This chapter discusses certain DNA elements that parasitize organisms that have evolved a germ line-soma developmental strategy. By way of introducing the main ideas of this essay, the author briefly summarizes the strategy of the somatic excision element (SEE) called skin that interrupts the sigma K gene of many endospore-forming bacteria, discovered first in Bacillus subtilis. Finally, the author draws analogies to introns and inteins. Division-of-labor germ line-soma strategies, analogous to that employed by metazoans, have evolved independently in numerous other life forms; that is, these life forms have convergently evolved germ line-soma strategies. An elaborate germ line-soma developmental program is employed by ciliated protozoa with the germ line carried in the transcriptionally silent micronucleus, coresident in the cell with the somatic or macronucleus, its DNA pure genes, and it a specialized organelle for expressing them. Both spliceosomal introns and inteins appear to have been inserted into genes as mobile elements, the former derived from transposed group II self-splicing introns and the latter as representatives of mobile homing endonuclease genes. Both introns and inteins are DNA segments interrupting genes. Given the widening horizon that genomic sequencing affords and the large number of unexplored germ line-soma systems, the author imagines that many may have become infested with SEEs.


An approach for minimizing influences of increasing raw wastewater flow rates is proposed, based on modifying existing primary sedimentation units, by transforming them to flocculation - sedimentation units; the secondary biotreatment unit is kept without any modification. The idea is to improve removals of suspended solids and colloidal matter, most of it of organic origin, at the primary treatment stage, for protecting the biotreatment and limiting the total load to soluble organics mainly. Experimental results obtained on a pilot unit, operated in the previous stages of the project, using hydrated lime as flocculant, showed removals of suspended solids up to 90 percent and total BOD up to 50. The settling velocities of lime flocculated matter enabled to operate primary sedimentation on the same existing unit, at 1.7 times higher hydraulic load than the usually used on plain sedimentation. High solids concentrations, 10 percent and more, were obtained in the primary chemical sludge when lime dose was set for pH values of 9.5 to 10.0. The total sludge production, by both treatment stages, indicated that existing sludge facilities could support an increase of 60-70 percent in the raw wastewater flow rates, after modifying the primary treatment stage to lime flocculation - sedimentation. The main economic advantage in the proposed modification consist on significantly lower investment, considerably lower energy and land area requirements, as compared to the alternative of constructing new additional units similar to the existing ones.


Code generation is a promising new area for the automatic production of mechanics and systems in games. Generated code alone is not sufficient for inclusion in a rich, fully-designed game, however - it lacks context to bind the functionality of code to the metaphorical setting of the game. In this paper we explore potential solutions to this problem, both in terms of creative systems which co-operate with human content, and the possibility for contextual meaning in autonomous, human-free creative systems as well.


BACKGROUND Noncompressible abdominal bleeding accounts for significant mortality in both military and civilian populations. There is an emergent need for a temporary hemostatic intervention whenever surgical care is not immediately available. Our team previously described a self-expanding polyurethane foam for the treatment of exsanguinating abdominal hemorrhage. The objective of this study was to translate a safe and effective swine dose into an appropriate human dose through foam administration in recently deceased humans with representative tissue compliance. METHODS With institutional review board oversight and informed consent at three centers, terminal patients were identified. Within 3 hours of death, the abdomen was accessed, and fluid was added to simulate hemorrhage. Foam was percutaneously administered using a prototype delivery system at multiple doses (45, 55, 65, 75, and 100 mL). Intra-abdominal pressure was monitored for 15 minutes, and then, foam was removed via laparotomy to assess abdominal tissue contact. RESULTS Twenty-one recently deceased patients ranging in age from 20 years to 92 years and body mass index from 18 kg/m2 to 39 kg/m2 were enrolled in the study. Foam was administered at a mean (SD) of 146 (34) minutes after death. Three subjects were screen failures, and three subjects were excluded from the analysis because of experimental errors. Change in intra-abdominal pressure and semiquantitative organ contact were used as surrogates to compare findings between humans and swine. Doses of 45, 55, and 65 mL resulted in peak pressures of 37 (20), 28 (8.1), and 33 (20) mmHg, respectively, within the acceptable range established in swine studies. Foam deployments of 75 mL and 100 mL exceeded acceptable pressures defined in swine. Higher foam doses tended to improve contact with the diaphragm, paracolic gutters, and liver. CONCLUSION The use of recently deceased humans demonstrates a novel approach to device evaluation in representative human anatomy, particularly when tissue compliance is critical. Sixty-five milliliters was determined to be the clinically appropriate dose for foam treatment in bleeding human patients.


Genetic factors play a relevant role in the attainment of longevity because they are involved in cell maintenance systems, including the immune system. In fact, longevity may be correlated with optimal functioning of clonotypic and natural immunity. The aging of the immune system, known as immunosenescence, is the consequence of the continuous attrition caused by chronic antigenic overload. The antigenic load results in the progressive generation of inflammatory responses involved in age-related diseases. Most of the parameters influencing immunosenescence appear to be under genetic control, and immunosenescence fits with the basic assumptions of evolutionary theories of aging, such as antagonistic pleiotropy. In fact, by neutralizing infectious agents the immune system plays a beneficial role until reproduction and parenting. However, by determining chronic inflammation, it can be detrimental later in life, a period largely unforeseen by evolution. In particular, the data coming from the long-lived male population under study show that genetic polymorphisms responsible for a low inflammatory response might result in an increased chance of long lifespan in an environment with a reduced pathogen burden. Such a modern and healthy environment also permits a lower grade of survivable atherogenic inflammatory response.


2 44-47 And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (RSV)


INTRODUCTION – The need for syllable recovery For general purpose concatenated waveform speech synthesis [1] an exhaustive inventory of stored waveforms for re-arrangement and concatenation is needed. Our SPRUCE system [2] is syllable and word based, and to be truly general purpose its inventory needs examples of all possible syllables. The high level synthesis engine (responsible for the segmental phonology and prosody of utterances) is already general purpose – but its use is limited by small lower level inventories of re-combinable waveforms. The purpose of the feasibility study reported here was to determine to what extent we could take one of the word based limited domain versions of the system, MeteoSPRUCE, designed for weather forecasting applications, and extend its usability by excising syllables from polysyllabic words in its inventory and recombining them to form new words – thus widening usability without the need for re-recording [3] [4] [5] [6] [7].


In this paper I argue that the Art School, in its various incarnations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, was, not just a site of personal transformation but of radical societal change. Offering crucibles of experimentation and radical visions of what the world could be, and might be constructed, in spaces in which it was possible to "desire, conceive, and create the new structure of the future"[1] Such places if not already gone are under pressure. Out of step with a culture in which as Wendy Brown notes "social equality, liberty, and worldly development of mind and character are outmoded and have been displaced by another set of metrics: income streams, profitability, technological innovation."[2] An education culture of league tables, excellence frameworks of personal entrepreneurial 'success' and 'student satisfaction' In this paralysis of the cultural imaginary it has been recently argued that, "the future has been cancelled."[3] Can a reconfigured "Art school" side step nostalgia and be utilised in the conception of radical new structures? By taking Ranciere's conception of a "critical art" to "produce a new perception of the world, and therefore to create a commitment to its transformation." How can we re-engineer the future in the neoliberal value system? The solution seems obvious: In order to reengineer the future we must first reimagine it. [1] Walter Gropius "Bauhaus Manifesto and Program" 1919 [2] Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution - Zone Books [3] #ACCELERATE MANIFESTO for an Accelerationist Politics, Alex Williams & Nick Srnicek, 14 May 2013


Participatory budgeting (PB) has been a major innovation in participatory governance worldwide, with more than 3,000 experiences listed across 40 countries. PB has also diversified over its 30 years, with many contemporary experiments (referred to as PBs) only tangentially related to the original project to "radically democratize democracy". We propose a taxonomy to distinguish the logics currently underpinning PB in practice: political (for radical democratic change), good governance (to improve links between the public and citizens' spheres), and technocratic (to optimize the use and transparency of public resources for citizens' benefit). Illustrating these competing rationales through contemporary experiences, we reflect on the contributions of the good governance and technocratic frameworks to managerial and state modernization. Undoubtedly, these help explain PB's growing attraction for proponents of the good governance agenda. However, rekindling PB's promise for democratic deepening, we argue, requires refocusing on its deliberative quality. We draw attention to civic education and empowerment of participants as key components of PB practices intent on opening pathways towards alternative political systems – indeed, of materializing Henri Lefebvre's "right to the city".


This is a study of the archer and his weapon, from the Norman Conquest to the Wars of the Roses. It opens with a definition of various types of bow and challenges the usual assumption that the "longbow" was a new and devastating weapon used only by the English army from the late-13th century onwards. Bradbury shows from a close study of early evidence, including that of bows used for hunting, that the archer's role before the time of Edward I was an important but rarely-documented one, and that his new prominence in the 14th century was the result of changes in development of military tactics and the organization of armies rather than a change of weapon. Having examined the archer's role in warfare, Bradbury turns to the archer's role in society, based on the legend of Robin Hood, and shows how the stories about him can reveal much to us about the standing of the yeoman archer. The final chapters look at the archer in the 15th century and then chronicle the rise of the handgun as the major infantry weapon, at the bow's expense. By the end of the Tudor age, despite injunctions that archery should be regularly practised by all able-bodied men, the bow belonged to a past golden age rather than to current warfare. Jim Bradbury writes and lectures on battles and warfare in England and France in the Middle Ages, and is the author of "The Medieval Siege".


