Psychological sense of community provides a sense of belonging, identity, emotional connection, and wellbeing. There are many positives that result from people experiencing and perceiving a sense of community. People are better adjusted, feel supported, have connections to other people and to goals that are above and beyond their own limited areas, and have stronger levels of social support and social connectedness. A strong sense of community acts as a buffer against threats, provides a place in which to express our identities, and helps us deal with changes in our world.

In this book, the authors have explored a series of different types of communities - moving from the basic idea of those based at a specific location all the way to virtual communities of the internet. The ways in which the communities operate, positively and negatively, what people get out of them and what they have to put into them, and the notion of being members of more than one community at the one time are considered.

Sense of community is a topic that captures the attention of people from all types of backgrounds. So, contributors from fields such as community psychology, clinical areas, community development, and urban planning have added their insights and knowledge. A key feature of this book is the research focus that emphasizes the theory-driven analysis and the diversity of contexts in which sense of community is applied. This book will make a significant contribution to our understanding of life in communities and to people's sense of community. It will be of great interest to those concerned with understanding various forms of community and how communities can be mobilized to achieve wellbeing.


Plasma is the fourth and least understood state of matter. A more complete understanding of this state of matter has numerous practical applications, including fusion energy, space travel, materials synthesis, and thin film deposition. As such, there is an obvious motivation to study this state. To do this, we have constructed a radio-frequency plasma device at Illinois Wesleyan University. I have developed a data acquisition using LabVIEW software that can digitize eight analog signals, saving the data to disk for later analysis. I have also written analysis software using LabVIEW to extract meaningful information from Langmuir Probe Trace.


The line width of a well-stabilized laser operating far above threshold is determined by random fluctuations of the phase. This paper discusses several types of experiments which can give information about the details of this phase random process. In order to study the laser phase noise experimentally the laser signal (containing phase noise only) must be passed through some type of interferometer which will convert the phase noise to intensity noise. The various properties of this derived intensity noise which may then be determined are its probability density, first and second moments, autocorrelation function, and spectrum. These measurable quantities depend on two factors; the first and more fundamental is the joint probability distribution for the change in phase in a given time. The second factor is the manner of operation of the interferometer in changing phase to intensity noise. We discuss both two-beam and multiple-beam interferometers and derive theoretical expressions for the above-mentioned properties of the output intensity fluctuations. It is interesting that although in both cases the output intensity fluctuations are nongaussian random processes, it is nevertheless possible to derive a number of useful theoretical results.


In this paper, we address the architecture of multistandard simultaneous reception receivers and we aim to reduce the complexity of the analog front-end. To this end we propose an architecture using the double orthogonal translation technique in order to multiplex two signals received on different frequency bands. A study case concerning the simultaneous reception of 802.11g and UMTS signals is developed in this article. Theoretical and simulation results show that this type of multiplexing does not significantly influence the evolution of the signal to noise ratio of the signals.


Effective estuarine management depends on adequate data about the ecology, extent and biodiversity of component habitats. However, these data are often scant, as exemplified by the Port Stephens estuary, part of the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park (NSW, Australia), for which even basic descriptions of habitat types and extent are lacking. Herein we present the results of the first quantitative assessment of subtidal benthic communities within the estuary, involving 130km of towed video transects over an area exceeding 50km2. We identified previously undocumented macroalgae-dominated habitat types and found strong correlations between habitat types and depth. The soft coral Dendronephthya australis habitat is of particular interest because this was found to occur exclusively outside current sanctuary (no take) zones. The habitat map of Port Stephens generated during the study provides the basis for more objective representative planning in future iterations of zoning in the estuarine section of the marine park. The study also suggests that depth may be a useful proxy for estuarine habitat types where specific data are lacking. The classification methodology developed during the study was cost-effective, generated robust data and consequently has potential for wider application in other large estuarine bays.


A network concept is introduced that exploits transparent optical grooming of traffic between an access network and a metro core ring network. This network is enabled by an optical router that allows bufferless aggregation of metro network traffic into higher-capacity data streams for core network transmission. A key functionality of the router is WDM to time-division multiplexing (TDM) transmultiplexing.


When markets are incomplete, shareholders typically disagree on the firm's optimal investment plan. This article studies the shareholders' preferences with respect to the firm's investment in a model with aggregate risk, incomplete markets and heterogeneous households who trade in firms' shares instead of directly accumulating physical capital. If the production function exhibits constant returns to scale and borrowing limits are not binding, a firm's shareholders unanimously agree on its optimal level of investment. In contrast, with binding borrowing constraints, constrained shareholders prefer a higher level of investment than unconstrained ones.


For decades, "defensive medicine" has been the leading argument driving reforms of medical malpractice laws throughout the United States. Defensive medicine is the presumed practice of administering excessive tests and treatments as a stratagem for reducing healthcare providers' risk of malpractice liability, despite the absence of any expected benefit for the patient. The practice is widely believed to exist throughout American healthcare as a response to fears of malpractice litigation, and thought to be enormously wasteful of healthcare dollars. In consequence, it has become a justification for law reforms insulating the healthcare industry from tort liability. These claims are promoted by the healthcare industry even though they imply that most providers routinely engage in healthcare fraud and violate their own ethical rules. We review the evidence behind these beliefs — including direct physician surveys, clinical scenario studies, and multivariate analyses of actual case data — and find little support and numerous paradoxes. The validity vel non of the defensive medicine narrative has implications for law and legal policy, as well as healthcare economics and patient safety.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze customers' perceptions about brand personality in different cultural environments, checking if the archetypal framework of Mark and Pearson (2001) applies to different brands across countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors measured consumers' perceptions in different cultural contexts through a survey, and received 537 valid questionnaires from Portugal, Brazil, Colombia and Peru, countries that have some similar indicators of cultural proximity. The authors wanted to verify if the words and sentences that respondents related to each brand were coherent with the archetype/brand, and the homogeneity of the results in different cultural contexts.

Findings

Empirical evidence shows that there is proximity between the literature review and the associations – words and sentences – that consumers from different countries make with those brands. This consistency of results is significantly higher for word associations.

Originality/value

Regardless of the results, the perceptions of consumers expressed through the selected words were often diverse and heterogeneous among countries. This could possibly indicate insufficient efforts from global brands toward a coherent brand personality/global-archetypal approach. Therefore, managing brand personality deserves more attention and marketers must understand consumer behavior patterns in different markets.


A Toothy Problem Large mammalian herbivores such as horses and bison are well known to possess a complex, grinding dentition that facilitates processing of their tough, cellulose-rich plant diet. Hadrosaurid, or duck-billed, dinosaurs also possessed complex teeth, but how this was achieved has been unknown because reptiles typically possess simple teeth. Erickson et al. (p. 98) show how Hadrosaurs evolved teeth composed of six tissues, which allowed for the development of tooth complexity rivaling, or exceeding, that of modern herbivorous mammals. The teeth in duck-billed dinosaurs were as functionally refined as those of present-day mammals. Mammalian grinding dentitions are composed of four major tissues that wear differentially, creating coarse surfaces for pulverizing tough plants and liberating nutrients. Although such dentition evolved repeatedly in mammals (such as horses, bison, and elephants), a similar innovation occurred much earlier (~85 million years ago) within the duck-billed dinosaur group Hadrosauridae, fueling their 35-million-year occupation of Laurasian megaherbivorous niches. How this complexity was achieved is unknown, as reptilian teeth are generally two-tissue structures presumably lacking biomechanical attributes for grinding. Here we show that hadrosaurids broke from the primitive reptilian archetype and evolved a six-tissue dental composition that is among the most sophisticated known. Three-dimensional wear models incorporating fossilized wear properties reveal how these tissues interacted for grinding and ecological specialization.


We give ruler and compass constructions of three Archimedean cir- cles in an arbelos, each with the endpoints of a diameter on the smaller semi- circles. In the first case, the diameter contains the intersection of the defining smaller semicircles of the arbelos. In the second case, these endpoints are the intersections of the smaller semicircles with the lines joining the endpoints of the base of the arbelos to a fixed point on the dividing perpendicular line. In the third case, the diameter containing these endpoints is parallel to the base line of the arbelos.


About 96,000 snow depth and 17,000 snow density measurements were used to study the most widely used variable in snowmelt forecasting, the degree-day factor. This data was collected on 12 stake stations each with 25 stakes in forest and 9 on open field during 1959 to 1978. The seasonal averages of degree-day factor are studied; they vary rather widely from station to station. The average for all forest sites is 2.42 mm°dC−1d−1 and for all open sites 3.51 mm°C−1d−1. A 10 per cent increase of canopy cover in forest decreases the degree-day factor on the average by 0.16 mm°C−1d−1. On rainy pentades the degree-day factor is larger especially in forest sites. Finally, the seasonal course of the degree-day factor and its dependance on snow density are discussed.


Agricultural mechanics instruction includes a broad array of machinery, structures, and technical systems, as well as a diverse workforce. Virtually every aspect of agriculture has a mechanics component and a large portion of secondary agriscience curriculum is devoted specifically to teaching agricultural mechanics. Further, the agricultural mechanics laboratory provides students with an opportunity to learn through authentic learning scenarios. The purpose of this research is to investigate Missouri high school agricultural mechanics students' safety knowledge and safety attitudes. Researchers identified an increase in female students enrolling in agricultural mechanics coursework. This study also concludes students perceive they receive minimal training, access, and/or use of hearing and air quality PPE. It was concluded the factors of age, gender, semesters of agricultural mechanics courses, and agricultural education district have limited ability to explain differences in in student's PPE knowledge or PPE comfort. Moreover, researchers identified implications of changing demographics on PPE design and usability, both in the laboratory and the workplace. Future research should be conducted regarding PPE design, transfer of perceptions, and what PPE is needed by both teachers and students.


