NASA Langley Research Center identified a need for a distributed simulation architecture that enables collaboration of live, virtual, and constructive nodes across its local area network with extensibility to other NASA Centers and external partners. One architecture that was prototyped and evaluated employed Data Distribution Service (DDS) middleware and the GovCloud cloud computing service. The nodes used DDS to exchange data. GovCloud was added as a potential solution to enable other Centers and external partners to join the distributed simulation through an existing trusted network, removing the need to establish case-by-case interconnection security agreements. The prototype architecture was applied to an airspace simulation of manned and unmanned vehicles exchanging Auto-Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) messages. Various configurations of nodes were run and evaluated to assess the architecture with respect to upfront investment to augment a node for the architecture, integration and interoperability of nodes, performance, and connectivity and security.


When sex offenders in Minnesota are assigned risk levels prior to their release from prison, correctional staff frequently exercise professional judgment by overriding the presumptive risk level per an offender's score on the Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool−3 (MnSOST-3), a sexual recidivism risk-assessment instrument. These overrides enabled us to evaluate whether the use of professional judgment resulted in better predictive performance than did reliance on "actuarial" judgment (MnSOST-3). Using multiple metrics, we also compared the performance of a home-grown instrument (the MnSOST-3) with a global assessment (the revised version of the Static-99 [Static-99R]) in predicting sexual recidivism for 650 sex offenders released from Minnesota prisons in 2012. The results showed that use of professional judgment led to a significant degradation in predictive performance. Likewise, the MnSOST-3 outperformed the Static-99R for both sexual recidivism measures (rearrest and reconviction) across most of the performance metrics we used. These results imply that actuarial tools and home-grown tools are preferred relative to those that include professional judgment and those developed on different populations.


This research presents the process of designing a simulation tool to predict dynamic performance of a vehicle. In this case, PROTON WAJA powered by newly developed CNG-DI CamPro prototype engine was taken as model to be predicted and at the same time to improve vehicle performance. Besides that, the potentials of Natural Gas and Direct Injection technology were reviewed as one of the main elements in this project. However this paper will not cover the design change or modification required to optimize Natural Gas as a fuel. Performance of the CNG-DI engine was simulated to match with the five speed manual transmission. In order to calculate the vehicle performance, combination of gear ratio and final drive selection was carried out. Three gear ratios and final drives combination were selected and compared. The best gear ratio combined with best final drive will decide the best performance. Besides that, comparison between simulation result and actual test conducted by vehicle manufacturer at the same test basis was also done to verify the accuracy of simulation tool. The tool was design to ease engineers or researchers when comes to transmission selection for a given vehicle.


The thrust of this essay is to study how interculturality, as a path to decolonization, is being articulated and understood among indigenous alliances in the Andean region of Latin America. Empirically, the analysis is based upon interviews with students and teachers from local academic courses on interculturality in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Although interculturality and intercultural education are common features also in Western educational rhetoric, the imposition to learn from indigenous movements have failed to attract any substantial interest in the West (cf. Deere & Leon 2003; Patrinos 2000). To illustrate this further, Robert Young (2012) argues that indigenous struggles seldom are regarded as a central issue even within postcolonial studies, a disjunction related to the use among indigenous movements of paradigms not easily translated to the Western theories and presuppositions commonly used in this scholarship (Young 2012). Given this picture, there are strong reasons for engaging seriously in a discussion about the proposition for interculturality to break out of the prison-house of colonial vocabulary – modernity, progress, salvation – as it lingers on in official memory; and there are also good reasons to problematize the universalizing claims that have characterized Western philosophy in the implicitly assumed epistemological hierarchies.In this paper, I will focus specifically on visions of decolonization in terms of retrieved languages, reinscribed histories, production of knowledge; beginning the essay with an elaboration of the logic of domination as rooted in the modern/colonial world – here referred to as coloniality. Shortly thereafter, with reference points drawn from the work of Walter Mignolo and his notion of delinking, I introduce the theoretical backdrop that guides my analysis. In the major part of the paper, I develop an argument for interculturality to be understood as inter-epistemic based on knowledge produced beyond the discursive order of Western educational systems.


As a result of increased consumer awareness, personal preference, and limitations of conventional medicine, many individuals are turning to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). In response to this movement, many community hospitals are striving to be innovative providers. Society is leaning toward a more comprehensive style of healing that incorporates all aspects of wellness. During the last three decades, the public has increasingly used CAM. Arnold (1999) cited a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that reported that 39 million people sought either advice or treatment from a CAM provider and 42 percent of Americans used some form of alternative therapy. With the population becoming increasingly educated, aware, and proactive about wellness, many Americans see CAM as an effective alternative to traditional medicine. Healthcare organizations have responded, although slowly, to this trend, as new alternative medicine clinics, hospital departments, and research centers emerge throughout the United States. Although alternative medical practices are being used by an increasing number of people, there is still limited understanding of what CAM includes and how it influences health services organizations. Understanding this new market and its implementation in the healthcare setting is of interest to healthcare administrators. This article defines CAM, discusses its rising popularity, identifies its adoption in today's hospitals, and depicts barriers to its implementation. Finally, an analytical framework developed by the author is used to suggest factors for administrators to consider in CAM implementation in their organizations.


This Note explores the framing of political advocacy surrounding Iowa's 2010 judicial-retention election through a content analysis of letters to the editor in Iowa newspapers published in the three months preceding the election. In November 2010, Iowa voters denied retention to all three Iowa Supreme Court justices on the ballot. The election took place against the backdrop of a charged debate focused on Varnum v. Brien — a recent Iowa Supreme Court decision invalidating Iowa's statutory prohibition of same-sex marriage — and an unprecedented campaign to oust the justices on account of that decision. Because judicial-retention elections fall at the intersection of law, public policy, and politics, this study provides insight for the bench, the bar, advocates, and political and legal scholars as they seek to understand the debate over same-sex marriage and Iowa's 2010 retention election. The data collected in this study paint a picture of the political dialogue between pro- and antiretention factions as it played out across Iowa newspapers' opinion and editorial pages, ultimately demonstrating that pro- and anti-retention advocates framed the retention election in substantively different ways.


This research, based on a neo-institutional model explores how a techno-managerial variety of e-governance reform as espoused by a transnational governance reform agenda affects the level of governance that hinges upon a dynamic relationship between state and society. Since such a research endeavour focuses on the relationship between technology and governance, a social constructivism approach is deployed to explicate how this relationship is mediated through an array of political, social and cultural factors which further calls for a context-specific analysis of e-governance. Consequently, a detailed analysis of e-governance policies and practices in India along with a case study of the Common Services Centres (CSCs) Scheme under the National e-Governance Plan of the Government of India has been undertaken. Such analyses often denotes substantial gap between the macro-policies of reform and their actual impact which is further explained through the analytical category of hybridity. Hybridity shows how both policies and practices go through a process of hybridisation in negotiating the hiatus between 'imported' institutional set up and the 'inherited' social set up in the post-colonial context of India. Thus, the implication of e-governance in India goes much beyond in explaining (e) governance as a complex interplay between politics, technology and culture. Hence, this research transcends the specific context of India firstly in explicating the relationship between technology and governance and secondly, by devising a unique yet holistic methodological approach to address the entanglement of politics, technology and culture in the complex whole of governance.


Developing highly active and low-cost electrocatalysts with superior durability for both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a grand challenge to produce hydrogen by electrolysis of water. Here, we report on a facile and scalable approach to fabricate highly efficient three-dimensional (3D) bulk catalysts of core–shell nanostructures, in which few-layer NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets are grown on Cu nanowire cores supported on Cu foams, toward overall water splitting. Remarkably, benefiting from the 3D hierarchical nanoarchitecture with large surface areas, fast electron transport, and open-channels for effective gas release, the resulting 3D self-standing catalysts exhibit outstanding OER activity as well as excellent HER performance in an alkaline medium. Using them as bifunctional catalysts for overall water splitting, a current density of 10 mA cm−2 was achieved at a voltage of 1.54 V, and 100 mA cm−2 at 1.69 V with excellent durability, which is much better than the benchmark of IrO2(+)//Pt(−) electrodes. Our 3D core–shell electrocatalysts significantly advance the research towards large-scale practical water electrolysis.


A social justice approach to arts-based research, as presented in this article through examples from five different perspectives on what constitutes arts-based research, involves continual critical reflexivity in response to injustice. At the First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, I identified five distinctly different perspectives on what constitutes arts-based research. The variations seemed to emphasize contiguous relationships such as: arts-insight, arts-inquiry, arts-imagination, arts-embodiment, and arts-relationality. Starting from a study of arts-based research, I construct historical and theoretical traces to and from these five facets of a social justice approach to arts-based inquiry. My analysis offers potentialities for an intermingling of these five faces of arts-based research in the interest of social justice. The examples of arts-based research as social justice activism presented here are intended to inspire transdisciplinary researchers to imagine ways to conjoin arts-based processes, subjects, and forms with social justice enactments of research.


