This article describes the development of two parenting groups – Nurturing Attachments (Golding, 2014) and Foundations for Attachment (Golding, 2017). Both programmes are informed by the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) model developed by Dan Hughes in the USA (Hughes, 2011; Hughes, Golding and Hudson, 2019). The groups were devised to provide much needed support for foster, residential and kinship carers and adopters parenting children and young people of all ages. Participants express high satisfaction upon attending the groups and in the most recent evaluations, report positive and statistically significant changes to their self-efficacy, competence and reflective function. This is despite the continuing challenges presented by the children and the high levels of stress experienced by many parents. The groups are part of the package of support which these carers and parents require, and can supplement individual parenting support and therapeutic interventions as needed. As the development of the groups has been grounded in the experience of foster carers and adoptive parents, underpinned by theory and supported by robust outcome studies, it can be concluded that they provide a helpful intervention for the carers and parents.


Currently there are many techniques based on information technology and communication aimed at assessing the performance of students. Data mining applied in the educational field (educational data mining) is one of the most popular techniques that are used to provide feedback with regard to the teaching-learning process. In recent years there have been a large number of open source applications in the area of educational data mining. These tools have facilitated the implementation of complex algorithms for identifying hidden patterns of information in academic databases. The main objective of this paper is to compare the technical features of three open source tools (RapidMiner, Knime and Weka) as used in educational data mining. These features have been compared in a practical case study on the academic records of three engineering programs in an Ecuadorian university. This comparison has allowed us to determine which tool is most effective in terms of predicting student performance.


We investigate the problem of extracting the k best strings from a nondeterministic weighted automaton over a semiring S. This problem, which has been considered earlier in the literature, is more difficult than extracting the k best runs, since distinct runs may not correspond to distinct strings. Unsurprisingly, the computational complexity of the problem depends on the semiring S used. We study three different cases, namely the tropical and complex tropical semirings, and the semiring of positive real numbers. For the first case, we establish a polynomial algorithm. For the second and third cases, NP-completeness and undecidability results are shown.


This study explores the literary genealogy of the Black Arts Movement (1965-1976) and attempts to situate Black Arts inquiry and pedagogy as a worthwhile curricular paradigm, a critical literacy intervention, an alternative learning modality, and a tool for social transformation. Overall, the project seeks to leverage Black Arts aesthetic inquiry and pedagogy to improve the academic, aesthetic, and cultural literacies of African American students.

The narrative representation of this study is intentionally rooted in and drawn from a criticalist orientation that seeks to leverage the sentient voices, collective traditions, interpretive frameworks, and accumulated folk experiences of African Americans.

The proposed Black Arts curricular paradigm encourages pedagogues and practitioners to reflect and champion the best of the African American cultural epistemology including: 1) promoting its activist philosophy; 2) critical resistance to [any form of] cultural hegemony, marginalization, or appropriation; 3) deepening inquiry into and authentic representation of its cultural antecedents and inherited traditions; 4) conveyance to and support of younger generations of students, teachers, and artists.


A sepiolite from Grant County (USA) was studied with two objectives. First, from a purely methodological perspective, a comparative micromorphological study was conducted using two imaging techniques: high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and atomic-force microscopy (AFM). The second objective was to determine whether the structural change that occurred in sepiolite after heating over 500°C induced observable morphological changes. The fibrous morphology of sepiolite was observed; furthermore, bundles and rods were observed in both the TEM and AFM imagery. However, individual laths were easily observed by TEM but could only be deduced from the irregularities of the rod surfaces by AFM. A good approximation of the lath widths (~21 nm) can be obtained from measurements using the two techniques, but AFM allows for the determination of the height of the rods (~31 nm) and shows that the mesocrystals are tabular. The folding of the structure after heating was followed by XRD and HR-TEM. The precise measurements performed by HR-TEM and AFM on the folded sepiolite show the micromorphological change in the particles, which decrease in width after folding (from ~21 nm to ~18 nm) in accord with the reduction of the unit cell.


A field experiment in Yokohama (Japan) revealed that a macroscopic fundamental diagram (MFD) linking space-mean flow, density and speed exists on a large urban area. It was observed that when the highly scattered plots of flow vs. density from individual fixed detectors were aggregated the scatter nearly disappeared and points grouped along a well defined curve. Despite these and other recent findings for the existence of well-defined MFDs for urban areas, these MFDs should not be universally expected. In this paper we investigate what are the properties that a network should satisfy, so that an MFD with low scatter exists. We show that the spatial distribution of vehicle density in the network is one of the key components that affect the scatter of an MFD and its shape. We also propose an analytical derivation of the spatial distribution of congestion that considers correlation between adjacent links. We investigate the scatter of an MFD in terms of errors in the probability density function of spatial link occupancy and errors of individual links' fundamental diagram (FD). Later, using real data from detectors for an urban arterial and a freeway network we validate the proposed derivations and we show that an MFD is not well defined in freeway networks as hysteresis effects are present. The datasets in this paper consist of flow and occupancy measures from 500 fixed sensors in the Yokohama downtown area in Japan and 600 loop detectors in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Freeway network in Minnesota, USA.


This paper studies the separation of ownership and control of 108 listed companies in Colombia from 1996 to 2002, finding that voting rights are greater than cash flow rights because of indirect ownership across firms. The paper also examines the association of various ownership and control measures and separation ratios with a firm's value and performance for the same sample of companies that traded their stock from 1998 to 2002. Large blockholders were found to exert a positive influence upon a firm's valuation and performance, which validates the positive monitoring approach of large shareholders, but this relationship is not monotonic. The paper further reports results from a 2004 survey which suggests that Colombian firms have been slow to improve their corporate governance practices.


Background: Neck Pain (NP) is a common musculoskeletal disorder and the literature provides conflicting evidence about its management. Objective: To describe the methodology used to conduct an overview of reviews (OvR) and to characterize the distribution and risk of bias profiles across the evidence for all areas of NP management. Methods: Standard systematic review (SR) methodology was employed. MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, ILC, Cochrane CENTRAL, and LILACS were searched from 2000 to March 2012; Narrative and SR and clinical practice guidelines (CPG) evaluating the efficacy of treatment (benefits and harms), diagnosis/classification, prognosis, and outcomes were eligible. For treatment, articles were limited to SRs from 2005 forward. Risk of bias of SR was assessed with the AMSTAR; the AGREE II was used to critically appraise the CPGs. Results: From 2476 articles, 508 were eligible for full text screening. A total of 341 articles were included. Treatment (n=117) had the greatest yield. Other clinical areas had less literature (diagnosis=54, prognosis=16, outcomes=27, harms=16). There were no SR for classification and narrative reviews were problematic for this topic. There was great overlap across different databases within each clinical area except for those for outcome measures. Risk of bias assessment using the AMSTAR of eligible SRs showed a similar trend across different clinical areas. Conclusion: A summary of methods used to review the literature in five clinical areas of NP management have been described. The challenges of selecting and synthesizing eligible articles in an OvR required customized solutions across different areas of clinical focus.


PURPOSE: Muscle imbalance assessment and treatment practices are becoming more commonplace in the field of strength and conditioning. For instance, exercises such as monster walks are being prescribed as a warm-up exercise with the specific aim of activating and/or strengthening the gluteus medius (GM) muscle. There is evidence to suggest that an individual with either a weak GM or one that is delayed in its onset has an increased risk of injury. However, this relationship has not been established in a resistance trained athletic population. Further, there is no evidence that commonly used glute activation (GA) exercises will acutely increase recruitment capabilities of the GM. Therefore, the primary purpose of this research is to examine the effects of different warm-up modalities on GA. METHODS: Nine men (age: 20.7 ±2.1 yrs; body mass: 86.0±12.97 kg; height: 177.5±13.1cm; body fat percent: 12.66 ± 4.0) and thirteen women (age: 20.2 ±1.4 yrs; body mass: 73.73±12 15.6 kg; height: 165.1±12.8cm; body fat percent: 22 ± 4.2) volunteered to participate in this randomized, cross-over study. Each participant was tested for GA using EMG while performing manual field tests (Cook Hip Lift and a Side-lying Abduction Test) prior to and after performing one of two warm-up exercise conditions; a standard dynamic warm-up (DW) or common GA exercises. Statistical significance was set at p≤0.05 RESULTS: There were no significant differences in EMG activity between the GA exercise and the DW condition as measured by area under the curve of the integrated EMG signal. There were also no main effects of the pre and post conditions. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that a non-injured, athletic population is able to activate the GM without any additional stimulation. The resistance training experience of the participants varied greatly but all had at least 6 months prior training experience. Future studies should examine if there is a relationship between resistance training and GA, however it is possible that resistance trained athletes can adequately strengthen the GM through the course of normal training and subsequently would have no problems recruiting the GM. PRACTICALAPPLICATIONS: Strength & conditioning professionals have limited time with athletes. When coaching a resistance trained athletic population, the results of this study suggest strength & conditioning professionals should reallocate time spent on GA assessment to protocols that will enhance performance.