A research project report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies (Honours).


There has recently been an explosion of work in the human-robot interaction (HRI) community on the use of mixed, augmented, and virtual reality. We present a novel conceptual framework to characterize and cluster work in this new area and identify gaps for future research. We begin by introducing the Plane of Interaction: a framework for characterizing interactive technologies in a 2D space informed by the Model-View-Controller design pattern. We then describe how Interactive Design Elements that contribute to the interactivity of a technology can be characterized within this space and present a taxonomy of mixed-reality interactive design elements. We then discuss how these elements may be rendered onto both reality- and virtuality-based environments using a variety of hardware devices and introduce the Reality-Virtuality Interaction Cube: a three-dimensional continuum representing the design space of interactive technologies formed by combining the Plane of Interaction with the Reality-Virtuality Continuum. Finally, we demonstrate the feasibility and utility of this framework by clustering and analyzing the set of papers presented at the 2018 VAM-HRI workshop.


5G will have to cope with a high degree of heterogeneity in terms of services, device classes, deployment types, environments and mobility levels. Consequently, diverse and often contradicting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) need to be supported, such as high capacity/user-rates, low latency, high reliability, ubiquitous coverage, high mobility, massive number of devices and low cost/energy consumption. 4G is not designed to meet such a high degree of heterogeneity efficiently. Moreover, having multiple radio access technologies for multiservice support below 6GHz will be too costly. FANTASTIC-5G is a European project which will develop a new multi-service Air Interface (AI) for below 6 GHz through a modular design. To allow the system to adapt to the anticipated heterogeneity, the pursued properties are: flexibility, scalability, versatility, efficiency and future-proofness. To this end, the project will develop the technical AI components and integrate them into an overall AI framework where adaptation to the above described sources of heterogeneity will be accomplished. The work will also comprise intense validation and system level simulations. The consortium possesses the main stakeholders for innovation and impacting standardization, maintaining Europe at the forefront. Keywords—5G air interface, 5G-PPP, FANTASTIC-5G, H2020


Paints and coatings are very important to everyday life. However, their formulation is becoming more and more complex due to legislative demands, driven by environmental and health concerns, to reduce or eliminate completely volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and any solvents considered hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Liquid coatings formulation must simultaneously meet VOC limitations and HAP restrictions by shifting to high solids, low-solvent coatings as well as water-borne coatings. Non-aqueous formulations that meet existing and pending VOC and HAP regulations and offer the performance customers expect/require are still being produced. Switching to environmentally-friendly coatings involves more than simply replacing organic solvents with VOC-free ingredients such as water. Efficient formulation demands that basic rules governing the rheological behaviour are well-defined. This paper highlights the formulation and some of the current and future challenges in the paints and coatings industry with emphasis on the chemical aspects.


The traffic generated by multimedia applications presents a great amount of burstiness, which can hardly be described by a static set of traffic parameters. The dynamic and efficient usage of the resources is one of the fundamental aspects of multimedia networks: the traffic specification should first reflect the real traffic demand, but optimise, at the same time, the resources requested. This paper presents an example of application able to accommodate its traffic to managing QoS dynamically. The paper is focused on the technique used to implement the Dynamic Reallocation Scheme (RVBR) taking into account problems deriving from delay during the reallocation phase.


In eastern Canada, spruces (Picea spp.) and pines (Pinus spp.) are among the main commercial species being logged for their lumber or wood fiber. Annually, about 175 million seedlings are planted in areas totaling ~100,000 ha. Appropriate microsite selection is essential during reforestation operations, given that it can improve the chances of survival and initial growth of the seedlings. In fir (Abies spp.) and spruce forests of eastern Canada, the optimal characteristics of establishment microsites have yet to be identified; these would be determined by different physical and climatic variables operating at several scales. Our study determined the influence of climatic (regional-scale), edaphic (stand-scale), local (microsite-scale) and planting conditions on the establishment substrate and initial growth of black spruce (Picea mariana Britton, Sterns and Poggenb.) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.). Substrate characterization and growth monitoring (three growing seasons) for the two species were conducted on 29 planted cutblocks that were distributed over an east–west climatic gradient (precipitation and temperature) in the balsam fir and black spruce–feather moss forests of Quebec (Canada). Linear mixed models and multivariate analyses (PCAs) determined the effects of climatic, edaphic and micro-environmental variables and their interactions on the establishment substrate and seedling initial growth. The predictive models explained, respectively, 61% and 75% of the growth variability of black spruce and jack pine. Successful establishment of black spruce and jack pine depended upon regional conditions of precipitations and temperature, as well as on their interactions with stand-scale edaphic variables (surface deposit, drainage and slope) and local variables (micro-environmental) at the microsite-scale (establishment substrate types and substrate temperature). Mineral, organo-mineral and organic establishment substrates exerted mixed effects on seedling growth according to regional precipitation and temperature conditions, as well as their interactions with edaphic and local variables at the stand and microsite-scales, respectively.


OBJECTIVE
Determining the prevalence, severity and extension of chronic periodontitis and identifying risk indicators amongst policemen in Campeche, Mexico, using an electron probe.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of 161 men was conducted. A case of periodontitis was defined as a participant having clinical attachment loss in at least one (3) 4 mm site. Every periodontal site in the mouth was measured by a standardized periodontist using a Florida Probe System. STATA 8.2 was used for bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis, using logistic binary regression. RESULTS Mean age was 38.36+/-10.99 years. 23,622 periodontal sites were available for examination. Mean (SD) teeth and sites examined per person were 24.45+/-4.63 and 146.72+/-27.80, respectively. Periodontitis prevalence was 62.7%. Periodontitis severity was 2.9 mm and extent was 53.7%. Adjusted for alcohol intake, factors associated with periodontitis prevalence were being older ((3)35 years; OR=2.08; CI95%=1.05-4.10), smoking (current/former; OR=2.22; CI95%=1.06-4.77) and gingivitis (presence; OR=3.35; CI95%=1.34-8.42).

CONCLUSIONS
Many study participants had poor periodontal conditions, with substantial overall prevalence of periodontitis. Older age, tobacco use and the presence of gingivitis were factors associated with periodontitis prevalence.


OBJECTIVE
To review the literature and test a new methodology of assessing chiropractic utilization and cost-effectiveness on workers' compensation claimants.

DESIGN
A retrospective analysis of data from the WorkCover Authority (WCA) of New South Wales, Australia.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Average chiropractic treatment cost per case, average medical treatment cost per case, comparisons with total compensation payments, assessments of related indirect costs (e.g., pathology tests).

RESULTS
From the total number of employment injuries (n = 51,077) in NSW for 1991-92, 1,289 cases met selection criteria. Approximately 30% of the total injuries were described as back problems. The total utilization rate for chiropractic intervention in spinal injuries for workers' compensation claimants was 12%. Payments for physiotherapy and chiropractic treatment totalled over $25.2 million and represented 2.4% of total payments for all cases. Average chiropractic treatment cost for a sample of 20 randomly selected cases was $299.65; average medical treatment cost per case was $647.20. Further analysis of the 20 selected cases seemed to show an average cost per claim that was significantly different from WCA database figures.

CONCLUSION
The methodology used was found to be able to provide a basis for comparison of costs for care apportioned to chiropractic and other interventions. An analysis of 20 randomly selected cases from the WCA suggested that chiropractic intervention for certain conditions may be more cost-effective than other forms of intervention.


This chapter is a study of Swedish media reporting about COP15, the UN climate summit in Copenhagen 2009. It is contained in a book with studies of media reporting on the same issue from 17 other countries around the world. The study comprises both quantitative and qualitative parts, including employment of genres, representations of actors, and employment of news frames. The main frames in the Swedish reporting are the Political Game Frame and the Issue Frame. The Political Game Frame is most salient in the examined elite morning paper, which incidentally had more reporters on location in Copenhagen, whereas the Issue Frame is most salient in the examined tabloid, which had a series of reports focusing on conditions for indigenous peoples, and small nations, in different parts of the world. The latter reports include understandings of climate change as a global phenomenon, and connect the fight against it to the spirituality of nature. Conversely, in the Political Game Frame (actors from) different nations are grouped into categories of competing camps, and those who are to blame are named: mainly China and the USA. An important subframe that also connects to a conflict paradigm is the Safety/Policing Frame. The seldom employed Global Action Frame adds another nuance, but generally stays within the conflict paradigm, because of the depicted conflict between this approach and the regular politics of the summit. Main findings include the observation that climate change frequently appears as separated from other subjects. It is for instance not discussed in the car supplements, and often appears in supplements of its own. The latter, of course indicates that it is simultaneously seen as an important subject. Domestication and glocalization are two competing tendencies in the material. Glocalization is most often connected to the Issue Frame and domestication to the Political Game Frame, which dominates the material. It is in the domestication parts that we find the few depicted heroes of the summit, thus domestication is also self celebratory.


