Letters to the editor provide practice in the art of taking a stand and defending it in order to bring a problem or an issue to the people or institutions concerned. Using Brown and Levinson's (1987) model, this study attempts to examine the differences in politeness strategies in three different cultures. It will investigate cross-cultural differences in politeness strategies employed in writing letters to the editor in Philippine, Singaporean, and American English. Forty-five letters to the editor written in Philippine, Singaporean, and American English, from the leading newspapers published in seven days, were analyzed in terms of organizational patterns, politeness strategies, politeness markers, and cultural influence. 'Discourse bloc' was used as a method of identifying the organization patterns and politeness strategies and markers in each of the forty-five letters. Finally, an adaptation of Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory to a written text revealed distinct types of 'politeness phenomena' in contrastive rhetoric. This study hopes to reveal the significance in applying politeness theory not only to spoken interaction, but also to written interaction


A valued goal of Higher Education is the furthering of students' ability to monitor and regulate their performance. When exemplars are purposefully integrated into teaching they have the potential to cultivate knowledge and skills that develop this ability. As the voices of educators have been largely silent in exemplar-focused studies, the current study sought to canvas educators' views about why and how they use exemplars. This paper draws on data from 44 educators who responded to prompts in a Likertscale survey and 14 educators who completed individual interviews. Findings identified three explicit and one implicit reason for using exemplars, with educators using these tools in ways that facilitate realization of each purpose. Educators appeared to hold an implicit expectation that as a consequence of working with exemplars, students would inevitably apply insights gained to their own work. Further, educators did not make any explicit reference to using exemplars to develop student self-monitoring or self-regulation. We concluded the full potential of exemplars can only be realized when educators acknowledge self-regulation as the overarching rationale informing use, and use exemplars alongside works-in-progress with the intention of facilitating the transfer of evaluative and productive knowledge and skills to current and future tasks.


The Supreme Court's decision in Pearson v. Callahan ended an eightyear experiment in the adjudication of qualified immunity claims. That experiment began with Saucier v. Katz, in which the Court held that lower courts must decide whether a government officer violated a plaintiff's constitutional rights before addressing the question of whether the government officer was entitled to immunity. The Court's rationale for requiring lower courts to first address the merits was the need to clarify constitutional law for the benefit of both government actors (who could then better conform their behavior to constitutional standards) and future plaintiffs (who could then overcome the defense of qualified immunity and recover damages for their injuries). But Pearson overturned Saucier's mandate, holding that merits-first adjudication, while often appropriate, ―should no longer be regarded as mandatory.‖ The Court cited a number of reasons for its decision, including the detriment to judicial efficiency; the reality that principles articulated may be of little value, particularly if a higher court is about to pass on the same question or if the question involves state law; the difficulty of making law on uncertain facts when qualified immunity is asserted at the pleading stage; the concern that the government will be unable to appeal an unfavorable decision on the merits if it prevails on qualified immunity; and contravention of the longstanding principle of constitutional avoidance.


Calculi of string diagrams are increasingly used to present the syntax and algebraic structure of various families of circuits, including signal flow graphs, electrical circuits and quantum processes. In many such approaches, the semantic interpretation for diagrams is given in terms of relations or corelations (generalised equivalence relations) of some kind. In this paper we show how semantic categories of both relations and corelations can be characterised as colimits of simpler categories. This modular perspective is important as it simplifies the task of giving a complete axiomatisation for semantic equivalence of string diagrams. Moreover, our general result unifies various theorems that are independently found in literature and are relevant for program semantics, quantum computation and control theory.


The ATLAS detector at CERN's LHC will be exposed to proton-proton collisions from beams crossing at 40 MHz. At the design luminosity there are roughly 23 collisions per bunch crossing. ATLAS has designed a three-level trigger system to select potentially interesting events. The first-level trigger, implemented in custom-built electronics, reduces the incoming rate to less than 100 kHz with a total latency of less than 2.5μs. The next two trigger levels run in software on commercial PC farms. They reduce the output rate to 100-200 Hz. In preparation for collision data-taking which is scheduled to commence in May 2008, several cosmic-ray commissioning runs have been performed. Among the first sub-detectors available for commissioning runs are parts of the barrel muon detector including the RPC detectors that are used in the first-level trigger. Data have been taken with a full slice of the muon trigger and readout chain, from the detectors in one sector of the RPC system, to the second-level trigger algorithms and the data-acquisition system. The system is being prepared to include the inner-tracking detector in the readout and second-level trigger. We will present the status and results of these cosmic-ray based commissioning activities. This work will prove to be invaluable not only during the commissioning phase but also for cosmic-ray data-taking during the normal running for detector performance studies.


THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY TRAINING by Mayeana Kamara The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of safety training modalities which are specifically designed for the non unionized workers in the construction industry. The main hypothesis is to determine whether multimodal and extended training improves the effectiveness of the learning aspects and safety consciousness among the trainees. The study conducted a literature survey on the factors that affects safety outcomes in construction industry, especially for the non unionized workers. The study developed a survey instrument to evaluate effectiveness of safety training. This study intended to prove that a video training is not enough and that hands on demonstration will improve the thinking and behavior of construction works. Session one included a video training session lasting 28 minutes, session two included a video and a demonstrator and session three consisted of a demonstration and a power point presentation. The behavioral question proved to have a statistical difference (p<0.05) from session 1 to session 2 and showed not much of a change with session 3. This proved that using safety videos is not the only mechanism need to train a worker. Live lecture and demonstration makes a difference but also to keep in mind that too much information or tedious training like PowerPoint can lose the interest of the worker and as a result there will be no significant change. EFFECTIVENESS OF SAFETY TRAINING


Ginseng, the root of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (Araliaceae), is a widely used herbal medicine. Ginsenosides, the active ingredients of ginseng, are the main components responsible for many beneficial actions of ginseng. In the present study, we tested 10 different ginsenosides in the previously developed in vitro Huntington's disease (HD) assay with primary medium spiny striatal neuronal cultures (MSN) from the YAC128 HD mouse model. We found that nanomolar concentrations of ginsenoside Rb1 and Rc effectively protected YAC128 medium spiny neurons from glutamate‐induced apoptosis and that Rg5 was protective at micromolar concentration. The other seven ginsenosides tested were not effective or exerted toxic effects in MSN cultures. From further experiments, we suggested that neuroprotective effects of ginsenosides Rb1, Rc, and Rg5 could correlate with their ability to inhibit glutamate‐induced Ca2+ responses in cultured MSN. From these results we concluded that ginsenosides Rb1, Rc, and Rg5 offer a potential therapeutic choice for the treatment of HD and possibly other neurodegenerative disorders. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This article describes how an iconic mystical Sufi ritual of body wounding,
zarf, was stripped of its mystical credentials and conventional efficacy amid tensions between Rifai reformists and traditionalists in a small Roma neighborhood in Skopje, Macedonia. The death of a sorcerer and a funeral event-series set the scene for acts of 'anti-wonder' and demystification by the Rifai reformists. Despite the history of socialist secularism and inadvertently secularizing Islamic reforms in the region, demystification signaled not the loss of enchantment per se, but a competition for legitimate forms of wonder. In addition to accounting for socio-historical context and relational forms of Islam, the real challenge is how to see a demystified ritual for its explicit intellectual capacity to stimulate speculation about itself.


Achieving the right to education for all is one of the biggest challenges of our times. The second International Development Goal addresses this challenge: universalizing primary education in all countries by 2015. This is also one of the main objectives set at the World Education Forum (April 2000), where the right to basic education for all was reaffirmed as a fundamental human right. The fundamental question is how the obligations relating to the right to education undertaken by Member States under international and regional instruments are incorporated into national legal systems? This is all the more important for achieving the Dakar goals, in keeping with the commitments made by Governments for providing education for all, especially free and compulsory quality basic education. But in spite of such legal obligations and political commitments, millions of children still remain deprived of educational opportunities, many of them on account of poverty. They must have access to basic education as a right, in particular, to primary education which must be free. Poverty must not be a hindrance and the claim by the poor to such education must be recognized and reinforced.


In 1998 and 1999, new aerogeophysical surveys of the Arctic Ocean9s Eurasia Basin produced the first collocated gravity and magnetic measurements over the western half of the basin. These data increase the density and extend the coverage of the U.S. Navy aeromagnetic data from the 1970s. The new data reveal prominent bends in the isochrons that provide solid geometrical constraints for plate reconstructions. Tentative identification of anomaly 25 in the Eurasia Basin links early basin opening to spreading in the Labrador Sea before the locus of spreading in the North Atlantic shifted to the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. With the opening of the Labrador Sea, Greenland began ∼200 km of northward movement relative to North America and eventually collided with Svalbard, Ellesmere Island, and the nascent Eurasia ocean basin. Both gravity and magnetic data sets reconstructed to times prior to chron 13 show a prominent linear anomaly oriented orthogonal to the spreading center and immediately north of the Yermak Plateau and Morris Jesup Rise. This anomaly may mark the locus of shortening and possibly subduction as Greenland collided with the nascent Eurasia Basin and impinged upon the southern Gakkel Ridge. This collision may have contributed to volcanism on the Morris Jesup Rise. By chron 13, Greenland had ended its northward motion and had become fixed to North America, and the plateau north of Greenland had rifted apart to become the Morris Jesup Rise and the Yermak Plateau.


