This paper quantitatively assesses the world's changing economic geography and sectoral specialization due to global warming. It proposes a two-sector dynamic spatial growth model that incorporates the relation between economic activity, carbon emissions, and temperature. The model is taken to the data at the 1Âo by 1Âo resolution for the entire world. Over a 200-year horizon, rising temperatures consistent with emissions under Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 push people and economic activity northwards to Siberia, Canada, and Scandinavia. Compared to a world without climate change, clusters of agricultural specialization shift from Central Africa, Brazil, and India's Ganges Valley, to Central Asia, parts of China and northern Canada. Equatorial latitudes that lose agriculture specialize more in non-agriculture but, due to their persistently low productivity, lose population. By the year 2200, predicted losses in real GDP and utility are 6% and 15%, respectively. Higher trade costs make adaptation through changes in sectoral specialization more costly, leading to less geographic concentration in agriculture and larger climate-induced migration.


A paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS - WR), Kona Kai Resort, Shelter Island San Diego, April 10-13, 2008. This research was supported by Sabattical Leave from the University of New Mexico to the University of Hawaii-Manoa & the University of California, 2007. Introduction There is little debate in the behavioral science and medical literature that consumers of health-related information are routinely confused by conflicting, complex, unclear and/or inconsistent research findings (Institute of Medicine, March 2004: Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion, Washington, D.C. National Academies Press). While little research has been done in this area related to sexuality research findings, some new research focusing on "health literacy" and "health risk communications" appears to have direct relevance for sexuality investigators (Wolf et al., The Emerging Field of Health Literacy Research, Am J Health Behav, 2007, v31, Supplement 1). For example, much of empirical sexuality research is quantitative in nature and presents results with language such as "probability of", "odds for" and "increased risk for". Yet we have little data on how well the average consumer of sexual information actually understands the concept of probability or odds or how investigators actually calculate or derive "increased risk". Weare now at a critical juncture in sexual science which allows researchers to stop and assess how proficient our audiences are at comprehending research reports and how best to make our outcomes more clear and thus compelling. This emerging research field has been referred to as "quantitative health literacy" or when referring to quantitative sexual information, as simply, sexual numeracy. For clarity this paper uses young people ages 14 to 18 as the reference point, although as the sexual numeracy field develops these propositions may well apply to different age cohorts. Operationalizing Sexual Numeracy Sexual numeracy can best be defined or operationalized as the level of understanding or comprehension an individual possesses when presented with sexuality information that is mostly quantitative in nature. Since it is a new conceptual area there is little if any empirical documentation of its psychometric properties although Duryea et al., have begun developing a valid and reliable instrument to measure this skill domain (Duryea et al., 2008, Paper to be presented at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, October, 2008). While illustrations of different sexual numeracy scenarios will be examined in subsequent sections, a brief sampling of sexual numeracy areas could include the following: 1. A young adult visits a clinic to get an AIDs test and is subsequently informed by the physician that they were sero-positive for the HIV antibody but that the rate of false positives was 15%. Does the patient understand what this means? 2. A teenage girl has first ever sex with her new boyfriend. She later reads in a textbook that the failure rate for using condoms (correctly & consistently) is 3. A young man and his new bride learn they are pregnant. After genetic tests they are told that one of them carries a gene for spina bifida and the probability of the baby having this condition is 25%. Is this risky or nothing to worry about? 4. A young woman is told that she has early stage breast cancer. Her doctor informs her that the odds of her dying from it are 1 in 12. What should she make of such odds? In each of these scenarios the individual has received quantitative information related to sexual behavior and its consequences. While young people graduating from high school are supposed to have studied and shown competency in understanding odds, probabilities and related quantitative concepts in math courses, we do not know how well most actually DO comprehend them in real-life situations. …


Prevalence of allergic diseases ranges from 20% to 30% worldwide and is increasing for the last few decades. Emerging studies have implicated proteases, both endogenous and exogenous in initiating, mediating, and exacerbating allergic responses. Mast Cells (MCs) are the critical effectors of the allergic diseases and upon activation release a wide variety of mediators and account for the majority of endogenous proteases including chymase, tryptase, and MC-carboxypeptidase A (MC-CPA). The substrates of MC proteases include extracellular matrix components, proenzymes, and cell surface receptors. These proteases are stored in a fully active state and upon release contribute to the tissue injury. Along with endogenous proteases, allergens having protease activity have also been implicated in the manifestation of allergic diseases. Protease allergens are known to modulate immune responses toward Th2 by (i) disrupting protease-antiprotease balance at the epithelial surfaces, (ii) disrupting airway epithelial barrier, (iii) activating airway epithelial cells, (iv) modulating the activity of immune cells, and (v) by cleaving cell surface receptors. As proteases play crucial roles in the manifestation of allergic reactions, they can be exploited as a target for the development of new generation therapies for allergic diseases.


Background: During the last century, the technological revolution has contributed to changes in physical behaviour in the workplace. The number of moderate physical activity intensity occupations has decreased significantly over this period, and the introduction of desk dependent, computer-based jobs has resulted in an increase in the number of sedentary occupations.
Sedentary behaviour is associated with several health-related outcomes, independent of physical activity; however, the role of occupational sedentary time with health-related outcomes is less clear. Sedentary time in different domains may represent differing associations with health; therefore, there is a need for studies to use more objective, reliable and valid measurements of sitting time in the occupational domain to fully understand the effects of sitting at work and health.
Methods: This thesis comprises two main studies: the first study recruited a sample of university employees/postgraduate students (n=30), whose day was spent mostly sedentary. Participants were asked to wear two types of accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X+ and activPAL3™) during waking hours for seven days: generalised estimating equations were used to derive a counts per minute threshold for sedentary behaviour for the ActiGraph GT3X+, based on the activPAL™ sedentary classification.
The derived accelerometer cut-points from the first study were used to complete a secondary analysis using data from the Health Survey for England. In 2008, a sub-sample of participants wore an ActiGraph GT1M accelerometer for seven-days, and these data were used to examine the relationship between occupational sedentary time and health-related outcomes.
Results: The derived cut-points from the generalised estimating equations were significantly higher on a Saturday (97 cpm) compared to weekdays (60 cpm) and Sunday (57 cpm). Derived counts per minute for sedentary time during working time were significantly lower compared to non-working time (35 versus 73). Compared to the 100 cpm and 150 cpm thresholds, the empirically derived cut-points were not significantly different in terms of area-under-the-curve, but had lower mean bias for working and non-working times. The amount of sedentary time from the derived and previously proposed cut-points differed significantly; however, this did not affect the beta coefficients and the conclusions drawn from the regression models. In contrast to studies that have found associations with both total sedentary time and leisure-time sedentary behaviour and detrimental health outcomes, there was no evidence that occupational sedentary time is associated with health-related outcomes in the same way. Time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity was a significant predictor for waist circumference and BMI for occupational sedentary time; furthermore, BMI was a significant predictor of cardiometabolic markers.
Conclusions: Accelerometer cut-points for sedentary behaviour can depend on day and also domain, suggesting that the nature of sitting differs depending on the context in which sedentary time is accrued. It is not known if there are underlying mechanisms of sedentary behaviour in different domains that can explain these differences, and the effect that occupational sedentary time has on health.