Subduction of mid-ocean ridges is a common feature in recent convergent margins, but is rarely documented in Proterozoic to Paleozoic orogenic belts. Here we describe evidence for ridge-trench interaction in the deeply eroded late Neoproterozoic Damara orogenic belt, central Namibia. The earliest interaction is indicated by primary intrusive contacts between amphibolite facies mid-ocean ridge metabasalts and trench metasediments. U-Pb zircon ages of 550–540 Ma from syntectonic granites in the forearc indicate the timing of partial melting and mafic underplating of the prism in response to ridge subduction. The thermal peak in the Damara belt, associated widespread granitic and alkalic plutonism, and hydrothermal activity coincide with the waning stages of tectonism at 530–520 Ma and are interpreted to indicate slab window widening and slab delamination. We suggest that the proposed two-stage thermal evolution of the Damara belt, comprising latest Neoproterozoic ridge subduction and early Cambrian slab delamination, represents a fingerprint of ridge subduction in ancient orogens.


Motivated by recent experimental demonstrations of novel PtAu nanoparticles with highly enhanced catalytic properties, we present a systematic theoretical study that explores principal catalytic indicators as a function of the particle size and composition. We find that Pt electronic states in the vicinity of the Fermi level combined with a modified electron distribution in the nanoparticle due to Pt-to-Au charge transfer are the origin of the outstanding catalytic properties. From our model we deduce the catalytically favorable surface patterns that induce ensemble and ligand effects.


This article examines the results of a contrastive empirical study of conventional indirect requests in Peninsular and Uruguayan Spanish. The results reveal pragmatic similarities at the level of the linguistic encoding of utterances with both, Peninsular and Uruguayan Spanish speakers showing a negative correlation between (in)directness and social distance. The less familiar the interlocutors are with each other, the more likely it is for their requests to be realised indirectly. On the other hand, pragmatic differences were found in the tentativeness conveyed by the requests in these two language varieties. Uruguayan Spanish requests were more tentative than those in Peninsular Spanish. This tentativeness was achieved through a more frequent and more varied use of external modifications and a much higher incidence of internal modificating devices of the downgrading type.


When the Greeks and surviving Armenians of present-day Turkey were forced to leave their homeland in 1922, the movable and immovable property they had to leave behind became known as "abandoned property"(emval-i metruke). In theory, this legal term implied that the absent owners continued to enjoy their property rights and were represented by the state. In practice, however, their houses, fields and belongings were stolen. They were used for the immediate housing needs of the remaining population, distributed among the rich and powerful and sold in public auctions. Initially, only a small part of abandoned property was under control of the new Ankara government, which was eager to use it as a source of revenue for the empty state coffers. Before it could do so, however, the government had to deal with various forms of active and passive resistance: homeless people and refugees squatted "abandoned" homes and fields, and members of parliament initially refused to pass laws that would have legalized government administration of "abandoned" property. From 1924 onwards, the property compensation for among incoming migrants from Greece (the so-called exchangees) threatened the financial interests of the state and pitted the newcomers against the existing population. By focusing on all these aspects of the "abandoned property" question and the multiple forms of resistance against its administration by the state, this book offers unique insights into the social and political history of early republican Turkey.


Purpose: To analyze the uncertainties in film based absolute dosimetry for patient specific quality assurance in IMRT.Method and Materials: In our institution, we use EDR2 film for the planar dose quality assurance measurements in patient specific IMRT. Our film dosimetry system was calibrated using a step wedge pattern for the linac and a step valley pattern for HiArt Tomotherapy machine. The dose to each step was measured using a calibrated ion chamber. All films were processed using a Kodak processor and subsequently scanned using the VXR‐16 Vidar scanner driven by the RIT software. The film optical density to dose response curves for six months were collected and analyzed. A fitting equation was derived and a systematic analysis was performed to evaluate whether a film calibration needs to be performed daily for the film dosimetry system. Results: Absolute dosimetry with film is subject to machine output fluctuations, film processing, film scanning and other sources of uncertainty. Based on our analysis, we found that the film processing error can be up to 7% (1SD), which corresponds to 1% (1SD) error in absolute dose (as determined from film dosimetry). The film scanner number can be correlated to absolute dose using a logarithmic fit to our measured data. Several step‐and‐shoot and TomoTherapy IMRT QA plans were evaluated using this method. The QA compares very well against the daily film calibration technique. Conclusion: Absolute film dosimetry for IMRT is feasible, and when the processor is properly maintained, a less than 3% error can be achieved in the calculation of dose. Once several dose response curves for the film are collected, an analytical fitting curve can be used in lieu of daily film calibration.


Sports economics is a young, growing field in the discipline of economics. An examination of course catalogs at 169 national liberal arts colleges and 254 national universities uncovered undergraduate sports economics classes offered at 17% of the liberal arts colleges and 29.5% of the universities. The characteristics of colleges and universities offering sports economics courses are analyzed. The state of the undergraduate curriculum in economics and barriers to the creation of new elective course offerings are also discussed.


This research evaluated the extent to which power functions can predict performance on a task when performance context has been altered. Since power functions reliably describe performance improvements during practice, an assumption implicit in some theories of skill acquisition and transfer is that transfer performance will continue to improve as an extrapolation of the practice power function. In the training phase of the current experiment, 120 participants practiced solving simple problems from the six times table. In the transfer phase, these same problems were presented again, intermixed with problems from one of six conditions differing in various respects to the target problems. With the exception of two of these six conditions, performance on the target problems was slower than was predicted by training phase power function extrapolations. These findings are discussed in relation to theories of skill acquisition and the


Although a wide variety of organizations may qualify as tax-exempt public charities, reform is needed to ensure that hate groups masquerading as educational organizations do not receive preferential tax treatment. Since 1986, the Internal Revenue Service has utilized a methodology test to determine when advocacy of a particular viewpoint may be deemed educational so as to qualify the underlying organization as a public charity. Because the Service has been reluctant to apply the test rigorously, however, a number of hate groups have been able to obtain charitable status under the guise of operating as legitimate educational organizations. This article contends that application of the methodology test must be more robust to prevent hate groups from receiving federal subsidies in the form of certain tax advantages. Additionally, the article proposes reforms designed to limit hate groups' ability to operate as public charities while ensuring that educational organizations advocating hate-neutral minority viewpoints may continue to receive the tax benefits associated with charitable status.


The Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence is a modern reference from the leading international scholars in domestic violence research. This ground-breaking project has created the first ever publication of an encyclopedia of domestic violence. The primary goal of the Encyclopedia is to provide information on a variety of traditional, as well as breakthrough, issues in this complex phenomenon. The coverage of the Encyclopedia is broad and diverse, encompassing the entire life span from infancy to old age. The entries include the traditional research areas, such as battered women, child abuse and dating violence. However, this Encyclopedia is unique in that it includes many under-studied areas of domestic violence, such as ritual abuse-torture within families, domestic violence against women with disabilities, pseudo-family violence and domestic violence within military families. It is also unique in that it examines cross-cultural perspectives of domestic violence. One of the key special features in this Encyclopedia is the cross-reference section at the end of each entry. This allows the reader the ability to continue their research of a particular topic. This book will be an easy-to-read reference guide on a host of topics, which are alphabetically arranged. Precautions have been taken to ensure that the Encyclopedia is not politically slanted; rather, it is hoped that it will serve as a basic guide to better understanding the myriad issues surrounding this labyrinthine topic. Topics covered include: Victims of Domestic Violence; Theoretical Perspectives and Correlates to Domestic Violence; Cross-Cultural Perspectives and Religious Perspectives; Understudied Areas within Domestic Violence Research; Domestic Violence and the Law; and Child Abuse and Elder Abuse.


Approximations of Laplace-Beltrami operators on manifolds through graph Lapla-cians have become popular tools in data analysis and machine learning. These discretized operators usually depend on bandwidth parameters whose tuning remains a theoretical and practical problem. In this paper, we address this problem for the unnormalized graph Laplacian by establishing an oracle inequality that opens the door to a well-founded data-driven procedure for the bandwidth selection. Our approach relies on recent results by Lacour and Massart [LM15] on the so-called Lepski's method.


Following three similar failures of load chains on manually operated geared pulley-blocks of 1-ton capacity, a portion of one of the chains was obtained for examination. The chain was made of mild steel and the links had been electrically butt-welded at one side. In the case of the sample obtained, the failure in service had resulted from fracture of one of the links in the plane of the weld. Six of the other links in the vicinity showed cracks in the welds in various stages of development. Microscope examination showed a crack in an early stage of development and also from an apparently sound link, the prepared surfaces lying in the planes of the links. This examination revealed that the welds were initially defective. Discontinuities were present in both cases adjacent to the insides of the links, of a type indicative of either inadequate fusion or incomplete expulsion of oxide, etc., at the time of the upset, i.e. the pressing together of the ends of the links to complete the welding. It was evident from the examination that the service failures were due to the use of chain that was initially defective.