Most modern formalisms used in Databases and Artificial Intelligence for describing an application domain are based on the notions of class (or concept) and relationship among classes. One interesting feature of such formalisms is the possibility of defining a class, i.e., providing a set of properties that precisely characterize the instances of the class. Many recent articles point out that there are several ways of assigning a meaning to a class definition containing some sort of recursion. In this paper, we argue that, instead of choosing a single style of semantics, we achieve better results by adopting a formalism that allows for different semantics to coexist. We demonstrate the feasibility of our argument, by presenting a knowledge representation formalism, the description logic µALCQ, with the above characteristics. In addition to the constructs for conjunction, disjunction, negation, quantifiers, and qualidied number restrictions, µALCQ includes special fixpoint constructs to express (suitably interpreted) recursive definitions. These constructs enable the usual frame-based descriptions to be combined with definitions of recursive data structures such as directed acyclic graphs, lists, streams, etc. We establish several properties of µALCQ, including the decidability and the computational complexity of reasoning, by formulating a correspondence with a particular modal logic of programs called the modal mu-calculus.


The development and improvement of non-viral vectors on genetic engineering has been the
subject of study of many researchers due to its advantages as compared to its viral
counterparts.
Among the numerous studied non-viral vectors, hydroxyapatite particles (HAP) have been
traditionally used for genetic transfection assays due to its strong interactions with nucleic
acids, low cost, low toxicity, high biocompatibility and ease of fabrication.
Amid employed vector synthesis techniques, chemical co-precipitation is most popular. It
consists of apatite crystal formation as a consequence of precipitation reactions brought
upon by addition of a phosphate source to an aqueous calcium solution. DNA adsorption
occurs on the surface of the generated apatite material.
However attractive, chemical co-precipitation presents various shortcomings such as poor
morphology control, poor particles size control, aggregates formation and DNA exposure. All these characteristics have been pointed out by several authors as some of the factors
contributing and leading to low transfection levels.
Within this context, the present study exhibits the successful encapsulation of DNA with HAP nanoparticles produced by a synthesis protocol based on chemical precipitation. The
obtained nanocapsules showed a primarily spherical morphology and good dispersion.
Moreover, the protecting effect of HAP capsule material upon DNA integrity was confirmed by endonucleases attack studies as well as genetic material liberation under acidic biomimetic environment.
Finally, the transfection viability of the synthesized nanoparticles was successfully evaluated by means of bacterial transformation under in-vitro conditions, thus demonstrating the biotechnological potential as non-viral vectors.


In today's unpredictable and chaotic world, we look to science to provide certainty and answers--and often blame it when things go wrong. The Blind Spot reveals why our faith in scientific certainty is a dangerous illusion, and how only by embracing science's inherent ambiguities and paradoxes can we truly appreciate its beauty and harness its potential. Crackling with insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas, from climate change to the global financial meltdown, this book challenges our most sacredly held beliefs about science, technology, and progress. At the same time, it shows how the secret to better science can be found where we least expect it--in the uncertain, the ambiguous, and the inevitably unpredictable. William Byers explains why the subjective element in scientific inquiry is in fact what makes it so dynamic, and deftly balances the need for certainty and rigor in science with the equally important need for creativity, freedom, and downright wonder. Drawing on an array of fascinating examples--from Wall Street's overreliance on algorithms to provide certainty in uncertain markets, to undecidable problems in mathematics and computer science, to Georg Cantor's paradoxical but true assertion about infinity--Byers demonstrates how we can and must learn from the existence of blind spots in our scientific and mathematical understanding. The Blind Spot offers an entirely new way of thinking about science, one that highlights its strengths and limitations, its unrealized promise, and, above all, its unavoidable ambiguity. It also points to a more sophisticated approach to the most intractable problems of our time.


In this paper we analyse a setup where consumers are heterogeneous in the perception of environmental quality. The equilibrium is verified in a setting with horizontal and vertical (green) differentiation. Profits are increasing in the misperception of quality, while, the investment in green quality decreases the more the goods are substitutes. We further consider the introduction of either an emission tax or an environmental standard. The former rises the investment in environmental quality due to the higher cost of production, whereas in equilibrium quality always improves after the introduction of the latter. We show that an optimal environmental standard is an effective regulatory instrument against greenwashing and that the efficacy of the interventions is conditioned to the damage distribution and the aggregate level of emission.


African-Violet (Saintpaulia ionantha Wendl.) is an ornamental plant widely cultivated, because of its beautiful foliage and flowers. Benzylaminopurine (BAP) can be used to violet multiplication, but there weren t information about results with several concentrations. The aim of this work was to determine the effect of different concentrations of BAP on the multiplication of violet cultures. One utilized, as explants, shoot clusters of cultivars Optimara Miki, Optimara Maki e Optimara Akemfrom, with height from 0,8 to 2,0 cm. One utilized MS medium, with half concentration of mineral nutrients and vitamins, suplementated with myoinositol (100 mg L -1 ), sucrose (30 g L -1 ) and agar (7 g L -1 ). The treatments applied were: 0.0, 0.44, 1.78, 3,08 e 4,44 mM of BAP. The pH of the medium was adjusted to 5,8 before sterilization. Cultures remained at 24 ± 2 oC, photoperiod of 14 hours and 40 mmol cm 2 s -1 of light density flux. Total shoot number and number and height of shoots with more than three millimeters were evaluated at 46 days. Addition of BAP to the culture medium was essential to multiplication of cultures. Responses of treatments varied between cultivars. Best results of total shoot number and number shoots with more than three millimeters were found with concentrations between 1.78 e 4.44 mM. The height of shoots decreased with the addition of BAP.


For the first time, the simulation results of fiber distributed feedback (DFB) lasers are compared against experimental data in this paper. The pump source, active medium, and grating are all modeled and simulated to predict actual laser characteristics. Simple characterization methods are illustrated for the measurement of model parameters. Large loss at the pump wavelength is observed, attributed to the lifetime quenching of Yb ions, and included in the model as a critical parameter. DFB lasers with two different apodization profiles successfully simulated with the same set of model parameters.


Abstract Steel-concrete-steel (SCS) sandwich panels are an effective means for protecting personnel and infrastructure facilities from the effects of external blast and high-speed vehicle impact. In conventional SCS construction, the external steel plates are connected to the concrete infill by welded shear stud connectors. This paper describes a programme of research in which the non-composite SCS panels with axially restrained connections were studied experimentally and numerically. High fidelity finite element models for axially restrained SCS panels subjected to impact loading conditions were developed using LS-DYNA. The simulation results were validated against the dynamic testing experimental results. The numerical models were able to predict the initial flexural response of the panels followed by the tensile membrane resistance at large deformation. It was found that the strain rate effects of the materials and the concrete material model could have significant effect on the numerically predicted flexural strength and tensile membrane resistance of the panels.


Purpose: The aim of the article was to determine whether there was a long-term relationship between the level of economic growth and development of Germany and the number of granted patents and the so-called valuable patents. The empirical analysis was based on available statistical data for the period of 1872–1913. Econometric methods were used, including stationary test using ADF and KPSS tests, Johansen cointegration test. Findings: The research results showed that all analysed time series were non-stationary, and were integrated of order I(1). The Johansen's test results excluded any long-term relationship between the growth and economic development of Germany, and the number of granted patents, including valuable patents. Practical Implications: The adoption of the patent law by the Reichstag (1877) was an important step in the protection of intellectual property of the united Germany, so it was reasonable to determine whether there was a correlation between the analysed variables. The hypotheses about long-term interdependence could not be confirmed, which may have an impact on further studies of the factors of economic growth in the Second German Reich. Originality/Value: It was particularly important to examine whether the number of granted patents (including valuable patents) had a positive effect on Germany's long-term economic growth and development (and the other way around). The obtained results are an extension of the author's research to date, in this respect by providing some contribution to the development of cliometrics (not very popular in Europe). The research results will allow, in the next stage, to further search for determinants of Germany's economic growth, including determining interdependence in the short term, using the impulse response function.


This research examines problems surrounding procedures of fiscal policy and their influence on economic growth in Nigeria from 1970 - 2009. Theory envisage that fiscal policy can impinge on economic growth by changing motivation for investment and labour as well as by altering after-tax proceeds across sectors. It is clear that economists have different analysis concerning the effect of government spending and tax on economic growth in any nation. The research was conducted using an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) technique of multiple regression models using statistical time series data from 1970-2009. The estimated result shows a positive relationship between the dependent variable (real gross domestic product) and the Independent variables (Government Expenditure and Taxes). This implies that the government expenditure is a strong determinant of economic growth especially when properly directed towards the provision of adequate basic infrastructural facilities to stabilize investment activities. The regression result also shows that tax was not properly signed and this could largely be credited to poor tax administration in Nigeria and over dependence of government on earnings from crude oil in funding her projects. Accordingly, the result agreed with the Keynesian theory, which supports that government involvement through the use of fiscal policy could accelerate economic activities hence growth. Based on the results, it was therefore suggested that there should be a total renovation of the tax system in Nigeria and the federal government of Nigeria should intensify her spending especially in the productive sectors of the economy that has the capability to contribute to economic growth in the country.