Alkaline wet oxidation and steam explosion pretreatments of sugarcane bagasse were compared with regard to biomass fractionation, formation of by-products, and enzymatic convertibility of the pretreated material. Wet oxidation led to the solubilisation of 82% of xylan and 50% of lignin, and to a two-fold increase of cellulose content in the pretreated solids, while steam explosion solubilised only 60% of xylan and 35% of lignin and increased cellulose content in the solid material by one third. Wet oxidation formed more aliphatic acids and phenolics, and less furan aldehydes in the liquid fraction than steam explosion did. A better enzymatic convertibility of cellulose was achieved for the wet-oxidised material (57.4 %) than for the steam-exploded material (48.9 %). Cellulose convertibility was lower for the whole slurry than for the washed solids in both pretreatments, but more significantly in steam explosion. This investigation demonstrates the potential of wet oxidation as a promising pretreatment method for enzyme-based bagasse-to-ethanol processes.


Background: Complete absorption of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia in a short term was not detailedly reported. We aimed to investigate the clinical and imaging characteristics of COVID-19 patients with complete absorption of pulmonary lesions. Methods: Retrospectively collected the clinical and chest CT data of 224 patients with COVID-19 in one regional medical center. Currently, pulmonary lesions in 37 patients were completely absorbed. The clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations, and CT findings of lesions for these patients were summarized. Results: Among the 37 patients (age, 39.0 ± 12.4 [14-63] years, 20 males), disease in 36 (97.3%) was mild and in 1 (2.7%) was from severe to mild. The most common symptoms were cough (24/37, 64.9%) and fever (23/37, 62.2%). Their laboratory indicators at admission were usually normal, while the white blood cell and neutrophil count significantly increased at discharge (p = 0.004, p = 0.006). On initial CT images, all patients had various pulmonary lesions (mean involved lobes: 2.8 ± 1.5, range: 1-5; mean involved segments: 6.6 ± 4.3, range: 1-16), which mainly manifested as multiple patchy and or spherical ground glass opacities (GGOs) (30/37, 81.1%) with fibrous strips (19/30, 63.3%) or consolidation (11/30, 36.7%). After treatment, lesions in most (33/37, 89.2%) patients were continuously absorbed. At discharge, previous lesions were mostly absorbed in 11 patients (11/37, 29.7%), the main residues were GGOs (24/37, 64.9%), followed by fibrous strips (13/37, 35.1%). On the latest CT, all the pulmonary lesions were completely absorbed, the duration of lesions was 31.6 ± 11.4 days (range: 5-50 days). Conclusion: The pulmonary lesions in some mild COVID-19 patients (generally with normal laboratory indicators at admission, GGOs as the main manifestation on initial CT, and representation of continuous absorption after treatment) could be completely absorbed with a mean duration of 31.6 days.


Islamic banking and finance is emerging in global financial markets and governments seek to facilitate it. This article focuses on whether it is constitutionally possible for Australia to implement reforms to facilitate faithbased financial transactions. There have been calls for Australia to become a financial hub – particularly in South East Asia. One aspect of this is the recognition of Islamic finance as an alternative in the marketplace. This would include ensuring that tax laws are synchronised with Islamic tenets on financial transactions and do not hinder such alternatives. Being different to conventional finance, Islamic finance has attracted interest and scepticism, partially because of the lack of understanding and the paucity of academic research on the subject. While the idea of facilitating faith-based finance may seem economically rational, a fundamental question needs to be addressed: is it appropriate for Australia's tax laws to be amended to facilitate what may be construed to be the furtherance of any religion? This article considers the theoretical considerations of tax and religion and assesses the implications of Islamic finance in light of Australian constitutional law.


In order to achieve high speed and packing density, the size of the transistor has shrunk aggressively. The gate dielectric, as the most critical component in the transistor, is undergoing rapid and substantial changes with the adoption of ultra-thin plasma nitrided oxide and more recently high-k dielectrics. As the nitrogen concentration in silicon oxynitrides (SiON) increases, the negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) rises and becomes a limiting factor for device lifetime. The NBTI can recover significantly during typical measurement time when using conventional instruments. To suppress this recovery, several fast techniques have been developed, including ultra-fast pulse Id-Vgtechnique and the On-The-Fly technique. These techniques, however, give different threshold voltage degradation (~VI) after the same stress. The interpretation of this difference is still controversial. The objective of chapter 3 is to bridge the gap between the ~Vt extracted from these techniques. Degradation and recovery during measurement, measurement and truncation errors, and evaluation of transconductance are examined. After taking these factors into account, the gap in llVt still cannot be filled. The effect of the sensing Vg on l::,.Vits considered and it is found that 111VtinI creases with sensing IVgl.The popular assumption of t:.Vt being independent of sensing Vg is invalid, thereafter. After taking both the effect of sensing Vg and recovery into account, the gap in llVt is successfully bridged. The difference between the effect of sensing Vg and recovery is explored, and the results show that they are two different phenomena. The recovery suppression and the sensing Vg effect challenge the applicability of the traditional lifetime prediction technique. In a large circuit with roughly 106 MOSFETs, there will always be some of them under the worst case condition, namely constant stress without recovery. The failure of one of these MOSFETs can lead to the malfunction of the whole circuit. At present, there is little information on how this worst case NBTI lifetime can be predicted and whether the traditional Vg acceleration technique can be applied. In chapter 4, the worst case lifetime prediction is investigated. It is found that the prediction based on the Vg acceleration results in substantial errors. To predict the worst-case lifetime, a model for NBTI kinetics under operation gate bias is developed. This kinetics includes contributions from both as-grown and generated defects and it no longer follows a simple power law. Based on the new kinetics, a single test prediction method is proposed and its safety margin is estimated to be 50%. Mobility reduction is another important issue when oxide thickness becomes thinner. It is reported that when the gate SiON becomes thinner than 2 nm or the interfacial layer in high-k stack is thinner than 2.5 nm, carrier mobility reduces. Agreement has not yet been reached on the level of reduction, or on the underlying mechanism. Remote charge scattering (ReS) has been proposed to be responsible for this mobility reduction. However, one weakness of earlier work is that different samples were used when experimentally studying the Res and this introduces uncertainties. For example, a reduction in oxide thickness does not only bring the gate closer to the substrate, but also modulates other factors such as surface roughness. In chapter 5, the importance of ReS is assessed by varying charge in the same device through either processing or electron trapping, to remove the uncertainties from using different devices. It is found that by increasing charge density at 0.56 - 1 nm from the substrate interface to the order of 1020 ern", both electron and hole mobility change little.


Today's technology turns every computer - every hard drive - into a type of library. But the institutions traditionally known as libraries have been given special consideration under copyright law, even as commercial endeavors and filesharing programs have begun to emulate some of their functions. This Article explores how recent technological and legal trends are affecting public and school-affiliated libraries, which have special concerns that are not necessarily captured by an end-consumer-oriented analysis. Despite the promise that technology will empower individuals, we must recognize the crucial structural role of intermediaries that select and distribute copyrighted works. By exploring how traditional libraries are being affected by developments such as filesharing services, the iTunes Music Store, and Google's massive digitization project, this Article examines the implications of legal and technological changes that are mainly not directed at libraries, but are nonetheless vital to their continued existence.