This habilitation thesis collects works addressing several challenges on handling uncertainty and inconsistency in knowledge representation. In particular, this thesis contains works which introduce quantitative uncertainty based on probability theory into abstract argumentation frameworks. The formal semantics of this extension is investigated and its application for strategic argumentation in agent dialogues is discussed. Moreover, both the computational as well as the meaningfulness of approaches to analyze inconsistencies, both in classical logics as well as logics for uncertain reasoning is investigated. Finally, this thesis addresses the implementation challenges for various kinds of knowledge representation formalisms employing any notion of inconsistency tolerance or uncertainty.


A high-resolution airborne gravity gradiometer survey was flown in March 2012 over the Strange Lake intrusive complex, located on the border of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. This survey provided an opportunity to better understand the performance and limitations of this technology and also investigate potential improvements to the associated data processing. Airborne gravity gradient data low-pass-filtered at 75 m, rather than the standard 300 m, were provided by the contractor for this purpose. One flight line was reflown several times and used to assess the repeatability of the data, showing that in this particular area, the airborne gradient gravity system has a full-sine (wavelength) resolution of about 700 m. The system can therefore detect anomalies having a width of about 350 m. We also found that for gradiometer data, kriging is a better interpolator than low-pass filtering combined with minimum curvature gridding. Using kriging, line-to-line correlation (and in some cases, resolution) app...


We describe the major features of a post-2012 international global climate policy architecture with three essential elements: a means to ensure that key industrialized and developing nations are involved in differentiated but meaningful ways; an emphasis on an extended time path of targets; and inclusion of flexible market-based policy instruments to keep costs down and facilitate international equity. This architecture is consistent with fundamental aspects of the science, economics, and politics of global climate change; addresses specific shortcomings of the Kyoto Protocol; and builds upon the foundation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.


Background: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which consist of fused conjugated aromatic rings, not only are toxic to humans and other living organisms, but will also pollute groundwater. These compounds can be point source or non-point source and are one of the most widespread organic pollutants. Some of them are suspected carcinogens and are linked to other health problems. This study was carried out to assess the petroleum hydrocarbon phytoremediation potential of the Aeluropus littoralis species. Accumulation of PAHs in roots and upper parts of A. littoralis has been determined. Translocation factor (TF) was also calculated.
Methods: In this study, soil samples were taken from the vicinity of Isfahan oil refinery, and the PAHs compounds were analyzed with gas chromatography. One-meter soil columns were prepared from the control and contaminated soil. Unplanted A. littoralis treatments were also prepared to eliminate the effects of environmental factors on the reduction of oil-based contaminants. Seventeen weeks after planting, soil columns were sampled at 25, 50, 75, and 100 cm depths, and the concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons and number of oil-degrading bacteria were counted. Moreover, the roots and shoots of A. littoralis were separated and weighed.
Results: Results indicated that A. littoralis reduced the concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons to a significantly higher extent than the control treatment. Increasing depth was associated with improved petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations and decreased number of oil-degrading bacteria. Mostly, the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) of PAHs was <1, which shows A. littoralis could be an excluder of PAHs. The results also showed that the TF of PAHs was less than one, and hence, A. littoralis could be considered as an accumulator of PAHs.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that this species is suitable for use in the phytoremediation of PAHS contamination. For further confirmation, an evaluation under field conditions should be undertaken.


Recently, there has been a rapid development in multivariate signal analysis to determine joint oscillations for multiple data channels. The emotion elicitation in an electroencephalogram (EEG) is a novel area to evaluate methods for emotional differences from brain signals. In this paper, utilizing the idea of joint instantaneous frequency of multivariate data, a multivariate extension of pseudo Wigner distribution is used for emotion recognition from EEG signals, in which different window sizes are employed to interpret the results. As a preliminary study, the best results are obtained as 90%, 75%, 65% in terms of valence, arousal and dominance scale respectively for larger window size.


LCC Market Development - In 1996 low cost airlines (LCCs) accounted for only 1.4% of intra-European Union capacity. By the end of 2002, low cost airlines had captured 12% of all intra-EU capacity - Currently LCCs have a 30% market share of scheduled European point-to-point passengers. According to AEA forecasts, the LC market is expected to increase to 43% of European traffic by 2011. - In 2006 140 million passengers were carried by LCCs. - Low-fare airlines have increased their presence from 13% of city pairs in 2003 to 26% in 2007. 96% of new city-pairs between 2005 and 2007 were added by LCCs. - The United Kingdom still sees the highest number of low-cost flights, followed by Spain, which has been making up a lot of ground over the last year. This is followed by Italy and Germany with slightly fewer flights. These four countries contribute to roughly three quarters of low-cost departures. France is fifth in this list with only 5% of LC flights. - easyJet and Ryanair continue to be the biggest players in the European LCC market accounting for about 40% of all LCC capacity. The top two are followed by Airberlin, which contributes another 10% leaving three carriers in control of half the European low-cost market.


This paper presents EnViz, a prototype software application for the visualization of environmental data. The rationale for the development of the application is given, together with the methodology for collecting the data. A technical description of the software is provided, with a presentation of new features and their relevance. Two case studies are presented, and their relevance in the testing of the software is discussed. Visualization results from the application of the software are included. Particular attention is paid to the testing and evaluation of the application by real users. The methodological approach is described and the results of the tests are presented. The paper concludes by interpreting the results and pointing towards directions for further research on the topic.


One of the most striking developments in the penal system in England and Wales is the increasing use of the polygraph by probation services. Despite severe criticism from scientific institutions and academic discourse, the legal order increasingly deploys the long-discredited polygraph in order to extract adverse statements from released offenders. Our article is structured as follows. First, we summarise the statutory and regulatory framework for the current use of the polygraph in the monitoring of sex offenders released on licence, and the proposed expansion of the polygraph testing regime as set out in the Domestic Abuse Bill and the Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill respectively. We then review our findings in respect of governing policies and procedures uncovered by our FOI-based research, highlighting the concerning lack of consistency in respect of both practice and procedure. In the subsequent sections we set out the main arguments deployed by polygraph proponents, and posit our view that none of these arguments can withstand scrutiny. We conclude by proposing a moratorium on any further use of the polygraph by the State, in order to thoroughly evaluate its effect on the integrity of the legal order, human rights and, more generally, the Rationalist aspirations of the penal system. In addition, and given already existing law, we propose a process of independent oversight and scrutiny of the use of the polygraph in licence recall decisions and other situations impacting individual rights, especially police investigations triggered by polygraph test results.


The international response to the Ebola epidemic is on the right path, but there is a long way to go. Case numbers are stabilizing in Liberia and Guinea, but remain out of control in Sierra Leone and the targets for cases treated have not been met. The issues raised by the Ebola crisis go beyond transmission rates, but other issues are not yet being properly addressed. The absence of non-Ebola healthcare capacity is keeping people away from health services and risks prolonging the epidemic; women are dying in childbirth and not accessing prenatal care; preventable illnesses like malaria and diarrhoea are rampant, causing needless deaths. There are around 4,000 new orphans and more new female-headed households. Household incomes are dropping due to the loss of harvests, restrictions on movement and on markets and rising unemployment, which is likely to lead to hunger by March 2015. The macro-economic impacts could cost West Africa $3–4bn. This Oxfam briefing outlines the key operational challenges and recommends that stepped up action should be taken urgently in multiple areas to contain the spread of the disease and to support those most affected. It is one of a series of Oxfam briefings on the Ebola crisis and response.  Read more about Oxfam's  response to Ebola .


In interpreting statutes, judges frequently refer to their obligation to take a back seat to the legislature, and to avoid substituting their own policy preferences for those of the legislature. This principle, "Legislative Primacy," has been the most significant motivation for the movement against the use of such extrinsic evidence of legislative intent as a statute's legislative history. This history is not enacted, and can be cherry-picked by judges or anyone else wishing to create a narrative that favors one side or the other. This article addresses another source of evidence that is not enacted and subject to selective citation: judicial decisions. U.S. judges are relentless in citing themselves as reasons for deciding statutory cases. On occasion, citations demonstrate that the issue before the court has been decided. Most of the time, however, courts cite themselves to demonstrate coherence with a legal narrative, whether the law's enactment history, the social history surrounding its enactment, the courts' jurisprudence concerning other issues involving that statute, or the relationship between the law in question and the corpus juris. Also included are citations to other cases that have employed the various canons of construction, and even cases that have applied everyday language one way or another. This article has as its goal to evaluate these references in terms of which ones legitimately advance rule of law values. It does so by examining three five-to-four U.S. Supreme Court decisions in detail. Some citation practices, it argues, should be eliminated altogether. Others are legitimate if justified by analogical reasoning. Still others are legitimate as is. The article further addresses the extent to which the use of citation is a by-product of common law reasoning infiltrating the statutorily-based legal system in which we now live.


This essay presents a theory of small arms demand and provides initial evidence from ongoing case studies in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and Brazil. The theory revolves around the motivations and means to acquire arms, addressing issues such as contrasting acquirers and possessors and differentiating between acquirers and non-acquirers, consumers and producers, and final and intermediate demand. The essay also studies characteristics of small arms that make them so desirable as compared to other means of conducting violent conflict. The overall goal is to provide a theoretical framework and language that is common to a variety of social science approaches to the study of small arms use, misuse and abuse.