We present a concept for µ analysis and synthesis with varying uncertainties. We assume that the uncertainties are unknown by bounded and with bounded rate of variation. The approach taken here is to augment the uncertainty block with its derivative. This can be achieved using appropriate dynamic multipliers. The approach fits nicely in the µ framework and D-K-iteration-like methods can be used for synthesis.


As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, paired edge-of-field sites were established in high priority subwatersheds to assess the effectiveness of agricultural management practices. One pairing was in Black Creek, a tributary to the Maumee River and Lake Erie. These fields were paired because of similarity in soils, topography, and agricultural management. Following two years of baseline data collection from these fields, consistent differences in water quantity and quality were observed for tile networks draining the fields, despite these fields being adjacent and managed together. Consequently, it was hypothesized that differences in subsurface water movement, specifically tile-drain density and connectivity, were the source of the observed differences. Our objective was to map the tile-drain network using remote sensing methodology in order to improve the understanding of nutrient and water transport as well as management on these fields. A combination of multispectral and thermal imagery, collected in spring of 2017, was incorporated to delineate the tile-drain network within each field. This imagery led to locating a cracked tile, which provided a direct path for overland flow to enter the tile-drain system and suggested that a tile-drain segment under the road connected the two fields. A ground-penetrating radar survey verified multiple tile locations, including the tile segment under the road. The distribution of these tiles helps explain the difference in water quantity and quality in the two fields.


With the rise of global art studies, there has been a quest to find a common ground to compare different contexts, events or individual trajectories. The expansion of exhibition catalogues and the artistic, social, and geographical information they contain make them an exceptional source to establish and articulate patterns of artistic mobility. Stemming from antipodal and diachronic research fields, from the internationalization of modern art (1850‐1970) to that of contemporary African art, we contend that exhibition catalogues give commensurable sources to trace the globalization of art on the long term, from its spatial, social, and economic dimension to the circulation of art pieces and the cultural transfers it implies.


Ernst Cassirer (1946, 140) once observed: "In the history of ideas it is by no means unusual that a thinker develops a theory, the full purport and significance of which is still hidden to himself." Cassirer was echoing no less a personage than Kant himself. Kant had written long before: ""¦ it is by no means unusual, upon comparing the thoughts which an author has expressed in regard to his subject, whether in ordinary conversation or in writing, to find that we understand him better than he has understood himself. As he has not sufficiently determined his concept, he has sometimes spoken, or even thought, in opposition to his own intention."2 May we take our lead from Kant here? May we understand Dooyeweerd better than he understood himself, even to the point of attributing to him a view or views that would appear to be "in opposition to his own intention"? It may sound a little strange, but something of this sort seems to have been underway among Dooyeweerd interpreters for quite some time. Many have started from the assumption that Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven held to essentially the same position. Now, since there were some widely acknowledged differences, something would have to yield, and what often yielded was Dooyeweerd. It was thought that in essence Dooyeweerd was saying what Vollenhoven had also been saying. One could therefore allow for an error in Dooyeweerd here or there — perhaps even a "contradiction" — while continuing to hold him in high esteem.


-The radiosensitizing efficiencies of 4 structural analogues of misonidazole (MISO) have been compared with that of the parent compound. Three of these were charged basic compounds, previously shown in vitro to be 10 times more efficient. Enhancement ratios were measured from pairs of tumour growth-delay curves for the mouse fibrosarcoma SA Fab. Two routes of administration and ranges of drug dose and intervals between injection and irradiation were tested. Drug concentrations in blood, brain and tumour were measured using highperformance liquid chromatography. The peak concentration in tumours coincided with the peak in radiosensitization: 20 min after i.v. injection and 40 min after i.p. injection. The concentration in tumours was similar for either route. Comparison of radiosensitizing efficiency on the basis of equal administered dose showed no difference between the 5 compounds, but after equimolar doses the charged compounds achieved lower tumour concentrations. Comparison of sensitizing efficiency on the basis of tumour concentration showed that they were 3 times more potent than MISO, as predicted from their higher electron-affinity. The resultant improvement in radiosensitization at low, clinically relevant, concentrations is so slight that any therapeutic benefit would depend on reduced drug toxicity in man.


Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed DoS (DDoS) attacks are evolving continuously. These attacks make network resources unavailable for legitimate users which results in massive loss of data, resources and money. Combination of Intrusion detection System and Firewall is used by Business Organizations to detect and prevent Organizations' network from these attacks. But this combination cannot prevent network from novel attacks as Signatures to detect them are not available. This paper presents a light-Weight mechanism to detect novel DoS/DDoS (Resource Consumption) attacks and automatic Signature generation process to represent them in real time. Experimental results are provided to support the proposed mechanism.


In the article, it was tried to consider intellectual and literary tendencies of children poems in Iran by analyzing the contents and some children poems as well. Different periods of Iranian literary history on children literature have been investigated in the study. As in the world, for wars and diseases, Iran has also a history full of ups and downs which has appeared in the poems composed by children poets and in the study, it has been tried to analyze the appearances. Undoubtedly, poems have a deep and constructive effect on a human life – whether a child or an adult. A poet composes, in his or her poem, feelings and needs such as sadness, happiness, fear, hope, and all good and bad effects in the life. And, the children poets compose their own desires for the children who once will make society adults. From the beginning of composing poems for children, purposes of the poets have been either to educate them or they wanted to impose their own social and political purposes in poems to children; and each of them has composed his/her poems in a national, religious national or religious space. In compositions whose origins are sometimes the national belief, the Iranian children poet employs national myths, heroes, ancient and mythological stories, mostly Iranian characters in Persian literature masterpiece, Shahnameh , in his/her poem. And sometimes, national and religious beliefs are both themes of Iranian children poems. Keywords: Children Poem, National Tendency, Religious, Religious National, Classic, Modern Classic.


Reflection groups using Vignettes – a method to deepen professional knowledge In the pursuit of integrating practice and research a successful method has been created that uses a research technique (the Vignette method) as a way for practitioners to come together and reflect on their own practice. Over 600 professionals from the social services, nursery schools and schools have participated in these Reflection groups. The aim of Reflection groups using Vignettes is a way to elucidate practice knowledge in social work by critical reflections and research techniques. Assembling social workers exclusively or together with other professional partners in reflection groups together with a researcher creates new knowledge. Typical cases with problematic situations or episodes are described in intensifying sequences. Each sequence demonstrates information crucial for assessments and decision making. Questions are put to each vignette on how to go about in the case and why. Thus comparisons can be made on social workers attitudes and work procedures as they are put in front of the same information. Themes that arise in the group process are put together and with the help of the researcher linked to theoretical concepts and current research. By using an example from a reflection group with vignettes about a Child Protection investigation in an ethnic minority family, issues on ethnic sensitivity in social work are discussed. The method becomes a tool for making visible ethnocentrisms, prejudices about gender, class and sexuality as well as hidden structures in the work process. The overall aim is to develop assessments in Child Protection investigations.


This study investigated the effectiveness and impact of library instruction (GST 111 – the use of library) course on library literacy skills of first year undergraduate students. The study adopted the descriptive survey research method and questionnaire was used as the research instrument. First year undergraduate students of the 2013/2014 academic session constituted the population of study. Simple random and total enumeration sampling methods were used to collect data from students in five out of twelve faculties in the university. Data were collected at the end of the first semester library instruction course. Data collected was subjected to frequency, percentage, mean and correlation analysis using SPSS 17.0. Results revealed that the library instruction was well perceived by the students as adequate and effective. The students' library literacy skills were high irrespective of the students' sex and faculty. Library instruction received positively influenced the students' library literacy skills but students' gender and secondary school attended did not despite the fact that majority of the students attended private secondary schools and they were exposed to the library before entering the university. It is therefore concluded that adequate and effective library instruction positively impact on library literacy skills of first year undergraduate students. Therefore, library instruction programme should be well structured and adequately delivered to achieve the desired result. Keywords: Library literacy skills, Library instruction, Undergraduate students, Library use


'Masterpieces of Russian Stage Design 1880-1930' examines the Lobanov-Rostovsky collection of stage design, in turn outlining the history of modern Russian art: one of the most important interludes within the cultural renaissance of the early twentieth century. Unique in size, scope, and composition, the collection is unequalled; artists include celebrities such as Bakst, Benois, Goncharova, Larionov, Malevich, Popova, Rodchenko, and Tatlin as well as less familiar names such as Anisfeld, Lissim, Remisoff, and Soudeikine. This volume (the first of a two-part set) includes over 200 colour illustrations of selected designs as well as an introduction, interview, indices (to artists, theatre companies, and primary productions), a glossary of terms, and a comprehensive bibliography for the visual and performing arts in Russia. From Neo-Nationalism and Symbolism through Cubo-Futurism and Suprematism to Constructivism and Socialist Realism, Masterpieces of Russian Stage Design guides the reader through the movements, styles, productions and projects that attracted many of Russia s early twentieth-century artists to the stage. The companion volume, 'Encyclopedia of Russian Stage Design' ISBN: 9781851497195 (to be published in 2013), is the catalogue raisonne of the Lobanov-Rostovsky collection.