It is normally assumed that there is only one kind of purposive action. This article argues that there are two kinds of purposive action, which require different models of explanation. One kind of action is done without awareness of reasons; another kind of action is done because the agent is aware of reasons for that action. The argument starts by noting that philosophers disagree about what explains action. Some claim that actions are explained by impersonal facts, such as facts about how things should be or have been historically (e.g. Millikan, Stout). Others claim that actions are explained by mental states, such as beliefs and desires (e.g. Davidson, Velleman). These philosophers are usually regarded as offering conflicting accounts of one thing. However, they are best understood as giving accounts of different models of action-explanation. Neither model fits every case, so there are at least two kinds of purposive action.


The purpose of this article is to introduce principal questions related to the concept and procedure of preliminary rulings, the main form of cooperation between the Court of Justice and national courts. A separate part of the article analyses certain aspects of its legal effect and the reform necessary to achieve a more effective functioning of its mechanism. Preliminary rulings, given according to Article 234 EC Treaty, have to ensure a uniform interpretation and application of Community law in all European Union Member States. Moreover, preliminary rulings should be considered as a real source of enrichment for Community law. The author emphasizes that the preliminary ruling procedure is an intermediate phase in a case pending before a national court. It has specific features determined by the same nature and characteristics of Community law. In the context of the preliminary ruling procedure, national courts applying Community law have a right and – in certain cases – an obligation to refer a case to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling concerning specific questions of interpretation or validity of Community law. However, it should be noted that the Court of Justice does not give an opinion on the validity of national law, nor on its application to the facts of a specific case. Moreover, the Court does not apply provisions of Community law in the main proceedings. The interpretation given by of the Court of Justice is binding not only for the referring national court but also for all other courts of the Member States, when they face the same question in cases arising before them. The article refers to the doctrine of law and the case law of the Court of Justice and draws the conclusion that the preliminary ruling procedure is one of the fundamental elements of the EU legal system. The role and importance of preliminary rulings are obvious and clearly defined in enlarged European Union which is on the way to further enlargement.


MapReduce is a popular parallel computing paradigm for large-scale data processing in clusters and data centers. A MapReduce workload generally contains a set of jobs, each of which consists of multiple map tasks followed by multiple reduce tasks. Due to 1) that map tasks can only run in map slots and reduce tasks can only run in reduce slots, and 2) the general execution constraints that map tasks are executed before reduce tasks, different job execution orders and map/reduce slot configurations for a MapReduce workload have significantly different performance and system utilization. This paper proposes two classes of algorithms to minimize the makespan and the total completion time for an offline MapReduce workload. Our first class of algorithms focuses on the job ordering optimization for a MapReduce workload under a given map/reduce slot configuration. In contrast, our second class of algorithms considers the scenario that we can perform optimization for map/reduce slot configuration for a MapReduce workload. We perform simulations as well as experiments on Amazon EC2 and show that our proposed algorithms produce results that are up to 15 ~ 80 percent better than currently unoptimized Hadoop, leading to significant reductions in running time in practice.


Women have always been healers. They were the unlicensed doctors and anatomists of western history. They were abortionists, nurses and counsellors. They were pharmacists, cultivating healing herbs and exchanging the secrets of their uses. They were midwives, travelling from home to home and village to village. For centuries women were doctors without degrees, barred from books and lectures, learning from each other, and passing on experience from neighbor to neighbor and mother to daughter. They were called "wise women" by the people, witches or charlatans by the authorities. Medicine is part of our heritage as women, our history, our birthright.


A combination of functional and proteomics approaches identifies regulators of ERK signaling in Drosophila. This Podcast features a conversation with authors of a Research Resource published in the 25 October 2011 issue of Science Signaling. Although the extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK) pathway has been extensively studied, our understanding of all the regulatory interactions that modulate signaling is by no means complete. Adam Friedman and Norbert Perrimon discuss their group's strategy of combining functional and genomics approaches to identify common and specific regulators of ERK signaling in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The ERK pathway plays an important role in normal developmental and physiological contexts as well as in disease states, such as tumorigenesis.


Many existing industrial management and control systems are not based on an integrated systems concept. This is largely due to the fact that the production control systems have been developed independently and separately from the management systems. The local control systems aimed at monitoring technological units or transport facilities have virtually no links with the management information systems designed for inventory control, planning and dispatch of production. This failure to exploit the potential power of applied systems analysis is caused, on the one hand, by the complexity of the integrated problem and the lack of general concepts and approaches to its solution. At the same time the people who have developed such limited systems have extremely detailed but narrow experience. To create a process control system, a deep knowledge of the technology is required and these systems are usually designed to make full use of technological equipment. In developing managerial systems, specialists in management, organization, and planning are required, who have a deep understanding of the specific features for the given plant, and experience of its general environment.


Over the last twenty years there has been a significant concentration process in the pension fund manager industry in Chile (the number of firms has dropped from 21 in 1994 to only 6 in 2012). A major concern about the concentration of this industry is that firms might be able to exercise market power. However, significant efficiency gains could result from this concentration process, especially if there are economies of scale present in the industry. The welfare effect of a merger is, therefore, ambiguous. In this article, we estimate the welfare implications of a merger between two medium-sized pension fund managers in Chile. For this purpose, we estimate the size of the economies of scale in this industry and use the results to simulate the merger using a simple imperfect competition model. The estimations, based on quarterly financial information about the Chilean Pension Funds system for the last eight years, show robustly the presence of significant economies of scale in operating costs. The merger simulation indicates that, despite the cost savings, the merger would induce a small price increase. This effect reduces consumer welfare, but aggregate welfare increases because of the efficiency gains from the economies of scale. Since aggregate elasticity in this industry is zero (because affiliation is compulsory), the price increase does not generate any efficiency loss.


This paper discusses ideal romantic love as it appears in Western literature and how women are portrayed in works containing idealistic romantic plots. It also explores how Canadian author Margaret Atwood rejects the traditional love plot in her novel, The Handmaid's Tale, as well as in her book of poetry Power Politics and the poem "A Woman's Issue." The first section of this paper gives a brief history of the ideal romantic love plot in Western literature, beginning with courtly love in Medieval literature, and its influences on later works such as Madame Bovary and The Awakening. The section also discusses the transition from the traditional love plot to that of the failed marriage plot in addition to such plots' portrayal of women as broken and unwhole beings. The first section concludes with a brief overview of how Margaret Atwood rejects the ideology of romantic love in her works. The second section explores The Handmaid's Tale as a rejection of the romantic love ideal and how the novel sheds light on various issues women face in addition to the imbalance of power between men and women. The third section expands upon the idea of an imbalance of power between men and women in romantic relationships by examining Atwood's book of poetry Power Politics, concluding with a possible theory as to why women appear to willingly give up power in such relationships.