This book provides an introduction to qualitative and quantitative aspects of human physiology. It looks at biological and physiological processes and phenomena, including a selection of mathematical models, showing how physiological problems can be mathematically formulated and studied. It also illustrates how a wide range of engineering and physics topics, including electronics, fluid dynamics, solid mechanics and control theory can be used to describe and understand physiological processes and systems. Throughout the text there are introductions to measuring and quantifying physiological processes using both signal and imaging technologies. Physiology for Engineers describes the basic structure and models of cellular systems, the structure and function of the cardiovascular system, the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart and provides an overview of the structure and function of the respiratory and nervous systems. It also includes an introduction to the basic concepts and applications of reaction kinetics, pharmacokinetic modelling and tracer kinetics. It is of interest to final year biomedical engineering undergraduates and graduate students alike, as well as to practising engineers new to the fields of bioengineering or medical physics


The year 1990 marked a new era in the Malaysian Industrial Relations
System. A new Labour Organisation (Malaysian Labour Organisation -MLO) was
registered as a new Labour centre for Private and Public sector unions. It proved a
watershed because it broke the monopoly of Malaysian Trade Union Congress
(MTUC) as the sole representative body for private sector unions for more than 40
years. However, barely seven years after its formation, MLO was dissolved and
majority of its affiliates merged with MTUC. This study traced the processes of
the formation and dissolution of MLO. This study also identified the forces that
influenced the formation of MLO and later its dissolution. The differences in
policies and ideologies of the two labour centres have also been compared.
This inquiry was conducted as a qualitative case study. A major portion of
the inquiry examined events that have already taken place. The study used mainly
recall data collected by means of semi-structured interviews. In addition to the
above modes of obtaining information in this enquiry, I also did a content analysis
of documents and reports of major daily newspapers.
The findings of this study revealed that the formation of MLO was mainly
due to the political conflicts within MTUC and the encouragement given by the
government to the initiators of the new Labour centre. Interestingly, the
government also played a significant role behind the dissolution and the ultimate
remerger of MLO with MTUC. Besides that, the other factors that led to MLO's
downfall are employers attitude, quality of services given to affiliates ofMLO, the prevailing economic climate at that time, constant bickering for National and
International representations between the two labour centres, and international
pressure on the government.
It was found that the policies and ideologies practiced by the two labour
centres were almost similar. However one notable difference that was evident
was that MLO was apolitical. They maintained that Politics and Trade Unionism
cannot mix. MTUC on the other hand maintained that Politics and Trade
Unionism are intertwined and cannot be separated.


Background: Students in medical school often do not get the opportunity to apply public health principles to their work. This can affect the likelihood that they will apply population and public health principles in practice. Activities: From 2010 to 2015, the faculty of Medicine at Fundacion Universitaria San Martin from Sabaneta Campus – Colombia, developed an educational strategy called "Community Health Intervention Projects" (CHIP) as a new way to integrate essential public health functions with clinical knowledge into the curriculum. This approach was based on Community-Based Medical Education (COME) and Community-Oriented Primary Care. Seven CHIPS were developed by 65 undergraduate students partnering with organizations as two secondary schools, one clinic, two community-based groups, one nongovernmental organization, and two secretaries of health in four different cities. Outcomes: The breastfeeding programs increased the time of breastfeeding by the mothers and the tools to measure breastfeeding have been used in other research projects (Medellin 2015, Envigado 2017). The project about increasing Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) in young scholars from two cities (Caldas and Sabaneta) served as a springboard for one of the students of medicine to receive a scholarship to attend the global forum in SRH "Women Deliver" in Kuala Lumpur in 2013. The project about Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery Health-care Program, addressed to children with asthma, were adopted by the Ambulatory Clinics Organization after the results of the pilot program (2016–2017). This project won the TUFH– FAIMER student projects for health award in 2016, showing the sustainability and generalizability of the educational program. Conclusion: Health professions educators can use CHIPS to integrate the mission-related axes in their programs: Academia, research, and extension activities in a community setting.


Pest-free status certification is desirable if the demand-side impacts (increased export revenue) and supply-side impacts (lower pest damage and decreased ongoing control costs) exceed the compliance monitoring and eradication costs. Thus, eradication may be optimal without certification. Certification is more likely for regions facing costly treatment requirements (bans) or possessing geographic traits that lower monitoring costs and infestation probabilities than for those exporting higher-valued products. Certification benefits producers but hurts consumers. Thus, political feasibility may be greater if domestic consumption is a small share of the market and if the additional tax burden of certification programs is light.


Several catastrophes could block the sun, including asteroid/comet impact, super volcanic eruption, and nuclear war with the burning of cities (nuclear winter). Previous work has analyzed alternate food supplies (e.g., mushrooms growing on dead trees, bacteria growing on natural gas). This was shown to be technically capable of feeding everyone with macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and lipids) and minerals, although economics and politics remain uncertain. The present work analyzes vitamin availability in such alternative food scenarios. The vitamin content of various alternate foods is compared to the US recommended daily allowance (RDA) as well as the average requirement defined by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and insufficiencies of single food sources are discussed. Single alternate food sources are always deficient in some vitamins, and the problems associated with this are discussed. To prevent disease in an alternative food scenario a wide range of foods must be consumed, or the diet must be supplemented. Backup plans discussed include chemical synthesis of vitamins, plants grown with artificial light and growing bacteria rich in certain vitamins. Finally, insights from this analysis are provided for combating existing micronutritional deficiencies using alternative foods today.


Abstract Static (or 'normal') grain growth, i.e. grain boundary migration driven solely by grain boundary energy, is considered to be an important process in polar ice. Many ice-core studies report a continual increase in average grain size with depth in the upper hundreds of metres of ice sheets, while at deeper levels grain size appears to reach a steady state as a consequence of a balance between grain growth and grain-size reduction by dynamic recrystallization. The growth factor k in the normal grain growth law is important for any process where grain growth plays a role, and it is normally assumed to be a temperature-dependent material property. Here we show, using numerical simulations with the program Elle, that the factor k also incorporates the effect of the microstructure on grain growth. For example, a change in grain-size distribution from normal to log-normal in a thin section is found to correspond to an increase in k by a factor of 3.5.


Self-amplification of weak scattered coherent light waves in photorefractive crystals leads to losses, known as light-induced scattering or holographic scattering. We find with 532 nm light that it is reduced in LiNbO3:Fe for femtosecond laser pulses as compared to cw laser light. Light-induced scattering of pulses is completely absent in samples with sufficiently small Fe2+ content, in contrast to the scattering of cw light. Additional differences include a slower buildup time, a weaker Bragg selectivity, and a narrower angular distribution of the scattered light for pulsed illumination. The differences can be attributed mainly to the smaller temporal coherence of pulses.


The problem of urban water supply is not a recent phenomenon, but its character has altered
dramatically since the nineteenth century. This thesis explores the history of urban water
supply in Tangier, Morocco, concentrating on the period from 1840 to 1956. Focusing on
specific contested issues and turning points in the history of Tangier's water supply system,
the relationship between urban infrastructure systems, differing conceptions of modernity,
economic developments, and the exertion of colonial power are examined. Despite resistance
against a marketisation of the system a private concession for Tangier's water supply was
granted in 1918, facilitated by a new balance of power with the implementation of the French
Protectorate in 1912. The concession for Tangier's water supply was repurchased by the
municipality in 1949 and outsourced again to a private supplier in 2001.
The research details how different ideas of what living in a modern city comprises were
negotiated in the international setting of Tangier and how the development of Tangier's
modern water supply system was closely linked to the spread of new ideals of the modern city
and the emergence of a nascent public sphere. The thesis shows that, while public debate kept
the issue of Tangier's urban water supply on the agenda, public interests were effectively
overruled by economic and political considerations due to the weakness of the institutional
settings of the public sphere. We find that the persistently uneven access to household water
connections not only caused health and hygiene risks, but was also perceived by the poor as a
de facto exclusion from an essential element of what constitutes citadinite or the rights of the
city-dwelling citizen.
Official documents from archives in Morocco, France, the United Kingdom, and the United
States, and non-governmental sources such as newspapers and other publications are used to
investigate the "engineering of modernity" in Tangier. Drawing on different fields such as
historical geography, urban political ecology and postcolonial studies the research
problematises tendencies to deal with cities in the global South only from a teleological or
"developmentalist" approach derived from the history of modern cities in Europe and North
America.


This article considers the problem of testing many moment inequalities where the number of moment inequalities, denoted by $p$, is possibly much larger than the sample size $n$. There is a variety of economic applications where solving this problem allows to carry out inference on causal and structural parameters; a notable example is the market structure model of Ciliberto and Tamer (2009) where $p=2^{m+1}$ with $m$ being the number of firms that could possibly enter the market. We consider the test statistic given by the maximum of $p$ Studentized (or $t$-type) inequality-specific statistics, and analyse various ways to compute critical values for the test statistic. Specifically, we consider critical values based upon (1) the union bound combined with a moderate deviation inequality for self-normalized sums, (2) the multiplier and empirical bootstraps, and (3) two-step and three-step variants of (1) and (2) by incorporating the selection of uninformative inequalities that are far from being binding and a novel selection of weakly informative inequalities that are potentially binding but do not provide first-order information. We prove validity of these methods, showing that under mild conditions, they lead to tests with the error in size decreasing polynomially in $n$ while allowing for $p$ being much larger than $n$; indeed $p$ can be of order $\exp (n^{c})$ for some $c > 0$. Importantly, all these results hold without any restriction on the correlation structure between $p$ Studentized statistics, and also hold uniformly with respect to suitably large classes of underlying distributions. Moreover, in the online supplement, we show validity of a test based on the block multiplier bootstrap in the case of dependent data under some general mixing conditions.