Courses in virtual learning environments can leave recently enrolled participants in a state of loneliness, confusion and boredom. . What course content is essential in the course, where can more information be found and which assignments are mandatory? Research has stated that learner control and motivation are crucial issues for successful online education. This paper presents and discusses visualisation as a channel to improve learner's control and understanding of programming concepts and gamification as a way to increase study motivation in virtual learning environments. Data has been collected by evaluation questionnaires and group discussions in two courses partly given in the Moodle virtual learning environment. One course is on Game based learning for Bachelor's programmes, the other is a course on e-learning for university teachers. Both the courses have used progress bars to visualise students' study paths and digital badges for gamification. Results have also been discussed with teachers and pedagogues at a department for computer and systems sciences. Furthermore, two visualisation prototypes have been designed, developed and evaluated in programming lectures. Findings indicate that visualisation by progress bars is a good way to improve course participants' overview in online environments with rich and multifaceted content. To what degree the visualisation facilitates the course completion is hard to estimate, and like students have different learning styles, they also seem to ha ve different visualisation needs. Gamification by digital badges seems to have various motivational impacts in different study groups and in traditional university programmes the traditional grades seem to be the main carrots. Finally, it seems that software visualisation might be a promising path to enhance programming education in the 21 st century.


It is now widely agreed that there is more to sustainable consumption than persuading individuals to make green their brand of choice. Instead, the focus is on how to understand the processes of change, particularly in relation to the transformation of inconspicuous habits. A dominant approach within sustainable consumption research suggests that changing embedded habits and practices requires making them visible and subject to overt decision-making and discussion. An alternative practice-based perspective suggests that enduring change emerges through the amplification of existing social orientations and does not necessarily depend upon explicit contestation and debate. We examine these positions with reference to a detailed study of changing outdoor domestic water consumption habits during the 2006 drought in south-east England. Our analysis of variable responses to the hosepipe ban leads us to suggest that the manner in which disruption generates change in consumption practices is mediated by pre-existing social orientations and by diverse configurations of garden infrastructures and water institutions.


This wide-ranging volume explores and examines the complex and nuanced relationship between elite and popular Christianity, focusing on the issue of how we should define these concepts, and how useful the distinction is for the history of Christianity. Topics covered include the meaning attached to baptism in sixth-century Spain, crusading ideology, medieval and Reformation religiosity, seating arrangements in eighteenth-century churches, the reception of visual media in modern American religion, and the use of 'pop' music in the Church of England. Taken together the essays in this volume challenge conventional understandings of a simple and sharp dichotomy between elite and popular religion, instead highlighting the ways in which participants from across the social spectrum could take part in a shared religious culture - albeit often for different reasons and with different resonances - and emphasising how elements of that culture were appropriated by different social groups. Contributors include David D'Avray, Eamon Duffy, David Brading, Sheridan Gilley, Trevor Johnson, David Morgan, and Eamonn O'Carrigan.


An application of a repairable system model for interval failure data with a time dependent covariate is examined. The performance of several models based on the NHPP when applied to real data on ball bearing failures is also explored. The best model for the data was selected based on results of the likelihood ratio test. The bootstrapping technique was applied to obtain the variance estimate for the estimated expected number of failures. Results demonstrate that the proposed model works well and is easy to implement, in addition the bootstrap variance estimate provides a simple substitute for the traditional estimate.


ABSTRACT:This essay argues that Andrea Dworkin's much derided argument against pornography may still prove productive if read in relation to her fiction. Taking note of the fact that Dworkin's own novels have been accused of being pornographic according to her criteria, the essay explores the possibility that her radical feminist anti-porn stance, inevitably described as something of a moralistic backlash by sex-liberals, could be seen as a continuation of the pornographic imagination it so vehemently protests. Through critical readings of Dworkin's novels Ice and Fire and Mercy, as well as her autobiographical works and theoretical writings on pornography, the essay demonstrates that the contradictions that beset her writings echo the contradictions inherent in our contemporary understanding of pornography. Much like the pornography she would resist, Dworkin's writings invite a solipsistic mode of reading, the experiential rewards of which are not so much of an interpretive as of a sensual nature. In so doing, Dworkin's fiction paradoxically proves an invaluable point of entry into the pornographic imagination, making evident its essentially monologic nature. While this circumstance may be damaging for her status as an agitator, it points to her continued—if as yet largely unacknowledged—importance as a writer.


Summary 1. Agri-environment schemes attempt to counteract the loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services such as pollination and natural pest control in agroecosystems. However, only a few studies have evaluated whether these attempts are successful. 2. We studied the effects of managing meadows according to the prescriptions of ecological compensation areas (ECA), the most widely adopted agri-environment scheme in Switzerland, on both pollinator species richness and abundance, and the reproductive success of plants in nearby intensively managed meadows (IM). 3. We established arrays of four pots, each containing individuals of three insectpollinated, non-autogamous 'phytometer' species ( Raphanus sativus , Hypochaeris radicata and Campanula glomerata ), in ECA and adjacent IM at increasing distances from the ECA at 13 sites. 4. Species richness and abundance of hoverflies, solitary bees and large-sized pollinators (mainly social bees and butterflies) were significantly higher in ECA than in adjacent IM. Species richness and abundance of small-sized pollinators in IM declined significantly with increasing distance from ECA, whereas large-sized pollinators were not significantly affected by distance. Plant species richness and flower abundance were the major drivers of pollinator species richness and abundance; the area of an ECA had no significant influence. 5. Individual plants of R. sativus and C. glomerata produced more and heavier seeds in ECA than in IM. Furthermore, the number of seeds of these two phytometer species was positively correlated with species richness and abundance of bees. No such effects were observed for individual plants of H. radicata . The number of fruits and seeds per plant of R. sativus in IM decreased with increasing distance from ECA. 6. Synthesis and applications. We conclude that establishing ECA is an effective method of enhancing both pollinator species richness and abundance and pollination services to nearby intensely managed farmland. Our study emphasizes the importance of connectivity between ECA in maintaining diverse pollinator communities and thereby providing pollination services in agricultural landscapes.


By the request of the authors, the following two research articles will be retracted from the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience: 1. Anderson, D. E., Ester, E. F., Klee, D., Vogel, E. K., & Awh, E. (2014). Electrophysiological evidence for failures of item individuation in crowded visual displays. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 26(10), 2298– 2309. https://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00649. 2. Anderson, D. E., Bell, T. A., & Awh, E. (2012). Polymorphisms in the 5-HTTLPR gene mediate storage capacity of visual working memory. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 24(5), 1069–1076. https://dx.doi. org/10.1162/jocn_a_00207. On August 1, 2015, the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) announced a settlement agreement with David E. Anderson, the Respondent (http://ori.hhs.gov/content/ case-summary-anderson-david). On the basis of the Respondent's admission and an analysis by the University of Oregon, ORI concluded that the Respondent had engaged in research misconduct by falsifying and/or fabricating data in four publications. Those publications were retracted immediately after the release of the ORI findings. Since that time, additional problems have been discovered with Article 1 above. Data points shown in Figure 8 were removed without justification and in contradiction to the analytic approach described in the methods and results. In light of this discovery and of the previous ORI findings, authors Bell and Awh no longer have confidence in the integrity of the data in Article 2. For these reasons, all authors on both articles (including the Respondent) have agreed to the retraction of Articles 1 and 2 above.


The pursuit of interdisciplinarity in the marine sciences is at last beginning to come into its own, but the kind of interdisciplinarity that bridges the social, human, health, and natural science realms remains rare. This article traces the evolution of my own history of interdisciplinarity from its early days when I worked in two disciplines, to the present when I have worked with many others to bring together the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and earth/ocean sciences in large projects that illuminate the interconnectedness of all these parts of knowledge acquisition. In the process, I have broadened my intellectual vision both in scope and scale, uncovering the many ways in which, quite pragmatically, the very local and the international are more tightly interconnected than is often realized, with all the implications for fisheries governance that that implies. This, then, is both a story and, I hope, a pathway to a rewarding way for young and middle-career fisheries scholars to pursue their research.