A pilot study of services for children with disabilities conducted in the Illawarra (Noble et al.2005) identified a basic lack of awareness on the part of parents and carers about available services. In particular, there was a lack of awareness of the availability of different support services, application processes to acquire assistance, information about specific disabilities,and the location of various support services. The study indicated that there was no centralsource of information for parents and carers of children with a disability in the Illawarra. Instead, parents and carers had to learn about these issues by `word of mouth', raising issues of information accuracy and timeliness. The study identified a real and pressing need for thecreation of a user-friendly `onestop shop' for all disability information needs and recommended that a comprehensive online resource be created. Along with information, anonline resource would provide the tools to assist in the planning and management of the child's disability over time.The purpose of this paper is to describe a prototype portal supporting a virtual community that might serve as a one-stop shop for parents and carers of children with disabilities. The potential organisation and utility of this type of virtual community will be described byreferring to a model which was developed from the virtual community literature and theneeds identified in Noble et al. 2005. The limitations of portal technology to support a virtual community of parents and carers of children with disabilities will also be discussed.


In the context of ontology-based data access with description logics (DLs), we study ontology-mediated queries in which selected predicates can be closed (OMQCs). In particular, we contribute to the classification of the data complexity of such queries in several relevant DLs. For the case where only concept names can be closed, we tightly link this question to the complexity of surjective CSPs. When also role names can be closed, we show that a full complexity classification is equivalent to classifying the complexity of all problems in CONP, thus currently out of reach. We also identify a class of OMQCs based on ontologies formulated in DL-LiteR that are guaranteed to be tractable and even FO-rewritable.


While many developing-country policymakers see heavy fertilizer subsidies as critical to raising agricultural productivity, most economists see them as distortionary, regressive, environmentally unsound, and argue that they result in politicized, inefficient distribution of fertilizer supply. We model farmers as facing small fixed costs of purchasing fertilizer, and assume some are stochastically present-biased and not fully sophisticated about this bias. Even when relatively patient, such farmers may procrastinate, postponing fertilizer purchases until later periods, when they may be too impatient to purchase fertilizer. Consistent with the model, many farmers in Western Kenya fail to take advantage of apparently profitable fertilizer investments, but they do invest in response to small, time-limited discounts on the cost of acquiring fertilizer (free delivery) just after harvest. Later discounts have a smaller impact, and when given a choice of price schedules, many farmers choose schedules that induce advance purchase. Calibration suggests such small, time-limited discounts yield higher welfare than either laissez faire or heavy subsidies by helping present-biased farmers commit to fertilizer use without inducing those with standard preferences to substantially overuse fertilizer.


This paper proposes a new chronological classification of the Ancient South Arabian inscriptions of the first millennium BCE. Our proposal is based on recent archaeological and epigraphic discoveries, as well as synchronisms with external sources. These data contradict the traditional paleography-based dating and invalidates paleography as a method of dating the South Arabian inscriptions.


The project started in 2009 with the support of DAAD in Germany and CRUP in Portugal under the "Collaborative German-Portuguese University Actions" programme. One central goal is the further development of a theory of technology assessment applied to robotics and autonomous systems in general that reflects in its methodology the changing conditions of knowledge production in modern societies and the emergence of new robotic technologies and of associated disruptive changes. Relevant topics here are handling broadened future horizons and new clusters of science and technology (medicine, engineering, interfaces, industrial automation, micro-devices, security and safety), as well as new governance structures in policy decision making concerning research and development (R&D).


The Hohenberg-Kohn (HK) theorem is one of the most fundamental theorems of quantum mechanics, and constitutes the basis for the very successful density-functional approach to inhomogeneous interacting many-particle systems. Here we show that in formulations of density-functional theory (DFT) that employ more than one density variable, applied to systems with a degenerate ground state, there is a subtle loophole in the HK theorem, as all mappings between densities, wave functions, and potentials can break down. Two weaker theorems which we prove here, the joint-degeneracy theorem and the internal-energy theorem, restore the internal, total, and exchange-correlation energy functionals to the extent needed in applications of DFT to atoms, molecules, and solids. The joint-degeneracy theorem constrains the nature of possible degeneracies in general many-body systems.


Goal: The presence of microcalcification clusters is a primary sign of breast cancer; however, it is difficult and time consuming for radiologists to classify microcalcifications as malignant or benign. In this paper, a novel method for the classification of microcalcification clusters in mammograms is proposed. Methods: The topology/connectivity of individual microcalcifications is analyzed within a cluster using multiscale morphology. This is distinct from existing approaches that tend to concentrate on the morphology of individual microcalcifications and/or global (statistical) cluster features. A set of microcalcification graphs are generated to represent the topological structure of microcalcification clusters at different scales. Subsequently, graph theoretical features are extracted, which constitute the topological feature space for modeling and classifying microcalcification clusters. k-nearest-neighbors-based classifiers are employed for classifying microcalcification clusters. Results: The validity of the proposed method is evaluated using two well-known digitized datasets (MIAS and DDSM) and a full-field digital dataset. High classification accuracies (up to 96%) and good ROC results (area under the ROC curve up to 0.96) are achieved. A full comparison with related publications is provided, which includes a direct comparison. Conclusion: The results indicate that the proposed approach is able to outperform the current state-of-the-art methods. Significance: This study shows that topology modeling is an important tool for microcalcification analysis not only because of the improved classification accuracy but also because the topological measures can be linked to clinical understanding.


Become a new district government who is hoped to give a better welfare and prosperity to the society now and in the future, the mission and vision become the important things especially if it seen from some comparative superiority of East Kutai district that has Natural resources of
material mine which is located in area that is around 47.635 square or same with 17% of East Borneo Province. In the other side, especially if the technically age of the mine is around 20 years and the character of material mine that could not be renew (non renewable), if the material
mine which is gotten is not carried well now and it is not navigated to prepare the future of this territory, this problem will become the most crucial problem for the aim or purpose of the future development of East Kutai district. Except the government of East Kutai enacted that there is no another alternative in this context. The choice especially if it seen from the natural resources that
can make the agribusiness become mainstay in the future, that is not affect by technically age, renewable that is become eternal. In this research the writer used qualitative approach and descriptive method. The technique of collecting the data was done by interview and
documentation. After checking the validity of the data, it is analyzed using presenting the data while analyzing and then taking conclusion. From the data which is gotten (1) In the planning of Sengata already prepared the development
of the transportation on the water by constructing a port to serve the transportation between territories in the districts, that is suitable with the mission and the vision. Therefore the government of East Kutai already enacted East Kutai grand strategy to develop the district using internal strategy and external strategy but the implementation process is not maximal although
already touched by Gerdabangagri program. There are a lot of the street which is in the broken condition it is of course affect to the fluently of the distribution of the product income in Sengata. In the process of the development shown that there is no meaningful increasing in the infrastructure aspect, the policy evaluation shown that around 72,73 % can be implemented although there are some failure related with the fundamental problem. (2). the transportation facilities are the proponent that connected between one activity to the others, between a village
and there are of the main activities and others. In other words, streets are facilities which are connecting many people's activities in Sengata, East Kutai district. It's suitable with Grand Strategy of East Kutai that through Gerdabangagri would become the center of agribusiness in
East Borneo at 2010. While the blocker factors are in agriculture and estate where there is no guidance of configuration in food attentive. There are no laboratories for farm and cattle and there are many motions from the farmer group that could not be accepted caused by the fund's limit. Beside that the less of the mobility in the field caused the monitoring in the in the field
walk less well. The planning of the district room design that was not maximal yet raise a lot of claiming about the limits of villages, territories, district. The food and fish production in Sengata, East Kutai until 2008 still deficit. From this research hoped that there is special attention to the infrastructure condition especially in Sengata, and more developed by watching the public need
and the environment that can raise innovative ideas that can make the availability of services for public is more easily, such as build the infrastructure more quickly. East Kutai district should do efficiency and innovative steps to do the development program in agribusiness area by making
slot schema of official section and make announcement about the step of the development. The attention to the need of Sengata people is the problem that must be solved because it is related directly to their need, such as giving the implementation of the program and the planning that
was agreed which is suitable with the mission and vision of the development that of course involve and work together with the society.