This paper uses the microstructure approach for the South African foreign exchange market to determine the impact of order flow on the rand/US dollar exchange rate over the short and long term. A hybrid model which combines microeconomic and macroeconomic fundamental determinants of the exchangerate has been adopted. The analysis uses monthly series from January 2004 to December 2016. We find that order flow explains movements in the exchange rate, both in the short and in the long term. The speed of adjustment from short-term deviations is relatively slow. The results based on the rolling-window estimation of the long-run model provide evidence of a changing relationship between order flow and the exchange rate. Consistent with the literature, the results show that the rand/dollar exchange rate reacts to fundamental variables only in the long term. Unlike Meese and Rogoff (1983), who postulate that the best way to estimate the exchange rate over the short term is with a random walk model, the current study shows that the microstructure approach can be exploited to explain short-term dynamics in the exchange rate. The results suggest that transaction flows at the micro level contain important information in explaining rand/dollar exchange rate movements.


The creation of non-contributory pension schemes is becoming increasingly common as countries struggle to reduce poverty. Drawing on data from Mexico's Adultos Mayores Program (Older Adults Program) --a cash transfer scheme aimed at rural adults over 70 years of age-- we evaluate the effects of this program on the well-being of the beneficiary population. Exploiting a quasi-experimental design whereby the program relies on exogenous geographical and age cutoffs to identify its target group, we find that the mental health of elderly adults in the program is significantly improved, as their score on the Geriatric Depression Scale decreases by 12%. We also find that the proportion of treated individuals doing paid work is reduced by 20%, with most of these people switching from their former activities to work in family businesses; treated households show higher levels of consumption expenditures (on average, an increase of 23%). Very importantly, we also rule out significant anticipation effects that might have been associated with the program transfers. Thus, overall, we find that non-contributory pension schemes target to the poor in developing countries can improve the well-being of poor older adults without having any indirect impact (through potential anticipation effects) on the earnings or savings of future program participants.


Starting in the mid-19th century, Chinese linguists began to import the Western study of grammar by means of translation of Western grammar books. Until then Chinese traditional linguistics had produced hardly any research on language structures. One of the most significant differences between the Indo-European languages and the Chinese language is the presence in the former of the phenomenon of grammatical case, often provided with a marker. The present paper deals with the different strategies Chinese linguists used to translate this notion they found in Western grammar books. Second, it highlights how they even tried to employ case in the description of Chinese, but in time this concept was radically modified in order to fit the Chinese grammatical system. The texts in this study consist of a number of Latin, English and Chinese grammar books, written from the mid-19th century to the 1920s.


OBJECTIVE
To present a case series of idiopathic lipoidal corneal degeneration in falcons.

ANIMALS STUDIED
Five falcons including three peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus), one prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus), and one red-naped shaheen (Falco peregrinus babylonicus) were observed to develop slowly progressive corneal opacification that began at the temporal limbus and extended centripetally across the cornea over a period of years. Four of the birds were over 20 years old.

PROCEDURES
All animals underwent complete ophthalmic examinations. A red-naped shaheen underwent ocular imaging via spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Two peregrine falcons were euthanized due to declining health, and their eyes were examined histologically.

RESULTS
The opacities were pale and granular, with frequent vascularization associated perilimbally. Diffuse neutral lipid was observed in stromal cells throughout the corneal stroma of both clear and opaque areas of the cornea, sparing only the acellular anterior limiting lamina. Clusters of cholesterol crystals surrounded by macrophages were present in the mid-stroma. Fibrosis was evident in a subepithelial location, which separated the epithelium from the anterior limiting lamina. Ultrastructurally, diffuse vacuolization of the keratocytes was observed. No other ophthalmic or systemic abnormalities were noted.

CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that lipid degeneration occurs rarely in captive falcons of advanced age. The underlying cause is unclear. Though unsubstantiated, possible contributing factors include dyslipoproteinemia, corneal trauma, diet, and age-related alterations in corneal metabolism. The initiation of pathology at the temporal limbus, as well as slow progression, suggests that exposure contributes to the onset and progression of this unique keratopathy.


Synthetic polymers containing quaternary phosphonium salts are an emerging class of materials for the delivery of oligo/polynucleotides. In this work, cationic phosphonium salt-containing polymethacrylates and their corresponding ammonium analogues were synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. Both the nature of the charged heteroatom (N vs P) and the length of the spacer separating the cationic units along the polymer backbone (oxyethylene vs trioxyethylene) were systematically varied. Polymers efficiently bound short interfering RNA (siRNA) at N(+)/P(-) or P(+)/P(-) ratios of 2 and above. At a 20:1 ratio, small polyplexes (Rh: 4-15 nm) suitable for cellular uptake were formed that displayed low cytotoxicity. While siRNA polyplexes from both ammonium and phosphonium polymers were efficiently internalized by green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing 3T3 cells, no knockdown of GFP expression was observed. However, 65% Survivin gene knockdown was observed when siRNA was replaced with novel, multimerized long interfering RNA in HeLa cells, demonstrating the importance of RNA macromolecular architecture on RNA-mediated gene silencing.


The obstacles towards this pursuit not only negatively affect the views and perceptions of the forest villagers about forest resources but also, from time to time, causes Turkey, which has the appropriate environment in terms of livestock, to become one of the countries that import meat. In this study, the perception and views of hair goat breeders about forestry & livestock breeding relations and how to develop these two sectors are investigated. Within the framework of this study, a survey including 121 hair goat breeders was conducted. According to the result of the study, it is found that; (1) Hair goat breeding has undergone a regression when compared with the past. Low output prices of meat and milk, contrary to high prices of feed and other input cost and negative forestry & livestock breeding relations, are the most important reasons of this regression. (2) The highest expectation of the respondents from the forests is related to livestock breeding. Thus, limitations towards goat grazing in the forests negatively affect local views and perceptions of forests.


This book is one of a series being produced by the Carnegie Institution of Washington to mark the centennial of its launch in 1901 with a donation of $10 million from Andrew Carnegie. The Geophysical Laboratory, one of its five units, was officially formed on December 12th 1905 and rapidly became the world's leading laboratory for research in experimental petrology, mineralogy and ultimately geochemistry, a position it arguably maintains to this day. The annual arrival of what was invariably called the 'gee-whiz lab yearbook' (strictly the Annual Report of the Director of the Geophysical Laboratory, a post held by Hatten Yoder from 1971 to 1986) was a major event, awaited with excitement and trepidation by workers in lesser experimental labs. It gave a preview, prior to full publication (or not, in some cases!) of what the Laboratory's scientists had been up to in the preceding year. In 1992 this all changed and was replaced by a pan-Institution glossy which aimed to impress (whom, I always wonder?) but not inform in any detail. A pity, because the lab still deserves its 'gee-whiz' accolade although it is no longer so obvious to scientists at the coal-face.

The book was completed by Hatten Yoder just a few weeks before his death in 2003. It describes comprehensively the development of the Laboratory over its many fields of endeavour since it was first mooted. The interesting opening chapter deals with events following Carnegie's gift. The drive for the new lab came essentially from …


AIMS
To validate the Chinese version Psychosocial Safety Climate scale (PSC-12), and examine the associations between PSC, workplace violence and self-rated health (SRH).

BACKGROUND
Psychosocial safety climate moderates the negative effect of workplace violence on health. To address workplace violence experienced by nurses across the Asia-Pacific region, it is important to develop and apply a Chinese language version of the tool.

METHODS
We conducted a two-part study. In the first part, the Chinese version PSC-12 was developed and tested for its validity in 405 nurses. In the second part, a total of 1690 nurses from 73 hospitals filled a questionnaire concerning their work and health conditions. Multi-level modelling was used to examine the association between PSC, workplace violence and SRH.

RESULTS
A comparable validity and reliability of the Chinese version PSC-12 with the original PSC was found. PSC scores were negatively associated with workplace violence. In the hierarchical linear model, participants from hospitals with the lowest PSC score had twofold risks of having poor SRH.

CONCLUSIONS
The Chinese version PSC-12 is a valid tool. Hospital-level PSC was associated with poor health status in female nurses.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
Psychosocial safety climate should be evaluated and promoted to prevent workplace violence in nurses.