In response to increasingly negative attitudes toward journalism and its coverage of public affairs, many newspapers and television stations across the United States have experimented with novel approaches to reporting to better meet the public's demand for news. Known as "civic" or "public" journalism, this new movement seeks to improve the news media's ability to supply the information and insights needed by citizens of a democratic society. Critics of public journalism say it contradicts some principles of traditional reporting. As a result, the new movement has spurred great controversy among journalists. "Assessing Public Journalism" is the first book to evaluate this movement.Public journalists use a variety of innovative methods to achieve their goals. To connect more closely with citizens, they may listen to their readers and viewers in neighborhood settings and public forums. To frame stories more accurately, they sometimes conduct focus groups and opinions polls. To maximize the reach of their work, print and electronic journalists have experimented with coordinated coverage of key elections and major public issues. Their goal is a form of journalism that improves the quality of citizen deliberation and participation in public life.By collecting and focusing a wide range of original research and selected professional commentary, "Assessing Public Journalism" provides the necessary framework for examining the issues surrounding public journalism and for determining what must be done to enable it to meet its full potential. Scholars, journalists, and concerned citizens will benefit from this vital study.


The task of this article is to situate the Codex Seraphinianus in a series of multiple frames, not least of which being that of the teratological (following Italo Calvino), but also that of the pre-linguistic or post-writing frame of asemic text. This combination is less a convergence of disparate themes, but rather a disciplined parallel reading with some intriguing points of overlap and intersection. It is my hope that bringing the asemic and teratological together that it may generate insights germane to both. Ultimately, however, we still must ask if the Codex can be read as a cipher (concealed meaning), or if it is truly asemic and thus "unreadable" in any conventional or systematic sense.
Keywords: Luigi Serafini, Codex Seraphinianus, paratext, metalepsis


This study examines how serious games may be designed and developed to contain engaging working memory (WM) training exercises. Video games have a high potential as WM exercise environment for children with ADHD, but it is still difficult to create a long-term training solution due to their problem to retain attention. This thesis aims for better understanding of ADHD children's motivation to be trained by describing the creation of a game prototype that was designed with the help from WM experts, workshops with designers working on previous prototypes of the same game, guidance from medical doctors specialized on ADHD, and by using a methodical formal game design approach along with frequent user tests. The results of the presented prototype showed an increase in play-time and in retention of player's attention over time in comparison to the previous prototype. The study concludes how game design resonated with the target audience.


Surgical treatment of hip fractures is frequently associated with secondary fracture displacement, in part due to weak osteoporotic bone. So far, improvements have focused on new metal implants although an alternative could be to augment the bone that surrounds the implant. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the use of calcium phosphate cement (Norian SRS) for augmentation of internally fixed hip fractures. Norian SRS is an injectable, biocompatible cement that hardens in situ without exothermic reaction. Over time it is remodeled and replaced by host bone. In a biomechanical study the holding characteristics for different implants was measured when inserted with or without augmentation. The study showed that conventional bone cement (PMMA) improved maximum torque and pull-out for almost all modalities while Norian SRS increased the holding power mainly in low-density bone. In a prospective and randomized study, patients with displaced femoral neck fractures were operated with internal fixation using screws alone or combined with Norian SRS for augmentation. The result showed improved stability when measured with radiostereometry (RSA) for the augmented fractures during the early rehabilitation period. The clinical evaluation of 118 patients included pain, walking aid, activities of daily living (ADLs), abductor muscle strength, mobility and range of motion. During the early course the augmented patients did better in some variables although over the total two-year study period there was no major difference between groups. Scintigraphic evaluation indicated that augmentation might compromise the circulation to the femoral head.The final part included unstable trochanteric fractures fixed with a sliding screw device alone or the same device combined with Norian SRS for augmentation. Using RSA it was shown that augmentation significantly improved the fracture stability until healing. In a randomized multicenter study including 112 patients, augmentation with Norian SRS reduced pain during early rehabilitation and improved quality of life until healing. In conclusion, augmentation with Norian SRS improved the early fracture stability in displaced femoral neck fractures while there was no major difference in clinical outcome. In unstable trochanteric fractures augmentation provided improved fracture stability and improved clinical course until healing.


Classification and regression trees are machine‐learning methods for constructing prediction models from data. The models are obtained by recursively partitioning the data space and fitting a simple prediction model within each partition. As a result, the partitioning can be represented graphically as a decision tree. Classification trees are designed for dependent variables that take a finite number of unordered values, with prediction error measured in terms of misclassification cost. Regression trees are for dependent variables that take continuous or ordered discrete values, with prediction error typically measured by the squared difference between the observed and predicted values. This article gives an introduction to the subject by reviewing some widely available algorithms and comparing their capabilities, strengths, and weakness in two examples. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. WIREs Data Mining Knowl Discov 2011 1 14‐23 DOI: 10.1002/widm.8


Background: Bias, stigma, and discrimination in relation to weight are frequently experienced by many obese people. The goal of the present study was to develop a Polish adaptation of the Anti-Fat Attitudes Scale (AFAS) proposed by Morrison and O'Connor. Materials/methods: The study was conducted on undergraduate students of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. The original Canadian Scale Anti-Fat Attitudes Scale was translated into Polish, and its factor structure, reliability and construct validity were determined. Results: The exploratory factor analysis (Study 1) supported the development of the Polish version of the Anti-Fat Attitudes Scale with a one-dimensional structure modeled on the original version of the scale (factor loading ranged from .71 to .85). The confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2) validated the one-factor structure of the tool with high values of GFI and AGFI (above .95) and an acceptable value of RMSEA (RMSEA =.07). The results of the analysis revealed that satisfactory stability was maintained over a 4-week period. The validity criterion was confirmed based on correlations with the constructs that were theoretically linked to this phenomenon. Conclusions: The Polish version of the AFAS can be used to measure negative attitudes toward overweight individuals.


Artificial Intelligence is increasingly used to assess people (profiling) and helps employers to find qualified employees, internet platforms to distribute information or to sell goods, and security authorities to single out suspects. Apart from being more efficient than humans in processing huge amounts of data, intelligent algorithms – which are free of human prejudices and stereotypes – would also prevent discriminatory decisions, or so the story goes. However, many studies show that the use of AI can lead to discriminatory outcomes. From a legal point of view, this raises the question if the law as it stands prohibits objectionable forms of differential treatment and detrimental impact. In the legal literature dealing with automated profiling, some authors have suggested that we need a "right to reasonable inferences", i.e. a certain methodology for AI algorithms affecting humans. This paper takes up this idea with respect to discriminatory AI and claims that such a right already exists in antidiscrimination law. It argues that the need to justify differential treatment and detrimental impact implies that profiling methods correspond to certain standards. It is now a major challenge for both lawyers as well as data and computer scientist to develop and establish those methodological standards in order to guarantee compliance with antidiscrimination law (and other legal regimes), as the paper outlines.


ABSTRACT We collected and evaluated, by the 'logarithmic size index' (LSI) method, all available postcranial equid bones found in the Czech Republic from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Material from the Upper Paleolithic (Magdalenien) and Bohemian Late Bronze Age (Knovíz culture) was also included. Two different species of equids were documented: Equus hydruntinus Regalia, 1907 and Equus ferus Boddaert, 1785. The variation in the size of true horses was compared with data published for neighbouring countries. In most periods, the horses are found to be larger in the eastern part of Central Europe than in the western part. The Czech lands appear to span the border of two worlds: the Pannonian plains and the western, geomorphologically diverse regions. The status of horses in the Neolithic Lengyel period from Moravia remains disputable. However, a high size variability in Eneolithic Funnel Beaker culture (TRB, 3800-3350 BC) together with a non-homogeneous distribution in Řivnáč culture (3100-2800 BC) and a significant increase in size between Lengyel and Baden-Řivnáč horizons (probably already in TRB) combined with the occasional occurrence of unexpectedly large individuals probably indicate the importation of tamed or even domesticated horses as early as the times of TRB culture, which is earlier than claimed in other recent studies, and possibly reflect multiple origins of the horse population. The large variability and repeated diminution in size of horses in the Early Bronze Age (Únětice culture, 2200-1700 BC) could indicate advanced domestication or multiple origins of the populations (or both). The persistence of wild horses in the Early Bronze Age cannot be proved osteometrically, but the presence of domesticated horses is considered certain.


This chapter explores the connection between past tense and modality in English and French. After arguing for a temporal definition of past tenses, I reinterpret the classical opposition between temporal uses and modal uses in terms of the speakers's referential or subjective intentionality. I further distinguish between the epistemic uses – which express the speaker's assessment of the probability of the denoted situation – and the illocutory uses – which express the speaker's degree of commitment in her speech act. I finally suggest an analysis of two epistemic uses of the English simple past and the French imperfect, namely their conditional use and optative use, thanks to the notion of dialogism, which refers to the heterogeneity of the enunciative sources of a given utterance.