Visual acuity is best in the fovea and declines in the peripheral retina. Eye movements are used to project interesting objects onto the fovea, to acquire high-acuity information. Consistently, it has been shown that eye movement latencies are reduced if participants have to perform a perceptual task at the saccade target (Montagnini & Chelazzi, 2005). So far it is unknown if this facilitation is a general effect of the task, or if it depends on the gain in information by the eye movements. Here we tested if saccade latencies are sensitive to pre-saccadic peripheral visibility, post-saccadic foveal visibility or the ration of the two, which is the information gain. Observers had to foveate peripherally appearing plaid stimuli consisting of a vertical and a horizontal component and judge the orientation of the vertical component. We varied the contrast ratio of the two components while the overall contrast remained constant. To independently manipulate peripheral and foveal visibility, we changed the plaid during the saccade. Both, peripheral and foveal visibility could either be above or below previously determined individual thresholds. As a control, we measured saccade latencies without any perceptual task with varying contrast ratios. Perceptual performance followed the pattern intended by the manipulation. Without perceptual task, latencies were not influenced by the contrast ratio of the plaid. Consistently with previous reports, latencies were reduced by about 40 ms with perceptual task, even when a fast saccade was maladaptive because peripheral visibility was higher than foveal visibility. While foveal visibility did not affect latencies, there was a tendency towards reduced latencies with poor peripheral visibility. These results indicate that perceptual tasks generally facilitate eye movements, independently of peripheral and foveal visibility. This suggests that eye movement latencies are not equally modulated by informational gain as by motivational gain (Milstein & Dorris, 2007). Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


This article offers a critique of the dominant ways in which well-being has been conceptualized and researched within social policy, focusing in particular on the significance of this for policy relating to older people. It conceptualizes well-being as relational and generative rather than an individual outcome. We critically explore normative notions of independence, autonomy and consumerism at the heart of policy on well-being and ageing and suggest that indexes of older people's happiness conceal more than they reveal. We illustrate this theoretical approach with empirical material from a participatory study in which older people were co-producers of knowledge about what well-being means and how it can be produced. Working with older people as co-researchers we found that keeping well in old age involves demanding emotional and organizational labour both for older people and for family and friends. We suggest the need for ethical and relational sensibilities at the heart of policy on well-being and ageing.


Abstract The international shipping industry has experienced a marked downturn as a result of the global economic recession with surplus shipping capacity, crews being paid off, lower profits, and ship-owners seeking to cut costs. This paper addresses the maritime security implications of these developments. These include larger numbers of ships laid up in anchorages possibly prone to pirate attack, and the risk that ships might be less well maintained and operated. However, the most serious impacts are on seafarers who are experiencing reduced wages and conditions of service. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), industry associations and ship-owners are challenged to address these issues before safety and security are seriously affected with increased risks of accidents at sea and marine pollution.


After 20 years in academia and the Silicon Valley, the new Provost of Stanford University calls for a shift in focus for systems research. Performance-long the centerpiece-needs to share the spotlight with availability, maintainability, and other qualities. Although performance increases over the past 15 years have been truly amazing, it will be hard to continue these trends by sticking to the basically evolutionary path that the research community is currently on. The author advocates a more evolutionary approach to systems problems and thinks the approach needs to be more integrated. Researchers need to think about hardware and software as a continuum, not as separate parts. He sees society on the threshold of a "post PC" era, in which computing is ubiquitous, and everyone will use information services and everyday utilities. When everyone starts using these systems, guess what? They expect them to work and to be easy to use. So this era will drive system design toward greater availability, maintainability, and scalability, which will require a real refocusing of current research directions.


Electrochemical behavior of electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD), chemically prepared battery grade manganese dioxide (BGM), titanium dioxide (TiO2), lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) and lithium manganese phosphate (LiMnPO4) in aqueous lithium hydroxide electrolyte has been investigated. These materials are commonly used as cathodes in non-aqueous electrolyte lithium batteries. The main aim of the work was to determine how the electroreduction/oxidation behavior of these materials in aqueous LiOH compares with that reported in the literature in non-aqueous electrolytes in connection with lithium batteries. An objective was to establish whether these materials could also be used to develop other battery systems using aqueous LiOH as electrolyte.

The electrochemical characteristics of the above materials were investigated by subjecting them to slow scan cyclic voltammetry and determining the charge/discharge characteristics of Zn/cathode material-aqueous LiOH batteries. The products of electroreduction/oxidation were characterized by physical techniques using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron micrography (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), Thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and infra-red spectrometry (IR).

The reduction of gamma-MnO2 (EMD) in aqueous lithium hydroxide electrolyte is found to result in intercalation of Li+ into the host structure of gamma-MnO2. The process was found to be reversible for many cycles. This is similar to what is known to occur for gamma-MnO2 in non-aqueous electrolytes. The mechanism, however, differs from that for reduction/oxidation of gamma-MnO2 in aqueous potassium hydroxide electrolyte. KOH electrolyte is used in the state-of-art aqueous alkaline Zn/MnO2 batteries. Alkaline batteries based on aqueous KOH as the electrolyte rely upon a mechanism other than K+ intercalation into MnO2. This mechanism is not reversible. This is explained in terms of the relative ionic sizes of Li+ and K+. The lithium-intercalated MnO2 lattice is stable because Li+ and Mn4+ are of approximately the same size and hence Li+ is accommodated nicely into the host lattice of MnO2. The K+ ion which has almost double the size of Li+ cannot be appropriately accommodated into the host structure and hence the K+ -intercalated MnO2 phase is not stable.

Chemically prepared battery grade MnO2 (BGM) is found to undergo electroreduction/oxidation in aqueous LiOH via the same Li+ intercalation mechanism as for the EMD. While the Zn/BGM- aqueous LiOH cell discharges at a voltage higher than that for the Zn/EMD- aqueous LiOH cell under similar conditions, the rechargeability and the material utilization of the BGM cell is poorer.

The cathodic behavior of TiO2 (anatase phase) in the presence of aqueous LiOH is not reversible. In addition to LiTiO2, Ti2O3 is also formed. The discharge voltage of the Zn/TiO2- aqueous LiOH cell and material utilization of the TiO2 as cathode are very low. Hence TiO2 is not suitable for use in any aqueous LiOH electrolyte battery.

LiFePO4 (olivine-type structure) as a cathode undergoes electrooxidation in aqueous LiOH forming FePO4. However the subsequent reduction forms not only the original LiFePO4 but also Fe3O4. Thus the process is not completely reversible and hence LiFePO4 is not a suitable material for use as a cathode in aqueous battery systems.