Unsupervised over-segmentation of an image into super-pixels is a common preprocessing step for image parsing algorithms. Superpixels are used as both regions of support for feature vectors and as a starting point for the final segmentation. In this paper we investigate incorporating a priori information into superpixel segmentations. We learn a probabilistic model that describes the spatial density of the object boundaries in the image. We then describe an over-segmentation algorithm that partitions this density roughly equally between superpixels whilst still attempting to capture local object boundaries. We demonstrate this approach using road scenes where objects in the center of the image tend to be more distant and smaller than those at the edge. We show that our algorithm successfully learns this foveated spatial distribution and can exploit this knowledge to improve the segmentation. Lastly, we introduce a new metric for evaluating vision labeling problems. We measure performance on a challenging real-world dataset and illustrate the limitations of conventional evaluation metrics.


Deployment creates unique experiences and issues for women veterans and their children. Although each family has their own understanding of deployment, examining common issues throughout families may inform future practice with military families. For this research the deployment issues that are present for women veterans and their children were examined. A secondary data analysis analyzed eight participants (n=8) and their children who had discussions regarding non-deployment and deployment issues in addition to completing problem solving tasks. This study found that deployment issues for these families were sadness about the deployed parent being gone, talking about deployment, communicating during deployment, missing birthdays during deployment, the concern of a parent being injured or killed during deployment and the parent needing space upon returning from deployment. A theme found was the presence of emotions surrounding deployment despite the unique issues that were encountered for each family. This information can allow social workers to provide better informed treatment for military families and promote increased development of mental health services for veterans and their children.


The ecosystem health concept is an integrative approach to environmental management and while conceptually logical, it is difficult to implement. The false dichotomy of nature and culture, and the way in which knowledge is constructed has led to many of these problems. To understand the relationship between knowledge systems, the ecosystem health concept is explored here by assessing the condition of coral reefs associated with different intensities of anchoring, using both an ecological and a social perspective. Specifically, the research aims to: 1) identify environmental indicators to evaluate management strategies; 2) identify perceptual meanings ascribed to coral reefs; 3) evaluate the relationship between perceptual meanings, health judgments and environmental indicators; and 4) use the ecosystem health indicators developed to assess a coral reef management strategy. Because environmental conservation can alienate scarce natural resources from competing uses, it is important to gain support for conservation programs by demonstrating that management actions have been effective in achieving their goals. One way to do this is to show that selected significant environmental variables (indicators) vary between managed and unmanaged areas, or change over time following implementation of a management regime. However, identifying indicators that reflect environmental conditions relevant to management practices has proven difficult. Initially this thesis focuses on developing a framework for choosing indicators in a coral reef habitat. To identify indicators suitable to measure the success of a management strategy to reduce anchor damage to a coral reef, twenty-four candidate variables were identified and evaluated at sites with different intensities of anchoring. In this study, measures which reflected injuries to coral colonies were generally more efficient than traditional measures of coral cover in describing the effects of anchoring. The number of overturned colonies was identified as the single most useful indicator of coral reef condition associated with anchoring intensities. The indicator selection framework developed has the advantages of being transparent, cost efficient, and is readily transferable to other types of human activities and management strategies. To further the development of collaborative management, an understanding of the meanings people hold for the environment is required. Therefore, community meanings for coral reefs were elicited by asking participants, with a range of experiences, to describe photographs of the coral reefs surveyed to identify the environmental indicators. Three important meanings ascribed to coral reefs were elicited. The most important meaning was "evaluation", whether the scenes were perceived positively or negatively. The second meaning was "activity", whether the scene depicted movement through the variation in numbers of fish and types of coral. The third meaning was "diversity", describing highly diverse scenes compared to monocultures of coral. Participants with and without a working association with coral reefs all ascribed these meanings and had a remarkably consistent conceptualisation of coral reefs. Coral reefs with high levels of anchoring were associated with the constructs "unhealthy", "boring", "lacklustre" and "dead", suggesting they had lost much of their value. A health judgement was added to the ecological and perceptual meanings of the coral reefs to identify the usefulness of the ecosystem health concept. The three assessments described changes to coral reef condition associated with anchoring. The ecological measures identified an increase in the number of overturned corals and a reduction in soft and branching corals, the perceptual meanings identified a loss of visual quality and the health judgements identified a reduction in health of the coral reef sites associated with high levels of anchoring. Comparing the three perceptual meanings with the health judgement showed that the evaluation dimension was highly correlated with coral reef health judgements, suggesting that when people enter an environment, the first and most important feature they identify is whether the environment is healthy. Health judgements were related to key ecological measures or environmental cues, the most important being the amount of damaged coral followed by amount of branching coral and perceived activity. The three ecological measures and normative health judgement were used as indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of the Reef Protection Program implemented to protect coral reefs from the effects of anchoring. To conduct the evaluation, three coral reef sites with high levels of boating, but a reduced number of anchor drops, because of the management strategy, were surveyed in addition to the six coral reef sites associated with low and high levels of anchoring intensity. The Reef Protection Program would be effective if the level of each of the indicators at the protected sites resembled that of the sites associated with low levels of anchoring. Two of the indicators, the number of overturned coral colonies and the judgement of health, showed that the condition of the protected coral reef sites were proceeding towards that of the coral reef sites with low levels of anchoring. However, the condition of the other two indicators, cover of soft corals and corals in the family Acroporidae, showed that the protected coral reefs sites were similar to the coral reef sites with high levels of anchoring intensity. Therefore, the Reef Protection Program is effective in reducing damage and improving the health of the coral reefs, but the reef condition had not yet returned fully to the condition described for the reefs associated with low levels of anchoring intensity. The coral reef case study showed that the ecosystem health concept, although contentious, is an appropriate concept for incorporating community and scientific information into environmental management decisions. People's first assessment of coral reefs is a judgement of its health. The similarity in health judgements provided by the two groups of participants shows that health judgements are understood by a wide range of people and could be used to discuss concepts between various stakeholders. The health judgements were related to ecological measures and were useful in describing changes in condition associated with anchoring and a management strategy designed to protect coral reefs from the effects of anchoring. The evaluation of the Reef Protection Program showed that if the environment is managed to promote ecosystem health, humans can in some circumstances, change the way they are using the environment, to increase their use without causing detrimental effects to the environment.


Background. The goal of our study was to perform a systematic review of the literature to determine the effect that intravenous (IV) lidocaine had on ICP in patients with neurological illness. Methods. All articles are from MEDLINE, BIOSIS, EMBASE, Global Health, Scopus, Cochrane Library, the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (inception to March 2015). The strength of evidence was adjudicated using both the Oxford and GRADE methodology. Results. Ten original articles were considered for the final review. There were 189 patients studied. Seven studies focused on prophylactic pretreatment with IV lidocaine to determine if there would be an attenuation of ICP spikes during stimulation, with 4 displaying an attenuation of ICP. Three studies focused on a therapeutic administration of IV lidocaine in order to determine ICP reduction effects. All therapeutic studies displayed a reduction in ICP. Conclusions. We cannot make a strong definitive recommendation on the effectiveness of IV lidocaine on the attenuation of ICP spikes during stimulation. There currently exists both Oxford 2b and GRADE B literature to support and refute the attenuation of ICP spikes with IV lidocaine during stimulation. There currently exists Oxford 2b, GRADE B evidence to support ICP reduction with lidocaine when used as a therapeutic agent.


At Benfontein, near Kimberley, South Africa, three sills of kimberlite intrude Dwyka shales and overlying Karroo dolerite. Each sill results from numerous injections of kimberlite that have consolidated to give the sill a layered appearance. Many layers show magmatic sedimentation features and cumulus textures, and, although some show in situ differentiation, other layers result from pre-injection differentiation. The transporting, intercumulus liquid was carbonate-rich and some layers have differentiated to form a carbonate rock composed of the intercumulns calcite; this, on trace element and isotopic data, shows strong affinities with carbonatite. In one of the sills one calcite layer has migrated diapirically into overlying layers in the sill. These sedimentation features, combined with thermal metamorphism of country-rock shales and the presence of quench calcite and apatite, are interpreted as evidence that the kimberlite was injected as a highly mobile fluid, comprising megacrysts of olivine, garnet, pyroxene, mica and picroilmenite in a hot carbonatitic liquid from which olivine, magnetic spinel, perovskite, apatite, calcite, dolomite, ankerite and quartz crystallised. The evidence that the transportation medium was a warm carbonatitic liquid is directly opposed to earlier hypotheses proposing that kimberlite is intruded as a cold or plastic paste, and also supports proposals of a genetic link between kimberlite and carbonatite.


Turbo codes are a class of forward error correction (FEC) codes that offer energy efficiencies close to the limits predicted by information theory. The features of turbo codes include parallel code concatenation, recursive convolutional encoding, nonuniform interleaving, and an associated iterative decoding algorithm. The excellent performance of turbo codes explains why much of the current research is focused on applying turbo codes to different systems. This dissertation first outlines a new simple criterion for stopping the iterative process of the turbo decoder for each individual frame immediately after the bits are correctly estimated and thus prevents unnecessary computations and decoding delay. The dissertation then considers the performance of turbo coded DS-CDMA systems. The performance analysis begins with simulation results for turbo coded DS-CDMA over a mUlti-path Rayleigh fading channel. The channel is then modeled using the Gilbert-Elliott channel model and analytical expressions for the performance of the system are derived. The influence of various parameters such as the Doppler frequency, the signal-to-noise ratio threshold on the system performance are analyzed and investigated.