An ability to understand the outputs of data analysis is a key characteristic of data literacy and the inclusion of data visualisations is ubiquitous in the output of modern data analysis. Several aspects still remain unresolved, however, on the question of choosing data visualisations that lead viewers to an optimal interpretation of data. This is especially true when audiences have differing degrees of data literacy. In this paper we describe two user studies on perception from data visualisations, in which we measured the ability of participants to validate statements about the distributions of data samples visualised using different chart types. In the first user study, we find that histograms are the most suitable chart type for illustrating the distribution of values for a variable. We contrast our findings with previous research in the field, and posit three main issues identified from the study. Most notably, however, we show that viewers struggle to identify scenarios in which a chart simply does not contain enough information to validate a statement about the data that it represents. In the follow-up study, we ask viewers questions about quantification of frequencies, and identification of most frequent values from different types of histograms and density traces showing one or two distributions of values. This study reveals that viewers do better with histograms when they need to quantify the values displayed in a chart. Among the different types of histograms, interspersing the bars of two distributions in a histogram leads to the most accurate perception. Even though interspersing bars makes them thinner, the advantage of having both distributions clearly visible pays off. The findings of these user studies provide insight to assist designers in creating optimal charts that enable comparison of distributions, and emphasise the importance of using an understanding of the limits of viewers' data literacy to design charts effectively.


Purpose - In an effort to develop an audit quality (AQ) framework specific to the US audit market, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) recently issued a concept release proposing 28 audit quality indicators (AQIs) along three dimensions: audit professionals, audit process and audit results. Using AQIs initially proposed by the PCAOB, as well as AQIs suggested by prior literature, the authors solicit perceptions from junior-level (senior and staff) auditors to investigate the current state of practice along many of the AQIs relating to audit professionals and audit process. Design/methodology/approach - In the study, 78 junior-level auditors responded to the survey. Findings - An analysis of the responses suggests auditors engage in activities and audit firms promote conditions that at times improve, and at other times, reduce audit quality. The authors find that individual auditors' perceptions differ across experience level, gender and audit firm size for certain AQIs. Practical implications - The study is useful to the PCAOB because it provides insights to help assess the value of potential AQIs in differentiating AQ. The study is also useful to other regulators because it describes audit staff and seniors' perceptions of apparent firm and auditor compliance with accounting and auditing standards. Practitioners should find this information useful in helping to identify possible root causes of audit deficiencies, a challenge put forth to firms by the PCAOB. Originality/value - This study provides academia with evidence on AQ from practicing auditors, which informs existing and future research along. The study complements existing work by showing how individual auditor characteristics (experience and gender) at the junior levels may impact AQ in practice


In advance of the referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union (EU), this Brief considers the distribution of EU 'structural and investment funds' to the UK's constituent regions and nations. The regional dimension of the UK/EU relationship has received relatively little attention in the public debate around the implications of 'Brexit' with much of the attention focusing on whether the UK as a whole will be 'better off' or 'worse off' as a result of voting to exit or remain within the EU. Further, whilst the UK's financial contribution to the EU has been widely debated there has been considerably less attention on the funding that the UK receives from the EU, and how that funding is distributed. Analysis of the regional distribution of EU structural and investment funds suggests that the possible implications of Brexit would vary across the UK's constituent regions and nations, which experience significantly different economic and social inequalities and have a high degree of variation in their economic performance. The Brief highlights a series of key questions relating to the future of European structural and investment funds that require examination in advance of the referendum, and that policymakers would need to swiftly address should the UK vote to leave the European Union on June 23rd.


Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone by stone. "But which is the stone that supports the bridge?" Kublai Khan asks. "The bridge is not supported by one stone or another," Marco answers, "but by the line of the arch that they form." Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting. Then he adds: "Why do you speak to me of the stones? It is only the arch that matters to me." Polo answers: "Without stones, there is no arch." (Calvino, 1974, p. 82)


The stochastic knapsack problem is a stochastic resource allocation problem that arises frequently and yet is exceptionally hard to solve. We derive and study an optimistic planning algorithm specifically designed for the stochastic knapsack problem. Unlike other optimistic planning algorithms for MDPs, our algorithm, OpStoK, avoids the use of discounting and is adaptive to the amount of resources available. We achieve this behavior by means of a concentration inequality that simultaneously applies to capacity and reward estimates. Crucially, we are able to guarantee that the aforementioned confidence regions hold collectively over all time steps by an application of Doob's inequality. We demonstrate that the method returns an ee-optimal solution to the stochastic knapsack problem with high probability. To the best of our knowledge, our algorithm is the first which provides such guarantees for the stochastic knapsack problem. Furthermore, our algorithm is an anytime algorithm and will return a good solution even if stopped prematurely. This is particularly important given the difficulty of the problem. We also provide theoretical conditions to guarantee OpStoK does not expand all policies and demonstrate favorable performance in a simple experimental setting.


OBJECTIVES
Recent studies have shown an excess risk of asthma for cleaners, but it is not clear which cleaning-related exposures induce or aggravate asthma.

METHODS
Risk factors for asthma were studied among indoor cleaners participating in the Spanish part of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey in 1992. In 1998, 78 of the 91 subjects reporting cleaning-related jobs in 1992 were identified. Of these, 67 indoor cleaners were interviewed by telephone about their cleaning activities and their use of cleaning products in 1992. These data were related to asthma prevalence in 1992, and the cleaners were compared with a reference group of office workers.

RESULTS
Asthma prevalence was 1.7 times higher [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.1-2.6] among the cleaners than among the referents, being highest among private home cleaners (3.3, 95% CI 1.9-5.8). The prevalence of housedust mite sensitization amounted to 28% for the home cleaners and was significantly (P<0.01) higher than for other indoor cleaners (3%), but similar to the corresponding prevalence of office workers (22%). More than half of the cleaners reported work-related respiratory symptoms. The asthma risk of the home cleaners was mainly associated with kitchen cleaning and furniture polishing, with the use of oven sprays and polishes.

CONCLUSIONS
The asthma risk of Spanish cleaners is primarily related to the cleaning of private homes. This relationship may be explained by the use of sprays and other products in kitchen cleaning and furniture polishing.


The t(12;21)(p13;q22) translocation is the most common chromosomal abnormality in pediatric leukemia. Although this rearrangement involves 2 well-characterized transcription factors, TEL and AML1, the molecular pathways affected by the result of the translocation remain largely unknown. Also in light of recent studies showing genetic and functional heterogeneities in cells responsible for cancer clone maintenance and propagation, targeting a single common deregulated pathway may be critical for the success of novel therapies. Here we describe a novel signaling pathway that is essential for oncogenic addiction in TEL-AML1 leukemia. Our data indicate a direct role for TEL-AML1, via increasing the activity of RAC1, in regulating the phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), which results in transcriptional induction of MYC. We demonstrate that human leukemic cell lines carrying this translocation are highly sensitive to treatment with S3I-201, a specific STAT3 inhibitor, and, more interestingly, that primary human leukemic samples are also responsive to the drug in the same concentration range. Thus, STAT3 inhibition represents a promising possible therapeutic strategy for the treatment of TEL-AML1 leukemia.


Viewers of Renaissance representations of the Annunciation miss an important irony. Where Mary is figured as unimpressed by Gabriel's proposal, she is upholding a masculinist ideal of female virtue. Where she is figured as delighted by the news, she represents an alternative feminine ideal that continues to be attractive to women and feminists, today. Inspired by the writings of Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva, I figure Mary in Renaissance representations of the Annunciation as contesting an ideal of feminine virtue that would deny her sexual difference and deny her pleasure in fulfilling her role as the bride and mother of God.