Future wireless sensor nodes will, for certain applications, require only a few microwatts of energy. Micro-machined thermoelectric generators can produce such amount of electrical energy, but variations in the generated power and voltage make a power management circuit necessary to generate a suitable power supply for the sensor node. This paper compares 2 options for such a circuit. We present one power management circuit for a thermoelectric generator that contains a DC-DC-converter with an inductor and one with capacitors. The converter with inductor has the advantage that the conversion factor can be set very precise. But for an efficient implementation, a large inductor is required. This inductor prevents the solution from being small and efficient at the same time. The use of an integrated charge pump however, will allow a more efficient circuit than a DC-DC-converter with an integrated inductor, even though the conversion factor is less flexible. Ultimately, the type of application will impose the type of DC-DC-converter that will be used.


Abstract This article reports on an exploratory study conducted in the People's Republic of China (PRC) to identify the managerial success factors perceived by Chinese managers to be important in their market economy. The study also looked at how these factors are exhibited by recent graduates of Chinese universities now working in Chinese firms. Questionnaire responses were collected from managers in 113 Chinese state-owned exnterprises (SOEs) and private firms. Managers in both types of firms agreed on the relative importance and presence of the following factors: work habits, teamwork, creativity, ethics, communication, leadership, and business area knolwedge. Respondents gave higher ratings to the importance of each factor than to its presence in the recently hired gradutes. The results of this study provide a management profile of knowledge, skills, and abilities considered desirable by Chinese managers for today's market economy in the People's Republic of China. The identification of gaps between importance ratings and presence ratings provides valuable insight into changes that should be considered by educators in the design of business area currucula in Chinese universities.


The present study aims to implement in the GIS modeling the results of a survey that sought to define an algorithm by ranking environmental elements so as to determine and regionalize the tourism potential and attractiveness of mountain areas. Tourism potential is an important indicator in characterizing any area, and the result of a plurality of components pertaining to the natural, geographic, cultural-historical and socioeconomic environment. Tourism is a social phenomenon, so that the application of a social research method – the questionnaire represents a good evaluation technique for the elements that potentiate the phenomenon in question. Its construction was aimed primarily at the environmental elements, plus an element that stands for the symbiosis between two or more valuable features of the environment – the protected areas. The results show that, for about 73% of the respondents, the landscape and the protected areas are essential factors in assessing the tourist attractiveness of any mountain area. The landscape factor was analyzed in terms of morphometry - altitude, relief intensity, drainage density, slopes, and morphology - genetic types of relief (the only quantified types being the glacial, karstic, volcanic and lithostructural ones). As indicators to quantify the algorithm resulting from the questionnaire, we used the information provided by the ArcGIS 9.2 software platform, with the use of which morphometric and geomorphologic applications were created. As a case study, we used the Rarău Mountain area in the north of the Eastern Carpathians. Finally, the regional map of tourism potential and attractiveness was obtained, as well as statistical data expressed mathematically, which can be used in ranking mountain areas in terms of the features mentioned above.


The deficiency of zinc (Zn) in human nutrition, commonly found in cereal-based diets accounts for impaired growth (stunting) in children. Since cereals are generally low in this element, bio-fortification may represent an opportunity to increase Zn intake by humans. A study was carried out to evaluate Zn uptake by maize and wheat when they are supplied with increasing rates of foliar or soil applied Zn. Maize and wheat were grown in the field and supplied with 0, 10, 20, 30, or 40 kg Zn ha-1 as ZnSO4 applied to the soil, or, 0,1,2,4, or 8 kg Zn ha-1 as foliar spray. Zinc application to soil increased maize and wheat yields beyond increments obtained with foliar application, but Zn mass concentration in maize grain was better with foliar applications. Mean maize yield was 1.78 ton ha-1 with soil application and 1.14 ton ha-1 with foliar application. This was in relation to an average of 52 mg Zn uptake by maize under each of the application methods. Wheat yield was 3.69 ton ha-1 under soil application and 2.74 ton ha-1 under foliar application. In this case, Zn uptake was higher under soil application (11.31 mg) than under foliar application (7.25 mg). Sesquioxide bound Zn was shown to be best correlated with plant Zn uptake. It was shown that Zn application is beneficial on Zambian soils, and while soil application increases crop yields, foliar application can be more useful to increase Zn mass concentration in maize.

 Key words: Foliar spray, maize grain yield, wheat grain yield, zinc fractions, zinc uptake


Let R be a commutative ring with nonzero identity and I an ideal of R. The focus of this research is on a generalization of the zero-divisor graph called the ideal-based zero-divisor graph for commutative rings with nonzero identity. We consider such a graph to be nontrivial when it is nonempty and distinct from the zero-divisor graph of R. We begin by classifying all rings which have nontrivial ideal-based zero-divisor graph complete on fewer than 5 vertices. We also classify when such graphs are complete on a prime number of vertices. In addition we classify all rings which admit nontrivial planar ideal-based zero-divisor graph. The ideas of complemented and uniquely complemented are considered for such graphs, and we classify when they are uniquely complemented. The relationship between graph isomorphisms of the ideal-based zero divisor graph with respect to I and graph isomorphisms of the zerodivisor graph of R/I [R mod I] is also considered. In the later chapters, we consider properties of ideal-based zero-divisor graphs when the corresponding factor rings are Boolean or reduced. We conclude by giving all nontrivial ideal based zero-divisor graphs on less than 8 vertices, a few miscellaneous results, and some questions for future research.


Impasse in mediation can arise on a fundamental level from differences in the cognitive frameworks within which the participants – and the mediator – think and act. I argue that people involved in mediation tend to speak and act in accordance with one of four qualitatively distinct mental frameworks: 1.) distributive compromise; 2.) creating new value through attention to underlying interests; 3.) relationship; and 4.) mutual understanding. Each framework tends to operate to the exclusion of the others. Talk and action appropriate for one can be badly out of place in another. When the mediator and other participants inhabit different frameworks from each other, impasse can result. For the most part, these frameworks apply tacitly. They comprise four different heuristics with which to deal with the tasks of mediation. Moment by moment, and with little or no awareness or conscious control, each swiftly elicits framework-appropriate words and actions. But the frameworks also provide a way to deal with the very impasses to which they might contribute. Unlike the explicit "schools" of mediation thought, which they resemble, they do not necessarily persist throughout a mediation. Participants and mediators can flip from framework to framework in the course of a single mediation, and often do so. I argue that each framework is associated with one or more of seven different kinds of subject matters. Each of these subject matters – such as historical fact, law and legal rights, fairness and moral rights, what can happen in the future, feelings, and so on – is more characteristic of some frameworks than of others. Consequently, the degree to which a subject matter remains under discussion can show mediators which mental framework is most likely in play. Similarly, mediators can try to shift everyone's thinking from one framework to another by steering the conversation to a different subject matter.


Transfer of pre-trained representations can improve sample efficiency and reduce computational requirements for new tasks. However, representations used for transfer are usually generic, and are not tailored to a particular distribution of downstream tasks. We explore the use of expert representations for transfer with a simple, yet effective, strategy. We train a diverse set of experts by exploiting existing label structures, and use cheap-to-compute performance proxies to select the relevant expert for each target task. This strategy scales the process of transferring to new tasks, since it does not revisit the pre-training data during transfer. Accordingly, it requires little extra compute per target task, and results in a speed-up of 2-3 orders of magnitude compared to competing approaches. Further, we provide an adapter-based architecture able to compress many experts into a single model. We evaluate our approach on two different data sources and demonstrate that it outperforms baselines on over 20 diverse vision tasks in both cases.


We present a public higher education model in which there exist indivisibilities in educational investment. Consequently, when demand for educational services exceed supply, a screening mechanism, which may potentially be imperfect, is required to choose the student body. We demonstrate how distortions or biases in screening--caused by parental factors--interact with the distribution of income to help explain the considerable differences across countries in the share of resources devoted to public higher education. Moderate degrees of admission bias lower the share of resources devoted to public education whereas higher levels of bias may have positive effects on public education supply. Thus, while lower screening biases lead to a better allocation of a given amount of spending on education, they do not necessarily lead to more political support for public education, and thereby to higher aggregate human capital and output. When wage rates are endogenous, the effects of screening biases on public higher education supply can be positive even for smaller biases. Moreover, higher inequality will lead to a lower share of resources devoted to public higher education when biases are relatively moderate.


We investigate a general form of the Wigner function for wave fields that satisfy the Helmholtz equation in two-dimensional free space. The momentum moment of this Wigner function is shown to correspond to the flux of the wave field. For a forward-propagating wave field, the negative regions of the Wigner function are seen to be associated with small regions of backward flux in the field. We also study different projections of the Wigner function, each corresponding to a distribution in a reduced phase space that fully characterizes the wave field. One of these projections is the standard Wigner function of the field at a screen. Another projection introduced by us has the added property of being conserved along rays and is better suited to the description of nonparaxial wave fields.