Aggregate surfaced roads become coarser and coarser after a few years of service due to an inherent problem—dust emission. Fines in the surfacing material are kicked up by traffic and blown away by the wind as fugitive dust. One of the alternative rejuvenation methods is to replenish the missing fines to restore the gradation and plasticity of the in situ material. Savings in the material and cost could in return benefit the environment and financial condition of the jurisdiction. Control and experimental test sections were established in three counties of Minnesota and performance of the sections were assessed using methods including cross-section profile change surveys, gravel loss and loose aggregate measurements, gravel road condition ratings, International Roughness Index estimation, and field observations. Experimental sections in Jackson County did not perform satisfactorily. However, one of the test sections in Beltrami County performed favorably well. A five-year-cycle benefit-cost analysis revealed that a 20 percent cost savings was also achievable in that particular section. Another trial in Olmsted County tested whether modified Class 5 limestone aggregate is appropriate for gravel road surfacing.


The editors of this themed issue of SPOOL place the discussion on the possibilities and impossibilities of criticism within the field of the design disciplines at centre stage. We are especially interested in how criticism can make an active contribution to taking a position vis-a-vis what we have called, in earlier issues of SPOOL, the contemporary condition of 'the landscape metropolis'. Criticism is an important means of reflection on the creative processes and interventions that are part and parcel of this landscape metropolis. It throws light on particular projects by describing and explaining them, but also by evaluating and generalising these reflections in relation to an entire discipline, be it landscape architecture, architecture, or urban design. As Miriam Gusevitch sharply notices: "Criticism is riskier than commentary. It is willing to judge and to condemn, to stake out and substantiate a particular position. Serious criticism is the careful and thoughtful disclosure of dimensions that might otherwise elude us..."


The question of whether solutions of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) are regular or not is central in the field. One of the most famous problems is the existence of smooth solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations in fluid mechanics, or the finite time break down of regularity (millennium problem of the Clay Institute). The scope of this lecture series is much more modest. Methods based on blow-up and compactness are powerful tools to establish regularity for linear PDEs or partial regularity for nonlinear PDEs. These methods, which originated in the study of the regularity of minimal surfaces in the 60's, have been successfully applied to other subjects: regularity in homogenization, in the calculus of variations or in fluid mechanics. More specifically, the lectures will focus on two topics: (i) uniform estimates in the homogenization of linear elliptic divergence form equations, (ii) epsilon-regularity results for the Navier-Stokes equations. The material presented in the course is well-known to the PDE community since the late 90's. However, the results have been celebrated as breakthroughs and are still inspiring new mathematical developments today, some of which will be outlined. Summary of the content: 1. Improved regularity in homogenization: compactness methods for uniform Lipschitz regularity, Liouville type theorems for equations with periodic coefficients 2. Epsilon-regularity for Navier-Stokes equations The lectures are based on works by Avellaneda and Lin (1987, 1989, 1991), Caffarelli, Kohn and Nirenberg (1982), Lin (1998), Ladyzhenskaya and Seregin (1999), and Kukavica (2009). 1 Lectures 1 – 2: Compactness methods in homogenization 1.


Largely under-reported, India, Japan, Iran, Turkey and South Korea represent important trading and investment partners for the Central Asian countries. In the wake of independence, all five Central Asian powers signed a range of different agreements with the five Asian powers – though the depth of these agreements varies substantially.
Bilateral trade between the five Central Asian countries and the other Asian countries is broadly in favour of the non-Central Asian ones, though a considerable spike in individual bilateral trade is observed due to hydrocarbons. Of the countries in question, Turkey's relationship is likely the most balanced in trade terms.
There is some direct investment from the countries into Central Asia, with South Korean and Japa-nese projects, in particular, being focused on aid opportunities. Turkish companies focus on con-struction and all seek some access and stake in the energy sector. A number of prestige projects have been undertaken by these powers in the region, largely as conduits to improve relations rather than driven by any practical economic benefit.
The impact of sanctions on Iran can be felt across the region with both direct relations with Iran being largely stunted, and the broader potential for Iran to provide an access way for Central Asian prod-ucts to reach the international market remaining under-developed.
There is some labour migration to the countries in question, with some Uzbekistani migrants going to South Korea, and labour migrants from across the region going to Turkey, South Korea, Japan, and India have all articulated major cross-regional connectivity visions. In 1985 Iran, Turkey and Pakistan founded the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) that now includes the entire re-gion, is headquartered in Tehran, but has done very little in its lifespan.


Objective:The purpose of this research was to determine whether comorbidity affects the stage at which breast cancer is diagnosed. Methods:Data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) was merged with Medicare claims for 17,468 women diagnosed with breast cancer from 1993 to 1995. Results:Women with cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, mild-to-moderate gastrointestinal disease, and nonmalignant benign breast disease had a 13%, 7%, 14%, and 24% lower odds, respectively, of being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. Women with diabetes, other endocrine disorders, psychiatric disorders, or hematologic disorders increased the odds of a late-stage diagnosis by 19%, 11%, 20%, and 19% respectively. Mammography screening and contact with the medical care system decreased the odds of late-stage diagnosis. Discussion:Four hypotheses are suggested to explain this link between comorbid illness and stage at diagnosis: (1) the "surveillance" hypothesis, (2) the "physiological" hypothesis, (3) the "competing demand" hypothesis, and (4) the "death from other causes" hypothesis. Conclusions:Comorbidity may complicate the diagnostic decision-making process for breast cancer. The results suggest that contact with the medical care system improves the odds of early-stage diagnosis. Thus, barriers to access for people with chronic conditions may exacerbate those chronic conditions and increase the odds of late-stage breast cancer.


Based on the Quadruple Bottom Line of design for sustainability, we recently introduced the concept of 'Cyber-Sustainability' as a means of discussing the degree to which the current trajectory of Web-mediated technologies may not be sustainable with respect to environmental, social, spiritual, and secondarily economic human needs. This paper introduces, as an additional concern, society's increased dependence on digitisation, which decreases society's resilience in the face of possible localised or systemic disruptions to Web services. Given that technological progress is often envisaged as a future in which daily life is characterised by greater dependence on technology, this paper seeks to understand how this seemingly unsustainable trend is fostered by powerful associations between the notion of 'progress' and Post-Industrial conceptions of 'meaning'. To determine how this specific understanding of progress has underpinned the current trajectory of technological development, we analyse Progress as a frame that encompasses a set of values, shown here to be in tension with environmental, social and spiritual sustainability. Finally, an alternative ambition for a sustainable digital future is offered in the form of a new positive development frame, within which specific Cyber-Sustainable design criteria might be generated.


In adults, visceral fat accumulation is associated with insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. The cause-and-effect nature of these relationships is not clear. The objective of the present study was to determine if similar relationships exist in prepubertal children. Specifically, we determined whether visceral fat was associated with fasting insulin, insulin sensitivity (Si), serum triglyceride (TG) concentration, or serum HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) concentration; whether visceral fat or Si was independently related to lipids; and whether ethnicity influenced the relationship between visceral fat and risk factors. Subjects were 61 prepubertal African-American and Caucasian children. Total body fat was determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, visceral fat by computed tomography, and insulin sensitivity by the tolbutamide-modified, frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test with minimal modeling. In multiple linear regression analysis (adjusting for total fat, sex, and ethnicity), visceral fat was independently related to TG (P < 0.05) and fasting insulin (P < 0.001), but not Si (P = 0.425). Total body fat was independently related to Si (P < 0.001). Si was independently related to fasting insulin (P < 0.001) but not to TG or HDL-C (P = 0.941 and 0.201, respectively). Si in African-Americans was 42% lower than in Caucasians (0.50 +/- 0.05 vs. 0.86 +/- 0.11 x 10(-5) min(-1) x pmol(-1) x l, mean +/- SE after adjusting for total fat, P < 0.001). Nonetheless, ethnicity was not independently related to either TG or HDL-C (P = 0.075 and 0.619, respectively, after adjusting for total and visceral fat and sex). The slopes of the relationships of total and visceral fat with risk factors did not differ with ethnicity. In conclusion, visceral fat appears metabolically unique in children, being independently associated with elevated TG and insulin but not Si. Obese children and African-American children were more insulin resistant, independent of visceral fat accumulation. Lower Si was associated with higher, faster insulin, but not dyslipidemia. Thus, obesity, visceral fat accumulation, and ethnicity in children may confer negative, but independent, health risks.


This timely and provocative book addresses a great paradox at the core of the American Dream: a passionate belief in the principles of democracy combined with an equally passionate celebration of wealth. Americans treasure an open, equal society, yet we also admire those fortunate few who amass riches on a scale that undermines social equality. In today's era of "too big to fail" investment banks, "vulture capitalist" hedge fund managers, Internet fortunes, and a growing concern over inequality in American life, should we cling to both parts of the paradox? Can we? To understand the problems that vast individual fortunes pose for democratic values, Robert Dalzell presents an intriguing cast of wealthy individuals from colonial times to the present, including George Washington, one of the richest Americans of his day, the "robber baron" John D. Rockefeller, and Oprah Winfrey, for all of whom extreme wealth is inextricably tied to social concerns. In the process Dalzell uncovers the sources of our contradictory feelings toward the very rich, how they have sought to be perceived as "the good rich," and the reality behind the widespread notion that wealth and generosity go hand in hand in America. Finally, in a thoughtful and balanced conclusion, the author explores the cost of our long-standing attitudes toward the rich.