Louping ill virus (LIV) is a tick borne disease that causes mortality in red grouse, an economically important game bird of British uplands. The aim of this thesis is to extend previously published models of LIV , to consider the potential impact of different management strategies. In addition a new route of infection and the seasonal biology of both grouse and ticks will be explored. Grouse chicks are known to eat ticks as part of their diet in the first three weeks of life which may contribute to virus persistence if chicks consume infected ticks. This novel route of infection is incorporated in to the model which predicts that ingestion increases the range of host densities for which the virus is able to persist. The ingestion of ticks by grouse also reduces the tick population so that for low host densities the ingestion of ticks by grouse reduces the tick population so virus cannot persist. The model is adapted to take account of the seasonal biology of grouse and ticks. Although the temporal predictions of the seasonal models show some differences the addition of seasonality does not alter the model predictions of when LIV is likely to persist at different grouse and deer densities. Consequently seasonality is felt to be unimportant when considering management strategies. The treatment of sheep with acaricide in an attempt to reduce the tick population on a grouse moor is currently being trialled in Scotland. We use a model to predict the likely effect of this strategy at different deer densities. The number of ticks found attached to sheep varies so we consider the effect of tick attachment rates as well as acaricide efficacy. Although we predict that acaricide treated sheep can reduce the tick population and therefore LIV in grouse in some circumstances the treatment is less effective in the presence of deer. Consequently we use a model to make theoretical predictions of the effectiveness of acaricide treated deer as a control strategy for reducing LIV in red grouse. The effect of culling deer on LIV in grouse is also modelled and contrasted with the effect of acaricide use. It is predicted that acaricide treatment of deer could be highly effective, particularly if the deer density is first reduced by culling. Finally we considered the direct treatment of red grouse with acaricide. Female grouse can be given an acaricidal leg band which protects her directly and indirectly protects her chicks as they acquire some acaricide whilst brooding. Trials have suggested this can reduce tick burdens for individuals. We use the model to determine the potential effect that treating individual broods may have on the whole grouse population. The model predictions suggest that unless acaricide efficacy on chicks is high and long lasting treating individual broods is unlikely to reduce LIV in the whole population but will still provide some benefit for the individuals. The effectiveness of treatment is reduced by higher deer densities. The success of the management strategies considered in this thesis appear to be restricted by the presence of deer. It may therefore be that a combination of treatments including the treatment of deer may be of the greatest benefit to the grouse population.


A new publication, Bt corn and European corn borer: Long-term success through resistance management, is available from the ISU Extension Publications Distribution Center (515-294-5247). This publication discusses what Bt corn is, how it was created, what it is intended to do, and how it should be managed to delay the development of resistance in European corn borers. Ask for publication NCR 602. Single copies are $2.25.


In the automotive and rail domains, vehicles are entering the era of full automation thanks to wireless sensors and communication systems, shifting control functions from a human driver to computers. High data rate, robustness, high reliability and ultra-low latency wireless communications are required in the context of autonomous train and safety critical applications. Today, the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) is under development at European level within the International Union of Railways (UIC). This system will answer all the current and future needs of rail. It will be IP based, multi-bearer and resilient to technology evolution. In the context of the development of different FRMCS prototypes by industry, it is crucial to be able to test them in representative Railway radio environments thanks to laboratory tools. Characterization of radio channels in railway environments, by measurements or simulations, is a very active field. In this article, based on broad literature survey, we show that not all the published models are suitable for performance evaluation. Then, we propose a selection of typical Tapped-Delay-Line channel models to be implemented in an original hardware and software testing platform capable to reproduce the effect of representative Railway environments in laboratory, with real time emulation at RF (Radio Frequency) level. Preliminary results in Hilly 3 taps and Cutting 5 taps channel models are presented as a proof of concept of a "zero on site testing" approach, allowing for time and cost savings in the validation of railway communication systems.


Propagation delay due to variable tropospheric water vapor (WV) is one of the most intractable problems for radar interferometry, particularly over mountains. The WV field can be simulated by an atmospheric model, and the difference between the two fields is used to correct the radar interferogram. Here, we report our use of the U.K. Met Office Unified Model in a nested mode to produce high-resolution forecast fields for the 3-km-high Mount Etna volcano. The simulated precipitable-water field is validated against that retrieved from the Medium-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) radiometer on the Envisat satellite, which has a resolution of 300 m. Two case studies, one from winter (November 24, 2004) and one from summer (June 25, 2005), show that the mismatch between the model and the MERIS fields ( rms = 1.1 and 1.6 mm, respectively) is small. One of the main potential sources of error in the models is the timing of the WV field simulation. We show that long-wavelength upper tropospheric troughs of low WV could be identified in both the model output and Meteosat WV imagery for the November 24, 2004 case and used to choose the best time of model output.


To the Editor: Genotypic drug resistance testing before initiation of first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) is recommended to detect drug-resistant viruses and to avoid treatment failure caused by preexisting drug-resistant viruses (1). However, standard resistance testing cannot detect drug-resistant HIV-1 minority variants unless they represent 20%–25% of the population (2). Approximately 15% of those who underwent seroconversion in the acute phase in industrialized settings harbor drug-resistant HIV-1 minority variants, while standard resistance testing did not detect drug-resistant viruses in those patients (3). We report the case of a treatment-naive HIV-1–infected patient with early treatment failure because of preexisting minority K65R-harboring HIV-1 variants.

A 32-year-old immigrant to Switzerland from Eritrea with a recently diagnosed HIV-1 subtype C infection was seen at University Hospital, Zurich. On the basis of the low CD4+ T-cell count of 69 cells/µL (15%) and high HIV-1 viral load of 980,000 copies/mL plasma, we started directly observed ART with tenofovir and emtricitabine plus nevirapine. Genotypic resistance testing showed no evidence of resistance. Within the first 4 weeks of ART, the viral load decreased to 540; however, 4 weeks later it increased to 15,000, and then 12 days later to 71,000 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL (Figure). Resistance testing at this time revealed the reverse transcriptase (RT) mutations K65R, K103N, and M184V, which confer resistance to all prescribed drugs. ART was changed to lamivudine/zidovudine, darunavir/ritonavir, and etravirine, and subsequently viremia decreased and remained undetectable.

Figure

Kinetics of viremia, CD4+ T-cell count, and drug resistance mutations in a treatment-naive person from Eritrea, infected with HIV-1 subtype C, who was experiencing early antiretroviral therapy (ART) failure. Viral load (circles) was measured by using ...

We hypothesized that preexisting drug-resistant HIV-1 minority variants might have caused this early treatment failure. Thus, we performed clonal analysis of the RT gene before and during ART. At baseline, 17/222 clones (7.7%) carried the K65R mutation, synonymous to ≈51,000 HIV-1 RNA copies. Later, the K65R mutation was comprised in all clones. Further preexisting drug-resistance mutations have been detected in single, K65 wild-type, separate clones: K70R, V106A, and V108I. However, neither the K103N nor the M184V mutation was detected in any of those 222 clones, but both mutations were rapidly selected during early treatment failure.

Thus, the presence of the K65R mutation in a substantial fraction of the virus population and the rapid acquisition of the K103N and M184V mutations led eventually to early treatment failure. We cannot formally rule out that K103N mutants were present before ART at a very low frequency <0.5% and that K65R/K103N double mutants were potentially selected. The M184V mutation was acquired later because only 12.5% of K65R/K103N viruses carried the M184V mutation at the first time point during treatment failure.

Because of the considerable absolute number of less replication-competent K65R-harboring viruses in the patient, we assume that this variant has been transmitted. The additional presence of isolated, nonnucleoside RT inhibitor (NNRTI)/nucleoside RT inhibitor (NRTI) resistance mutations is another indication for the transmission of drug-resistant viruses, although they and the K65R mutation were not found in the same viral genomes. Presumably, the index patient was treated with nevirapine, stavudine, and lamivudine, the commonly prescribed first-line ART in resource-limited settings (4).

The prevalence of K65R-harboring drug-resistant HIV-1 minority variants is not negligible in treatment-naive patients. We have shown that 2.7% of HIV-1–infected patients, mainly those infected with HIV-1 subtype B, harbor the K65R mutation as a minority variant (5), which is comparable with the prevalence of minority K65R-harboring variants (4%) in patients from South Africa who are infected with HIV-1 subtype C (6). A meta-analysis showed that limited or unavailable HIV-1 RNA monitoring in combination with ART regimens with a low genetic barrier to resistance in resource-limited settings is associated with high rates of NNRTI/NRTI resistance in patients for whom ART fails (7). Although ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitors containing ART regimens have a higher genetic barrier to resistance and would be preferable in such settings, they are generally not part of first-line therapy in resource-limited settings. Thus, proper monitoring and drug-resistance testing would be desirable when using NNRTI-based ART regimens. Moreover, it could be beneficial to apply sensitive assays for the detection of drug-resistant HIV-1 minority variants in clinical practice. However, clinical cut-off levels for those minority variants need to be defined.

Immigration from resource-limited settings is increasing, and data suggest that minority variants harboring the K65R mutation are quite prevalent in those infected with HIV-1 subtype C, who are treatment naive (6). The case described here demonstrates that these drug-resistant HIV-1 minority variants can quickly accumulate further drug-resistance mutations and lead to early treatment failure, especially in the context of an ART regimen with low genetic barriers to resistance. This case was the first among immigrants treated in our center, but, given the potential for considerable transmission rates of resistance in countries that lack virologic monitoring, this mutation could become a larger problem.