Dear Editor, Psychotherapy as a non-pharmacological therapeutic intervention plays an important role in mental heath, and its various approaches makes it appropriate for people of differing cultures, subcultures, intelligence, inclinations or potentials. But there is a type of psychotherapy that holds hidden barriers, preventing theoretical discussions about it and the diffuse use of it in traditional, conservative cultures, such as Iran, that are not yet prepared to discuss openly interpersonal relationships, personal fantasies, unconscious motivations and ideals. Although there are some psychotherapies in which the characteristic traditionalism of these cultures may be integrated, in this paper I focus on the difficulties surrounding the adoption of psychoanalysis and it's derivative methods, such psychoanalytic and short-term psychotherapy, in Iran. Why have there been such obstacles in applying psychoanalysis in traditional societies? First, psychoanalysis has a theoretical structure that is nearly unacceptable to most of the practitioners brought up in the context of a society that favors its own culture. These therapists prefer to study in secret theses that are in opposition to widely held opinions and traditions. second, there is little support from senior advisors or educators, who often are more comfortable with existing standards of practice. In recent centuries, scientific discoveries have moved mainly from west to east, and it is the foreign aspects of psychoanalysis that play an important role in its slow integration into practice in Iran. The elements necessary for elaborating on these scientific concepts and innovations are not established in Iranian society, and it is difficult for these foreign inventions to influence long-held customs. In traditional societies, the adoption of foreign scientific concepts is directly influenced by its perceived acceptability to the public and cultural dictates. This is particularly the case when there seem to be no immediate, remarkable benefits or solutions attributable to the new concepts. Further, in developing countries many people are involved in fulfilling basic needs and satisfying self-preservation. In such societies mental health, although important from a clinical and therapeutic perspective, is not regarded as a priority, and its appropriate position has not been identified clearly. In such a societal framework, cultural beliefs easily inhibit opinions that shake old traditions and totems or break taboos, even if the opinions present themselves in the guise of science. Oedipus complex, castration complex, transference phenomenon, unconscious object relations, infantile sexual process, psychosexual development, division of instincts into the sexual and aggressive, Eros and Thanatus, and so on, are themes that conflict with extreme conservative perspectives. The main imputations against psychoanalysis are that it spreads incestuous, impious beliefs and encourages sexual liberties (Freud, 1905; Freud 1910). In addition, the perception that psychoanalysis has a materialistic profile and alienates spirituality hinders its easy acceptance. Expressions in the early psychoanalytic literature, for example, "Freud's Future of an Illusion, Totem and Taboo," and "Moses and Monotheism," draw a mask of paganism on the clinical and scientific foundations of psychoanalysis. This view is not associated with other modes of psychotherapy. The use of therapies that are separated from a "philosophy," such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, and therapeutic modes that have a "magical" element, such as hypnosis, which provide an easy prompting of spiritual beliefs, are encouraged. Understanding and accepting the metaphors of psychoanalysis require education, elasticity in the ability to reflect, and a mind open for permitting their consolidation as scientific inputs before they can be accepted into a firm and structured conviction. Considering the difficulties encountered in changing traditionalist viewpoints, we can now appreciate the great efforts expended by Sigmund Freud in establishing his findings in the world of the last century. …


Polar-orbiting and geostationary satellite imagers provide a unique view on clouds and their role in the climate system. While current active satellite sensors offer more direct measurements, they cannot yet rival passive observations in terms of spatial and temporal coverage, and only span a significantly shorter time period. Hence, it is of importance to further improve the retrieval algorithms used to analyze passive satellite images. In particular, the underlying radiative effects of clouds, and their dependence on small-scale variability in cloud properties, are not yet fully understood, and remain an active area of research. A novel method has recently been proposed by one of the authors to account for the effects of sub-scale variability in the estimation of cloud properties from reflected solar radiation. In contrast to traditional retrievals, it also utilizes the second statistical moment (the covariance matrix) of reflectances in addition to the first moment (mean) as input, and links them to the mean and covariance of cloud properties. This method shows promising results at typical satellite resolutions in comparison to results obtained at higher spatial resolution by adopting the independent pixel approximation. This method of validation does however neglect uncertainties introduced by the 3D radiative effects. In the present study, we use simulated reflectances generated with the EarthCARE SIMulator (ECSIM) using Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculations in order to investigate the sensitivity of the proposed retrieval to 3D radiative effects. As input scene, a stratocumulus cloud model field corresponding to conditions encountered during the FIRE campaign is used. This approach provides us with known reference data for our evaluation, and allows us to separately study the different mechanisms responsible for uncertainties. Special attention is paid to the effect of horizontal photon transport, and its dependence on wavelength and on sensor resolution. In particular, we investigate the scaling behavior of the covariance matrix of reflectances for typical conservative and absorbing satellite channels. Implications of our finding for the accuracy of cloud properties in the presence of small-scale cloud variability are discussed.


The Threat of Smallpox A little over two decades ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the official eradication of smallpox, the deadliest disease in recorded history, responsible for an estimated 300 to 500 million deaths in the past century. This past summer, however, eight Russian children acquired a form of the virus after playing with ampoules of smallpox vaccine they found in a garbage dump outside of Vladivostok. Though the children did not contract full-blown smallpox, the incident reveals the threat still posed by the virus. As security in facilities holding vaccines and remaining live samples of the virus continues to deteriorate, the danger of smallpox has resurfaced. For many centuries, smallpox was a widely accepted fact of life. In 1796, Dr. Edward Jenner discovered the first effective smallpox vaccine. In 1967, using modern smallpox vaccines and increasing global health coordination, the WHO began its campaign to eradicate the disease. By 1980 the WHO declared smallpox to be officially eliminated. The deadliness of smallpox is due in large part to its high fatality rate--even with medical care 30 percent of those who contract smallpox die from it. But smallpox also possesses other properties that contribute to its lethality. Its incubation period is relatively long: full-blown symptoms develop only 12 to 14 days after infection, giving the virus ample time to spread unchecked and unnoticed. Highly durable in cold, dry weather, the virus can survive in open air for more than 24 hours in winter conditions. With its ease of delivery, rapid transmission, and long incubation period, smallpox is the ideal biological weapon, capable of being used by terrorists or rogue states alike and suitable for both complex ballistic missiles and simpler devices. A terrorist previously vaccinated against the virus could easily release it into a public area using a simple aerosol can. Officially, the smallpox virus currently exists in only two places: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia; and Vector, a former biological weapons factory located in Siberia. The virus's continued existence--and the threat of potential release--has caused contentious debate from the day of the announcement of its eradication. Since 1986, when the WHO Executive Committee on Orthopox voted to destroy all remnants of smallpox, the virus has enjoyed numerous stays of execution. On June 20, 1999, the last date set for eradication, the WHO decided to postpone action until 2002 "for the purpose of further international research into antiviral agents and improved vaccines, and to permit high-priority investigations of the genetic structure and pathogenesis of smallpox." Opponents of the preservation of smallpox fear that as long as eradication is postponed, there is the possibility of unintended proliferation. Yet, as many observers note, the hidden motive for postponement may arise for much more disturbing reasons. According to estimates of the Henry L. Stimson Center, a public-policy institute focusing on security issues, more than 10,000 Russian biological and chemical warfare experts--many of whom have access to the smallpox virus--present a risk of deliberate proliferation. Some Russian scientists earn a mere US$ 100 per month. If offered the proper financial incentives, these scientists could easily supply the virus to an interested party. Similar clandestine deals may already have occurred. US intelligence reports released in 1999 and 2000 purportedly cite several countries, including North Korea and Iraq, as possessing strains of the virus and possibly the means to use it. A KGB report released publicly in 1993 made first mention of the likelihood that North Korea had acquired the virus. Independent reports from US intelligence offices have found that samples of blood from North Korean soldiers showed signs of recent vaccination for the virus, implying that North Korea was preparing its troops for a possible offensive deployment of the virus. …


The low academic performance of African American children has become a staple of the American educational system. At this point, conversations about Black children and failure are merely good 'coffee talk' for many. Afrocentric (Africentric / African centered) education is the only culturally centered comprehensive approach to addressing problems of miseducation, but there are complications: often African centered efforts are given short shrift in school systems, ignored in educational research, and most interestingly those asked to discuss or lead Afrocentric efforts are often opponents of the theories. While all of the aforementioned complications still exist, a band of African centered teachers continue to make a difference for students. This article focuses on the philosophies and pedagogies of three African centered teachers who are well-known for their impact on African American students. Descriptive vignettes are used to provide thick, rich descriptions of these African centered teachers.


The availability of large-scale multitasked parallel architectures introduces the following processor assignment problem. We are given a long sequence of data sets, each of which is to undergo processing by a collection of tasks whose intertask data dependencies form a series-parallel partial order. Each individual task is potentially parallelizable, with a known experimentally determined execution signature. Recognizing that data sets can be pipelined through the task structure, the problem is to find a "good" assignment of processors to tasks. Two objectives interest us: minimal response time per data set, given a throughput requirement, and maximal throughput, given a response time requirement. Our approach is to decompose a series-parallel task system into its essential "serial" and "parallel" components; our problem admits the independent solution and recomposition of each such component. We provide algorithms for the series analysis, and use an algorithm due to Krishnamurti and Ma for the parallel analysis. For a p processor system and a series-parallel precedence graph with n constituent tasks, we give a O(np/sup 2/) algorithm that finds the optimal assignment (over a broad class of assignments) for the response time optimization problem; we find the assignment optimizing the constrained throughput in O(np/sup 2/ log p) time. These techniques are applied to a task system in computer vision. >


Targeting for rare observables, the CBM experiment will operate at high interaction rates of up to 10 MHz, which is unprecedented in heavy-ion experiments so far. It requires a novel free-streaming readout system and a new concept of data processing. The huge data rates of the CBM experiment will be reduced online to the recordable rate before saving the data to the mass storage. Full collision reconstruction and selection will be performed online in a dedicated processor farm. In order to make an efficient event selection online a clean sample of particles has to be provided by the reconstruction package called First Level Event Selection (FLES).The FLES reconstruction and selection package consists of several modules: track finding, track fitting, event building, short-lived particles finding, and event selection. Since detector measurements contain also time information, the event building is done at all stages of the reconstruction process. The input data are distributed within the FLES farm in a form of time-slices. A time-slice is reconstructed in parallel between processor cores. After all tracks of the whole time-slice are found and fitted, they are collected into clusters of tracks originated from common primary vertices, which then are fitted, thus identifying the interaction points. Secondary tracks are associated with primary vertices according to their estimated production time. After that short-lived particles are found and the full event building process is finished. The last stage of the FLES package is a selection of events according to the requested trigger signatures. The event reconstruction procedure and the results of its application to simulated collisions in the CBM detector setup are presented and discussed in detail.