LiMnPO4 (olivine-type structure) undergoes reversible electrooxidation in aqueous LiOH forming MnPO4. The charge/discharge voltage profile of the Zn/MnPO4-aqueous LiOH cell, its coulombic efficiency and rechargeability are comparable to that of the cell using gamma-MnO2. EMD and LiMnPO4 both have the potential for use in rechargeable batteries using aqueous LiOH as the electrolyte. Recommendations for further developmental work for such batteries are made.


BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR
> Astronomers peered deep into the universe and found that it is flying apart ever faster, suggesting that Einstein was right when he posited a mysterious energy that fills "empty" space

The nature and ultimate fate of the universe have preoccupied philosophers and scientists for centuries. Scientists discovered decades ago that the universe is now expanding, with its galaxies rushing apart in all directions. But the pull of gravity could slow that expansion, and so researchers have tried to work out the final destiny of the cosmos: whether there is enough matter to cause it to one day collapse on itself, or whether it will expand forever. In 1998 two teams of astronomers peered across an enormous gulf of time and space to answer that fundamental question—and amazed even themselves with what they found.

![Figure][1] ![Figure][1] ![Figure][1] ![Figure][1]

Cosmic Speed Trap.
The brightness of a fading supernova showed how fast the universe is expanding.

CREDITS: A. RIESS, W.LI, A. FILIPPENKO/UC BERKELEY

Not only is there too little matter in the universe to ever halt the expansion on its own, but the outward motion appears to be speeding up, not slowing down. At the same time, the finding raises such profound questions about the nature of space that cosmologists are wondering whether the ultimate fate of the universe can ever be known for certain.

In a triumph for astronomers' ability to look deep into the past, the independent teams came to their conclusions by observing far-off exploding stars called supernovae that turn out to be surprisingly dim, revealing an acceleration that has swept them to unexpectedly large distances from Earth. With these results, reaching billions of light-years into space, astronomers have gained a secure foothold in the deepest and most mysterious reaches of the cosmic past. We name their findings, which transform our view of the universe and pose fundamental new questions for physics, as Breakthrough of the Year for 1998.

Adding to the drama of the find, the simplest explanation for the accelerating expansion is a bizarre energy that on large scales counteracts gravity, pushing matter apart, an idea that Albert Einstein posited in 1917 and later rejected. This year's discoveries suggest that most of the energy of the universe is in this form, which Einstein called the cosmological constant, or lambda. Because matter and energy are interchangeable, this huge energy reservoir means that the universe of matter, from tables and chairs to stars and clusters of galaxies, may be but the minor portion of creation.

These implications are so profound and unsettling that astronomers around the world are still trying to disprove the finding, to uncover anything that could create a false impression of cosmic acceleration. To date they have been unsuccessful, and so physicists are rushing to explain the origin of the cosmic energy. The lambda symbol, λ, is once again sprinkled throughout equations in the astronomy and physics journals, and the new results have inaugurated a small industry of theoretical searches for even quirkier possibilities for boosting the expansion.

Back in 1917, when Einstein proposed the constant, he and other scientists thought that the universe was static, neither expanding nor collapsing. He put the cosmic repulsion into his equations to prevent the universe from collapsing on itself from the gravitational pull of the matter inside it.

But by 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble had peered into the heavens and startled the scientific world of his day by discovering that the universe is in fact expanding. Born in a hot, dense state called the big bang, the cosmos has been likened to a display of fireworks whose most brilliant moments are behind it. Like fading cinders in the fireworks, galaxies that were initially close to each other are today drifting apart slowly, while those that began slightly further apart are flying away from each other at higher speeds. From our vantage point in the Milky Way, the speed at which any other galaxy is moving away can be clocked using the "redshift" of its light—a drop in frequency and increase in wavelength akin to the dip in pitch of a receding train's whistle.

But gauging a galaxy's actual distance is difficult. Hubble managed it by observing the apparent brightness of stars called Cepheid variables, whose intrinsic brightness is known; these stars can thus be used as "standard candles" to measure distance, as more distant Cepheids appear dimmer. Hubble compared the redshifts with the distances and discovered the expansion.

Einstein accepted Hubble's find. But he reasoned that if the expansion was a relic of a primeval explosion, the cosmological constant—which he felt made the equations unaesthetic—wasn't needed. He withdrew the idea and called it his "biggest blunder."

As cosmologists continued to work with the notion of an expanding cosmos, they concluded that over the 12- to 15-billion-year life of the universe, the expansion would slow slightly, thanks to the pull of gravity that every galaxy exerts on every other. But spotting such a change requires probing deep into the past by looking at stars glittering billions of light-years away—too far away for Cepheids to be seen.

So for the past 20 years, astronomers have turned to a new kind of standard candle: the brightest kind of supernova, which happens nearly the same way each time. But these bright, massive explosions are rare—only two or three erupt in a typical spiral galaxy per millennium. To find enough of them, astronomers make electronic images of large swaths of sky in a single night, capturing tens of thousands of distant galaxies, and then image the same areas a few weeks later. Once the images are overlaid and subtracted on a computer, any new supernovae leap out and can be observed until they fade away.

The two teams, both of which have members in Europe, Latin America, Australia, and the United States, collected their supernova data with increasing efficiency over the last few years, expecting to find out by how much gravity was slowing cosmic expansion. Early this year, both teams announced that their expectations had been turned upside down: The relative dimness of the supernovae showed that they are 10% to 15% farther out than expected even in a universe with little matter, indicating that the expansion has accelerated over billions of years. At year's end, with dozens of supernovae analyzed, published, or in press, those conclusions stand.

That finding resurrects a mysterious repulsion that counteracts gravity, with lambda as the most likely candidate. There were earlier hints, from theories of cosmic evolution and observations of the large-scale structure of the universe, that the cosmos holds little mass and that there might be a lambda, but the idea was generally considered outlandish. Now lambda is respectable once more, and Einstein is proved right, albeit for reasons he could not have foreseen. In fact lambda appears to be dominant in the universe: In the simplest theoretical picture, the supernova data imply that 70% of the universe's energy is in the form of lambda and only 30% is matter.

Physicists have since interpreted lambda as a quantum-mechanical effect: that the evanescent particles that flicker in and out of existence in "empty" space provide a well of energy that gives space its springiness, shoving it apart. But so far, calculations suggest that such a lambda should be many orders of magnitude larger than the supernova groups have seen. That puzzle has launched a search for new physics principles, such as symmetries in the fabric of space, that might help cancel out huge terms in the equations. Other candidates for this strange energy, which go by names like quintessence and X-matter, have also been put forth, as physicists vie for the prize of explaining what most of the universe is made of. And because some of those forms of energy may change over time, cosmologists have become less confident about declaring the fate of the universe hundreds of billions of years hence.

Indeed, at this point the cosmological constant remains in the realm of theory; no one yet knows the precise nature of the energy causing the universe to fly apart ever faster. Astronomers continue to gather data and to search for any effect other than acceleration that could explain their findings. But despite their efforts, they have found no reason to doubt their work. Although the nature of the universe was once chiefly the realm of philosophers, in 1998 it seems that cosmology is grounded in data, as visions of distant supernovae revealed the true nature—and perhaps the future—of the cosmos. Scientists and philosophers both will be grappling with the implications for years to come.