In this paper we address the combination of multiple feature streams in a fast speaker diarization system for meeting recordings. Whenever Multiple Distant Microphones (MDM) are used, it is possible to estimate the Time Delay of Arrival (TDOA) for different channels. In \cite{xavi_comb}, it is shown that TDOA can be used as additional features together with conventional spectral features for improving speaker diarization. We investigate here the combination of TDOA and spectral features in a fast diarization system based on the Information Bottleneck principle. We evaluate the algorithm on the NIST RT06 diarization task. Adding TDOA features to spectral features reduces the speaker error by 3% absolute. Results are comparable to those of conventional HMM/GMM based systems with consistent reduction in computational complexity.


In the 1840s, white settlement in the north was under attack. European settlers were in awe of Aboriginal physical fitness and fighting prowess, and a series of deadly raids on homesteads made even the townspeople of Brisbane anxious.

Young warrior Dundalli was renowned for his size and strength, and his elders gave him the task of leading the resistance against the Europeans' ever increasing incursions on their traditional lands. Their response was embedded in Aboriginal law and Dundalli became one of their greatest lawmen. With his band of warriors, he had the settlers in thrall for twelve years, evading capture again and again, until he was finally arrested and publicly executed.

Warrior is a fresh and compelling portrait of life in the early days of white settlement of Brisbane and south east Queensland.


This dissertation examines the patronage of Marie de Brabant, queen of France (1260-1322), and how her commissions transformed the atmosphere of the late Capetian court. Bringing with her from her native duchy of Brabant an established set of cultural preferences strikingly different from those that the saintly Louis IX had promoted in Paris for the previous half century, she introduced a love of secular material and elaborate ceremony upon her arrival in 1274. Taking the form of manuscript illumination, sculpture, stained glass, and architecture, as well as literature, music, science, history, genealogy, ritual, and finery, Marie's patronage set a trend for courtly consumption for the remainder of the medieval period. Nearly always political in nature, her commissions were nonetheless sumptuous to behold, whether secular or sacred in content and they announced her status as Carolingian princess and French queen. Analysis of the frontispiece of Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal Ms. 3142, a richly illuminated miscellany of fictional, historical, and didactic poetry is crucial for understanding Marie's taste and priorities, and is complemented by study of her other commissions in Brabant and France. These commissions varied from large scale  – such as the addition of chapels to the east end of the church of Notre-Dame in Mantes or window programs for the chapel of St. Nicholas at the church of St.-Nicaise in Reims and her parent's necropolis at the church of the Dominicans in Louvain  – to smaller format  – the châsse of Ste. Gertrude at Nivelles or the donor statues of the chapelle de Navarre at Mantes. Most numerous, however, are the manuscripts that made up her diverse library which included the secular romances of Adenet le Roi and the scientific treatises of Guillaume de Nangis as well as historical and religious texts all of which were illuminated by the most renowned and creative artists of the day. After an analysis of her patronage as queen and widow, I look to how her activities as patron and collector influenced other late Capetian royal women, many of whom Marie had raised and whose activities, in turn, complemented and complicated their mentor's vision of queenship.


In this study, we first introduce several problems related to finding reset words for deterministic finite automata, and present motivations for these problems for practical applications in areas such as robotics and bio-engineering. We then analyse computational complexities of these problems. Second, we consider monotonic and partially specified automata. Monotonicity is known to be a feature simplyfing the synchronizability problems. On the other hand for partially specified automata, synchronizability problems are known to be harder than the completely specified automata. We investigate the complexity of some synchronizability problems for automata that are both monotonic and partially specified. We show that checking the existence, computing one, and computing a shortest reset word for a monotonic partially specified automaton is NP-hard. We also show that finding a reset word that synchronizes 𝓚 number of states (or maximum number of states) of a given monotonic non-synchronizable automaton to a given set of states is NP-hard.


Purpose To conduct a meta-analysis of published studies to determine the construct and criterion validity of the mini-clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX) to measure clinical performance. Method The authors included all peer-reviewed studies published from 1995 to 2012 that reported the relationship between participants' performance on the mini-CEX and on other standardized academic and clinical performance measures. Moderator variables and performance and standardized exam measures were extracted and reviewed independently using a standardized coding protocol. Results Performance measures from 11 studies were identified. A random-effects model of weighted mean effect size differences (d) resulted in: (1) construct validity coefficients for the mini-CEX on the trainees' performance across different residency year levels ranging from d = 0.25 (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.04–0.46) to d = 0.50 (95% CI: 0.31–0.70), and (2) concurrent validity coefficients for the mini-CEX based on personnel ratings ranging from d = 0.23 (95% CI: 0.04–0.50) to d = 0.50 (95% CI: 0.34–0.65). Also, a random-effects model of weighted correlation effect size differences (r) resulted in predictive validity coefficients for the mini-CEX on trainees' performance across different standardized measures ranging from r = 0.26 (95% CI: 0.16–0.35) to r = 0.85 (95% CI: 0.47–0.96). Conclusions The construct and criterion validity of the mini-CEX was supported by small to large effect size differences based on measures between trainees' achievement and clinical skills performance, indicating that it is an important instrument for the direct observation of trainees' clinical performance.


The development of earth-abundant electrocatalysts for efficient water oxidation under moderate conditions is highly desired but still a big challenge. In this communication, we demonstrate the topotactic conversion of a nickel phosphide nanoarray on carbon cloth into a nickel–borate–phosphate nanoarray (Ni–Bi–Pi/CC) by oxidative polarization in potassium borate water. When used as a 3D water oxidation catalyst, such Ni–Bi–Pi/CC shows high activity with a geometrical catalytic current density of 10 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of only 440 mV in 0.1 M K–Bi, rivaling the performances of the reported Ni-containing catalysts operated under benign conditions. Notably, this electrode also demonstrates strong long-term electrochemical durability with 100% Faradaic efficiency for oxygen evolution. All these features promise its use as an attractive low-cost catalyst electrode in water-splitting devices for mass production of hydrogen fuels under environmentally friendly conditions.


The purpose of this thesis is to study the behaviour of bolted steel connections subjected to tension. Quasi-static conditions have been considered. By performing laboratory tests on single bolts and simple T-stub connections the failure modes of the bolts have been examined. Finite element models are created and validated to represent the behaviour observed in the laboratory. Di erent grip length con gurations have been tested for a single bolt and nut assembly subjected to pure tension. Both partially and fully threaded bolts have been considered. It was found that partially threaded bolts with three threads between the unthreaded part of the shank and the bearing surface of the nut experienced thread stripping. This is inconsistent with the recommendations given in NS-EN 1090-2 [1], which states that one full thread is su cient to avoid thread stripping. Finite element models are able to recreate the behaviour of all con gurations tested with acceptable accuracy. In addition to the grip length, the material properties and geometry of the threads are identi ed as the crucial factors for the failure modes of the bolts. Simple T-stub connections with one bolt in each ange have been tested to examine the behaviour of the bolts when they are subjected to a combination of tension and bending. The center distance between the bolts was varied to examine the behaviour when subjected to increased bending e ects. Connections with partially threaded bolts all failed due to thread stripping. The fully threaded bolts experienced both thread stripping and bolt failure. The complexity of the stress distribution when large bending e ects are present was di cult to recreate with a simpli ed nite element model. Acceptable accuracy up to maximum force was possible to achieve for the smallest bolt center distance. The response of the nite element model was very mesh sensitive, and di cult to recreate with limited computational capacity when applying an explicit solution algorithm.


In the evolution of the language, English terms referring to Christian clergy underwent semantic changes (acquired additional meanings) which sometimes led to their partial transfer to domains unrelated to the Church and its activities, domains such as secular offices, lay people, animals, plants, food, beverages, household objects and clothing. The paper shows how society's perception of Christian clergy was mirrored in lexical and semantic change. The lexical material of the present study describes the creation of the said domain in Old English and the appearance of Latin/French innovations in Middle English. The study also examines trends in the semantic development of Modern English, with a substantial increase in the number of secular meanings in the centuries following the Protestant Reformation. Set in the framework of cognitive linguistics and prototype semantics, this paper offers a description not only of the relations between language and society but also of the secularisation processes reflected in the English lexicon.


The European Association of Archaeology arranged its fifth annual meeting in September 1999 in Bournemouth, England. One of the sessions was entitled "Archaeology and Buildings", and this volume covers the papers presented at it. The topic includes studies on buildings and the built environment, irrespective of age, material, or object function. The nine papers take us from County Limerick to the Orient, and over time from the fifth millennium BC up to the 20th century. They relate to the topic in general terms and from different points of view. Problems on theory, practical works, and cultural heritage management were all considered. Questions with regard to function and development of single objects were also discussed, as well as how buildings can mirror changes, or societal circumstances related to political, social, economic and/or ideological matters. Illustrated throughout with photographs, maps, linc drawings, and plans.