Castrate-resistant prostate cancer remains a major clinical challenge. Due to the toxicity profile of taxane-based chemotherapy and treatment failure in some patients, novel agents with improved efficacy to side effect profiles are urgently needed. Eg5, a member of the kinesin-5 family, controls the formation of the bipolar spindle during cell division, and suppressed Eg5 function leads to mitotic arrest. S-Trityl-l-cysteine (STLC) is a novel Eg5-specific small-molecule inhibitor. Here, we report the first study to evaluate its use in prostate cancer. In a panel of prostate cancer cells, LNCaP and PC3 cells were the most and least sensitive to STLC treatment, with a 7.2-fold difference in their respective GI50 values: 250 nmol/L and 1.8 μmol/L. In LNCaP cells, treatment with either STLC or docetaxel resulted in transient G2-M arrest and subsequent caspase-mediated cell death. However, STLC- and docetaxel-treated PC3M cells have distinct fates: STLC induced a transient G2-M arrest, followed by polyploidy; in contrast, docetaxel-treated PC3M cells progressed to apoptosis after a transient G2-M arrest. Docetaxel-resistant LNCaP-derived (LDocR) cells respond to STLC in a similar manner to the parental cells. Although the docetaxel-resistant PC3M-derived (PDocR) cell line and its parental PC3M cells have similar GI50 to STLC treatment, PDocR cells showed significantly more G2-M arrest and less apoptosis. Hence, although docetaxel-resistant prostate cancer cells remain responsive to Eg5 inhibition with STLC, there are key differences at the cell cycle level, which may have implication in future development. Mol Cancer Ther; 9(6); 1730–9. ©2010 AACR.


Self-reliance measures the capacity of a geographic area to produce the food needed by its population. While the importance of food self-reliance, at even the national scale, is debated, the concept remains useful for evaluating the capacity of local and regional food systems to meet current and future human food needs. Modeling can estimate the capacity of geographic areas to supply food to their own population, but such approaches may be mere academic exercises if not perceived as credible and useful to stakeholders. This paper reports on an effort to engage stakeholders in refining a model. Small groups of stakeholders were gathered in one-day workshops in four states to learn and provide feedback about two ways of modeling food systems: a simulation model of dietary land requirements and human carrying capacity (foodprint), and a spatial-optimization model of the potential for population centers to meet food needs locally (foodshed). Workshop participants engaged in small- and large-group discussions to critically assess the value of the models for food system planning and policy. Formal evaluation gauged the utility of the workshops as learning environments and the participants' opinions of the models as food system planning tools. Results indicate that the workshops successfully taught participants about the models and elicited feedback on the relevance of the models to food systems planning. However, assuring relevance and application of food system models in local and state planning will require a deeper level of engagement and a greater time commitment from both researchers and stakeholders than a one-day workshop can accomplish. Note: This paper is published under JAFSCD Open Choice , which allows papers to be published as freely accessible (not limited to JAFSCD subscribers) in perpetuity. The authors have paid a fee to make this access possible.


David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director, proclaimed the Small Business Administration a "billion-dollar waste - a rathole," and set out to abolish the agency. His scathing critique was but the latest attack on an agency better known as the "Small Scandal Administration." Loans to criminals, government contracts for minority "fronts," the classification of American Motors as a small business, Whitewater, and other scandals - the Small Business Administration has lurched from one embarrassment to another. Despite the scandals and the policy failures, the SBA thrives and small business remains a sacred cow in American politics. Part of this sacredness comes from the agency's longstanding record of pioneering affirmative action. Jonathan Bean reveals that even before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the SBA promoted African American businesses, encouraged the hiring of minorities, and monitored the employment practices of loan recipients. Under Nixon, the agency expanded racial preferences. During the Reagan administration, politicians wrapped themselves in the mantle of minority enterprise even as they denounced quotas elsewhere. Created by Congress in 1953, the SBA does not conform to traditional interpretations of interest-group democracy. Even though the public - and Congress - favors small enterprise, there has never been a unified group of small business owners requesting the government's help. Indeed, the SBA often has failed to address the real problems of "Mom and Pop" shop owners, fueling the ongoing debate about the agency's viability.


This article investigates the changing role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at organizational level with regard to the rise of Big Data and Big Data analytics as a potential source of innovation and competitive advantage. The paper aims to provide a theoretical contribution to the research stream on the topic, by further exploring the emergent properties and understandings related to the role of CIO. As a consequence of the need to adopt advanced technologies, the CIO has been named to master the current unheard information growth for business innovation. To this end we present the results of a qualitative research based on grounded theory carried out on data concerning CIOs of medium and large companies from different industries in the Italian market. Finally, a substantive theory and categories are discussed, showing the role of generation gap and power of new entrants as well as of project and execution excellence on the making of identity and recognition of the CIO as relevant at the time of Big Data analytics.


Pericles's apparent inferiority to Shakespeare's mature works raises many questions for scholars. Was Shakespeare collaborating with an inferior playwright or playwrights? Did he allow so many corrupt printed versions of his works after 1604 out of indifference? Re-dating Pericles from the Jacobean to the Elizabethan era answers these questions and reveals previously unexamined connections between topical references in Pericles and events and personalities in the court of Elizabeth I: John Dee, Philip Sidney, Edward de Vere, and many others. The tournament impresas, alchemical symbolism of the story, and its lunar and astronomical imagery suggest Pericles was written long before 1608. Finally, Shakespeare's focus on father-daughter relationships, and the importance of Marina, the daughter, as the heroine of the story, point to Pericles as written for a young girl. This thesis uses topical references, Shakespeare's anachronisms, Shakespeare's sources, stylometry and textual analysis, as well as Henslowe's diary, the Stationers' Register, and other contemporary documentary evidence to determine whether there may have been versions of Pericles circulating before the accepted date of 1608. I also delve into the printing and publication history of Pericles, as well as some stylometric analysis, to show how and why this probably early play might have been appropriated by victualler George Wilkins (1576-1618) and others, and revived to feed a growing demand for Shakespeare's works.


The fourteen chapters of this e-book examine Roman dance by looking at its role in Roman religion, by following it into the theatre and the banquet hall, and by tracing its (metaphorical) presence in a variety of literary contexts, including rhetorical treatises, biography, and lyric poetry. These different approaches, which draw on literary texts, inscriptions, documentary papyri, the visual record, and modern reperformances, converge in illustrating a rich and vibrant dance culture which prided itself on indigenous dances no less than on its capacity to absorb, transform, or revive the dance traditions of their Etruscan or Greek neighbours. Dance was a cultural practice which was able to affirm Romanness, for instance in the case of the Salian priests, but also to raise the question of what was Roman in the first place, for instance when the originally Greek pantomime was embraced by Augustus and came to be known as "Italian style of dancing". Together the fourteen case studies offer fresh perspectives on an underexplored topic, shedding light on the manifold contexts, functions, practitioners, and appreciations of Roman dance.


This dissertation has three goals. The first is to chart the artistic life of Pang Xunqin (1906-1985) and his art works from 1929 to 1946. Pang's metamorphosis from an aspiring young artist in Paris and Shanghai in the 1920s and 30s, into an artist in his own right, a graphic designer, an educator, and a scholar of the history of Chinese art and craft, while ceaselessly trying to renew himself - all this is a record that deserves an art historical recognition.

The second goal is to locate Pang Xunqin in the historiography of Chinese modern art in an attempt to problematize issues of inclusion and exclusion in the historiography of the field. The third goal, which is closely tied to the second, is to utilize post-colonial inquiries to explore myriad issues of non-Western modernism embodied in Pang Xunqin's case. Such issues include the divisions among the "traditionalists," the "academic realists," and the "modernists," colonial cosmopolitanism in the Shanghai of the 30s, and the appropriation of "primitivism" in the 40s. Attention also focuses on the issues of authenticity and "hybridity," Western orientalization of the East and self-orientalization by the East in cross-cultural encounters, and identity politics and nationalistic agendas in the construct of the guohua (national painting) and xihua (Western painting) divide. The post-colonial methodology employed here helps raise questions regarding the binary construct of tradition vs. modernity, the East vs. the West, the center vs. the periphery, and the global vs. the local.

By placing Pang Xunqin's case in its semi-colonial historical and transnational context and by engaging in dialogue with the recent rich scholarship on cultural and post-colonial critiques, in conjunction with a formal analysis of his paintings and designs, this dissertation offers not only a monographic study of Pang's artistic life but also a critical examination and reassessment of the established art historical narratives of Western-trained artists in the historiography of Chinese modern art.


The article explains how an example drawn from the history music can help to illuminate the situation of legality in the European Union. The example refers to a decisive step that was taken by Arnold Schonberg in 1908. In the history of modern music, it came to be known as the "emancipation of dissonance". It amounted to putting consonant and dissonant sonorities on an equal footing in the composition of music. The article argues, firstly, that methodologically unwarranted but, as regard their effects, "interesting" or "appealing" judicial divinations of law are to be considered the legal equivalent of dissonance in music. The article goes on to claim, secondly, that the European Court of Justice has become the chief purveyor of the emancipation of legal dissonance. The remainder of the article discusses different ways of coping with the situation that has been thus created for legality in Europe.


Abstract Major faults in Sundaland trend NNW to NW, WNW, N and E. Some of the NNW to NW and N-striking faults across Mesozoic areas of the Malay Peninsula were active until mid-Eocene time. Small, fault-bounded Tertiary basins onshore may be pull-apart basins associated with such faults. Mainly from seismic data, NNW to NW, N and E-striking faults have been recognized in the pre-Tertiary basement of the Malay and Penyu basins off the east coast of the peninsula. These faults were reactivated before the Late Oligocene and during the Middle to Late Miocene. N-striking faults in pre-Tertiary areas are common throughout Sundaland. In the field, these faults are found to be the oldest (possibly Jurassic) regional fractures. The regional NNW-NW and WNW fractures are believed to have originated as strike-slip faults when the peninsula was subjected to late Mesozoic deformation. The onshore E-W faults were probably extensional fractures that developed as secondary structures associated with sinistral slip motions along NNW-NW faults. Upper Cretaceous dolerite dykes fill some of the E-W fractures. NW-striking basement faults of the Malay basin continue onshore SE Asia as the Three Pagodas fault zone. Initially these were sinistral basement wrench faults creating secondary E-W extensional fractures. In the Middle to Late Miocene the regional stress field changed, resulting in reversal of slip movement along major wrench faults and structural inversion of the sedimentary basins. This inversion is manifested as E-W anticlines located over half-graben. In the Penyu basin similarly striking half-graben probably developed in the same fashion. There, the NW-striking Rumbia fault divides the basin into two parts. Half-graben in the western part remained orientated E-W, but those in the eastern part became rotated clockwise by continued left-lateral slip along the Rumbia fault. After the Miocene the two basins continued to subside, developing an almost undisturbed blanket of post-Miocene sediments. Locally, residual stress caused some of the structures to grow.