Our aim in this chapter is to consider how intersubjective co-ordination is integral to human forms of interpersonal engagement, sharing experiences with others, and acquiring knowledge about persons with minds. We dwell on three studies involving children and adolescents with autism, each concerned with different aspects of non-verbal communication in greetings and farewells, conversation, and imitation, respectively. Other researchers' reactions to these studies illustrate how scientists tend to be sceptical of measures (however reliable) intended to capture the intersubjective dimension of personal relatedness. On a more theoretical note, we suggest that intersubjectivity acquires the structure that it does, and has the developmental implications that it does, in virtue of human beings' propensity to identify with others' attitudes.


The purposes of this research were to determine the possibility of using a natural forested swamp for advanced wastewater treatment in coastal Louisiana, and to evaluate the wastewater impact on the ecosystem. The study was performed by comparing two portions of a nutrient deficient swamp separated by a ridge. One portion received secondarily treated municipal wastewater at a rate of 6.3x10s L/day and the other served as a control. Concentrations of BOD5, TSS, DO, EC, TDS, pH, N, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Mg, Na and trace metals were monitored. Results showed that the wastewater added nutrients into the swamp. Mean concentrations in the wastewater were 14.6 mg/L for total N and 2.5 mg/L for total P. When wastewater passed through the swamp, tertiary wastewater treatment was achieved. The swamp system reduced 100% of N03-N, 69% of TKN, and 66% of total P in the wastewater. High N removal efficiency would enable the swamp to work well even if the N loading rate were doubled. However, P removal efficiency was dependent on loading rate and temperature. Trace metals were not a problem because of very low concentrations in this wastewater. The swamp was more efficient in treating wastewater during warm seasons than cool seasons. Study showed that denitrification, soil adsorption, duckweed assimilation and sedimentation-subsidence were the most important processes involved. Soil adsorption and duckweed assimilation were more significant sinks for wastewater nutrients in the winter season than in the warm season. After two years of wastewater application, there were no accumulations of nutrients measured in the sediment except for P. Increases mainly occurred in the surface and near the wastewater inlet. However, the high sedimentation rate in the treated swamp enabled more nutrients to be stored in the sediment than the control swamp. Therefore, the swamp sediment should continue assimilating P for a long time. Introduction of wastewater into the natural swamp has additional benefits of: 1) buffering swamp water quality changes due to litter deposition from strong storms such as hurricanes; 2) mitigating natural nutrient loss from the swamp sediment sink; 3) increasing the vertical accretion rate, which could offset wetland loss. CHAPTER


The aim of this work is to determine the most effective technologies and practices for the linguistic and sociocultural adaptation of foreign students studying in Russian and foreign universities, the use of which will help foreign students overcome barriers in academic performance, mastery of the Russian language, psychological and sociocultural adaptation in the host country. The fundamental basis of this study is the experimental work carried out at the Institute of Psychology and Education of Kazan Federal University, Arkalyk State Pedagogical Institute named after Y. Altynsarin, St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics. Sociocultural and linguistic adaptation of foreign students is organized on the basis of an integrated approach, which is a combination of intercultural, humanistic, personality-oriented, activity-based approaches to learning. Education and training of foreign students should be organized on the basis of modern technologies and practices (authoring online simulators in Russian, interactive whiteboard, case method, brainstorming, role-playing game, discussion) contributes to effective language, socio-cultural adaptation of students. An effective tool to promote the sociocultural and linguistic adaptation of foreign students is a specially organized tolerant developing educational environment of the university, organized taking into account the specifics of social problems and the psychological state of migrants, contributing to the leveling of emerging problems of socio-cultural adaptation, the integration of foreign students in the host community. In this study, the most effective diagnostics were identified that affect the mechanisms of linguistic and sociocultural adaptation of foreign students studying in Russian and foreign universities: diagnostics of the level of social isolation of a person, determination of the level of depression, methods for determining sociocultural identity, adaptation of a person to a new sociocultural environment, methodology for determining level of knowledge of Russian as a foreign language. The scientific novelty of this study is to determine the most effective technologies and practices of linguistic and sociocultural adaptation of foreign students in the context of globalization and the Eurasian integration of sociocultural and educational space.


Accurate electrical masking modeling represents a significant challenge in soft error rate analysis for combinational logic circuits. In this paper, we use table lookup MOSFET models to accurately capture the nonlinear properties of submicron MOS transistors. Based on these models, we propose and validate the transient pulse generation model and propagation model for soft error rate analysis. The pulse generated by our pulse generation model matches well with that of HSPICE simulation, and the pulse propagation model provides nearly one order of magnitude improvement in accuracy over the previous models. Using these two models, we propose an accurate and efficient block-based soft error rate analysis method for combinational logic circuits


Background:In resource-limited settings, clinical parameters, including body weight changes, are used to monitor clinical response. Therefore, we studied body weight changes in patients on antiretroviral treatment (ART) in different regions of the world. Methods:Data were extracted from the "International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS," a network of ART programmes that prospectively collects routine clinical data. Adults on ART from the Southern, East, West, and Central African and the Asia-Pacific regions were selected from the database if baseline data on body weight, gender, ART regimen, and CD4 count were available. Body weight change over the first 2 years and the probability of body weight loss in the second year were modeled using linear mixed models and logistic regression, respectively. Results:Data from 205,571 patients were analyzed. Mean adjusted body weight change in the first 12 months was higher in patients started on tenofovir and/or efavirenz; in patients from Central, West, and East Africa, in men, and in patients with a poorer clinical status. In the second year of ART, it was greater in patients initiated on tenofovir and/or nevirapine, and for patients not on stavudine, in women, in Southern Africa and in patients with a better clinical status at initiation. Stavudine in the initial regimen was associated with a lower mean adjusted body weight change and with weight loss in the second treatment year. Conclusions:Different ART regimens have different effects on body weight change. Body weight loss after 1 year of treatment in patients on stavudine might be associated with lipoatrophy.


The aim of the study was to compare bone properties of two groups of students which strongly differ in the level of their everyday physical activity; the School of Medicine (SM) students and the Faculty of Physical Education (FPE) students, University of Zagreb. Quantitative ultrasound parameters--broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) and speed of sound (SOS) were measured. Quantitative ultrasound index (QUI) and estimated bone mineral density (BMD) were calculated by the device software. The final study sample consisted of 165 students from SM (94 males and 71 females) and 215 students from the FPE (164 males, 51 females). Sixty eight percent of FPE students and 21% of SM students reported a high level of everyday physical activity (P < 0.001). All ultrasound parameters were significantly higher in FPE students than in SM students (at the P < 0.001 level). The multiple regression model of the QUI confirmed that the school students attended was the single significant predictor variable for both genders. Our data indirectly showed the beneficial role of physical activity on bone properties.


A thesis submitted to the Department of Biological Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy, 2000


Simulate realistic human motion in a virtual world with an optimization-based approach to motion prediction. With this approach, motion is governed by human performance measures, such as speed and energy, which act as objective functions to be optimized. Constraints on joint torques and angles are imposed quite easily. Predicting motion in this way allows one to use avatars to study how and why humans move the way they do, given specific scenarios. It also enables avatars to react to infinitely many scenarios with substantial autonomy. With this approach it is possible to predict dynamic motion without having to integrate equations of motion -- rather than solving equations of motion, this approach solves for a continuous time-dependent curve characterizing joint variables (also called joint profiles) for every degree of freedom. Introduces rigorous mathematical methods for digital human modelling and simulationFocuses on understanding and representing spatial relationships (3D) of biomechanicsDevelops an innovative optimization-based approach to predicting human movementExtensively illustrated with 3D images of simulated human motion (full color in the ebook version)


Across vertebrates, spermatogenesis is under the endocrine control of two hormones, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and androgens; the testicular production and secretion of the latter are controlled by luteinizing hormone. In fish, also the strong steroidogenic potency of Fsh should be taken into consideration indicating that a large part of Fsh action in fish spermatogenesis is mediated by androgens. In the studies encompassing this thesis, we aimed at elucidating the mechanisms, by which FSH and especially androgens regulate adult spermatogenesis with particular interest for the spermatogonial phase. Zebrafish was chosen as the experimental animal model. First, our studies identified 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) as the main end product of the androgen synthesis pathway in zebrafish testis. Together with testosterone, 11-KT binds to and activates the zebrafish Ar at physiologically relevant concentrations. Subsequently, our developed experimental models revealed that all stages of spermatogenesis are dependent of androgens, and that the spermatogonial phase is particularly sensitive. In an in vitro model, an organ culture system for adult zebrafish testis, complete spermatogenesis was supported in the presence of 11-KT. Even more, a higher proportion of type A spermatogonia proliferated and differentiated to commit to the transformation process towards becoming spermatozoa. In contrast, in the absence of 11-KT spermatogenesis in the same testis culture system became depleted. This relates very well to the spontaneous and rapid downfall of the steroidogenic system under basal culture conditions. An in vivo model for oestrogen-induced androgen insufficiency revealed a marked inhibition of spermatogonial proliferation and differentiation, and germ cell depletion became more prominent with their progressive differentiation. The mechanism behind the inhibition of spermatogenesis in this in vivo model is negative oestrogenic feedback on the brain-pituitary system causing a reduction of expression of factors responsible for androgen synthesis, ultimately leading to reduced testicular androgen production. Sertoli cells express functional receptors for both FSH and androgens, in contrast to germ cells. We showed that zebrafish Sertoli cells contacting type A spermatogonia express high levels of ar transcript. It is thought that Sertoli cells mediate androgen or Fsh action by regulating the secretion of paracrine factors, which in turn influence spermatogonial differentiation. We showed that the gonad-specific fish representative of such a group of paracrine factors, the insulin-like growth factors (i.e. igf3), was highly expressed by zebrafish Sertoli cells contacting type A spermatogonia. Furthermore, its mRNA expression was positively modulated by both androgens as well as Fsh, for the latter independent of its steroidogenic potential. Studies on the action of a commercially available recombinant fish Igf protein (i.e. Igf1) on zebrafish spermatogenesis in vitro revealed a stimulatory effect on the proliferation of spermatogonia and their entrance into meiosis, and demonstrated the ability to enhance 11-KT-stimulated spermatogenesis. The present thesis expanded the knowledge on the sites of action and the mechanisms of endocrine control of adult fish spermatogenesis. In addition, novel experimental models to investigate the endocrine control of adult spermatogenesis were developed. Conclusively, zebrafish were proven to be an exciting animal model to investigate endocrine control mechanisms of the spermatogonial phase.


Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wi-Max) is a broadband technology enabling the delivery of last mile (final leg of delivering connectivity from a communication provider to customer) wireless broadband access (alternative to cable and DSL). It should be easy to deploy and cheaper to user compared to other technologies. Wi-Max could potentially erase the suburban and rural blackout areas with no broadband Internet access by using an antenna with high gain and reasonable bandwidth Microstrip patch antennas are very popular among Local Area Network (LAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies due to their advantages such as light weight, low volume, low cost, compatibility with integrated circuits and easy to install on rigid surface. The aim is to design and fabricate a Microstrip antenna operating at 3.5GHz to achieve maximum bandwidth for Wi-Max applications. The transmission line model is used for analysis. S-parameters (S11 and S21) are measured for the fabricated Microstrip antenna using network analyzer in a lab environment. The fabricated single patch antenna brings out greater bandwidth than conventional high frequency patch antenna. The developed antenna also is found to have reasonable gain.


Abstract:This essay draws on critical studies of food, race, class, and environment to consider food's role in the cultivation of queer literary and political cultures in Appalachia. Texts such as Jeff Mann's Loving Mountains, Loving Men, a collection of poetry and essays, speak to a double-bind in which queer Appalachian writers often profess to find themselves: on the one hand, dismissed as coal-loving "white trash" by urban environmentalists; on the other, subjected to right-wing violence at home. Mann's writing negotiates this tension through poetic engagement with "hillbilly" gustatory traditions—namely, by adopting the recipe form. These poems, and the acts of foraging, preparing, and sharing food they represent, articulate queer communities gathered around tactile experiences of place. They also illustrate the promises and pitfalls of the recipe's representational potential. On the one hand, defining food by its regional character risks reiterating essentialist notions of nature and identity. On the other, focusing on food's disruption of conventional material boundaries neglects the lived social conditions facing marginalized peoples in the region. By focusing on the open-ended preparation of food rather than the end product, Mann mediates these extremes, typifying foodways, region, and queerness alike as ongoing phenomena.


Nanofluidics is the study of fluid flow in or around nano scale systems. At this scale, conventional ideas of fluid mechanics do not apply, and the long-standing traditional approaches to fluid mechanics problems need to be adjusted to correctly reflect the importance of the interaction between a fluid and a solid boundary. This is because as devices are miniaturised, the surface-to-volume ratio increases and surface-related phenomena become increasingly important. Nanofluidics is not new, but has existed without a name of its own for many years, and has been studied within a diverse range of disciplines. The term 'nanofluidics' came about recently with the rise of microfluidics and the current advancement in nanoscience and nanotechnology, which prompted the establishment of the international journal Microfluidics and Nanofluidics in March 2004. Existing experimental results of fluid flow in nano devices are contradictory, demonstrating the difficulty of experiments at this scale and the lack of a guiding rational theory. Despite the fact that complicated nanosystems, such as nano-electro-mechanical systems, are already being built and studied, and with the invention and wide availability of many new advanced experimental apparatus such as the atomic force microscope and the scanning tunnel microscope, the fundamental fluid mechanics is still not thoroughly understood, which has made the study and application of nanofluidics quite significant. In this paper these issues are fully discussed and some recent work of the authors involving the continuum description of nanofluidics with altered boundary conditions at fluid-solid interfaces which reflects the importance of surface related phenomena is reviewed.


The growing number of actors involved in China's international activities has led to fractured authority in foreign policy decision-making. Actors vie for the attention of senior officials to promote their interests on any specific issue. As a result, decision making is often a slow process; there are multiple channels of information, and actors appeal to public opinion to support their claims. Since 2012, Xi Jinping has taken charge of all foreign policy related decision-making bodies in what appears to be an attempt to improve coordination of interest groups. A slight shift to a more personified foreign policy than during the Hu or Jiang eras has also taken place. In this paper, we describe how foreign policy decisions should be made in China according to formal rules; next, we take into account the reality of how the Chinese political system deals with China's evolving international role. We conclude by assessing the risks of fragmentation, on the one hand, and Xi's efforts to recentralise foreign policy, on the other hand.


This book encompasses all of the state-of-the-art techniques currently available for the care of burn patients. Prepared with a focus on education and training, this outstanding guide presents the latest strategies and breakthroughs for the care of burn patients in outpatient, operating room, and intensive care unit settings and introduces all the relevant information required to apply the latest technologies to the care of burn patients using a hands-on approach. Principles And Practice of Burn Surgery covers advancements in resuscitation, operative techniques, infection control, and nutritional/metabolic support and demonstrates key principles in the surgical treatment of burn injuries.


Island disharmony refers to the biased representation of higher taxa on islands compared to their mainland source regions and represents a central concept in island biology. Here, we develop a generalizable framework for approximating these source regions and conduct the first global assessment of island disharmony and its underlying drivers. We compiled vascular plant species lists for 178 oceanic islands and 735 mainland regions. Using mainland data only, we modelled species turnover as a function of environmental and geographic distance and predicted the proportion of shared species between each island and mainland region. We then quantified the over- or under-representation of families on individual islands (representational disharmony) by contrasting the observed number of species against a null model of random colonization from the mainland source pool, and analysed the effects of six family-level functional traits on the resulting measure. Furthermore, we aggregated the values of representational disharmony per island to characterize overall taxonomic bias of a given flora (compositional disharmony), and analysed this second measure as a function of four island biogeographical variables. Our results indicate considerable variation in representational disharmony both within and among plant families. Examples of generally over-represented families include Urticaceae, Convolvulaceae and almost all pteridophyte families. Other families such as Asteraceae and Orchidaceae were generally under-represented, with local peaks of over-representation in known radiation hotspots. pollination and a lack of dispersal specialization were most strongly associated with an insular over-representation of families, whereas other family-level traits showed minor effects. With respect to compositional disharmony, large, high-elevation islands tended to have the most disharmonic floras. Our results provide important insights into the taxon- and island-specific drivers of disharmony. The proposed framework allows over-coming the limitations of previous approaches and provides a quantitative basis for incorporating functional and phylogenetic approaches into future studies of island disharmony.


Some local motion models of artificial animals and a method momentarily continuously to switch the models are given. A society behaviour system of artificial fishes based on the way and method is exploited, which can exhibit life behaviours and intelligence of animals. How momentarily continuously to switch the motion models of animated agents in the system is better settled. The system can illimitably generalizedly circularly run and has good man-computer interaction. Moreover the appearance, motion and behaviour of the animals in the system are lifelike and convinced. There are not bad visions such as 'mutation', 'suddenly disappearring', 'jumpiness'of animated agents.


Powerful cross-currents of both decline and resurgence have been affecting American political parties over the past several decades. Is the era of decline that began in the late 1960s over and are the parties in a new era of rebuilding? And in what direction are the parties headed and what does it mean for a healthy and well-functioning democracy? "American Political Parties" brings together a distinguished team of contributors to explore these questions. Students are exposed to original, 'state-of-the-art' research on the parties that is written to be accessible and engaging. Presenting both historical and contemporary material on the changing U.S. parties, this book offers a balanced portrait and a wide variety of views concerning the continuing weaknesses of the parties and their concurrent signs of revitalization. It includes essays that examine three important elements of parties - the parties in the mass public, the parties as electoral and political organizations, and the parties as governing groups. Two themes recur throughout - the first deals with party change (specifically realignment and dealignment) and the second with party responsibility in a democratic government. The concluding chapter places the contibutors' various findings and viewpoints in perspective. It offers several theories to help explain why the parties seem to be following their dual paths of development and considers the implications of this state of affairs for the future of American democracy.


An optical measurement method for large-scale and shell-like objects is proposed and is verified by experiments. The underlying concept is a model-based optical measurement network consisting of multinode three-dimensional (3D) sensors. To achieve this, a synthetic calibration method is presented to enable the measurement. A phase-aided active stereoscopy is thus applied to each node sensor for acquiring partial range images from different viewpoints. The multiple range images are then registered to obtain a 3D reconstructed model, which is compared with the computer-aided design (CAD) model to quantitatively reveal the differences between the two models. Experiment results are also presented to validate the proposed approach.