The chromatin remodeling protein ATRX, which targets tandem repetitive DNA, has been shown to be required for expression of the alpha globin genes, for proliferation of a variety of cellular progenitors, for chromosome congression and for the maintenance of telomeres. Mutations in ATRX have recently been identified in tumours which maintain their telomeres by a telomerase independent pathway involving homologous recombination thought to be triggered by DNA damage. It is as yet unknown whether there is a central underlying mechanism associated with ATRX dysfunction which can explain the numerous cellular phenomena observed. There is, however, growing evidence for its role in the replication of various repetitive DNA templates which are thought to have a propensity to form secondary structures. Using a mouse knockout model we demonstrate that ATRX plays a direct role in facilitating DNA replication. Ablation of ATRX alone, although leading to a DNA damage response at telomeres, is not sufficient to trigger the alternative lengthening of telomere pathway in mouse embryonic stem cells.


One of the ways to waste energy in buildings is wasting it from the walls. For this reason, insulating materials are used to prevent the loss of energy in buildings. Typically, common insulations are high thickness and thin coatings are used less. The purpose of this research is to introduce nanocomposite thin polymer coatings and its effect on thermal conductivity. For achieving this, chemically modified nano zirconium oxide and nano aluminum oxide in three different weight percentages (1, 3, and 5%) were used in polyurethane matrix for preparing nanocomposite coatings. To study thermal conductivity, the metallic plates are coated with prepared nanocomposites and the thermal conductivity of the samples was measured. The results show that by adding zirconium oxide and aluminum oxide nanoparticles in polyurethane matrix, the thermal conductivity of coatings in all three weight percentages compared to the coating without nanoparticles, decreased. The lowest thermal conductivity was found for 5% nano aluminum oxide composition, which, compared to the conductivity of the pure polyurethane resin, has decreased about 40% that leading to a decrease in the surface heat flux.


Quantum spin-ice represents a paradigmatic example of how the physics of frustrated magnets is related to gauge theories. In the present work, we address the problem of approximately realizing quantum spin ice in two dimensions with cold atoms in optical lattices. The relevant interactions are obtained by weakly laser-admixing Rydberg states to the atomic ground-states, exploiting the strong angular dependence of van der Waals interactions between Rydberg p states together with the possibility of designing steplike potentials. This allows us to implement Abelian gauge theories in a series of geometries, which could be demonstrated within state-of-the-art atomic Rydberg experiments. We numerically analyze the family of resulting microscopic Hamiltonians and find that they exhibit both classical and quantum order by disorder, the latter yielding a quantum plaquette valence bond solid. We also present strategies to implement Abelian gauge theories using both s- and p-Rydberg states in exotic geometries, e.g., on a 4-8 lattice.


Some studies have indicated that PGs can modulate the single nephron tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) response. The aim of this study was to define the specific role of the vasoconstrictor PG, TX, by administration to rats of either vehicle (group 1; n = 20) or drugs that inhibit either cyclooxygenase (indomethacin [indo], 5 mg.kg-1, group 2, n = 17), TX synthetase (UK-38,485 [UK], 100 mg.kg-1, group 3, n = 19), or TX receptors (SQ-29,548 [SQ], 8 mg.kg-1, group 4, n = 14, or L-641,953 [L], 50 mg.kg-1, group 5, n = 8). Indo reduced excretion of the prostacyclin derivative 6-keto-PGF1 alpha and TXB2 and lowered whole kidney GFR and renal plasma flow, whereas UK lowered excretion of TXB2 only and did not change basal renal hemodynamics. The TGF response (assessed from reduction in proximal tubule stop-flow pressure (Psf, mmHg) during increases in perfusion of the loop of Henle (LH) from 0 to 40 nl.min-1) was unchanged after vehicle (9.8 +/- 0.5-10.9 +/- 1.0, NS) but blunted (P less than 0.001) by 40-65% in rats of groups 2-5 (indo, 11.1 +/- 1.0-4.4 +/- 0.7; UK, 9.0 +/- 0.8-4.8 +/- 0.7; SQ, 10.3 +/- 0.6-4.8 +/- 0.6; L, 10.7 +/- 0.5-6.7 +/- 1.3). This blunting was due to lower values for Psf at zero LH flow after indo, SQ, and L, and higher values of Psf at 40 nl.min-1 LH flow after indo and UK. The fall in single nephron GFR (SNGFR, nl.min-1) with increasing LH perfusion was unchanged after vehicle (10.9 +/- 2.8-11.2 +/- 0.8) but was blunted (P less than 0.05) by 45-55% in rats given indo (13.9 +/- 1.2-6.2 +/- 2.2) or UK (12.8 +/- 2.1-7.0 +/- 1.5). UK produced dose-dependent reductions in TXB2 excretion (IC50, 15 mg.kg-1) and inhibition of the TGF response (IC50: 30 mg.kg-1). After blockade of TX receptors by SQ, UK had no further affect on the TGF response. The fall in Psf at high LH flow was blunted (P less than 0.05) by indo and UK, whereas the rise in Psf at zero LH flow was blunted by indo, SQ, and L. In conclusion, endogenous TX generation can modulate the reductions in Psf and SNGFR during increased delivery of NaCl to the LH.


This thesis attempts to unravel the relationship between the national institutional contexts on the one hand, and the forms of the domestic discourse on the other and analyze how that in turn affects the overall policy-making process, in terms of ideas promoted, applied and rejected, during proposed transformative policy change. It maps the pattern linking a nation's institutional arrangement and its discursive process. Such an approach is valuable as it illustrates why and how the diverse institutional contexts of different countries shape the way transformative changes are publicly legitimized within the policy-making process. It tests the theory of discursive institutionalism, as defined by Vivien Schmidt, by examining the nature of the telecoms privatization discourse in Greece and the Republic of Ireland. This is carried out through a qualitative analysis of primary sources including newspapers, parliamentary archives, documentations of political foundations, manifestos of political parties, press releases by labour unions and industrialist confederations and personal interviews. The goal is to attribute a particular type of discourse depending on the institutional settings within which it takes place. The argument put forward is the following: in simple polities -like Greece- privatization is justified principally on a pro-market ideological basis or an expressed strategic objective. In compound polities -like Ireland- privatization is presented as a socially acceptable managerial adjustment to market needs with minimum references to ideology or strategic objectives. The examination of the privatization discourse exemplifies the various complex issues entailed within the political process of a polity when dealing with transformative changes. It has important implications not only for the two countries under investigation or privatization politics but even for other societies facing large-scale transformative changes as it provides guidance on how the pathways for legitimizing such changes are likely to differ according to the different institutional contexts.


Bimodal truncated count distributions are frequently observed in aggregate survey data and in user ratings when respondents are mixed in their opinion. They also arise in censored count data, where the highest category might create an additional mode. Modeling bimodal behavior in discrete data is useful for various purposes, from comparing shapes of different samples (or survey questions) to predicting future ratings by new raters. The Poisson distribution is the most common distribution for fitting count data and can be modified to achieve mixtures of truncated Poisson distributions. However, it is suitable only for modeling equidispersed distributions and is limited in its ability to capture bimodality. The Conway–Maxwell–Poisson (CMP) distribution is a two-parameter generalization of the Poisson distribution that allows for over- and underdispersion. In this work, we propose a mixture of CMPs for capturing a wide range of truncated discrete data, which can exhibit unimodal and bimodal behavior. We present methods for estimating the parameters of a mixture of two CMP distributions using an EM approach. Our approach introduces a special two-step optimization within the M step to estimate multiple parameters. We examine computational and theoretical issues. The methods are illustrated for modeling ordered rating data as well as truncated count data, using simulated and real examples.


Thomas Piketty's monumental Capital in the Twenty-First Century has transported us to a higher understanding of historical movements in inequality. This essay ranks the promise of different paths that scholars can usefully follow from the point to which his book has guided us. The main path to follow is the income inequality history so well paved by Piketty and his team, supported by the book's history of twentieth-century shocks and political responses. Less promising is the book's emphasis on wealth, capital, and the rate of return. Following the income route to better inequality predictions requires merging his team's history of top income shares with the history of inequality movements within the lower 90 percent. It also invites a merger with other scholarship that has shown positive growth effects of the kind of democracy Piketty calls for.


In 2005, the President of the Bank of Italy blocked the cross-border acquisition of two Italian banks for prudential reasons and formal errors. Because it became later public that both deals were not blocked for prudential reasons, but to protect domestic banks from foreign investors. A survey of the EU Commission indicates that the misuse of supervisory powers and political interference is not only a barrier to cross-border consolidation in Italy, but in other EU countries as well. Systematic empirical evidence on the role of merger control as barrier to M&A is, however, still missing. The main problem is the lack of data on the scope for politicians and supervisors to block M&A during merger control. The main contribution of this paper is to collect this data and to construct indices on the political independence of the supervisory authorities and the transparency of merger control. The main source of information is a questionnaire that was sent to the supervisors in the 25 EU member countries between October 2006 and March 2007.