 [1]: pending:yes


The purpose of the study is to know students' mathematical communication skills in finding the direct and inverse proportions through discovery learning. The data is obtained based on the work of students in solving the problems that measure students' mathematical communication skills. The data is categorized on 5 levels (the lowest level is 0 and the highest level is IV) which refer to the quantitative criteria for scoring mathematical communication and analyzed descriptively. From the leveling result, it is obtained that students on level II are 31.25% and level III are 68.75% in mathematical communication skills. The results reveal that the Discovery Learning can foster the mathematical communication skills of junior high school students especially in concepts of the direct and inverse proportions.


An experiment was carried out using dairy ewes to study the transfer of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) from feed to milk and from milk to cheese. The effects of AFB1 on liver function and hematological parameters were also investigated. Fifteen ewes were assigned to treatments in replicated 3 x 3 Latin squares. The experimental groups received 32, 64, or 128 microg/d of pure AFB1 for 7 d followed by 5 d of clearance. On the sixth day of the first period, the total daily milk produced by each ewe was collected separately and processed into cheese. The results indicate that the level of AFB1 used did not adversely affect animal health and milk production traits. The aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) concentrations in milk approached a steady-state condition in all treated groups between 2 and 7 d after the start of treatment. The mean AFM1 concentrations of treated groups in steady-state condition (184.4, 324.7, and 596.9 ng/kg in ewes fed 32, 64, or 128 microg of AFB1, respectively) were significantly affected by the AFB1 doses. The AFM1 concentration was linearly related to the AFB1 intake/kg of BW. The carry-over values of AFB1 from feed into AFM1 in milk (0.26 to 0.33%) were not influenced by the AFB1 doses. The AFM1 concentrations in curd and whey were linearly related to the AFM1 concentrations in the unprocessed milk.


[This paper examines whether amnesties granted by states to perpetrators of serious human rights abuses can preclude the possibility of prosecution before the newly established International Criminal Court. The author considers the general debate between supporters of the use of amnesty and those in favour of criminal prosecutions to address such wrongs. The author also examines the extent to which international law imposes a duty on states to prosecute those who commit human rights violations. With these discussions in mind, the author turns to the text of the Statute of the ICC to determine whether any form of amnesty could preclude prosecution by the ICC. The author concludes that if an amnesty exception exists at all in the Statute of the ICC, it is found in the section that confers discretion upon the ICC Prosecutor to commence an investigation. The author suggests a framework for the ICC Prosecutor to consider in evaluating whether to proceed with an investigation or prosecution of an individual who has received a national amnesty.] CONTENTS I Introduction II The Debate over Transitional Justice A Arguments for Prosecution B Why Forego Prosecution? C Does International Law Require States to Prosecute? 1 Treaty Law 2 Custom D Truth Commissions and Amnesty: A Compromise between Peace and Justice? II The International Criminal Court A The Statute of the ICC B The Statute of the ICC and Amnesties C The Preamble and Article 1 D Jurisdiction E Article 17: Issues of Admissibility F Article 20: Ne bis in idem G Article 16: The Chapter VII Power of the UN Security Council H Article 53: Initiation of an Investigation 1 Did the State Have Legitimate Reasons for Granting the Amnesty? (a) Sierra Leone (b) East Timor (c) Conclusions from the Sierra Leonean and East Timorese Experiences 2 Was the Amnesty Granted in a Manner Consistent with International Law? 3 Did the Truth Commission Process Meet Minimum Standards of Justice? II Conclusions I INTRODUCTION Are peace and reconciliation compatible with the pursuit of justice? Consider the following scenario: a military regime prepares to relinquish power to a democratic government after years of perpetrating massive human fights abuses against its own people. The successor government recognises a social need to address the legacy of human fights violations committed by the former regime, but must contend with the fact that the main perpetrators still have substantial influence over the military. Furthermore, because the outgoing regime relied extensively on `disappearance' (1) to eliminate political opponents and critics, amassing the evidence necessary to conduct successful criminal prosecutions is difficult, if not impossible. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the society, polarised and still recovering from the atrocities committed, could potentially plunge into a civil war in response to politically charged trials. A society recovering from a legacy of human rights abuses perpetrated by an authoritarian regime and its opponents, or combatants in an internal conflict, is confronted with the dilemma of how best to come to terms with its horrific past. Simply ignoring the trauma suffered by the members of that society is not an option. As explained by Neil Kritz: In responding to such trauma, groups and nations tend to function similarly to individuals. Societies shattered by the perpetration of atrocities need to adapt or design mechanisms to confront their demons, to reckon with these past abuses. Otherwise, for nations, as for individuals, the past will haunt and infect the present and future in unpredictable ways. …


We propose an approach for timing analysis of software-based embedded computer systems that builds on the established probabilistic framework of Bayesian networks. We envision an approach where we take (1) an abstract description of the control flow within a piece of software, and (2) a set of run-time traces, which are combined into a Bayesian network that can be seen as an interactive timing profile. The obtained profile can be used by the embedded systems engineer not only to obtain a probabilistic estimate of the WCET, but also to run interactive timing simulations, or to automatically identify software configurations that are likely to evoke noteworthy timing behavior, like, e.g., high variances of execution times, and which are therefore candidates for further inspection.


People do not normally associate cities with Indian reservations. The mental images typically conjured by each term are radically different. Perhaps for that reason, few think of city governments and tribal governments in similar terms.However, the two forms of government - cities and Indian reservations - have many things in common. Both are excluded from the federal constitutional framework. Both are subject to the plenary power of one of the constitutionally recognized governments - cities to the state government, tribes to the federal government. Both are the most intimate form of government with which most of their residents are familiar.More importantly, cities and tribes both have the potential to perform a role that neither national nor state governments are capable of performing. Local governments can create and give meaningful voice to diverse value systems. This function of cities and tribes furthers two important societal interests. First, it provides people with a much-needed sense of community, reversing the sense of alienation prevalent in modern liberal society. Second, it promotes the preservation and tolerance of disparate viewpoints, contributing to a vibrant pluralistic society.This Article draws on the experiences of both cities and tribes to define the role that local governments could and should play in the American federal structure. Part II examines the current theoretical and practical status of cities and Indian tribes in the United States. Part III outlines the similarities and Part IV the differences between cities and Indian tribes. These sections highlight the meaningful comparisons between cities and tribes, and demonstrate that they share characteristics which equip them to perform functions that neither the federal nor state governments can carry out. Part V provides an explanation of the unique normative role that cities and tribes can play in modern society. Part VI demonstrates how courts could facilitate the implementation of this unique role in discrete judicial controversies. This Article concludes that cities and tribes truly are different sides of the same coin with which modern American society can purchase both pluralism and a strong sense of community.