RF and microwave applications represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the high performance electronics market, where ongoing innovation is critical. Manufacturers compete intensively to meet market needs with reduced cost, size, weight and many other performance criteria demands. Under this scenario, transmission lines based on metamaterial concepts can be considered a very interesting alternative to the conventional transmission lines. They are more compact (compatible with planar manufacturing processes) and present higher degrees of design flexibility. Furthermore, metamaterial transmission lines can also provide many other unique properties not achievable with ordinary transmission lines, such as dispersion or impedance engineering. Nevertheless, the impact in the industry is still not relevant, mostly due to the complexity of the related synthesis and design procedures. These procedures are mainly based on the engineer?s experience, with the help of costly full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulators and parameter extraction methods. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to simplify and speed up the synthesis and design procedures of artificial transmission lines. In particular, the lines obtained by periodically loading a conventional transmission line with electrically small resonators, such as split ring resonators (SSRs) or its complementary particle (CSRR). The design procedure is automated by using Space Mapping techniques. In contrast to other alternative methods, real synthesis is found from the circuit schematic (that provides a given target response) and without need of human intervention. Some efforts to make the method practical and useful have been carried out. Given a certain target response, it is determined whether it can be physically implemented with a chosen technology, and hence proceeding next to find the synthesis, or not. For this purpose, a two-step Aggressive Space Mapping approach is successfully proposed. In contrast to other methods, the real synthesis is found from certain target circuit values (corresponding to the equivalent circuit model that characterizes the structure to be synthesized). Different efforts have been carried out in order to implement a useful and practical method. Some of them were focused to viii determine if, given certain circuit parameters (which determine the target response) and certain given technology specifications (permittivity and height of the substrate, technology limits), that response is physically realizable (convergence region). This technique was successfully formulated and it is known as ?Two-Step Aggressive Space Mapping Approach?. In this work, the latest improvements made till date, from the synthesis of basic unit cells until different applications and kinds of metamaterial-based circuits, are presented. The results are promising and prove the validity of the method, as well as its potential application to other basic cells and more complex designs. The general knowledge gained from these cases of study can be considered a good base for a coming implementation in commercial software tools, which can help to improve its competitiveness in markets, and also contribute to a more general use of this technology.


Current fully-supervised video datasets consist of only a few hundred thousand videos and fewer than a thousand domain-specific labels. This hinders the progress towards advanced video architectures. This paper presents an in-depth study of using large volumes of web videos for pre-training video models for the task of action recognition. Our primary empirical finding is that pre-training at a very large scale (over 65 million videos), despite on noisy social-media videos and hashtags, substantially improves the state-of-the-art on three challenging public action recognition datasets. Further, we examine three questions in the construction of weakly-supervised video action datasets. First, given that actions involve interactions with objects, how should one construct a verb-object pre-training label space to benefit transfer learning the most? Second, frame-based models perform quite well on action recognition; is pre-training for good image features sufficient or is pre-training for spatio-temporal features valuable for optimal transfer learning? Finally, actions are generally less well-localized in long videos vs. short videos; since action labels are provided at a video level, how should one choose video clips for best performance, given some fixed budget of number or minutes of videos?


The latest and most advanced effort towards a space-based optical cosmic ray detector developed within the Joint Experiment Mission for the Extreme Universe Space Observatory (JEM-EUSO) collaboration was the Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon (EUSOSPB1) mission. The EUSO-SPB1 instrument looks for UV light emitted by extensive air showers above the detectors energy threshold of 3 EeV. This detector was launched in 2017 out of Wanaka, New Zealand as a mission of opportunity on a NASA SPB. Over 27 hours of data was taken in air shower detection mode during the 12-day flight over the Pacific Ocean. Besides an overview of the instrument and the mission details, we will show the results of the data analysis of the flight. Methods to search for tracks and other interesting signals were developed and applied to the flight data set revealing different types of events. But no obvious track of a cosmic ray candidate was found. This result is in agreement with a detailed simulation study performed after the flight to include the different conditions. Data of the flown IR camera and weather forecast model were used to determine the cloud conditions within the telescopes FoV. The presented results are also discussed in various separate contributions at this conference. The experience gained during this flight is essential for the preparation of the follow-up mission EUSO-SPB2 which is planned to launch in 2022.


Extensive analysis over the last decade has demonstrated that in developed economies energy use in buildings is one of the most significant contributors to aggregate greenhouse gas emissions. More significantly, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector provides a range of social and economic benefits in addition to anticipated environmental benefits. Greenhouse abatement from buildings can actually be delivered at a negative cost/tonne CO2.. Options for government intervention in the building market encompass: regulation; financial incentives or penalties; consumer information campaigns and industry capacity building. All of these policy measures have been adopted in Australia with varying degrees of success. This paper focuses specifically on the continuing evolution of building energy efficiency standards in Australia by tracking the trajectory of energy efficiency provisions in the national Building Code and examining this area of government energy policy in the context of initiatives such as the Federal Government's Direct Action Program. This study benchmarks Australia's building energy code against international best practice policies in European and North American jurisdictions using a framework developed by the Global Building Performance Network. Concluding remarks set out a series of improvement opportunities in areas such as policy implementation, regulatory stringency, compliance and enforcement.


Abstract The protection of Australian rural communities from fire and other emergencies is provided mostly by volunteers. However, many fire agencies are facing concerns over falling volunteer numbers and are increasingly looking at factors potentially impacting on volunteering. Evidence suggests that family issues play a role in many volunteer resignations and could be contributing to declining volunteer numbers. Despite this, there is little research available on the families of rural volunteer firefighters and agencies have little evidence to inform strategies for supporting the families of their volunteers. In a preliminary effort to address this lack of knowledge, this review summarises the small amount of research available on rural families in general, and then volunteer firefighter families in particular. It then introduces a potentially useful model of Work–Family Conflict, which suggests that time- and strain-based pressures may be important sources of difficulty for spouses and partners balancing volunteer firefighter and family roles. This review concludes by summarising directions for future research that are important, if volunteer-based rural fire agencies are to develop policies to better support the families of their volunteers


AbstractWe developed a new stratigraphic interpretation methodology enabling extraction of stratigraphic sequences of surfaces. This methodology consisted of two main components. The first component was inspired by DNA search technology used in bioinformatics in which the goal was to detect base-pair sequences in DNA molecules. The base-pair sequences may be modified by mutations, so the search technology must be able to take such mutations into account. We have adapted this technology to search for seismic reflection sequences, acknowledging that seismic reflections were likely to vary laterally that were somewhat analogs to mutations in bioinformatics. One example of a seismic reflection sequence was a geologically sorted sequence of seismic reflectors. The second component of the workflow was how to connect the DNA hits into continuous surfaces. A quality metric was used to steer the connection process of the DNA hits in a sorted order. This workflow enabled the user to extract a sequence of surfaces s...


Introduction Abstract Introduction Information and communication technology (ICT) are modern tools and equipments that are used for the processing, storing, disseminating and utilization of information. Information and communication technology include computers, monitors, modern, keyboard, mice, scanner and printers etc. According to Aina (2004), information and communication technology is concerned with the technology used in handling, acquiring, processing, storing and disseminating information. Information and communication technology has benefited educational institutions in several ways. Haag, Cummings and Dawkins, (2000) summarize the benefit in the following three (3) areas; the area of information processing task (such as online registration of courses, payment of school fees and checking of results), as an enabler of innovation and it has collapsed the wasting of time and space in academic programmes. Besides, other organizations like banks, hotels, phone companies, fuel stations etc. has also benefited from ICTs. Information and communication technology has made the information processing task in educational institutions particularly Delta State University, Abraka very easy, for example the task of computing and printing payroll checks during payment of staff salaries. It has also facilitated online course registration, payment of school fees etc. through the University portal accessible to students 24/7. Educational institutions and other organizations acquire different categories of ICTs like computers, radios, televisions sets CD-ROM, computer terminals, telephone lines and modem, cellular phones and fax machines. Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is rated as having the best ICT system in the Nigeria with its own VSAT access to the Internet and campus-wide intranet. With over 1000 computers distributed in 15 computer laboratories across the campus, the university has embarked on the progressive application of ICT to all its functions and services such as academic, research and administrative (Agyeman 2007). The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), established in 2002, has created across the country several study centres in the form of computer laboratories or cybercafes equipped with computers in a Local Area Network (LAN) connected through a Wide Area Network (WAN) to deliver distance learning courses to all study centres (Agyeman 2007). NOUN ICT applications presently cover: management of student records, learner management system, communication and delivery of the human resource and finance courses (Agyeman 2007). As ICTs goes faulty and or obsolete they constitute waste. Thus, the ever growing dependence on electronic products has paved the way for an emerging environmental concern called "Electronic Waste". The problem of electronic waste seems to have emerged only recently, it has been building up since the first computer or electronic product was manufactured. According to PPCC (2006), "Electronic waste is an unwanted electronic or electrical appliance that have been discarded by their original users such as old and outdated computers, laptops, televisions, cellular phones, Mp3 players, telecommunications equipments, keyboards, mouse, photocopiers, typewriters etc". Majority of the electronic waste contain materials that could be recovered and reused for new product development. Electronic equipment contains hazardous materials, which can affect human health and environment if not properly managed (PPCC, 2006). Since the establishment of the Delta State University in 1992, there have been series of electronic waste generated within and around the school premises that has directly and indirectly caused damages to the environment and human health. For example, a lot of abandoned computers can be found in the school cyber cafe and offices. In addition, abandoned megaphones, photocopiers, manual typewriters, keyboards, mice, telephones etc are found in lecture rooms, the university library, and university hostels causing negative health and environmental consequences. …