This research examines the contemporary landscape relative to information-driven strategies used for global gain by analyzing Russian activities in particular. With Russia functioning as a cause of global democratic disruption, this exploratory project focuses on information-based, computational, and media-related political strategies. The findings provide a way to see patterns over time offering further evidence of 'hybrid' warfare identified in recent literature. This work allows readers to connect events in recent years in order to view them together as a strong case of 'hybrid' war. These findings also provide scholars, practitioners, and citizens interested in democratic processes around the globe the opportunity to consider the many threats to contemporary political processes, and contributes to ongoing academic conversations about digital political disruptions and warfare. Particularly for readers concerned about political influence via social media and digital security, this study of Russia's information-related activity as a case of international interference will be of particular interest.


This article compares the distribution of Ks magnitudes of Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars obtained from the DENIS and 2MASS data with theoretical distributions. These have been constructed using up-to-date stellar evolution calculations for low and intermediate-mass stars, and in particular for thermally pulsing AGB stars. A fit of the magnitude distribution of both carbon- and oxygen-rich AGB stars allowed us to constrain the metallicity distribution across the LMC and its star formation rate (SFR). The LMC stellar population is found to be on average 5−6 Gyr old and is consistent with a mean metallicity corresponding to Z = 0.006. These values may however be affected by systematic errors in the underlying stellar models, and by the limited exploration of the possible SFR histories. Instead our method should be particularly useful for detecting variations in the mean metallicity and SFR across the LMC disk. There are well defined regions where both the metallicity and the mean-age of the underlying stellar population span the whole range of grid parameters. The C/M ratio discussed in Paper I is a tracer of the metallicity distribution if the underlying stellar population is older than about a few Gyr. A similar study across the Small Magellanic Cloud is given in Paper III of this series.


This document introduces the Planning Tool for Trusted Electronic Repositories (PLATTER) toolkit which assists repositories in setting the necessary objectives and targets for achieving trustworthiness. PLATTER is not in itself an audit or certification tool but is rather designed to complement existing audit and certification tools by providing a framework which will allow new repositories to incorporate the goal of achieving trust into their planning from an early stage. A repository planned using PLATTER will find itself in a strong position when it subsequently comes to apply one of the existing auditing tools to confirm the adequacy of its procedures for maintaining the long term usability of and access to its material.


The Building Industry is one of the major consumers of energy. In the United States buildings use 48% of the total energy consumed, significantly impacting national energy demand and contributing to global warming. The vast majority of architectural practice in the U.S. leads to construction of buildings with little concern to sustainability contributing to environmental degradation. However, as the environmental impact of buildings become increasingly recognized, the role of architects and the initial decision making process which determines the resource use and life-cycle of materials, systems, and construction processes, becomes more critical. In order to advance sustainable development and make green building construction the standard rather than the anomaly, the education of the architects must be reconsidered. The traditional American architectural curriculum that is based on a schism between "design" and "technology" is inherently in conflict with the principal of sustainability. Recent research in building design indicates that the most resource efficient, best performing, and environmentally sustainable buildings are designed utilizing "integrated practice," in which the various disciplines involved in building design work together at the conception of the project to improve overall building performance, reduce GHG's, and lower the costs for operation and maintenance of buildings. Although large-scale reform of architectural curricula is a complex, ongoing, and difficult debate, producing teaching tools that can simulate integrated design can impact and promote a better understanding of sustainable practice in architecture.


Ryan Cull, "Beyond the Cheated Eye: Dickinson9s Lyric Sociality" (pp. 38––64) During the past generation, Dickinson scholarship has shown how historicist and printculture methodologies can illuminate the social nexus of even a notoriously reticent figure. It has also had a broader impact on how we think about lyric poetry in general. For Emily Dickinson9s experiments with dual authorship, hybrid-collage forms, and the blurring of stylistic and formal lines between poem and letter indicate the social embeddedness of what critics often still consider a private genre. This essay blends these two lines of thought in order to consider the lyric (and here, especially, Dickinson9s lyrics) not only as a socio-historically embedded form but also as a form that may have application to our theorizing of the social. The essay argues that in a sequence of poems and letters in the period from 1862 to 1863 Dickinson identifies a possessiveness at the heart of the lyrical subjectivity that poisons social relations and stands as the most pervasive legacy of Romanticism. The essay then shows how Dickinson criticism, which can serve as a microcosm of critical trends in general, critiques but never casts aside this post-Romantic subjectivity that still limits our social theorizing. Then it shows how Dickinson seeks to do just this, to present within her lyrics an alternative poetic subjectivity that makes possible a revolutionary, pacifistic (though not passive) form of social relation.


The problem of light collection is examined from first principles within the framework of geometrical optics. From the outset, we distinguish between light collection and the usual theory of image formation. From phase-space considerations, we derive the sine inequality, a generalization of the Abbe sine law appropriate to nonimaging systems. We construct two- and three-dimensional nonimaging systems that reduce the f number to the least allowed by the sine inequality. Such systems give substantially improved light collection as compared with conventional systems.


The iron content of groundwater in a glaciofluvial deposit (esker) supplying a large community with water has been studied. It is lowest during the autumn rains and the spring snow melt. A general increase in the iron content occurs when the water table is lowered by increased water extraction.


The present study investigates the hypothesis that arsenic concentrations correlate with tubewell depth, and examines the effectiveness of spline interpolation, specifically completely regularized spline (CRS) and spline with tension (SWT) in estimating the magnitude of arsenic contamination in groundwater in Thanh Tri, a densely populated district located in the southern part of Hanoi City, Vietnam. Groundwater sampling conducted in 72 tubewells drilled into shallow aquifers yielded an average arsenic concentration of 82 μg/L with a maximum of 395 μg/L, far higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value of 10 μg/L. The average concentration in the lower Pleistocene aquifer was 86 μg/L, slightly higher compared with the average of 78 μg/L in the upper Holocene aquifer. Interestingly, regression analysis revealed that in the Holocene aquifer, depth of wells influenced arsenic concentrations significantly. Such an influence, however, was insignificant in the lower Pleistocene aquifer. Both the CRS and SWT spatial interpolation models resulted in plausible predictions for the arsenic concentration data. The problem of arsenic contamination in the study area should be considered seriously, as 99% of the area was estimated to be affected by arsenic levels exceeding the WHO guideline value.


Helicteres isora L. (Malvaceae) is a medicinal plant highly used in traditional therapeutic practices. It has shown wide-spectrum therapeutic activities including anti-plasmodial, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, hepatoprotective, antinociceptive, antioxidant and anti-HIV. Present investigation was undertaken with an objective of establishment of cell suspension cultures of this plant which can be further used for in vitro production of desired secondary metabolites and their further scale-up. Seed dormancy was broken using sulfuric acid and seedlings were raised in vitro. MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D (0.5 mg/L) produced maximum callus from the nodal explants. The callus produced was used as an explant for the establishment of suspension cultures. MS medium without any supplement was proved best for the establishment of cell suspension cultures of H. isora . To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on H. isora cell suspension culture establishment.


Andreas Kleiser has worked in the field of international cooperation since 1995, initially as an executive officer in the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe. He advised the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) in 2001 on the establishment of the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina and joined the organization as Senior Advisor in 2003. He led ICMP's first disaster response operation, at the request of the Council of the European Union, to help the authorities in Thailand account for those who went missing in the 2004 South East Asian tsunami. Kleiser has negotiated numerous cooperation and other agreements between ICMP and intergovernmental and other organizations, as well as with governments of states where ICMP works, and he oversees ICMP's assistance to domestic and international justice institutions, including, during its mandate, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. In 2005 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff and in 2006 Director for Policy and Cooperation. Kleiser obtained his law degrees from the University of Konstanz, Germany, and from the University of San Diego School of Law, California.


Introduction: Achyranthes is a well-known herb used in folk lore and traditional systems of medicine for its therapeutic value. The two species Achyranthes aspera and Achyranthes bidentata are used interchangeably by people and by herbal industries due to their resemblance in appearance. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the comparative pharmacognostic and pharmacological properties of both species. Methods: Pharmacognostic characters were evaluated as per the guidelines of Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. A quantitative HPTLC method was developed for quantification of linoleic acid and oleanolic acid using toluene: ethyl acetate: formic acid (6: 4: 0.5 v/v/v) as a mobile phase. Quantification was performed using linear regression analysis by plotting the peak area vs concentration curve with 2000-5000 ng/band (R2 = 0.998) for oleanolic acid and 2000-5000 ng/band (R2 = 0.994) for linoleic acid. The developed method was validated in terms of accuracy, recovery and inter and intraday study as per ICH guidelines. Antioxidant activity of methanolic extracts was estimated by five different models viz. DPPH free radical scavenging assay, total anti-oxidant capacity, reducing power assay, total flavonoid and phenol content. Anti-diabetic activity was analyzed by α-amylase inhibition assay using 3, 5 di nitro salicylic acid and iodine starch model. Results: The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of oleanolic acid and linoleic acid were determined, respectively, as 0.426, 1.29 and 0.427, 1.29 μg mL−1. Inhibition of free radicals increases with concentration and IC50 of A. aspera and A. bidendata was obtained at 1.35 ± 0.173 mg/ml and 1.28 ± 0.169 mg/ml respectively. In in vitro antidiabetic activity, IC50 value shows that A. bidentata exhibit better activity than A. aspera. Conclusion: The present study generates data for the proper establishment of quality control standards of the crude drug.