In this paper we propose a method for recovering the shape (geometry) and the diffuse reflectance from an image (or video) using a hybrid setup consisting of a depth sensor (Kinect), a consumer camera and a partially controlled illumination (using a flash). The objective is to show how combining RGB-D acquisition with a sequential illumination is useful for shape and reflectance recovery. A pair of two images are captured: one non flashed (image under ambient illumination) and a flashed one. A pure flash image is computed by subtracting the non flashed image from the flashed image. We propose an novel and near real-time algorithm, based on a local illumination model of our flash and the pure flash image, to enhance geometry (from the noisy depth map) and recover reflectance information.


Many luminance measuring tasks require a luminance distribution of the total viewing field. The approach of imageresolving luminance measurement, which could benefit from the continual development of position-resolving radiation detectors, represents a simplification of such measuring tasks. Luminance measure cameras already exist which are specially manufactured for measuring tasks with very high requirements. Due to high-precision solutions these cameras are very expensive and are not commercially viable for many image-resolving measuring tasks. Therefore, it is desirable to measure luminance with digital still cameras which are freely available at reasonable prices. This paper presents a method for the usage of digital still cameras as luminance meters independent of the exposure settings. A calibration of the camera is performed with the help of an OECF (opto-electronic conversion function) measurement and the luminance is calculated with the camera's digital RGB output values. The test method and computation of the luminance value irrespective of exposure variations is described. The error sources which influence the result of the luminance measurement are also discussed.


Loran-C is a navigational aid that relies on the ability to make correct estimates of the Times of Arrival (TOAs) of signals received over a noisy radio channel. How good is the performance of Loran-C in this respect? Is it close to optimal? Are there perhaps better estimation techniques available than we currently employ? In this paper we use Estimation Theory to find the optimal limit of the accuracy of TOA estimates, for a given signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Specifically, we compute the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) which specifies the absolute minimum error variance that can be achieved by an unbiased estimator. From the CRLB we can estimate the best repeatable accuracy that can be attained using a set of TOAs. We compute here the CRLBs for the TOA of a Loran-C signal with both Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and Additive Coloured Gaussian Noise (ACGN). We then employ the Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) and compare its results with that of CRLB. Simulation results show that the MLE approaches the minimum variance obtained by CRLB for SNR values of practical and reliable Loran-C operation.


In the last 15 years or so Mercosur countries have implemented trade liberalization reforms both unilaterally and at regional level. These reforms have been successful in promoting overall trade flows, but not so much with respect to exports to developed countries. This is particularly the case with the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) markets. For example, in the case of Argentina, exports to the EU have increased only 20% between 1990-2000. Exports to US have grown at higher rates but still below those observed for the rest of the world. Why is it that Mercosur products have been unable to increase their access to these markets? One reason that clearly outstands is that these countries have developed a comparative advantage in agricultural (both primary and manufactured) products and these items have been the ones that faced the strongest protection in the central economies.


Investment arbitration has emerged from modest beginnings and matured into an established presence in international law. However, in recent years it has drifted from the reciprocal vision of its founders. This volume serves as a comprehensive guide for those who wish to reform international investment law from within, seeking a return to the mutuality of access that is in arbitration's essence. A detailed toolset is provided for enhancing the access of host States and their nationals to formal resolution mechanisms in foreign investment disputes. It concludes by offering model texts to achieve greater reciprocity and access to justice in the settlement of disputes arising from international investment initiatives. The book will appeal to all those interested in the future of international investment law, including an international audience of scholars, government officials, private sector actors, and private citizens alike, and including diverse constituencies, communities, and collectives of host State nationals.


We present PetClaw, a scalable distributed-memory solver for time-dependent nonlinear wave propagation. PetClaw unifies two well-known scientific computing packages, Clawpack and PETSc, using Python interfaces into both. We rely on Clawpack to provide the infrastructure and kernels for time-dependent nonlinear wave propagation. Similarly, we rely on PETSc to manage distributed data arrays and the communication between them. We describe both the implementation and performance of PetClaw as well as our challenges and accomplishments in scaling a Python-based code to tens of thousands of cores on the BlueGene/P architecture. The capabilities of PetClaw are demonstrated through application to a novel problem involving elastic waves in a heterogeneous medium. Very finely resolved simulations are used to demonstrate the suppression of shock formation in this system.


Refinement of the supercontinental reconstruction for the latest Precambrian that places the Labrador-Greenland promontory of Laurentia within the Arica embayment along the margin of the Gondwana craton juxtaposes the Rockall microcontinent and northwestern British Isles with the continental margin of Peru. The conjugate cratonic margin to the northwest Caledonian foreland, the Hebridean shield, may have been Amazonia. Possible South American correlatives of the Precambrian Moinian and Dalradian complexes of the Scottish Highlands can be identified in the reconstruction; notably, there are possible equivalents of the "older granites" within the Moinian and of Dalradian glacial deposits. Therefore, the well-studied Precambrian rocks of the Scottish Highlands provide critical tests for the suggested reconstruction. The latest Precambrian setting of the Arequipa massif with respect to the Gondwana craton margin and the Paleozoic intracratonic basin of Peru-Bolivia bears a striking similarity to the early Mesozoic setting of the Rockall Plateau and northwestern British Isles with respect to the European continental margin and the North Sea-Western Approaches graben system. In each case rifting appears to have been controlled by the youngest, and presumably weakest, lithosphere, but the extremity of the Labrador-Scotland-Greenland promontory was detached during final continental separation in Vendian to earliest Cambrian time to form the Arequipa massif and in Jurassic time to form the Hebridean shield. The promontory may have played an important tectonic role through at least 1 b.y. of Earth history including influence on the development of the Andean Cordillera. Features of this type likely have played a major role in the development of orogenic belts of all ages.


This paper examines the evolution of exchange rate arrangements in East Asia's emerging market economies over the last 10 years. It considers both "official" and "observed" exchange rate arrangements in these economies from an international comparative perspective. By focusing on the roles of the dollar, the yen, and the euro as anchor currencies for exchange rate stabilization, the paper claims that the dollar played a dominant role as a de jure or de facto anchor for emerging East Asia until the 1997-98 currency crisis. During the crisis, the dollar's dominance naturally declined in affected East Asia as a result of a general shift to more flexible exchange rate arrangements. In the post-crisis period, the dollar has regained prominence in some countries (notably in Malaysia), while its dominance has been reduced and exchange rate flexibility has risen in others ( notably in Indonesia). Interesting is the observation that Korea and Thailand appear to have shifted to a de facto currency basket arrangement with significant weights on the dollar and the yen, similar to Singapore 's managed floating arrangement. This paper also considers what may be a desirable currency system for the region. Given the high volatility of yen/dollar exchange rates and partner diversity of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) relationships, it claims that the emerging East Asian economies would be better off stabilizing their currencies to a balanced currency basket in which the dollar, the yen, and the euro play equally important roles. For infra-regional exchange rate stability, greater coordination on the currency basket policy would be desirable, and this needs to be supported by regional policy dialogue and financing mechanisms.


With the emergence of private food safety and quality standards in developed countries fruit exporting countries in the developing world face increasing constraints to access markets in the rich industrialised countries in the North. Producers in the South have no alternative as to make the necessary investments on farms and in pack houses to comply with the requirements of these food quality and safety standards. The export of fresh fruit is an important component of South African agricultural exports, with citrus fruit exported to markets such as Europe being of particular importance. This paper reports results from a large research project into the impact of private standard compliance on the quality of the fruit and the returns to farmers. The research process involved a multi-disciplinary analysis of Agricultural Economics and Microbiology as we analysed the dynamics of the citrus export supply chain from the farms in South Africa to the end consumer in Europe. Sampled fruit containers were followed through the whole supply chain which allowed us to provide an expose of the behaviour of the different actors in the citrus supply chain and obtain some evidence of poor handling and hygiene standards by means of a comparison of the experimental observations with various relevant components of the EurepGAP control points and compliance criteria for fruit and vegetables. Observations suggest that these standards are adequately applied to the production and handling of fruit at the farm and pack house levels while on the other hand the subsequent stages (mainly after the importing harbour in Europe) of the fruit supply chain are seemingly not subjected to the same strict requirements laid out for producers, leading to fruit quality deterioration and financial losses for producers. This constitutes clear parallel standards in terms of fruit safety and quality standards between upstream and downstream sections of the supply chain and questions thus the purpose of the standards and the financial return for producers making large investments to comply with these privately introduced standards.