Network clustering is an important technique widely used in efficient MANETs network management, hierarchical routing protocol design, network modeling, Quality of Service, etc. Recently many researchers are focusing on clustering which is one of the fundamental problems in mobile ad hoc networks. This article presents the descriptions of recently proposed clustering algorithms and is categorized into different approaches that support similar features. Based on the comparison of different performance metrics of different clustering algorithms, the most suitable one is recommended that adapt it to various application scenarios. This study provides adequate information for the researchers that facilitate to analyze many avenues and to offer more effective and efficient clustering protocols for MANETs.


THE NEED for a substitute for blood has been recognized for some time. Many substitutes for whole blood have been proposed for use in the treatment of shock, nephrosis and other diseases for which transfusions are indicated. Early experience with whole blood revealed that it was necessary to cross match the blood of the donor with that of the recipient. This inconvenience, together with that of finding suitable donors at the time of the emergency requiring the need of a transfusion, led to the search for substitutes or a method for storing typed blood. A further point in favor of substitutes for blood is the high cost of treatment with blood or plasma as well as the frequent incidence of jaundice noted after the use of plasma during the war. Citrated whole blood has been used widely for many years and still remains a desirable means of transfusion in certain


The biannual update on national legislation and case law is an important tool in promoting the exchange of information on national measures for the implementation of international humanitarian law (IHL). In addition to a compilation of domestic laws and case law, the biannual update includes other relevant information related to regional events organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to the development of national committees for the implementation of IHL or similar bodies and to accession and ratification of IHL and other related international instruments.


The purpose of this series is to highlight a range of rare health conditions. Rare health conditions are those that affect no more and usually less than 1 person in every 2000 and many HCAs and nur...


Based on the importance of the construction, stakeholders in this industry should support its competitiveness improvement. However, authors sustain that not all are sufficiently informed about the current challenges, problems and advances regarding this industry and by this reason many valuable knowledge get lost. Understand the existence of different realities about construction, the shortages of information and state of the art is crucial to propose and implement strategies to support practical solutions. As a part of an on-going investigation, this research includes the revision of the nature, significance and challenges faced by the construction and makes reference to competitive policies, lessons learned and sustainable construction while knowledge management is emphasized as a key element to sustain construction competitiveness. Based on documental revision and field work developed with participation of oil and petrochemical construction companies and construction experts, this research present some preliminary results that confirm that there is a breach between construction knowledge available and the construction problems faced by this industry. This evidences that even of the practical knowledge available for the understanding of construction problems, to identify enhancement opportunities and to improve the complex processes related to construction, there is an important recurrence of diverse construction problems both in developed and developing countries. Based on such findings authors sustain that additional efforts must be devoted to permit that the existing knowledge transcend theory and can be used by construction organizations to improve it performance and competitiveness thus contributing to the solution of practical problems for the benefit of society. The presentation of basic information about those issues in practical way in diverse situations and with empirical evidences may facilitate the end-users change of attitude in front of such resources and thus reduce the existing gap between knowledges and construction problems.


This study assesses the planning, implementation, programming, budgeting and evaluation of extra budgetary and tax expenditures for Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico. The off-budget operations of these countries were analyzed against the best practices guidelines defined by the OECD on Off-budget and Tax Expenditures, Budget Transparency, and Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises, as well as the recommendations included in the IMF's fiscal ROSCs. This report was presented at Public Policy Management and Transparency Network's Meeting on Development Effectiveness and Result-Based Budget Management held on May 8th and 9th, 2006 in Washington DC.


I examine strategic implications of competing for consumers with self-control problems. For investment goods, like health clubs, I find that the equilibrium sign-up (lump-sum) fees decrease when competition intensifies, similarly to prices in standard oligopoly models. However, the equilibrium attendance (per-unit) price increases due to firms' deteriorated ability to take advantage of consumers' self-control problems. Moreover, firms earn less profit due to consumers' self-control problems—the firms have a unilateral incentive to charge per-unit fees lower than the marginal cost; however, they cannot make up the lost margins by increasing the lump-sum fee, due to competition. I also show that for plausible parameter regions the market adjusts to consumers' self-control problem in such a way that firms play the standard equilibrium strategies that they would have engaged in with fully rational consumers, with identical market outcomes. Most of the results are qualitatively the same for leisure goods (for example, credit cards); however, some results are reversed: the per-unit fees are higher than marginal cost and decrease as competition intensifies.


In the context of increased migration flows, Lithuania has become one of the countries that accepts immigrants and is facing the problems of integration of those immigrants, as is in other countries of the European Union. Integration measures shall become the priority of politics for the integration of immigrants that responds to the politics of integration of immigrants of the European Union, while solving the problems of immigrants on the national level. The aim of the research is to reveal integration measures, facilitating the process of integration of immigrants from non-EU countries in Lithuania. Qualitative research was conducted by applying the methods of semi-structured interviews and content analysis. Ten immigrants participated in the research and, based on their experience, provided their opinion on the need of integration measures when just arriving to Lithuania, and on integration measures to facilitate their further integration into Lithuanian society. Persons under investigation were selected purposefully, that is, immigrants residing in Lithuania no shorter than 12 months took part in the research. Research was carried out on August 2011. Results of the research allows us to state that the need of integration measures for Lithuanian immigrants complies with the measures provided in the New European Agenda for the Integration of Immigrants. Results of the research reveal that the following integration measures should be applied for immigrants who have just arrived in Lithuania: provision of necessary information on issues of living in Lithuania; consulting (on job search, legal and social issues); organization of state language courses and their representation. The results of the research showed that integration measures to facilitate further integration of immigrants in Lithuania are as follows: promotion of information, encouraging social activity of immigrants; development of inter-institutional cooperation in order to ensure social participation of immigrants; establishment and improvement of social politics, allowing integration of immigrants into Lithuanian society; dissemination of information on Lithuania via media; organization of events directed towards encouragement of mutual knowledge and cooperation; improvement of strategies directed towards teaching/learning of the Lithuanian language, and employment.


Cyclic peptides have unique properties and can target protein surfaces specifically and potently. N-Methylation provides a promising way to further optimize the pharmacokinetic and structural profiles of cyclic peptides. The capability to accurately model structures adopted by N-methylated cyclic peptides would facilitate rational design of this interesting and useful class of molecules. We apply molecular dynamics simulations with advanced enhanced sampling methods to efficiently characterize the structural ensembles of N-methylated cyclic peptides, while simultaneously evaluating the overall performance of several simulation force fields. We find that one of the residue-specific force fields, RSFF2, is able to recapitulate experimental structures of the N-methylated cyclic peptide benchmarks tested here when the correct amide isomers are used as initial configurations and enforced during the simulations. Thus, using our simulation approach, it is possible to accurately and efficiently predict the structures of N-methylated cyclic peptides if sufficient information is available to determine the correct amide cis/trans configuration. Moreover, our results suggest that, upon further optimization of RSFF2 to more reliably predict cis/trans isomers, molecular dynamics simulations will be able to de novo predict N-methylated cyclic peptides in the near future, strongly motivating such continued optimization.


Most diamonds form in a relatively narrow depth interval of Earth's subcontinental mantle between 150 and 250 km. From carbon isotope analyses of diamond obtained in the 1970s, it was first proposed that eclogitic diamonds form from crustal carbon recycled into the mantle by subduction and that the more abundant peridotitic diamonds formed from mantle carbon. More recent stable isotope studies using nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, as well as carbon, combined with studies of mineral inclusions within diamonds, have strengthened arguments supporting and opposing the early proposal. The conflicting evidence is reconciled if mantle carbon is introduced via fluid into mantle eclogites and peridotites, some of which represent subducted oceanic crust.


The Irish Government has recently introduced a series of capital grants to boost the uptake of domestic wood-pellet technologies in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These have proved popular and have encouraged a significant number of people to switch from gasand oil-fired boilers to the cleaner fuel. The demand for wood-pellets has, however, greatly exceeded the national capacity for production. The market for wood pellets elsewhere in Europe is also tight and, consequently, a large proportion of Irish pellets are sourced in Canada. This presents possible problems: the carbon emissions associated with longdistance transport may significantly offset the expected environmental benefits; and the resulting need to purchase carbon credits may impact on the Irish Government's rationale for promoting the technology. This paper describes a process-based embodied energy analysis which indicates that the difference in transport embodied energy and CO2 emissions between imported and domestically produced wood pellets is up to 1,403MJ/tonne and 108kg/tonne respectively. Imported pellets have up to four times more embodied energy than those that are domestically-produced. Although this erodes their environmental credentials, it is still a significant improvement when compared to displaced conventional fuels; for example, it is equivalent to 22% of natural gas CO2 emissions. An economic analysis of present value indicates that the short-term cost to the Irish exchequer of these increased emissions is small.