We performed an assessment of a database of synthetic ground motion generated by a suite of dynamic rupture simulations to verify compatibility of the peak ground amplitudes with respect to empirical ground‐motion prediction equations (GMPEs). The dynamic rupture model database, developed by Dalguer and Mai (2011), is composed of 360 earthquake scenarios with moment magnitudes in the range of 5.5–7, for three mechanisms of faulting (reverse, normal, and strike slip) and for both buried faults and surface rupturing faults, having depth‐ and non‐depth‐dependent normal stresses. Initial shear‐stress distribution follows a von Karman stochastic distribution. Overall, we show quantitatively that the upper frequency limit of the suite of simulations is 1.0 Hz. Up to this frequency, the synthetic data are compatible with the empirical model, which means that the residuals (defined as the differences between observed and predicted ground motions) fall in the range of ± σ of the empirical GMPE. Characteristics of the mean values along distance (10–45 km) and period T ≥1.0  s, including standard deviation of the synthetic response spectra and peak ground velocity, are comparable to their counterpart empirical GMPE. At very near source (<1–2  km), synthetics show supersaturation of the mean peak values, which is different from the saturation features predicted by the GMPEs. The effect of source parameters (such as stress drop, peak slip velocity, and rupture speed) and of surface and buried rupture, as well as hanging wall and footwall, are highly sensitive to ground motion, suggesting that these effects contribute to the variability of ground motion near the source and that inclusion of them in the source terms may contribute to reducing uncertainties in GMPEs.


Understanding eye movements, gaze patterns, and the ability to accurately identify emotional expressions may provide insight into the mechanisms underlying the social impairments associated with various forms of developmental psychopathology. In this study, 272 children between the ages of 7 and 17 were asked to identify the emotion of faces displaying different emotional expressions at varying levels of saturation. Eye movements were monitored using an infrared eye-tracking camera and the time spent looking on the face (dwell time) and the overall number of fixations were calculated. Parent reports of children's mood and behavior were obtained using the Child Behavior Checklist. A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed a positive relationship of attention problems on stimulus dwell time and a negative relationship of social problems on emotion identification accuracy (EIA). Furthermore, age and IQ had a positive association with EIA, while socioeconomic status was negatively associated with dwell time. There were also sex differences such that boys tended to have longer dwell times and fewer fixations than girls. These findings demonstrate that children's emotional-behavioral symptoms and demographic characteristics may be associated with differential processing of facial emotion information, which may have important implications for social functioning. DEMOGRAPHIC AND EMOTIONAL-BEHAVIORAL PREDICTORS 3


Thousands of exoplanets are known to orbit nearby stars and small rocky planets are established to be common. The ambitious goal of identifying a habitable or inhabited world is within reach. The race to find habitable exoplanets has accelerated with the realization that "big Earths" transiting small stars can be both discovered and characterized with current technology, such that the James Webb Space Telescope has a chance to be the first to provide evidence of biosignature gases. Transiting exoplanets require a fortuitous alignment and the fast-track approach is therefore only the first step in a long journey. The next step is sophisticated starlight suppression techniques for large ground-based telescopes now under construction and hopeful future space-based based telescopes to observe small exoplanets directly. These ideas will lead us down a path to where future generations will implement very large space-based telescopes to search thousands of all types of stars for hundreds of Earths to find signs of life amidst a yet unknown range of planetary environments. What will it take to identify habitable worlds with the telescopes available to us?


A theoretical model is presented to deal with optical frequency conversion in a mixed nonlinear crystal with a small linear variation in composition ratio. Using the quasi-geometrical optics method, what we believe to be new diffraction-free coupling equations are developed to describe sum and difference frequency generations. With these new frequencies, we find that an optimal crystal length exists like that in the plane-wave model. Furthermore, the optimization of generated powers with absorption, transverse index modulation, and walk-off effect are studied in detail. According to different efficiency reductions, the tolerance and acceptance of composition ratios along and vertical to the beam propagating direction are presented. Intended gradual index crystals are also discussed for their possible applications in the frequency conversion of wideband lasers and in generating pulse compressed second harmonic ultrashort pulses.


A History of Modern Experimental Psychology: From James and Wundt to Cognitive Science, by George Mandler. The MIT Press, 2007, 287 pages. (ISBN: 978-0-262-13475-0, US $34.00 Hardcover) Reviewed by DALE STOUT DOI : 10.1037/0708-5518.104.22.168 George Mandler, a longtime researcher in the area of memory and cognition, has gathered together his notes and selected bits from previous publications to assemble a new book cast as a brief history of the emergence of cognitive psychology. The book is more an outline of a history than a textured account of cognitive research in historical context. His approach produces a double effect. For most historians of psychology the book will be disappointing because much of what is addressed by Mandler has been more extensively dealt with by a number of historians, the most obvious being Mitchell Ash's (1995) Gesfalt Psychology in German Culture, 1890-1967. For those cognitive scientists less attentive to the work of historians, this book draws with a few broad strokes a tradition of objections to associationism in its various manifestations. This is where Mandler is best, arguing that holism was not only well grounded in an experimental tradition, but the form of its challenges to associationism's fixation on elements and connexions keep recurring. In this respect the book serves to deepen curiosity about the issues and, through the use of his reference list, broadens our reading of the subject. It is because Mandler is a seasoned researcher that his sense of direction through a vast literature is welcomed. Mandler admits to being "whiggish" (presentist) in his historical orientation and he is true to his word. The first four chapters cover old ground in every sense of the word. His treatment is like that of textbook histories and though he claims in his introduction to provide "sketches of the influence of larger social forces on the psychological enterprise", his "whiggish" narrative limits this exploration. Though Mandler inserts commentary on German and American society, he leaves the reader to decide on the nature of social content in the scientific productions of Wundt, James and the assembly of Gestalt Psychologists portrayed in his book. Mandler's choice to list and set forth brief descriptions (like those of the "Congress of the German Society for Psychology" from 19341938) provides direction but leaves little content for a sustained and developed reflection. A book like David Lindley's (2007) Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science proves to be a more satisfying approach. He too emphasises German science in the first half of the 20th century but because he blends narratives of cultural uncertainty with the experiments and the mathematics of uncertainty in physics, his text leaves a more lasting impression. Mandler's book is best in the middle chapters. Here he works his suggestion that it is the shift away from the centrality of consciousness that provides the ground for cognitive science. Mandler argues that it was 'imageless thought,' those states of "consciousness inaccessible to further analysis," that proved to be the wedge that split associationist theory. Since these states of imageless thought could not be reduced to elements, any kind of analysis of the connectivity of elements was scientifically misplaced. The imageless thought project therefore initiated the removal of consciousness because it challenged the reliance of associationism on introspection to determine conscious elements. Mandler draws attention to the unconsciousness nature of thinking as it was developed out of the Wurtzburg labouratories. As mentioned above, much of this history has been set out in richer detail. What recommends Mandler's treatment is its brevity and his ability to keep the reader focussed on the "unanalyzable" in the thinking process. So we have "consciousness of a rule" without having the "steps in mind", or the consciousness of "intention" without having the "meaning content in mind". …


We present a 4x4 spatially non-blocking Mach-Zehnder based silicon optical switch fabricated using processes fully compatible with standard CMOS. We successfully demonstrate operation in all 9 unique switch states and 12 possible I/O routing configurations, with worst-case cross-talk levels lower than -9 dB, and common spectral bandwidth of 7 nm. High-speed 40 Gbps data transmission experiments verify optical data integrity for all input-output channels.


Community-based livestock breeding programmes (CBBPs) have emerged as a potential approach to implement sustainable livestock breeding in smallholder systems. In Malawi and Uganda, goat CBBPs were introduced to improve production and productivity of indigenous goats through selective breeding. Scaling up CBBPs have recently received support due to evidence-based results from current implementation and results of CBBPs implemented in other regions of the world. This paper explores strategies for scaling up goat CBBPs in Malawi and Uganda, and documents experiences and lessons learned during implementation of the programme. A number of stakeholders supporting goat-based interventions for improving smallholders' livelihoods exists. This offers an opportunity for different actors to work together by pooling financial resources and technical expertise for establishment and sustainability of goat CBBPs. Scaling up strategies should be an integral part of the pilot design hence dissemination partners need to be engaged during the design and inception stages of the pilot CBBPs. Creation of self-sustaining CBBPs requires early collaborative programme planning, meaningful investment and long-term concerted and coordinated efforts by collaborating partners. Permanently established actors, like government agencies and research and training institutions, are better placed to coordinate such efforts. The overall goal of the scaling up programme should be creation of a financially sustainable system, in which smallholders are able, on their own, to transact and sustain operations of their local breeding institutions using locally generated revenue/ resources. Since CBBP scaling up is a 'learning by doing process', an effective monitoring and evaluation system should be an integral part of the process.