Fragments from lead ammunition pose a poisoning risk for predators like golden eagles that scavenge on non-retrieved carcasses or offal left behind by hunters. Three golden eagles were found in the Swiss Alps with an acute lead poisoning. To investigate whether the few cases of lead-poisoned golden eagles are exceptional events or whether a substantial proportion of the Alpine golden eagle population is affected by lead at sublethal levels, we measured body burdens in golden eagles from Switzerland in comparison to eagle owls from the same area and to their respective prey. These two raptor species differ in their food as eagle owls feed on live-caught prey. Lead levels in soft tissues were significantly higher in golden eagles (median 1.14 μg g−1 dry weight in liver, 0.99 μg g−1 in kidney) than in eagle owls (0.14 and 0.23 μg g−1). Bones of golden eagles contained 10 times more lead (median of 12.45 μg g−1 dry weight) than owl bones (1.28 μg g−1), which represent substantially higher levels than previously reported for golden eagles. Bones of prey of both golden eagles and eagle owls had low lead concentrations. In order to investigate whether the sublethal lead of golden eagles originates from ammunition or from generic environmental contamination, we examined lead isotope ratios. Lead isotope signatures of golden eagle bones were very similar to those of ammunition, but differed from the signatures of bones of their prey, eagle owls and soil. Isotope signatures did not change with increasing bone lead concentration in golden eagles or any other group examined. These findings indicate that in the Alps, most golden eagles take up lead from spent ammunition in carcasses or their offal in sublethal quantities throughout their life and a few in lethal quantities leading to acute lead poisoning.


This paper describes 14 tests on simply supported and continuous reinforced concrete beams which were designed to investigate the influences of aggregate type, loading arrangement and shear reinforcement ratio on shear strength. The beams were rectangular in cross-section with a/d ∼ 3·5 (where a is the shear span and d the effective depth). Marine dredged gravel was used in ten beams (two without shear reinforcement) and limestone in the remaining four (two without shear reinforcement). The cracks typically passed around the gravel aggregate but through the limestone aggregate. Aggregate fracture was found only to reduce the shear strength of the beams without shear reinforcement. The factors of safety for shear failure implicit in Eurocode 2, BS 8110 and CSA A.23.3-04 are examined with data from this project and elsewhere. Eurocode 2 is shown to provide the lowest factor of safety for most beams. This is particularly significant for rectangular sections where Eurocode 2 can give lower factor of safety fo...


Leprosy is an infectious and contagious disease, whose etiologic agent is the Mycobacterium leprae, mainly characterized by neural and dermatologic injures. The tuberculoid and lepromatous leprosy types are called polar and considered stable forms. Between them there is the borderline group that shows immunologic instability with variable clinical forms, and it presents a lesion with infiltred border and center of healthy skin, called foveolar lesion. This study aimed to analyze the immunoreactivity of dendritic cells in the apparently healthy skin inside the central region and the infiltred edge of the foveolar lesion in borderline leprosy. It is an analytical and transversal study. CD1a and FXIIIa markers were used to count the dendritic cells in skin samples. A predominance of CD1a and FXIIIa cells in the foveolar border lesion was observed as compared to the center area of the lesion. The prevalence of dendritic cells at the edge of the foveolar lesion can be justified by the pattern of inflammatory and immune response to M. leprae. The distribution of M. leprae may be concentrated in this region, promoting a greater antigenic exposure. The comparison between the center and the edge of the foveolar lesion has obtained a quantitative difference indicating a basic function of dendritic cells in response to M. leprae and, consequently, in the course of the disease.


The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of a unique experiment by the Rugby Football League, to apply the American professional team sports model to its game, making it the first British sport ever to attempt this. It investigates the economic, financial and social changes, which have occurred within the sport of rugby league, since the introduction of the 'Super League'. The adoption of the American professional team sports model is based on increasing the uncertainty of outcome of games in order to ensure profit maximisation of the clubs. This has raised a number of issues, pertaining to both the game of rugby league itself, the difference between American and British sport, and the ever increasing effect of television revenues and mass media on sport. The adaptation of the model by rugby league officials has resulted in decisive changes to the way the game is played and how the Rugby Football League is run. A change to three divisions from two, the introduction of a 'Super League' copying football's Premiership and a switch from the traditional winter game to a summer season has taken place. Also critical has been the move from terrestrial to satellite television and the effect of this move on network externalities that could influence the long-term future of the game. The £87million financial investment from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation provided the catalyst for change, in exchange for the five-year exclusive broadcasting rights to the game. The American model was utilised in order to try and financially stabilise the league through the process of profit maximisation. The need for equilibrium within the league also led to the utilisation of various restrictive controls, all of which are common-place in the United States. After critically evaluating the relevant literature, attention is turned to testing the effect of the experiment of applying the American model to British Rugby League. A five-strand approach has been adopted using data both pre and post, the introduction of Super League, utilising nine, case study-clubs throughout the study. Firstly, any change in uncertainty of outcome was examined using the standard deviation of Win/Loss percentage adapted from the approach by Noll (1988) and Scully (1989). Demand for the live matches through attendance figures and broadcasting demand, using audience viewing data were examined. The third strand examines whether the predicted outcome of the American model, and increases in revenue and profit, have been achieved. Finally, two social surveys were carried out on three major stakeholder groups, club officials, players and supporters. The results indicate that the application of the American Professional Team Sports model to rugby league did not achieve the predicted outcome of increased uncertainty, attendance and ultimately, revenue. The reasons for this can be explained by the partial implementations of the model and non-market factors, which appear to be much more significant within British Rugby League than in American sports. The over-riding results suggest that regardless of structural or organisational changes, rugby league is destined to remain a northern minority sport.


Combining a gene-regulatory network and disease-association data identified early regulators of T cell–associated diseases. Diseases may be easier to treat if caught early. However, means of identifying early disease—especially before symptoms appear—are in short supply. Gustafsson et al. identified early regulators of T cell–mediated disease by finding transcription factors that are involved in T cell differentiation and also enriched in disease-associated polymorphisms. Three such experimentally validated transcription factors—GATA3, MAF, and MYB—and their targets were differentially expressed in asymptomatic stages of two different T cell–mediated diseases—multiple sclerosis and seasonal allergic rhinitis. These data not only provide potential markers of disease development but also shed light on the mechanistic underpinning of T cell–mediated disease. M. Gustafsson, D. R. Gawel, L. Alfredsson, S. Baranzini, J. Björkander, R. Blomgran, S. Hellberg, D. Eklund, J. Ernerudh, I. Kockum, A. Konstantinell, R. Lahesmaa, A. Lentini, H. R. I. Liljenström, L. Mattson, A. Matussek, J. Mellergård, M. Mendez, T. Olsson, M. A. Pujana, O. Rasool, J. Serra-Musach, M. Stenmarker, S. Tripathi, M. Viitala, H. Wang, H. Zhang, C. E. Nestor, M. Benson, A validated gene regulatory network and GWAS identifies early regulators of T cell–associated diseases. Sci. Transl. Med. 7, 313ra178 (2015). [Abstract]


We present a first-principles study of various effects of charging and electric field on the oxidation/deoxidation of graphene oxide consisting of only epoxy groups. We first determined the proper basis set, which hinders the spurious spilling of electrons of graphene oxide when negatively charged or exerted by perpendicular electric field, and treated with periodic boundary conditions. We then showed that the electric field perpendicularly applied to graphene surface provide side-specific functionalization. We found that the bonds between oxygen and graphene are weakened under applied electric field. For specific values of excess charge or electric field, an oxygen atom that is normally adsorbed to the bridge site in equilibrium moves to the top site. By directly charging and/or by applying electric field, one can monitor this migration as well as desorption of the oxygen adatom. In spite of the negative formation energy, an energy barrier prevents individually adsorbed oxygen atoms from forming oxygen molecules. This energy barrier is dramatically weakened upon negative charging or exertion of an electric field. Our results explain why the reduction of graphene oxide can be facilitated by these external effects.


A wideband and flat gain distributed power amplifier using a GaN high electron mobility (HEMT) transistor has been designed. The frequency range covers 700 MHz to 4.5 GHz. The small signal gain has the average value of 10 dB. A reactive distributed shunt feedback structure is introduced and implemented by means of microstrip coupled lines. Also, fully distributed input and output impedance matching networks are implemented. The design and simulations are accomplished by advanced design system tool (ADS). The design has undergone large signal, small signal and electromagnetic analysis (EM-simulation). At VDS = 28 V and IDS = 340 mA. Down to the output power back-off of 5 dB at 4.5 GHz, power performance obtained with PAE higher than 35% where the maximum output power is 40.4 dBm.


Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) can be mounted horizontally at a river bank, yielding single‐depth horizontal array observations of velocity across the river. This paper presents a semideterministic, semistochastic method to obtain continuous measurements of discharge from horizontal ADCP (HADCP) data in a tidal river. In the deterministic part, single‐depth velocity data are converted to specific discharge by applying the law of the wall, which requires knowledge of local values of the bed roughness length (z0). A new filtration technique was developed to infer cross‐river profiles of z0 from moving boat ADCP measurements. Width‐averaged values of z0 were shown to be predominantly constant in time but differed between ebb and flood. In the stochastic part of the method, specific discharge was converted to total discharge on the basis of a model that accounts for the time lag between flow variation in the central part of the river and flow variation near the banks. Model coefficients were derived using moving boat ADCP data. The consistency of mutually independent discharge estimates from HADCP measurements was investigated to validate the method, analyzing river discharge and tidal discharge separately. Inaccuracy of the method is attributed primarily to mechanisms controlling transverse exchange of momentum, which produce temporal variation in the discharge distribution over the cross section. Specifically, development of river dunes may influence the portion of the discharge concentrated within the range of the HADCP.