Forty eight accessions of cultivated cowpea were assessed using 12 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) dendrogram constructed revealed three main clusters when truncated at 65% similarity coefficient. All accessions showed high genetic variation except four which are genetically similar at 100% similarity coefficient. A two dimensional principal coordinate analysis (PCA) also revealed high genetic relationships among the accessions used. The polymorphism information content (PIC) revealed that the number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 5 with a total of 37 alleles generated from the SSR primers. The PIC value ranged from 0.075 to 0.603 with a mean value of 0.344 from a total of 4.467. There was no significant correlation between the repeat number and the allele numbers (r=0.21) so also between repeat numbers and PIC (r=0.11). The PIC also revealed the comparative genetic diversity from three sub-regions in Africa; West Africa, North East and Central Africa and Southern Africa with thirteen accessions each. West African accessions were the most diverse with a PIC value of 4.4310, showing the greatest genetic diversity and most likely the center of origin of cultivated cowpea. Keywords: Cowpea, dendrogram, genetic diversity, polymorphism, simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. African Journal of Biotechnology , Vol 13(31) 3464-3472


While brown dwarfs show similarities to stars early in their lives, their spin evolutions are much more akin to those of planets. We have used light curves from the K2 mission to measure new rotation periods for 18 young brown dwarfs in the Taurus star-forming region. Our sample spans masses from 0.02 to 0.08 M⊙ and has been characterized extensively in the past. To search for periods, we utilize three different methods (autocorrelation, periodogram, Gaussian processes). The median period for brown dwarfs with disks is twice as long as for those without (3.1 versus 1.6 days), a signature of rotational braking by the disk, albeit with small numbers. With an overall median period of 1.9 days, brown dwarfs in Taurus rotate slower than their counterparts in somewhat older (3–10 Myr) star-forming regions, consistent with spin-up of the latter due to contraction and angular momentum conservation, a clear sign that disk braking overall is inefficient and/or temporary in this mass domain. We confirm the presence of a linear increase of the typical rotation period as a function of mass in the substellar regime. The rotational velocities, when calculated forward to the age of the solar system, assuming angular momentum conservation, fit the known spin–mass relation for solar system planets and extra-solar planetary-mass objects. This spin–mass trend holds over six orders of magnitude in mass, including objects from several different formation paths. Our result implies that brown dwarfs by and large retain their primordial angular momentum through the first few Myr of their evolution.


Technical advances in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) have had huge impact on the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD). Current guidelines recommend drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation as the standard care in CAD patients (1). However, even the newest generation DES have intrinsic limitations, such as the persistent risk of late stent failure, delayed chronic inflammation due to the polymer or metal components of stent, and loss of physiologic vasomotor function induced by the metal cage. Recently, BVS have emerged as an innovative tool to overcome the long-term complications of DESs. By applying a temporary scaffold, BVS provides adequate radial support to seal dissection, limit acute recoil and constrictive remodeling, whilst restoring normal vascular function after absorption.


The National Football League that celebrated its first Super Bowl in 1967 bore scant resemblance to the league of its obscure origins. In its earliest years, the league was a ragtag collection of locally supported small-town teams that generated attention only in the locales in which they played, if they were lucky. Many teams received no support at all. Only after enduring a slow, often treacherous, journey did the enterprise of professional football reach its position as the king of the sports world by the late 1960s.In From Sandlots to the Super Bowl, Craig R. Coenen recounts the NFL s ascension from a cash-strapped laughingstock to a perennial autumn obsession for millions of sports fans. It offers an in-depth summary of the NFL s early years and its struggles to build an identity. This book shows how the fledgling NFL of the 1920s and 1930s attempted to build support both on a local and national scale. Considered a sport of hooligans and lower-class athletes, professional football paled in comparison to the reputations of competing sports such as college football and professional baseball. Even more difficult for the league, developing civic support for franchises proved an almost impossible task. Teams would spring up and disappear overnight, generating hardly any notice among sports fans.Coenen shows how the league s survival depended on small town franchises being able to tap into the civic pride and larger economic interests of nearby, growing urban centers. This book also details how the league faced challenges from rival leagues, the government, and at times, itself. Finally, it documents how the NFL mastered the use of new technologies like television to market itself, generate new revenue, and secure its financial future.This book approaches the history of the National Football League not only with stats and scores but with what happened beyond the gridiron. Starting in Canton and Massillon and ending in Los Angeles with Super Bowl I, From Sandlots to the Super Bowl offers an entertaining and absorbing look at the first five decades of America s most popular professional sport."


Memo to: Prime Minister Paul MartinSubject: International economic policy for a new Liberal governmentDate: 1 December 2003Action plan: Liberal internationalism needs a championIt is presumptuous, sir, to offer advice to someone who has been as intimately involved in the making of international economic policy as you have been over the last decade and who knows more about it than any of the 19 men and one woman who preceded you in the office you are about to hold. But advice has been requested and so advice is forthcoming.The approach you take to international economic policy depends on the approach you take to being prime minister. We should probably assume, as the press does, that you have essentially one term in office. You may run for and win re-election, but by then you will be nearing 70 and speculation about the succession will be rife (a syndrome you know well). The question you must ask yourself--and presumably have asked yourself many times--is what kind of prime minister you want to be. Do you want to aim for greatness? Or, assuming for the moment that these are mutually exclusive, do you simply want to improve things, to leave Canadian life better when you leave office than it is today?In its flagship magazine, Policy Options politiques, the Institute for Research on Public Policy recently ranked the prime ministers of the last 50 years.(1) Although in its current incarnation the IRPP is hardly a hotbed of liberalism (or Liberalism), and although the 30 persons polled included small-c conservatives such as David Bercuson, Daniel Schwanen, and Thomas Courchene (as well as farther-left types such as Desmond Morton, Mark Starowicz and Antonia Maioni), the prime minister who ranked highest in the poll was Lester Pearson. On a 10-point scale based on performance in managing the federation and encouraging unity, fostering economic growth and fiscal responsibility, promoting Canada's role in the world and furthering social policy, Pearson averaged 7.5 points. In second place came Brian Mulroney, with 6.6 points, followed by Pierre Trudeau (6.0 points), Louis St. Laurent (6.8 points),(2) your immediate predecessor (6.1 points) and John Diefenbaker (4.7 points).The IRPP panel was also asked to categorize each prime minister's leadership as "transformational," "transitional" or "transactional." Note well, sir: the prime ministers who ranked first, second and third were all regarded as "transformational." Twenty-two panelists categorized Mr. Pearson that way, 23 Mr. Mulroney and 24 Mr. Trudeau. By contrast, among the bottom three, only four panelists thought Mr. St. Laurent was "transformational," only two thought Mr. Diefenbaker was, and not a single panelist--not one--thought your immediate predecessor was "transformational." That may be unfair to that gentleman. Taking the country (with your assistance, of course, sir) back to a world in which federal deficits are beyond the pale politically may in time be regarded as a transformational achievement, and so may the Plan A/Plan B response to the near-death experience of the second Quebec referendum, which for the moment seems to have dealt separatism a body blow. Be that as it may, the larger message from the ranking is that to shine in history prime ministers must be "transformational." Mr. Pearson was transformational with the maple leaf flag, the BB Mr. Trudeau gave us a patriated constitution and a charter of rights; and Mr. Mulroney brought us free trade with the United States, though his proposed constitutional reforms were a transformation too far.One plausible response to such a ranking is to reject it out of hand. The job of a prime minister is not necessarily to do things so big even the most myopic historian can see them but to provide better lives for Canadians. No doubt our transformational prime ministers thought the big changes they sought would do that. …


The potential power of Africa is undisputed. The continent is home to a large, young population and is a potential economic powerhouse in the world. In order to realise its full potential, the African Union (AU) must guide the continent. The AU, has however, repeatedly faltered in this regard. The implementation mechanisms of the AU seem to be its Achilles' heel. The AU suffers no shortage of well-formulated policies; instead it suffers from a chronic inability to follow up on these policies. This paper maps the formation of the AU, the promise it held and the factors that limit the ability of the AU to implement its programs and policies. The paper then briefly examines the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) looking at the problems of implementation it has faced and how these may be


The debate surrounding the use of subjective measures of well-being for policy purposes has intensified in recent years. Many social scientists are arguing that the time is right for policymakers to extend their traditional focus on material well-being and economic development to include the impact policies have on how people think and feel about their lives. However, policymakers may have many legitimate goals beyond making people happy. In this article, we begin by presenting three archetypal accounts of well-being that policymakers could use to guide policy (mental-state, objective-list, and desire-fulfillment accounts) and discussing some of the normative and methodological limitations of each. We discuss how a subjective (mental-state) approach could be used to aid the achievement of objective-list and desire-fulfillment policy goals. We then consider ways in which a subjective approach may benefit policymakers in its own right, such as by aiding the valuation of hard-to-quantify costs and benefits, providing a standard unit of measurement for comparisons of well-being across domains, and helping to set policy defaults. We conclude with a discussion of some of the remaining measurement issues and general policy implications.