Reservoir Computing has been highlighted as a promising methodology to perform computation in dynamical systems. This makes Reservoir Computing particularly interesting for exploiting physical systems directly as computing substrates, where the computation happens "for free" in the rich physical domain. In this work we consider a simple chaotic circuit as a reservoir: the Driven Chua's circuit. Its rich variety of available dynamics makes it versatile as a reservoir. At the same time, its simplicity offers insight into what physical properties can be useful for computation. We demonstrate both through simulation and in-circuit experiments, that such a simple circuit can be readily exploited for computation. Our results show excellent performance on two non-temporal tasks. The fact that such a simple nonlinear circuit can be used, suggests that a wide variety of physical systems can be viewed as potential reservoirs.


The influence of male age on reproductive success after a single mating has been explored widely; however, few studies have investigated whether quantitative or qualitative differences in male sperm are responsible for the observed patterns. Moreover, the role of male age on sperm competitive ability has been largely ignored. We examined the importance of male age on the probability and amount of sperm transferred during a single mating and explored whether sperm competitive ability varies with male age in the hide beetle Dermestes maculatus, a species where sperm viability does not vary with male age. We also investigated whether sperm transfer rates varied with female age. We found that the probability of sperm transfer and the amount of sperm transferred varied with male, but not female, age. All males performed behaviorally successful copulations, but intermediate-age and old males were more likely to transfer sperm successfully and also transferred a greater quantity of sperm than young males. Old males were less likely to transfer sperm than intermediate-age males, but if they did transfer sperm successfully, they transferred comparable amounts. Sperm competitive ability varied with male age and reflected the quantity of sperm transferred. On average, intermediate-age males achieved greater fertilization success when competing against young or old males than when competing against other intermediate-age males. Old males were poor competitors against intermediate-age males, but they achieved significantly higher rates of fertilization when competing against young males. Our findings suggest that quantitative differences in the amount of sperm transferred determine male success in sperm competition in the hide beetle.


This paper focuses on arguably the single most striking contrast in contemporary major energy politics in Europe (and even the developed world as a whole): the starkly differing civil nuclear policies of Germany and the UK. Germany is seeking entirely to phase out nuclear power by 2022. Yet the UK advocates a 'nuclear renaissance', promoting the most ambitious new nuclear construction programme in Western Europe. Here, this paper poses a simple yet quite fundamental question: what are the particular divergent conditions most strongly implicated in the contrasting developments in these two countries. With nuclear playing such an iconic role in historical discussions over technological continuity and transformation, answering this may assist in wider understandings of sociotechnical incumbency and discontinuity in the burgeoning field of 'sustainability transitions'. To this end, an 'abductive' approach is taken: deploying nine potentially relevant criteria for understanding the different directions pursued in Germany and the UK. Together constituted by 30 parameters spanning literatures related to socio-technical regimes in general as well as nuclear technology in particular, the criteria are divided into those that are 'internal' and 'external' to the 'focal regime configuration' of nuclear power and associated 'challenger technologies' like renewables. It is 'internal' criteria that are emphasised in conventional sociotechnical regime theory, with 'external' criteria relatively less well explored. Asking under each criterion whether attempted discontinuation of nuclear power would be more likely in Germany or the UK, a clear picture emerges. 'Internal' criteria suggest attempted nuclear discontinuation should be more likely in the UK than in Germany – the reverse of what is occurring. 'External' criteria are more aligned with observed dynamics – especially those relating to military nuclear commitments and broader 'qualities of democracy'. Despite many differences of framing concerning exactly what constitutes 'democracy', a rich political science literature on this point is unanimous in characterising Germany more positively than the UK. Although based only on a single case, a potentially important question is nonetheless raised as to whether sociotechnical regime theory might usefully give greater attention to the general importance of various aspects of democracy in constituting conditions for significant technological discontinuities and transformations. If so, the policy implications are significant. A number of important areas are identified for future research, including the roles of diverse understandings and specific aspects of democracy and the particular relevance of military nuclear commitments – whose under-discussion in civil nuclear policy literatures raises its own questions of democratic accountability.


In this essay I argue that the Constitution's Equal Protection, Establishment, and Free Exercise clauses share a common principle prohibiting state action that is based on "theocratic" reasoning. Drawing on the free-exercise case of Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, I propose the "anti-theocracy principle" to describe the ban on theocratic state reasoning. According to the anti-theocracy principle, state action must meet two requirements. The first, "secular independence" requirement is that in addition to any religious reasons for laws, the state must have secular reasons available that can appeal to non-religious citizens. The second, "equal status" requirement is that state speech or reasoning must respect the equal status of citizens regardless of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. Although I develop and defend the anti-theocracy principle with reference to free exercise jurisprudence, I also argue that the anti-theocracy principle should be made explicit in the Court's Equal Protection gay rights jurisprudence. Laws restricting gay rights are sometimes motivated by theocratic reasons. But laws discriminating against gays, like laws based in racial animus, lack a legitimate purpose. Having grounded the anti-theocracy principle in two fundamental constitutional provisions, I then extend it to recent controversies over the Establishment of religion. I argue that the anti-theocracy principle rightly constrains state expression, and not just state coercive action. It is therefore a more restrictive account of the Establishment Clause than Justice Kennedy's "coercion test" from Lee v. Weisman, and it offers a way of clarifying and refining Justice O'Conner's "endorsement test" from Lynch v. Donnelly.


ABSTRACT Vitamin A (retinol) and related retinoids are micronutrients provided by food. Retinol derivatives are growth factors important for development, cell differentiation and tissue homeostasis, especially in the brain. Objective: The hippocampus is a pivotal brain structure for learning and memory and hippocampal-dependent memory is highly sensitive to retinoids action. However, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, we characterized the impact of vitamin A deficiency on memory and neuronal plasticity, focusing on the CA1 region of the hippocampus in rats. Methods: Weaned male Wistar rats were fed a control (5 UI/g) or deficient vitamin A diet (0 UI/g) for 10 weeks. The effect of vitamin A supplementation (20 UI/g) for 3 weeks was also tested. Memory performances were assessed in the Y-maze (n = 24–30/group), retinoic acid levels were measured (LC-MS/MS) in the serum and in the hippocampus (n = 5/group), CA1 neuronal architecture was analyzed with Golgi staining (n = 17–20 neurons/group) and electrophysiological patch-clamp recordings were performed on hippocampal brain slices (n = 6–11/group). Results: Vitamin A deficiency from weaning significantly lowered hippocampal levels of retinoic acid, reduced dendritic length and branching of CA1 pyramidal neurons and decreased spontaneous glutamatergic synaptic events and synaptic plasticity. When replenishment with moderate dose of dietary vitamin A for 3 weeks was done, most of the synaptic and morphological alterations were absent. Conclusion: This study provides new mechanistic insight to understand the critical role of retinoic acid in hippocampal function.


As small-medium enterprises (SMEs) produce significant amounts of added value in the market, it is important to ensure that their business processes are optimized. Business Process Management (BPM) is a popular methodology in large enterprises; however, there is a clear lack of explicit information on how it can be adapted by SMEs considering their financial and informational constraints as well as other specific factors. In this research, we concentrated on one of the aspects of BPM, which is a business process improvement, within the scope of a small optical retail business's order management process. Process improvement is crucial when moving towards business process digitalization by the means of business process management systems (BPMSs) or any other IT technology for that matter. In this paper we presented basic aspects of our developed process improvement approach, which contributes to the better understanding of the specificity of process reengineering task in SMEs and could be used as practical means to prepare for process digitalization using BPMS in a more effective manner. The paper also presents process model simulation-based evaluation of a number of qualitative process analysis methods within the scope of a small optical retail business case, which was one of the founding stones of our approach. The acquired process model with the best execution metrics was then used as a base executable model for the developed business order management system in our target business enterprise.


Last decade has seen growing use of swelling elastomers in various applications by the oil and gas industry. Elastomers with special properties have been developed to sustain the specific downhole conditions of temperature, pressure, and chemical environment in different wells. Apart from targeted short-term tests conducted by rubber developers and drilling application companies, little is known about material characterization of such elastomers. Even these test results are not generally available in the public domain due to proprietary rights. In particular, an important factor that has not been previously explored is the effect of exposure on material response of swelling elastomers. Zonal isolation packers and other forms of elastomer-mounted tubulars are often stacked in open yards for a long time before their deployment in wells. Properties of elastomers may significantly change due to their exposure to air, sunlight, and humidity. Some results from a comparative study of the behavior of fresh and exposed samples of an ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM)-type water-swelling elastomers are reported here. Methodology of the swelling test was developed in consultation with petroleum engineers and rubber manufacturers. Other experiments were designed and performed in line with standard ASTM test methods. Properties of elastomers that are investigated are hardness, compression set, tensile set, tensile properties, and swelling behavior. Elastomer samples were allowed to swell for a total test duration of 1000 h. Two specimen geometries were tested for swelling: unconfined disc samples to study the behavior of free elastomer and plate samples (elastomer vulcanized on steel plate) to emulate the actual seal performance. Swelling was carried out in salt solutions of different concentrations and at different temperatures. Hardness of exposed elastomer samples (EPDM1) was generally higher than that of fresh samples (EPDM2). Similarly, exposed elastomer showed significantly higher amount of compression set when compared with fresh elastomer. Short-duration tensile set values (10 min test) were almost the same for both sample types. However, tensile set results for the longer-duration tests (10 h and 20 h) were higher for exposed samples. Surprisingly, stress–strain graphs for both fresh and exposed elastomers were almost linear, while rubber-type materials typically show a highly nonlinear behavior. Values of modulus of elasticity and stress at fracture were considerably higher for exposed samples. In contrast, percentage elongation results were higher for fresh samples. Amount of swelling against swelling time showed an up-and-down trend for both the sample types. At the same temperature and under brine solution of the same concentration, fresh elastomer generally swelled far more than the exposed one. The overall observation from the variety of experimental results is that exposure to sun and moisture for extended periods of time reduces the flexibility and swelling capacity of these elastomers.