We present a novel compact image descriptor for large scale image search. Our proposed descriptor - Geometric VLAD (gVLAD) is an extension of VLAD (Vector of Locally Aggregated Descriptors) that incorporates weak geometry information into the VLAD framework. The proposed geometry cues are derived as a membership function over keypoint angles which contain evident and informative information but yet often discarded. A principled technique for learning the membership function by clustering angles is also presented. Further, to address the overhead of iterative codebook training over real-time datasets, a novel codebook adaptation strategy is outlined. Finally, we demonstrate the efficacy of proposed gVLAD based retrieval framework where we achieve more than 15% improvement in mAP over existing benchmarks.


Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a chronic occlusive cerebrovascular disease characterized by progressive stenosis at the terminal portion of the internal carotid artery and an abnormal vascular network at the base of the brain. The etiology remains unknown, and the treatment is not satisfactory. In this issue of Journal of Stroke, important review papers on MMD are published. They showed that genetic variations of RNF213 in the 17q25-ter region make it an important susceptibility gene, and that MMD is most common in East Asian countries such as Korea and Japan. These epidemiological characteristics may be attributed to the high prevalence of the susceptibility gene in this region. Other issues including recent advances in surgical and interventional therapy are also summarized.

However, MMD is still a mysterious disorder. MMD is diagnosed on the basis of imaging findings: bilateral (or unilateral) distal internal carotid artery occlusion and basal collaterals. However, simple middle cerebral artery stenosis may evolve into MMD over time, and intracranial atherosclerosis may angiographically mimic MMD. Although gene testing is useful in the differential diagnosis, questions remain. RNF gene polymorphism is found to be present in 1/4 of patients with non-MMD intracranial atherosclerosis in East Asia [1], suggesting that it is not specific for MMD. In practice, when we encounter a patient with RNF gene variation and intracranial arterial disease that is not angiographically consistent with MMD, we are not sure whether this case is of atypical MMD or of atherosclerosis. Given the fact that RNF gene polymorphism is not uncommon in the Japanese and Koreans and only a few develop MMD, RNF may simply be a susceptibility gene, and the final clinical presentation, that is, MMD, intracranial atherosclerosis, or no vascular lesion, may depend on the nature of a secondary insult or perhaps other genetic variations. This is a puzzling issue, and a recent case report of combined pathology (both MMD and atherosclerosis) [2] has provided further confusion.

Reviews on this issue showed that MMD cases are also found in Western countries, and the prevalence is increasing worldwide. Are the characteristics of MMD in the East and West the same? Is the real incidence increasing or are we simply detecting more cases with advanced imaging tools? Other difficult questions are; why are there two peaks of age, around 10 years and at 30-45 years? Why are patients 20-30 years old relatively unaffected? Are antiplatelet agents useful for MMD patients? Is surgical revascularization therapy beneficial for patients presenting with hemorrhagic stroke? In patients with asymptomatic MMD, what is the risk of future stroke and what are the predictive factors? Is there any way to prevent the progression of the disease?

The reviews provide more questions than solutions, and it seems that the answers remain far off. However, we have to realize that polymorphism in RNF 213 gene was completely unheard of until 10 years ago. Ten years from now, with continued research, we might be involved in clinical trials that examine ways to prevent the development of MMD in young individuals with a susceptible gene.


Excimer formation plays a significant role in trapping excitons within organic molecular solids. Covalent dimers of perylene-3,4:9,10-bis(dicarboximide) (PDI) are useful model systems for studying these processes as their intermolecular geometries can be precisely tuned. Using femtosecond visible-pump infrared-probe (fsIR) spectroscopy in the shortwave- and mid-infrared regions, we characterize two PDI dimers with a cofacial and a slip-stacked geometry that are coupled through a triptycene bridge. In the mid-infrared region, fsIR spectra for the strongly coupled dimers are highly blue-shifted compared to spectra for monomeric 1*PDI. The perylene core stretching modes provide a directly observable probe of excimer relaxation, as they are particularly sensitive to this process, which is associated with a small blue shift of these modes in both dimers. The broad Frenkel-to-CT state electronic transition of the excimer, the edge of which has previously been detected in the NIR region, is now fully resolved to be much broader and to extend well into the shortwave infrared region for both dimers and is likely a generic feature of π-extended aromatic excimers.


The measurement of spatial segregation has often used measures such as the Neighborhood Sorting Index (NSI) or the Index of Dissimilarity (D) that do not take full account of space. We propose a Generalized Neighborhood Sorting Index (GNSI), an extension of NSI, in which each neighborhood is part of a broader community, the extent of which can be easily changed by increasing the order of contiguity or the allowable distance between neighborhood centroids. The GNSI has desirable characteristics as a valid spatial measure of segregation and significantly alleviates the checkerboard problem while NSI and similar measures are insensitive to the spatial arrangement of the geographic units in the analysis, such as census tracts. An application of GNSI to the ten largest metropolitan areas reveals that the GNSI gives a more complete account of the extent of economic segregation and the changes over time, and ranks the metropolitan areas differently in term of the level and changes in economic segregation.


In order to assess the influence of seasons on the exploitation of mellliferous plants by Apis mellifera adansonii, seasonal pollen spectra of 104 honey samples collected between September 2010 and March 2011 in the Highlands area of west Cameroon (LN 5°21.459–5°35.449 and LE 10°04.729– 10°26.249) were analysed using melissopalynology methods. The aim was to evaluate the influence of seasons on the exploitation of melliferous plants by A. mellifera adansonii. The spectrum of beeplants exploited during the rainy season was large and diversified compared to the dry season. Asteraceae and Caesalpiniaceae were the most represented families for the dry and the rainy seasons, respectively. Asteraceae was also the most represented family in the two seasons. The spontaneous Eucalyptus saligna and Terminalia mantaly were much foraged during the two seasons. Flowers of herbs were highly exploited in both the seasons and white colour flowers were frequently foraged. Honey of rainy season was more diversified with four distinguished colours. Predominant and important minor was significantly higher in rainy season compared to the dry season. The frequency of pollen in honey varied considerably with seasons and availability of blooming vegetation exploited by honeybees. Irrespective of vegetation diversity with seasonal variation, honeybee visits were very specific to some plants species.


Given the continuing popularity of C for building large-scale programs, such as Linux, Apache, and Bind, it is critical to provide effective tool support, including, for example, code browsing, bug finding, and automated refactoring. Common to all such tools is a need to parse C. But C programs contain not only the C language proper but also preprocessor invocations for file inclusion (#include), conditional compilation (#if, #ifdef, and so on), and macro definition/expansion (#define). Worse, the preprocessor is a textual substitution system, which is oblivious to C constructs and operates on individual tokens. At the same time, the preprocessor is indispensable for improving C's expressivity, abstracting over software/hardware dependencies, and deriving variations from the same code base. The x86 version of the Linux kernel, for example, depends on about 7,600 header files for file inclusion, 7,000 configuration variables for conditional compilation, and 520,000 macros for code expansion. In this paper, we present a new tool for parsing all of C, including arbitrary preprocessor use. Our tool, which is called SuperC, is based on a systematic analysis of all interactions between lexing, preprocessing, and parsing to ensure completeness. It first lexes and preprocesses source code while preserving conditionals. It then parses the result using a novel variant of LR parsing, which automatically forks parsers when encountering a conditional and merges them again when reaching the same input in the same state. The result is a well-formed AST, containing static choice nodes for conditionals. While the parsing algorithm and engine are new, neither grammar nor LR parser table generator need to change. We discuss the results of our problem analysis, the parsing algorithm itself, the pragmatics of building a real-world tool, and a demonstration on the x86 version of the Linux kernel.


The MITRE Institute, the Training and Development (T&D) organization of the MITRE Corporation, is in the process of designing and enhancing its systems engineering (SE) T&D program. This long-term, strategic program is intended to complement an existing deep, self-selection, internal catalog program and an on-site Masters Degree program in systems engineering. The program direction and design are driven by a competency model that focuses on behaviors of successful SEs at MITRE. The program horizontally integrates and blends many T&D approaches at the same program level, including technical, non-technical, and e-Learning courses; student and manager assessments; customized on-the-job projects; group work and networking; a focused training resource database; student-manager commitment through an individual development plan (IDP); and a certification option. The program integrates concepts vertically by replication of content that is considered important on multiple, or all levels of the program, such as enterprise systems engineering, risk, team development, and persuasion and influence.


