explained by latitudinal changes in food availability. Rather, we suggest that differences in physiology of migratory birds at southern versus northern stopover sites or behavioral differences may allow birds to sustain higher fattening rates closer to the breeding grounds. Variación a la Escala de Corredores de Vuelo en los Niveles de Triglicéridos Plasmáticos como un Índice de la Tasa de Reabastecimiento durante la Migración de Primavera en Calidris mauri


Increasingly animal behaviour studies are enhanced through the use of accelerometry. To allow translation of raw accelerometer data to animal behaviours requires the development of classifiers. Here, we present the "rabc" package to assist researchers with the interactive development of such animal-behaviour classifiers based on datasets consisting out of accelerometer data with their corresponding animal behaviours. Using an accelerometer and a corresponding behavioural dataset collected on white stork (Ciconia ciconia), we illustrate the workflow of this package, including raw data visualization, feature calculation, feature selection, feature visualization, extreme gradient boost model training, validation, and, finally, a demonstration of the behaviour classification results.


This groundbreaking book is the first to provide a critical overview of the relationship between contemporary ceramics and curatorial practice in museum culture. Ceramic objects form a major part of museum collections, with connections to anthropology, archaeology and other disciplines that engage with the cultural and social history of humankind. In recent years museums have provided the impetus for cutting-edge artistic practice, either as a response to particular collections, or as part of exhibitions. But the question of how museums have staged contemporary ceramics and how ceramic artists respond to museum collections has not been the subject of published research to date. This book examines how ceramic artists have, over the last decade, begun to animate museum collections in new ways, and reflects on the impact that these new initiatives have had in the broad context of visual culture. Ceramics in the Expanded Field is the culmination of a three-year AHRC funded project, and reflects its major findings. It brings together leading international voices in the field of ceramics, research undertaken throughout the project and papers delivered at the concluding conference. By examining the benefits and constraints of interventions and the dialogue between ceramics and museological practice, this book will bring focus to an area of museology that has not yet been theorized, and will contribute to policy debates and art practice.