This paper is intended to be a chapter in a forthcoming "Second Edition" of John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in one single edition in 1936. The Second Edition is being edited by Geoffrey Harcourt and Peter Riach and will contain contributions by 30 or 40 authors. It is to be published by Routledge, it is hoped in 1996, the 60th birthday of the great book. Most of the contributions correspond to the chapters of the original book, and others are essays about the book or natural extensions of it. The chapter of the Second Edition I was asked to write might be regarded as a revision of Keynes's Chapter 18, "The General Theory of Employment Restated," but it is meant to be more inclusive and may appear as a preface or conclusion to the Second Edition. Each of the proposed revised chapters of The General Theory is meant to be what the 1994 author thinks Keynes would have written if he had had the time and health to prepare a revised edition by 1946. This revision, written as if by Keynes some fifty years ago, is Part I of a Second Edition chapter. In part II the modern author gives his or her own view of the state of the topic in the 1990s. Those are the functions of Parts I and II of my paper. It is a daunting task to take on the role of Keynes. It's presumptuous too. I know I can't write, either in content or style, as Keynes would have done. I have not tried to be a close scholar of the Keynes papers, inferring from them what his own second edition in the 1940s would have said. Although I have stuck close to the essential themes of 1936, as I understand them, I am sure that much of what I have written is colored by what I would like a second edition prepared by Keynes himself to have said. In Part II I discuss changes in Keynesian theory suggested by events in the world and in professional macroeconomics since World War II, and I argue that Keynes still has the better of the big debate.


OBJECTIVE To test the association of regional fat depots with circulating adiponectin and resistin concentrations and to assess the potential mediating effect of adipokines on associations between abdominal fat depots and cardiometabolic risk factors. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Participants from the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort (n = 916, 55% women; mean age 59 years) free of cardiovascular disease underwent computed tomography measurement of visceral adipose tissue (VAT), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), pericardial fat, and intrathoracic fat volumes and assays of circulating adiponectin and resistin. RESULTS VAT, SAT, pericardial fat, and intrathoracic fat were negatively correlated with adiponectin (r = −0.19 to −0.34, P < 0.001 [women]; r = −0.15 to −0.26, P < 0.01 [men] except SAT) and positively correlated with resistin (r = 0.16–0.21, P < 0.001 [women]; r = 0.11–0.14, P < 0.05 [men] except VAT). VAT increased the multivariable model R2 for adiponectin from 2–4% to 10–13% and for resistin from 3–4% to 3–6%. Adjustment for adipokines did not fully attenuate associations between VAT, SAT, and cardiometabolic risk factors. CONCLUSIONS Adiponectin and resistin are correlated with fat depots cross-sectionally, but none of the adipokines can serve as surrogates for the fat depots. Relations between VAT, SAT, and cardiometabolic risk factors were not fully explained by adiponectin or resistin concentrations.


This article contributes to a growing body of research on the police reforms in Scotland. It examines the particular place given to prevention in public policy and its impact on police practice. We show how public policy reconfigured the place and purpose of prevention for the police, with a focus on safety, wellbeing, and the prevention of harm. The research draws on qualitative data collected in four areas as part of a 4-year evaluation of the police reforms. We refine a public health typology of prevention and operationalize it empirically for the first time to analyse cases of innovative practice. We distinguish a pattern of prevention practice heavily weighted towards secondary prevention, focused predominantly on issues of crime and disorder. In fewer cases, the police applied primary and tertiary prevention, with a focus on vulnerability and harm. Looking in detail at two cases, we illustrate the importance of collaboration for the police, which created opportunities and brought additional resources and expertise to support new prevention approaches which had a significant impact on effectiveness. The police realized collaborative advantage through common aims, trust-building, and leadership. We do not suggest this demonstrates a transformation in police prevention; it illustrates successful police innovation, and identifies the potential to go further. The implications for policy and practice are to recognize the value to the police of investing in new partnerships. They create opportunities for the police to collaborate, innovate, and focus more sharply on the prevention of harm.


There is a deep need within humans to be in contact with animals and feeding has arisen as a means of achieving this as well as fostering a sense of nurture and even assistance to wild animals. In tourism situations feeding is frequently used in order to enhance visitor satisfaction through delivering a good sighting and close contact as well as through improved opportunities to photograph wildlife. Wildlife feeding activities comprise one or a combination of being inadvertent and accidental, a result of deliberate habitat modification to attract wildlife, unstructured, namely the intentional provisioning of food for wildlife without any form of management or structured where wildlife are deliberately fed via formal supervised arrangement. All of these situations have the potential to have both positive and negative impacts on wildlife. Recognised advantages of intentional feeding can be divided into two categories. The first relates to visitor experience and tourism product while the second involves animal welfare issues. Potential and realised problems associated with the feeding of wildlife include habituation and attraction, disruption of normal activities, increased aggregation of animals at feeding sites and nutritional problems. Management strategies aim to control access, visitor numbers, the nature and quality of provisioned food and the educational value of the viewing experience. Management styles cater for different circumstances and include wild bird feeding operations, wildlife restaurants, structured fish feeding and highly managed dolphin feeding. All of these involve a specific feeding area, controls over the feeding activity and educational programmes. It seems that on, a global scale, birds appear the most suitable candidates for structured feeding operations. Caution must be exercised in developing a feeding situation for tourism purposes and be subject to review in the light of new information on the benefits or otherwise of the feeding situation. Feeding operations should also be based upon the fostering of respect and appreciation of natural values and not entertainment.


In the present study we have investigated the capacity of various compounds sterically related to indolo[3,2-b]carbazole to inhibit specific 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro[1,6-3H]dibenzo-p-dioxin binding in rat liver cytosol, as analyzed by electrofocusing in polyacrylamide gels. When the two nitrogen atoms of indolo[3,2-b]carbazole (IC50 = 3.6 nM) were replaced with sulfur atoms, the affinity for the specific binding sites (IC50 = 3.3 nM) was similar to that of the parent compound, whereas the affinity decreased when the two nitrogen atoms were replaced with oxygen atoms (IC50 = 29 nM). Substitution with methyl groups at positions 5 and 11 (on the nitrogens) of indolo[3,2-b]carbazole resulted in increased affinity (IC50 = 1.2 nM), compared with that of the parent compound, whereas dimethylation at the 4,10- or 2,8-positions decreased the affinity (IC50 = 19 nM and IC50 > 150 nM, respectively). Substitution at positions 5 and 11 of indolo[3,2-b]carbazole with substituents larger than methyl, as in 5,11-diethylindolo[3,2-b]carbazole (IC50 = 8.9 nM), diacetylindolo[3,2-b]carbazole (IC50 = 11.2 nM), 5,11-dibutylindolo[3,2-b]carbazole (IC50 > 150 nM), and 5,11-di(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl)indolo[3,2-b]carbazole (IC50 > 1500 nM), also decreased the affinity. Introduction of oxygen in, or hydroxylation of, the middle ring of indolo[3,2-b]carbazole, giving indolo[3,2-b]carbazole-6,12-quinone (IC50 > 150 nM) or 6,12-dihydroxyindolo[3,2-b]carbazole (IC50 > 1500 nM), respectively, also lowered the affinity. We calculated the Gibbs free energy of solvation of the analogue isoquino[3,4-b]phenanthridine (IC50 = 137 nM), relative to that of dibenz[a,h]anthracene (IC50 = 2.5 nM), in water to be -6 kcal/mol by free energy perturbation, which indicates that the most important explanation for the observed difference in binding affinity is the smaller difference in relative free energy of binding at the binding sites, compared with the Gibbs free energy of solvation of the two compounds.


This paper deals with the problem of identifying and estimating dynamical parameters of continuous-time quantum open systems, in the input-output formalism. First, we characterise the space of identifiable parameters for ergodic dynamics, assuming full access to the output state for arbitrarily long times, and show that the equivalence classes of undistinguishable parameters are orbits of a Lie group acting on the space of dynamical parameters. Second, we define an information geometric structure on this space, including a principal bundle given by the action of the group, as well as a compatible connection, and a Riemannian metric based on the quantum Fisher information of the output. We compute the metric explicitly in terms of the Markov covariance of certain "fluctuation operators", and relate it to the horizontal bundle of the connection. Third, we show that the system-output and reduced output state satisfy local asymptotic normality, i.e. they can be approximated by a Gaussian model consisting of coherent states of a multimode continuos variables system constructed from the Markov covariance "data". We illustrate the result by working out the details of the information geometry of a physically relevant two-level system.


Abstract The phenomenon of missing migrants, including victims of enforced disappearance, presents exceptional challenges due to its specific features and transnational scope. This article analyzes the case of missing and disappeared migrants in Mexico and illustrates the obstacles faced by their families, mostly residing in Central America, in their efforts to establish the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones and to obtain justice and redress. The article describes the process which led to the establishment of three mechanisms – a Forensic Commission, an Investigative Unit on Crimes against Migrants and an External Mechanism of Support for Search and Investigation – that aim at providing innovative responses and tackling the transnational dimension of the issue. The first significant achievements are presented, along with the remaining pitfalls.


A probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) determines the probability rate of exceeding of various levels of ground motion in a specified period of time, in a given area. On the other hand, the neo-deterministic seismic hazard assessment (NDSHA) is based on modeling techniques, developed from physical knowledge of the seismic source process and of the propagation of seismic waves, which can realistically simulate the ground motion due to an earthquake by means of synthetic seismograms. The NDSHA confirms that peak ground acceleration values are larger than those given by the PSHA in areas where large earthquakes are observed and in areas identified as prone to large earthquakes, such as in the case of the city of Catania (Italy). The city of Catania, located on the eastern part of Sicily, is one of the most seismically active areas of Italy. The Val di Noto earthquake of January 11, 1693 is considered one of the biggest earthquakes which occurred in Italy. Site response analyses have been developed for a group of 3 test sites in the city of Catania (Italy). On the sites are localised some strategic buildings to upgrade against seismic risk. The analysis of seismic ground response at the sites was conducted using a numerical method, which is developed in three main phases: the definition of the geometric, geological and geotechnical model of the subsurface, the definition of the seismic input (synthetic or recorded), the choice of one or more computer codes to use and process the results. The reconstruction of the geological and geotechnical model of the subsurface has highlighted a morphology quite irregular especially with regard to the covers.  One-dimensional local site response analyses have been performed assuming that all geologic boundaries are horizontal and the response of soil deposits is predominantly caused by waves propagating vertically from the underlying bedrock. Equivalent linear analysis using EERA code has been performed in this study. One of the targets of the paper is the development of measures for the seismic retrofitting of buildings. Seismic retrofitting and/or improving have to be definitely considered a multidisciplinary subject, which depends in fact on many factors, such as: local site effects and the dynamic interaction between the foundation soil and the structure. The accurate investigation on the structure and the surrounding soil is the first fundamental step for a realistic evaluation of the structure seismic performance.


Abstract This paper describes the research of psychosocial learning environments in post-secondary distance education using a recently validated survey instrument--the Distance Education Learning Environment Survey (DELES). The instrument validation data and study results are presented. Introduction Distance education has become a firmly embedded component of the higher education landscape in the last decade. Networked digital communication has facilitated an explosive growth in this relatively new method of reaching learning populations to the point that the higher education trend to produce distance education courses and programs has been referred to as a "land rush" (Molenda and Harris 2001, 6) to get online. However, at the same time many distance education classes and seminars are modelled after a traditional face-to-face, instructor-centred, deductive perspective of teaching (Diaz 2000; Palloff and Pratt, 1999). In light of the fissure between how education is classically delivered and what we know about how people learn (Palloff and Pratt, 1999) the question at hand becomes; "what leads to successful teaching and learning in distance education?" When teaching and learning leave the classroom and enter an electronic environment a new education paradigm must be adopted to facilitate successful distance education students. These successful students lend credence to that which makes higher education unique. "In this new e-learning environment there is no viable option for the university to do as it has always done. To do so will be to become more and more marginalised" (Spender 2001, 25). Given that, if we consider the human factor as a critical component of distance education, then the role of people in the distance education environment is essential to the development of a high functioning distance education class (Palloff and Pratt 1999). Computer-mediated distance education classes have a distinctive social structure unlike those found in a face-to-face class. For example, there are idiosyncratic differences in how students interact and collaborate online and how one maintains "presence" in online classroom environments (Hughes et al. 2002; Picciano 2002). This social structure has a strong impact on students' learning and the method by which the class should be presented in the digital world (Swan 2001). Distance and social class play a limited role in student interaction, which is advantageous to asynchronous distance education. Social interaction is limited only by time and access. In the asynchronous distance education setting, participants can become a part of a social milieu with anyone who has access to a computer. "Connections are made through sharing of ideas and thoughts" (Pallof and Pratt 1999, 15). It is through presence, personal relationships, and interactions between participants that learning is developed. The environment of the asynchronous distance education classroom is quite different than that of a face-to-face class and must be cultivated in order for it to be effective. In more familiar face-to-face classrooms the environment's press--the directional influence that the environment has on one's behaviour--can be established through visual cues, tone of voice, volume of voice, one's attractiveness, or ethnic/racial diversity. Factors such as these do not typically exist in asynchronous distance education. An area of study distinctively missing from the body of research related to distance education involves learning environments and what types of environments are successful. This investigation was designed to consider the character of the post-secondary distance education environment in terms of what researchers and practitioners find influential. This is an introduction to a larger body of work. Background and Theory Learning Environments Research The term learning environment carries with it a variety of meanings. It has been used to indicate a type of learning task (Tynjala 1999) and to denote virtual spaces found in computer applications and on the Internet (Gibbs 1999). …


ABSTRACT This article develops a theory – rooted in the experience of the African National Congress in South Africa – to explain how, and why, a dominant political party is less likely to conduct orderly elections to select its political leadership. First, I demonstrate that canny party leaders – operating in the space between a divided society and a weak state – make an ideological turn to a "congress-like" political party, which is clever (in the short term) because it provides party leaders with an in-built electoral majority. It is, however, also a dangerous manoeuvre because it essentially endogenizes social competition for state resources inside the dominant party. This displacement of social competition away from the public sphere towards the partisan organization increases the likelihood of disorderly competition for party candidacies. Second, I demonstrate how this competition need not necessarily become the basis of violent competition inside the dominant party. The party leadership can use intra-party elections to stabilize competition, but only if the party invests in an organization that applies impartially the rules that govern the election.


Mobile communication systems have revolutionized in order to fulfill exponentially increasing data traffic volume due to the introductio n of new devices such as smartphones and tablets and success of social networking service s. Evolving cellular networks include emerging technologies such as Software-Defined Net work (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). SDN is an emerging network a chitecture that allows dynamic and flexible network operations with centralized cont r ller. NFV addresses the problem of a large and increasing number of hardware applian ces and focuses on optimizing the network services themselves. With SDN and NFV, ce llular networks are able to provide more flexible and agile management that can better align and support the mobile users. In this dissertation, we address location management and ha ndover to reduce data traffic toward the core network and to reduce energy consumpt ion. Location management iii is a key control task in cellular network operations. We prop ose and develop an efficient group location management scheme as a virtualized network f unction for group cellular applications. The performance improvement is mainly achie ved by the virtualized and separate group management architecture and an efficient dyn amic group profiling algorithm. We conduct theoretical analyses of our scheme for sig naling costs and performance gains under diverse traffic conditions. Furthermore, we car ry out extensive evaluations using both real traces and synthetic human mobility data, and w e validate the efficiency of the proposed scheme in both location updates and paging. Moreover, in order to tackle the issues of mounting deployme nts and large energy consumption of base stations, it is integral to devise schem es to improve energy efficiency in cellular networks. We propose a virtualized network func tion of cell management on an SDN architecture. We develop a cell management algorithm on the architecture that can effectively control the sleep and awake modes of base statio ns and perform handover operations in a cellular network. It provides significant be nefits over current cellular networks that suffer from inflexible management and complex control. Our extensive trace-driven evaluation results show that the proposed con trol architecture and the cell management algorithm achieve significant energy savings, a d incur less control message exchanges, more cells in a sleep mode for longer durations, a nd less cell status changes than existing energy saving approaches for cellular networ ks.


Objective. The main objective of this paper is to review the literature on the term 'Black African' with respect to a number of themes: its use in the census and official data collections; the acceptability of a colour-based term; the heterogeneity concealed within the 'Black African' collectivity; the invisibility of distinct populations; the concealment of disparities in health, health care, and determinants; the capture of 'Black Africans' in other countries; and a set of possible alternatives for classifying this population. Design. Structured searches were undertaken on a wide range of government and other grey literature sources and on two biomedical databases (Medline and EMBASE), using combinations of search terms for the collectivity and specific national origin groups. Results. Analyses of the data show that the term 'Black African' conceals substantial heterogeneity with respect to national origins, religion, and language. It includes many who have come to the UK since the 1960s from former colonies but also sizeable groups arriving as refugees and asylum seekers from a wide range of African countries. Moreover, its boundaries are fuzzy, especially with regard to those originating in Horn of Africa countries. Marked variations are found in the (albeit limited) available disaggregated data on health and the determinants of inequalities. Conclusions. Given the substantial increase in the size of the group, the extent to which such heterogeneity can continue to be tolerated in a single term must be questioned. The 'Black African' collectivity merits categorisation that addresses this issue and the proposed regional subdivisions in the Scotland 2006 Census Test currently offer the best solution.


Why is it that children, who enter school at age 5 filled with excitement and wonder about the world, often become bored with education before their teenage years? How might the United States produce a more engaging education system, one that allows a child with a specific fascination to explore that interest in depth as an integral part of his or her early education? Here I sketch a possible plan based on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) awards that would be largely earned through student activities outside of school.


Patient: Male, 27 Final Diagnosis: Recurrent epistaxis Symptoms: Nasal bleeding Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Pediatrics and Neonatology Objective: Congenital defects/diseases Background: Recurrent epistaxis is a common disorder among children and young adults. We report an unusual cause, intranasal supernumerary tooth causing friction with Little's area of the nasal septum. Case Report: A 22-year-old male presented with recurrent, mild, unilateral left-sided epistaxis once to twice per month for 3 years. This usually occurred after minor nasal trauma or rubbing his nose. The patient also suffered from recurrent tonsillitis. There was neither history of blood transfusion or nasal packing, nor a history suggestive of bleeding diathesis. Anterior rhinoscopy revealed ivory white nasal mass antero-inferiorly in the left nasal cavity touching Little's area. There was no bleeding. Nasal endoscopy showed a white cylindrical bony mass 1 cm long arising from the floor of the nose, with no attachment to the nasal septum or the lateral wall of the nose. Examination of the right nasal cavity was unremarkable. Conclusions: Nasal teeth result from the ectopic eruption of supernumerary teeth and may cause a variety of symptoms including recurrent epistaxis. Their clinical and radiologic presentation is so characteristic that their diagnosis is not difficult. CT scan is helpful in planning management. Early extraction prevents further complications and prevents further attacks of epistaxis.