ABSTRACT Background: Children with cerebral palsy present age-driven development in gross motor skills and walking capacity. Aims: To precisely monitor the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) in children with CP, GMFCS levels 1 and 2 over 6 months and to assess the effect of a 6-month rehabilitation program including whole-body vibration. Methods: Retrospective analysis of data of 157 children with CP who received standardized rehabilitation (DRKS00011331). 6MWT was assessed at the start (M0) and end of the training (M6), as well as at a 6-month follow-up (M12). Centiles were created using the lambda-mu-sigma (LMS) method. Results: We created 6MWT percentiles using data of all 157 children (M0 data). A medium treatment effect size (Cohen's d = 0.69) was found (M6 and M12 data). Conclusions: The generated centiles may help monitor 6MWT changes over 6 months. Combining WBV and conventional physiotherapy can significantly improve 6MWT in children with CP. Abbreviations: 6MWT: 6-Minute Walk Test; CP: Cerebral palsy; ES: effect size; GMFCS: Gross Motor Function Classification System; GMFM-66: Gross Motor Function Measure 66; LOESS: locally weighted scatterplot smoothing; LMS: lambda-mu-sigma; MCID: minimal clinical important difference; SD: standard deviation; SRM: standardized response mean; WBV: whole-body vibration.


This study concerns with the analysis of slang in Eminem's song lyrics. This study proposes problem are What types of slang language are used in Eminem's song lyrics?, and What are the meaning of those slang language used Eminem's song lyrics?. Hopefully, this study will be useful for students of English Department, especially to help them understand slang language. Moreover, the purpose of this study is to find out the types of slang that is used by Eminem's lyrics. Therefore, this analysis used descriptive method because it is to describe the meaning of slang language in Eminem song lyrics of slang language in them. The data were taken randomly, that there are ten song lyrics. Then, in this study the procedure used in the data collection are: (1) reading and comprehending the lyrics; (2) identifying the slang words used in the lyrics; (3) Marking the slang words found in the lyrics; (4) finding and classifying the meaning of the slang words. Based on the find, the writer found that there are five types of slang. There are cockney slang, society slang, workmen's slang, and public house slang, slang in public school and university.


[Extract] For many years I worked in the Brazilian Amazon, which until recently held the dubious honor of being the world's deforestation 'leader'. Fortunately, forest destruction has declined somewhat in Brazil, but it continues apace in Indonesia.

What are we to think about Indonesia? For biologists like myself, the country often provokes visions of ancient rainforests being razed by slash-and-burn farmers, and endangered tigers and orangutans fleeing from the growling bulldozers of logging corporations.

This reality is true, but there is also hope on the horizon.


Until we utilize our ability to choose our worldview, to choose our beliefs, to choose the reality in which we wish to live, behavior remains habitual and unexamined" (Yero 2002:234). This article explains and discusses the influence of lecturers' beliefs on teaching. It is important for lecturers to engage in mindful teaching by becoming aware of their momentary doings. If lecturers could discover how their own mental models of reality (i.e. beliefs) shape the world within the classroom, they have the opportunity to make mindful decisions. It is recommended that lecturers do a self-inventory to help identify their patterns of thought and bring into consciousness the beliefs and values that underlies their teaching. Because each lecturer's thinking processes and interpretations are unique, only they can determine what changes need to be made in the classroom environment.


The central aim of this thesis is to present a new kind of realism that is driven not from the traditional realism/anti-realism debate but from the practice of physicists. The usual debate focuses on discussions about the truth of theories and how they relate with nature, while the real practices of the scientists are forgotten. The position I shall defend is called "phenomenological realism". The realist doctrine was recently undermined by the argument from pessimistic meta-induction, also known as the argument from scientific revolutions. I argue that phenomenological realism is a new kind of scientific realism that can overcome the problem generated by the pessimistic meta-induction, and which reflects scientific practice. The realist has tried to overcome the pessimistic meta-induction by suggesting various types of theory dichotomy. I claim that the different types of dichotomy normally presented by realists do not overcome the problem, for these dichotomies cut through theory vertically. I argue for a different kind of dichotomy, one that cuts horizontally, between high-level and low-level theoretical representations. I claim that theoretical forms in physics have two distinct types depending on the way they are built. These are theoretical models that are built depending on a top-down approach and phenomenological models that are built depending on a bottom-up approach. I argue that for the most part only phenomenological models are the vehicles of accurate representation. I present two case studies. The first case study is from superconductivity, where I contrast the BCS model of superconductivity with the phenomenological model of Landau and Ginzburg. The other case study is a fresh look at the Bohr-Einstein debate.


The purpose of evaluation procedures is to achieve both qualitative and quantitative statements on haptic rendering realism and performance. Since a haptic interface provides an interaction between a user and a virtual environment, fidelity of a haptic interface directly affects the performance. To our knowledge, a standard, generic and reusable validation method which comprehensively addresses all the attributes of haptic feedback has not been realized yet. Despite the large number of human factor studies, only few of them have been proposed as well for haptic interface performance measurements. For this reason, we review validation procedures for haptic rendering and propose an evaluation method based on testbeds to obtain a systematic haptic interface assessment. We integrated the approaches of human factor studies into the testbeds to obtain a simple and yet complete measure of human-machine interaction performance. The testbeds were tested on a haptic interface, the IHP of Xitact SA, and performance results are presented. In the testbeds, performance metrics for generic haptic interaction tasks are expressed in terms of information transfer (bits) and sensory thresholds which are indeed device specific benchmark metrics. Thus, the suitability of a haptic interface for a defined task can be verified, device comparisons become possible and the obtained information can be used to identify possible improvements.


Several research efforts are invested to develop stochastic geometry models for cellular networks with multiple antenna transmission and reception (MIMO). On one hand, there are models that target abstract outage probability and ergodic rate for simplicity. On the other hand, there are models that sacrifice simplicity to target more tangible performance metrics such as the error probability. Both types of models are completely disjoint in terms of the analytic steps to obtain the performance measures, which makes it challenging to conduct studies that account for different performance metrics. This paper unifies both techniques and proposes a unified stochastic-geometry based mathematical paradigm to account for error probability, outage probability, and ergodic rates in MIMO cellular networks. The proposed model is also unified in terms of the antenna configurations and leads to simpler error probability analysis compared to existing state-of-the-art models. The core part of the analysis is based on abstracting unnecessary information conveyed within the interfering signals by assuming Gaussian signaling. To this end, the accuracy of the proposed framework is verified against state-of-the-art models as well as system level simulations. We provide via this unified study insights on network design by reflecting system parameters effect on different performance metrics.


[1] Unlike the past International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) versions where global long-term solutions were combined, the ITRF2005 uses as input data time series (weekly from satellite techniques and 24-h session-wise from Very Long Baseline Interferometry) of station positions and daily Earth Orientation Parameters (EOPs). The advantage of using time series of station positions is that it allows to monitor station non-linear motion and discontinuities and to examine the temporal behavior of the frame physical parameters, namely the origin and the scale. The ITRF2005 origin is defined in such a way that it has zero translations and translation rates with respect to the Earth center of mass, averaged by the Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) time series spanning 13 years of observations. Its scale is defined by nullifying the scale and its rate with respect to the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) time series spanning 26 years of observations. The ITRF2005 orientation (at epoch 2000.0) and its rate are aligned to the ITRF2000 using 70 stations of high geodetic quality. The estimated level of consistency of the ITRF2005 origin (at epoch 2000.0) and its rate with respect to the ITRF2000 is respectively 0.1, 0.8, 5.8 mm and 0.2, 0.1, 1.8 mm/yr along the X, Yand Z-axis. We estimate the formal errors on these components to be 0.3 mm and 0.3 mm/yr. We believe that this low level of agreement between the two frame origins is most probably due to the poor SLR network geometry and its degradation over time. The ITRF2005 combination involving 84 co-location sites revealed a scale inconsistency of 1 ppb (6.3 mm at the equator), at epoch 2000.0, and 0.08 ppb/yr between the SLR and VLBI long-term solutions as obtained by the stacking of their respective time series. Possible causes of this inconsistency may include the poor SLR and VLBI networks and their co-locations, local tie uncertainties, systematic effects and possible inconsistent model corrections used in the data analysis of both techniques. For the first time of the ITRF history, the ITRF2005 rigorous combination provides self-consistent series of EOPs, including Polar Motion from VLBI and satellite techniques and Universal Time and Length of Day from VLBI only. A velocity field of 152 sites with an error less than 1.5 mm/yr is used to estimate absolute rotation poles of 15 tectonic plates that are consistent with the ITRF2005 frame. This new absolute plate motion model supersedes and significantly improves that of the ITRF2000 which involved six major tectonic plates. Citation: Altamimi, Z., X. Collilieux, J. Legrand, B. Garayt, and C. Boucher (2007), ITRF2005: A new release of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame based on time series of station positions and Earth Orientation Parameters, J. Geophys. Res., 112, B09401,