This paper investigates the respective roles of spatial integration and arbitrage costs in explaining the adjustment of local prices to policy changes using the example of Ghana. We introduce a model of price formation and market integration that incorporates the price transmission process between local and central markets and also captures the implications for volatility of local prices. We explore the implications of the model for the time-path of price adjustments, as determined directly and indirectly through the marketing sector. We show that the price-adjustment process in a local market is determined by the degree of interdependence between that market and the central market in which a price-shock originates, and estimate the intertemporal and interspatial dynamics of the price adjustment process. Using data from wholesale maize markets in Ghana we find that reductions in local prices and local price variance following the introduction of economic reforms in 1983 can be traced to both local and central market forces, but that differences in the degree of market integration have important implications for long-run changes in arbitrage costs and the evolution of prices in outlying markets.


This article reports on a study of the boys in a major city centre church choir. It is treated as a case study of the potential confusion between the spiritual, the cultural and the religious. The study shows that the performance of religious rituals might, for many of the boys, be more accurately described as a cultural phenomenon. A deep appreciation of music, with evidence of 'peak experiences', describes a reality which has been called 'spiritual' in humanistic phenomenological writings. All the boys in the study were found to be 'spiritual' in that they loved and were moved by the music they sang in church, but few perceived their singing as a form of religious ministry. Religious commitment and faith development was found to range from piety to atheism, with an increasing tendency towards Enlightenment scepticism amongst the older boys. The boys could be identified as a social group by their shared love for music, but not by a shared religious faith. Discussion is developed about the reality of the spiritual with and without a religious commitment, in which credal literalism is seen as cultural rather than spiritual. A call for greater recognition of the significance of the cultural and social is made.


This study focuses on the expansion of the substrate scope of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase from Petroselinum crispum (PcPAL) towards the l-enantiomers of racemic styrylalanines rac-1a-d - which are less studied and synthetically challenging unnatural amino acids - by reshaping the aromatic binding pocket of the active site of PcPAL by point mutations. Ammonia elimination from l-styrylalanine (l-1a) catalyzed by non-mutated PcPAL (wt-PcPAL) took place with a 777-fold lower kcat/KM value than the deamination of the natural substrate, l-Phe. Computer modeling of the reactions catalyzed by wt-PcPAL indicated an unproductive and two major catalytically active conformations and detrimental interactions between the aromatic moiety of l-styrylalanine, l-1a, and the phenyl ring of the residue F137 in the aromatic binding region of the active site. Replacing the residue F137 by smaller hydrophobic residues resulted in a small mutant library (F137X-PcPAL, X being V, A, and G), from which F137V-PcPAL could transform l-styrylalanine with comparable activity to that of the wt-PcPAL with l-Phe. Furthermore, F137V-PcPAL showed superior catalytic efficiency in the ammonia elimination reaction of several racemic styrylalanine derivatives (rac-1a-d) providing access to d-1a-d by kinetic resolution, even though the d-enantiomers proved to be reversible inhibitors. The enhanced catalytic efficiency of F137V-PcPAL towards racemic styrylalanines rac-1a-d could be rationalized by molecular modeling, indicating the more relaxed enzyme-substrate complexes and the promotion of conformations with higher catalytic activities as the main reasons. Unfortunately, ammonia addition onto the corresponding styrylacrylates 2a-d failed with both wt-PcPAL and F137V-PcPAL. The low equilibrium constant of the ammonia addition, the poor ligand binding affinities of 2a-d, and the non-productive binding states of the unsaturated ligands 2a-d within the active sites of either wt-PcPAL or F137V-PcPAL - as indicated by molecular modeling - might be responsible for the inactivity of the PcPAL variants in the reverse reaction. Modeling predicted that the F137V mutation is beneficial for the KRs of 4-fluoro-, 4-cyano- and 4-bromostyrylalanines, but non-effective for the KR process of 4-trifluoromethylstyrylalanine.


The three Frames of Reference recognized in the current inventory of spatial-language types are differentiated by their placement of the Anchor from which the vector of search space from Ground to Figure is calculated (Levinson 1996). In certain well-recognized examples, Anchor merges with Ground. The existing analysis treats this merged component as analytically Ground rather than Anchor; its location in or out of the speech situation is therefore taken to be independent of the Frame of Reference typology. Instead, I treat this component as analytically Anchor, making its speech-situation status criterial to the typology. Four, not three, Frames of Reference now appear. The fourth, "Direct" frame, distinguishes binary locutions with a speech participant as Ground/Anchor (e.g. 'in front of you') from "Object-Centered" binary locutions in which Ground/Anchor is not a speech participant ( e.g. 'in front of the kettle'). This four-frame analysis corresponds better than does the three-frame one to the logic of rotation sensitivity which has been used to show Whorfian parallels between language and conceptualization across cultures. I close by discussing the application of Frame of Reference typology to pointing gestures, and show how recognition of the fourth frame of reference allows us to bring discussion of these, and of the linguistic demonstratives and locatives with which they so frequently co-occur, fully within the Frame of Reference typology.


The initial step in streptozocin (STZ)-induced beta-cell toxicity has been hypothesized to be the alkylation of specific sites on DNA bases. The enzymatic removal of these lesions results in single-strand breaks that over-activate the nuclear enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) synthetase and critically deplete the cell of NAD. Our studies were performed to quantitatively evaluate the extent of DNA damage in beta-cells and correlate this damage with toxicity. Monolayer cultures of neonatal rat beta-cells were used to determine cytotoxicity and DNA damage after exposure to STZ or the aglycone N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU). Toxicity in beta-cells was determined by correlating morphological alterations observed by phase-contrast microscopy with decrements in immunoreactive insulin release. The extent of DNA damage was determined by alterations in nucleoid density and quantitation of N7-methylguanine formation. Toxicity tests revealed that STZ and MNU were not toxic at equimolar concentrations. Streptozocin was toxic at 10(-3) M, whereas only mild toxicity was observed with MNU at 10(-2) M. Surprisingly, however, at equimolar concentrations the two drugs caused comparable DNA-strand breaks as evidenced by their ability to shift the nucleoid migration ratio in neutral sucrose gradients. Additionally, quantitation of N7-methylguanine formation after exposure to equimolar concentrations of the drugs demonstrated that the two alkylated DNA to the same extent. These findings suggest that factors in addition to the activation of poly(ADP-ribose) synthetase must be responsible for the toxicity seen with STZ, because MNU at a nonlethal concentration is capable of causing comparable DNA damage.


Adaptive optics systems measure the wave front to be corrected by use of a reference source, a star, or a laser beacon. Such laser guide stars are a few kilometers long, and when observed near the edges of large telescopes they appear elongated. This limits their utility significantly. However, with more sophisticated launch optics their shape and length can be controlled. We propose to string around the rim of a telescope a number of small telescopes that will add laser beams in the scattering medium to create a compact spot. The method could also be adapted for ocular adaptive optics.


Tethyan ophiolites have played a major role in the development of the ophiolite concept during the past 200 years, and contributed significantly to the formulations of the suprasubduction-zone (SSZ) ophiolite paradigm and the plate-tectonics theory. Their melt evolution and magmatic construction witnessed the dispersal of the supercontinent Pangaea via continental rifting and seafloor spreading, opening and closure of multiple seaways in an eastward widening, latitudinal ocean basin (Neotethys), and deep mantle recycling processes through subduction-zone tectonics and plume activities. Neotethyan ophiolites are highly diverse in their crustal–mantle structures and compositions, pointing to major differences in their melt sources and tectonic settings of magmatic construction. The papers in this thematic set demonstrate these differences in the Neotethyan ophiolite record through new structural, geochemical, isotopic and geochronological data and interpretations. The Jurassic Western Alpine Ophiolites formed in a narrow basin (Alpine Tethys) that developed between Europe and North Africa–Adria–Iberia. Their peridotites represent exhumed, continental lithospheric mantle. The Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous ophiolites east of Adria formed in different Neotethyan seaways, and their SSZ magmatic construction involved multiple episodes of melting, depletion and refertilization of subduction-modified oceanic mantle. The Late Cretaceous peri-Arabian and peri-Indian ophiolites, which are discontinuously exposed along a c. 9000 km long belt from SW Anatolia to SE Tibet, formed above a Trans-Tethyan subduction–accretion system within Southern Neotethys. Diachronous collisions of Arabia and India with this intraoceanic subduction–accretion system in the latest Mesozoic and the Paleogene (respectively) resulted in diachronous ophiolite emplacement in the Mediterranean and Tibetan–Himalayan orogenic belts. Thematic collection: This article is part of the 'Tethyan ophiolites and Tethyan seaways collection' available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/tethyan-ophiolites-and-tethyan-seaways