This essay challenges received readings of William Dean Howells's A Modern Instance and well-established critical assumptions that associate his realist project with public male legal discourse and define it strongly against presumptively feminine rhetorical strategies like sentimentality. In A Modern Instance, Howells shows the professional effectiveness of strategically deployed affective narration in the courtroom, making it a necessary subject for realist representation. I argue that the novel is Howells's realist response to and rewriting of E. D. E. N. Southworth's The Deserted Wife; that Gaylord's courtroom narration is a reductive, parodic version of Southworth; and that Howells's ending punishes Gaylord and Marcia, who have functioned as sentimental author and heroine. Critics have long accepted Howells's 1908 claim that Euripides's Medea inspired the novel, but I contend that it was more likely conceived as an appropriation and revision of Southworth, whose pivotal chapter is titled "The New Medea." Anxiously competing for the role of moral and cultural advisor to female readers, Howells writes his own deserted wife novel, in which he vanquishes Southworth in a variety of ways.


Electrochemistry can bring important contributions to current applications, such as organic synthesis or wastewater treatment. In an environmental context, electrochemical processes are interesting substitutes to the conventional wastewater treatment techniques (STEP). In this work, we have studied different types of electrodes, in order to develop a predictive model, so as to propose an electrode concept suitable for these two processes. The metal support/conducting oxide electrodes can behave in two distinct ways. The electrode can be active, and thereby directly take part to the oxidation of the organic product, or it can be inert and oxidise the organics through hydroxyl radicals produced during water electrolysis. We have studied the behavior of several electrodes, such as Ti/IrO2, Ti/CoMn204, Ti/SnO2-Sb2O5, Ti/PbO2, Pb/PbO2, Ti/PbO2-Bi2O5, Ti/IrO2/PbO2 and Pt (massive electrode) during electrochemical oxidation processes. The analysis of the formation of hydroxyl radicals showed a strong •OH formation for inert electrodes (PbO2, PbO2-Bi2O5, SnO2-Sb2O5), whereas the •OH formation was lower in case of active electrodes (IrO2, Pt). The electrochemical oxidation of phenol allowed us to show the efficiency and the features of two different types of electrodes. Ti/IrO2 selectively oxidises phenol into intermediate products, where Pb/PbO2 leads to total oxidation (combustion) of phenol to CO2. Finally, the formation of a polymer film at the surface of the electrodes was clearly shown by cyclic voltametry and oxygen evolution measurements. This film was shown to have a passivation effect on the Ti/CoMn2O4 electrode, and lead to a considerable decrease of its efficiency.


There are many economists who argue that temporary tax cuts, like those in the 2009 stimulus and the ones proposed by President Obama last week, have no impact on the economy. They argue that people will save a temporary tax credit rather than spend it. Stanford Economics Professor John Taylor, who served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs under President Bush, is one of the economists making this argument. He purports to show that there was no statistically significant increase in private consumption of goods and services as a result of certain types of government transfers made over the last decade. According to his analysis, it is unclear whether an additional dollar of government transfers led to any additional spending, or, alternatively, whether it raised personal savings by more than one dollar. This paper shows that there is very little indication that – based on Taylor's work – personal transfers from the government fail to stimulate private spending.


The current position of the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2014) is that there is a threat of a global "obesity epidemic" (Boero, 2007, p.1); and existing studies in the UK report that a 5th of pregnant women are overweight. This has created increased scrutiny of fatness and weight, especially in pregnant women. The concern about obesity and pregnancy outcomes also contributes to the National Institute for Health Care Excellence (NICE, 2010), recommending that the antenatal care delivered to overweight pregnant women should be within the guidelines of a high-risk pathway of antenatal care. This has increased the medicalisation of the care for overweight pregnant women.

The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of overweight pregnant women in relation to their heightened medicalised antenatal care. Using a social constructionist approach and a Foucauldian interpretive lens, semi-structured face-to-face interviews were used to collect data from 12 women who were between 16 and 30 weeks pregnant, 6 midwives who provide antenatal care for them, and 3 obstetricians to whom women are referred. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings show that pregnant women do not identify with being 'obese' and perceive themselves as being overweight but healthy. Key themes that emerged from the data describing women's perception of heightened antenatal care are: their understanding of risk and risk perception, the power of science and how it constructs their maternal health and the power of obstetricians justifying medical interventions in pregnancy and childbirth.

This study creates and contributes to the awareness of how overweight pregnant women who are healthy experience antenatal care. It explores the need of overweight pregnant women, and identifies changes that need to be made to positively enhance how these women experience pregnancy and childbirth. These findings need to be considered by policy makers, individuals in practice and those with a role in educating health care practitioners so that overweight pregnant women are provided the appropriate antenatal care.


This paper discusses dimensions of inequality in sub-Saharan Africa and their causes. It starts with a review of the empirical evidence about inequality during the colonial period as well as the post-independence era. Then it discusses the forces that determine inequality change, focusing on factor accumulation and structural change. Next it considers the relationship between inequality and growth, the role of agriculture in the development process, the relationships between ethnicity and social stratification and governance, and external influences on inequality. The paper concludes with some comments on what policy interventions can do to reduce inequality.


The Northeast US Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem (NES LME) has experienced 2 major pressures: fishing and climate. The magnitude and rate of response to these pressures are species-specific and depend on each individual species' behavior, physiology and life histories. Thus, species assemblages can be expected to change as a result of the sum of each individual species' response. In previous studies, distinct species assemblages have been identified in each of the 4 subregions by which the NES LME has traditionally been assessed: Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB), Southern New England (SNE), Georges Bank (GB), and Gulf of Maine (GOM). In this study, we confirm that each subregion has a distinct species assemblage, but found that those assemblages are shifting over time. The shift appears to be towards species that prefer warmer water. The result is a species assemblage within each subregion that more closely resembles the historic assemblage found in the adjacent subregion to the south. These shifts have occurred in response to a combination of both fishing and climate, and are highly nonlinear. Therefore, current reductions in fishing pressure may not be adequate to return the system to a more historic species assemblage.


The text offers an introduction to the key ideas, basic analysis, and efficient implementation of discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods (DG-FEM) for the solution of partial differential equations. All key theoretical results are either derived or discussed, including an overview of relevant results from approximation theory, convergence theory for numerical PDEs, orthogonal polynomials etc. Through embedded Matlab codes, the algorithms are discussed and implemented for a number of classic systems of PDEs, e.g., Maxwells equations, Euler equations, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, and Poisson- and Helmholtz equations. These developments are done in detail inone and two dimensions on general unstructured grids with high-order elements and all essential routines for 3D extensions are also included and discussed briefly. The three appendices contain an overview of orthogonal polynomials and associated library routines used throughout, a brief introduction to grid generation, and an overview of the associated software (where to get it, list of variables etc). A variety of exercises are included at the end of most chapters.


Cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent chloride channels modulate changes in resting membrane potential and action potential duration in response to autonomic stimulation in heart. A growing body of evidence suggests that there are marked similarities in the properties of the cAMP-dependent chloride channels in heart and cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFITR) chloride channels found in airway epithelia or in cells expressing the CFTR gene product. We isolated poly A' mRNA from rabbit ventricle and converted it to cDNA for amplification using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A fragment corresponding to the nucleotide-binding domain 1 (NBD1) of the CFITR transcript was cloned. Comparison of the amino acid sequence of NBD1 of human CFTR with the deduced sequence of the rabbit heart PCR product indicated 98% identity. Northern blot analysis, using the heart amplification product as a cDNA probe, demonstrated expression of homologous transcripts in human atrium, guinea pig and rabbit ventricle, and dog pancreas. Xenopus oocytes injected with poly A' mRNA extracted from rabbit and guinea pig ventricle or dog pancreas expressed robust time-independent chloride currents in response to an elevation of cAMP. We conclude that CFTR chloride channels are expressed in heart and are responsible for the observed cAMP-dependent chloride conductance. (Circulation Research 1992;71:1002-1007)


Recent research demonstrates that land use choices, which date back to a century ago still powerfully shape the current development patterns. With advances in digitization, scholars have started studying the long-term effects of historic federal placed-based policies. One such area that has drawn attention from the housing and real estate community is "redlining," designated by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in 1930s. Scholarly evidence suggest that neighborhoods graded poorly decades ago still face challenges in access to mortgage credit, homeownership rate, and housing value. However, the literature is not clear about the mechanisms through which the placed based policy in the past affects the current neighborhood performance. In this paper, we unravel one of these mechanisms. We argue that redlining has shaped the geography of housing segregation, not just that of racial segregation, by delineating the predominant location of single family and multi-family stock. We then hypothesize that these built environment effects persist even while redlining-related racial segregation diminished over time. Specifically, we explore how and why poorly-graded multi-family neighborhoods became locked in a continued cycle of impoverishment, with continued under-resourced and underinvested housing stock. We test this idea for ten U.S. cities for which digitized maps and 1930-2010 census data are available. By instrumenting the geography of housing segregation through the redlining policy, we find the connection between redlining policy and contemporary neighborhood outcomes in local housing markets with a mechanism identified.