Aside from denying due process, the concept has unintended consequences by attracting more cases and draining court and damage resources ASBESTOS litigation has spurred inno vations in civil procedure as courts and parties have struggled to manage the number of claims pouring into the courts.1 The West Virginia judiciary attempted to deal with the "elephantine mass of asbestos cases" through the adoption by the state's Supreme Court of Appeals of an innovative trial management procedure, embodied in its Trial Court Rule 26.01, known as TCR 26.01, which led to the "mass trial" concept.2 From the perspective of its first application in In re: West Virginia Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation ("Asbestos Mass Trial"), the mass trial was successful in clearing the queue in court, but that search for efficiency was achieved at the cost of fundamental fairness, leading to constitutional violations of due process and federalism.3 MASS TRIAL PROCEDURE In 2001, in State ex rel. Allman v. MacQueen,4 the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals explained that asbestos cases threatened to cripple the common law system of adjudication because of the volume of cases, as the disposition of all currently pending asbestos cases, if treated in the traditional course of litigation, was expected to require approximately 150 judge years.5 It concluded that as Congress had not created any legislative solution to the problem, courts were forced "to adopt diverse, innovative, and often non-traditional judicial management techniques to reduce the burden of asbestos litigation that seems to be paralyzing their active dockets."6 The court had created TCR 26.01 in 1999 under its supervisory powers, finding conventional consolidations inadequate for dealing with the volume of asbestos cases filed in West Virginia.7 The mass trial is not a single method of aggregation, but rather a procedure by which alternatives to case-by-case trials can be examined and appropriate trial management plans developed. In furtherance of this goal, TCR 26.01 established and governed the operation of a Mass Litigation Panel (MLP) composed of West Virginia trial court judges. The MLP was charged with the responsibility to "develop and implement case management and trial methodologies for mass litigation and to fairly and expeditiously dispose of civil litigation which may be referred to it" by the West Virginia chief justice, and to "make recommendations to the chief justice on the transfer of actions from one circuit to another in order to facilitate any case management or trial methodologies developed by the panel." Mass litigation is defined by TCR 26.01(c) as two or more civil actions pending in one or more circuit courts (a) involving common questions of law or fact in mass accidents or single catastrophic events in which a number of people are injured; or (b) involving common questions of law or fact in "personal injury mass torts" allegedly incurred upon numerous claimants in connection with widely available or mass-marketed products and their manufacture, design, use, implantation, ingestion, or exposure; or (c) involving common questions of law or fact in "property damage mass torts" allegedly incurred upon numerous claimants in connection with claims for replacement or repair of allegedly defective products, including those in which claimants seek compensation for the failure of the product to perform as intended with resulting damage to the product itself or other property, with or without personal injury overtones; or (d) involving common questions of law or fact in "economic loss" cases incurred by numerous claimants asserting defect claims similar to those in property damage circumstances which are in the nature of consumer fraud or warranty actions on a grand scale including allegations of the existence of a defect without actual product failure or injury. The procedure is triggered by the filing of a "Motion to Refer to Mass Litigation Panel" by any party, judge or the state's administrative director of the courts. …


Basic Korean: A Grammar and Workbook comprises an accessible reference grammar and related exercises in a single volume. This book presents twenty-five individual grammar points, covering the core material which students would expect to encounter in their first year of learning Korean. Grammar points are followed by examples and exercises which allow students to reinforce and consolidate their learning. Basic Korean is suitable for both class use as well as independent study. Key features include: * a clear, accessible format * many useful language examples * all Korean entries presented in Hangul with English translations * jargon-free explanations of grammar * abundant exercises with a full answer key * a subject index. Clearly presented and user-friendly, Basic Korean provides readers with the essential tools to express themselves in a wide variety of situations, making it an ideal grammar reference and practice resource for both beginners and students with some knowledge of the language.


There is a strong current trend in automation towards These often systems that can handle small to medium batch sizes are also often associated with In prototyping situations. Batch numbers High complexity the application described Is for British Airways Heathrow Airport where the number of variations pattern of their meal trays Is large. The batch size the assembly variations Is also extremely variable. Catering at in assembly of each of This thesis describes the justification and design of anautomatic system to assemble these trays whilst retaining the flexibility Inherent In the current manual assembly arrangement.The work examines system layouts. Considering each possibility particularly from the flexibility and potential reliabilityaspects. This leads to the consideration of Industrial robots because of their Inherent flexibility. Consequently the variousconfigurations of robots are examined to assess the suitability of each In a cell arrangement the system which was chosen forIts potential reliability. The work continues by developing the Ideas and techniques of parts feeding to realise the maximumbenefits from a robotic cell system." The thesis describes novel magazining arrangements for handling each of the Items which make. up the tray assembly. Two major developments are described. one for the handling of stackable Items and the other for handling small discrete parts from bulk. Both systems are flexible to accomodate variations In part dimensions and possess ability to be quickly re-configured - to handle completely different parts. The equipment designed and constructed for British Airwaysuses Ideas that could also find use In many similar applications where the components have the same characteristics.


The ability of thought to transcend the circumstances in which it finds itself, its urge to create "other worlds," is surely one source of our present environmental problems. It is also the wellspring of a hope that we might overcome such problems. (1) To the vast majority of lawyers the areas of land use planning and environmental regulation are distinct. The subjects are treated in separate courses in law schools, zoning ordinances differ from environmental laws, and professionals are identified as land use planners or environmental consultants. The distinction between land use and environmental regulation is also relevant in case law. It can be crucial in preemption cases and can also arise in sovereign immunity, intervention and standing disputes. Additionally, the distinction has surfaced in Chevron determinations and, in a subtle yet important way, it plays a role in regulatory takings cases. Yet the persistent application of the distinction is both artificial and antiquated, impeding efforts to improve ecological well-being. History admittedly offers a partial explanation for the distinction, but that alone provides scant reason to accept it with a precedential nod. This is especially true today, when the dichotomy is being questioned and blurred in numerous ways. Instead, what is called for is a searching and critical examination. Undoubtedly, there are many ways to analyze the distinction between land use and environmental regulation. Critiques based on feminism and geography offer two meaningful approaches. A feminist critique suggests that the distinction is an outgrowth of the male-female dualism that plagues western thought. Once characterized in this manner, the dichotomy can be shown to result in abstraction, homogenization and the domination of nature. To the extent the distinction severs decision-making from local ecological conditions, it can also be criticized from a geographic perspective. A geographic critique is also useful since the distinction often severs decision-making processes from local ecological conditions that are experienced by nearby residents. A geo-feminist critique integrates these two arguments into a more comprehensive attack against the abstract dualism that troubles the distinction. Eliminating the distinction will not leave judges, legislators, environmental attorneys and land use planners adrift. Instead, their decision-making can be enlightened by an awareness that land use choices inevitably impact the environment and that significant local input ensures that environmentally sustainable choices are made. A decision-making paradigm based on sustainable environmental planning in the context of a particular land use scheme would merge issues traditionally associated with land use and environmental regulation and would respond favorably to the geo-feminist critique of the status quo. This thesis could certainly be labeled radical, and as such is one that critics may summarily dismiss. (2) However, this article's critique is only one of many ways to challenge a distinction that is already dissolving. The geo-feminist critique raises property rights concerns as well, and for that reason a strong thread of property theory is woven throughout this article. Ultimately, the contextualized, integrative alternative approach to land use and environmental regulation which is suggested here reflects a new social construct of property rights--one that goes beyond the "background principles" test of Lucas. (3) The history that gave rise to the land use planning-environmental regulation distinction (which from this point forward will be referred to as the land use-enviro distinction) and relevant case law are reviewed in the first two parts of this article. A discussion of various trends and non-feminist, non-geographic critiques that anticipate the distinction's demise follows. …


This research used stochastic dominance with respect to a function to evaluate producer preference for cropping systems under uncertainty. Six alternative cropping systems were compared for seven different crops. Many times a producer is familiar a developing market opportunity for a specialty crop and the producer has to make a production decision based on yield uncertainty. This research analyzed by how much alternative crop and bio-energy crop yields would need to change to make a producer indifferent between the most preferred (dominant) cropping system and an alternative cropping system. For the current study, the stochastic dominance results indicate that the change in yield necessary is sufficiently large enough to keep producers from accepting the risk of engaging in alternative crop or bio-energy crop production. The paper concludes with study limitations, which the reader is encouraged to review.


In this thesis, we study the topic of ambiguity when detecting object instances in scenes with severe clutter and occlusions. Our work focuses on the three key areas: (1) objects that have ambiguous features, (2) objects where discriminative point-based features cannot be reliably extracted, and (3) occlusions. Current approaches for object instance detection rely heavily on matching discriminative point-based features such as SIFT. While one-to-one correspondences between an image and an object can often be generated, these correspondences cannot be obtained when objects have ambiguous features due to similar and repeated patterns. We present the Discriminative Hierarchical Matching (DHM) method which preserves feature ambiguity at the matching stage until hypothesis testing by vector quantization. We demonstrate that combining our quantization framework with Simulated Affine features can significantly improve the performance of 3D point-based recognition systems. While discriminative point-based features work well for many objects, they cannot be stably extracted on smooth objects which have large uniform regions. To represent these feature-poor objects, we first present Gradient Networks, a framework for robust shape matching without extracting edges. Our approach incorporates connectivity directly on low-level gradients and significantly outperforms approaches which use only local information or coarse gradient statistics. Next, we present the Boundary and Region Template (BaRT) framework which incorporates an explicit boundary representation with the interior appearance of the object. We show that the lack of texture in the object interior is actually informative and that an explicit representation of the boundary performs better than a coarse representation. While many approaches work well when objects are entirely visible, their performance decrease rapidly with occlusions. We introduce two methods for increasing the robustness of object detection in these challenging scenarios. First, we present a framework for capturing the occlusion structure under arbitrary object viewpoint by modeling the Occlusion Conditional Likelihood that a point on the object is visible given the visibility labelings of all other points. Second, we propose a method to predict the occluding region and score a probabilistic matching pattern by searching for a set of valid occluders. We demonstrate significant increase in detection performance under severe occlusions.