Recent genomic science strongly supports the theory of common ancestry. To classical Protestants, particularly, this theory seems incompatible with Scripture, most especially with the "historical Fall," which Protestants presume to be manifestly biblical and so have cemented it securely into their confessions and theology as a whole. Nevertheless, John Schneider proposes that it is important for traditional Protestants to consider alternatives to this essentially "Augustinian" view. He invites readers to examine Eastern thinking (mainly in Irenaeus of Lyon) together with a minority of Protestants (such as Karl Barth and supralapsarian Calvinists), for whom the Incarnation and Atonement are the purpose of creation from the beginning. Their understanding differs from the execution of divine "Plan B," as implied by the Augustinian western version of an unintended "fall" from utopian first conditions. Schneider appeals to a fresh reading of the book of Job in support of an "aesthetic supralapsarianism," which sustains Protestant virtues of biblical authority, divine sovereignty, and grace, while opening avenues to compatibility with evolutionary science.


This short Article examines interpretive questions raised by the victim-allocution provision of the Crime Victims' Rights Act of 2004. Those questions stem in part from the usual ambiguities that accompany virtually every new piece of legislation. But they also stem in part from a more basic failure of policy makers to articulate with much clarity the values at which the participatory rights of the CVRA aim. This failure is consistent with criminal procedure's recent history of invoking rights-based solutions to what are sometimes institutional or structural problems. Unthinking emphasis on the language of rights can impair the exploration of perspectives and approaches that might contribute to the most effective solutions to a problem in the long term. The Article illustrates this point in the context of the CVRA by unpacking potential purposes behind the victim-allocution provision and suggesting ways in which a more nuanced appreciation of those purposes might point us toward clearer and more effective mechanisms for integrating victims into the criminal justice process.


Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory and demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, which is accompanied by significant disabilities. Although there are some published data regarding the epidemiological features of MS in other parts of Iran, scarce data are available about the prevalence and demographic characteristics of MS in Fars province. The current study aimed to address the prevalence and incidence rate of MS as well as the temporal trend of the disease in Fars province, southern Iran. Methods: This historical retrospective cohort study was carried out in Fars Multiple Sclerosis Society affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. All the consecutive patients who fulfilled 2010 McDonald criteria for definite MS were included in the study. The patients' gender, age at time of diagnosis, education, and clinical course were recorded. The prevalence and incidence rates were also calculated. Results: This study was conducted on 3,354 patients. Among the patients, 2,689 (80.2%) were female and 665 (19.8%) were male. The female/male ratio was 4.04. The point prevalence rate of the disease was 72.1/100,000 persons in October 2013. This index was 116.5 per 100,000 persons in females (95% CI: 113.4-119.6) and 28.3 per 100,000 persons in males (95% CI: 26.8-29.9). The mean annual incidence rate was 5.2/100,000 from 2002 until 2012. Conclusion: Considering Kurtzke classification, Fars is a high-risk area for MS and women are affected more compared with men. Moreover, the incidence rate sharply increased in the last decade.


Radio frequency identification technology (RFID) is considered as the reference technology for wireless identification and item traceability. Supermarkets are one of those scenarios where the RFID potential can be harnessed. In theory, RFID in supermarkets shows several advantages compared with traditional barcode systems, offering real‐time inventory, stock control, cash queues, among others. In practice, its massive and global implementation is still being delayed due to the high quantity of factors that degrade the RFID system performance in these scenarios, causing uncontrolled items and identification losses and, at the end, economical losses. Some works in the scientific literature studied a single or a set of problems related to RFID performance, mostly focused on a specific communication layer: antennas and hardware design, interferences at physical layer, medium access control (MAC) protocols, security issues, or middleware challenges. However, there are no works describing in depth the set of factors affecting RFID performance in a specific scenario and contemplating the entire communication layer stack. The first challenge of this chapter is to provide a complete analysis of those physical and environmental factors, hardware and software limitations, and standard and regulation restrictions that have a direct impact on the RFID system performance in supermarkets. This analysis is addressed by communication layers, paying attention to the point of view of providers, supermarket companies, and final customers. Some of the most feasible and influential research works that address individual problems are also enumerated. Finally, taking the results extracted from this study, this chapter provides a Guide of Good Practices (GGPs), giving a global vision for addressing a successful RFID implementation project, useful for researchers, developers, and installers.


As software systems becomes more complex, demand for e cient approaches to test these kind of systems with a lower cost is increased highly, too. One example of such applications can be given highly configurable software systems such as web servers (e.g. Apache) and databases (e.g. MySQL). They have many configurable options which interact each other and these option interactions lead having exponential growth of option configurations. Hence, these software systems become more prone to bugs which are caused by the interaction of options. A solution to this problem can be combinatorial interaction testing which systematically samples the configuration space and tests each of these samples, individually. Combinatorial interaction testing computes a small set of option configurations to be used as test suites, called covering arrays. A t-way covering array aims to cover all t-length option interactions of system under test with a minimum number of configurations where t is a small number in practical cases. Applications of covering arrays are especially encouraged after many researches empirically pointed out that substantial number of faults are caused by smaller value of option interaction. Nevertheless, computing covering arrays with a minimal number of configurations in a reasonable time is not easy task, especially when the configuration space is large and system has inter-option constraints that invalidate some configurations. Therefore, this study field attracts various researchers. Although most of approaches su er in scalability issue, many successful attempts have been also done to construct covering arrays. However, as the configuration scape gets larger, most of the approaches start to su er. Combinatorial problems e.g., in our case constructing covering arrays, are mainly solved by using e cient counting techniques. Based on this assumption, we conjecture that covering arrays can be computed using parallel algorithms e ciently since counting is an easy task which can be carried out with parallel programming strategies. Although di erent architectures are e ective in di erent researches, we choose to use GPU-based parallel computing techniques since GPUs have hundreds even sometimes thousands of cores however with small arithmetic logic units. Despite the fact that these cores are exceptionally constrained and limited, they serve our purpose very well since all we need to do is basic counting, repeatedly. We apply this idea in order to decrease the computation time on a meta-heuristic, search method simulated annealing, which is well studied in construction of covering arrays and, in general, gives the smallest size results in previous studies. Moreover, we present a technique to generate multiple neighbour states in each step of simulated annealing in parallel. Finally, we propose a novel hybrid approach using SAT solver with parallel computing techniques to decrease the negative e ect of pure random search and decrease the covering array size further. Our results prove our assumption that parallel computing is an e ective and e cient way to compute combinatorial objects.


This paper assesses the welfare impact of trade and technology diffusion as well as the change in the cross-country distribution of GDP due to removal of trade costs and diffusion barriers. The model extends the multi-country Ricardian trade model of Alvarez and Lucas (2007) to include technology diffusion with diffusion barriers. A key feature of the model is that some countries export goods produced by foreign technology via diffusion. The model is calibrated to match the world GDP distribution, the merchandise trade and technology diffusion shares of GDP, and real GDP per capita for a sample of 31 countries. Data on international trade in royalties, license fees, and information intensive services are used as proxies for international technology diffusion. There are three key findings. First, the welfare gains from removing diffusion barriers are 4–60% across countries, generally larger than the gains from removing trade costs (8–40%). The main reason is that diffusion has a larger impact on the nontradable sector due to the substitutability between trade and diffusion in the tradable sector. Another reason is that diffusion barriers are generally larger than trade costs. Second, removing trade costs and diffusion barriers has little impact on reducing the dispersion of real GDP per capita (measured by Gini index) across countries. Compared to the benchmark, free diffusion decreases the Gini by 4%, and free trade decreases the Gini by 2%. Third, removing diffusion barriers increases trade, which indicates that diffusion may enhance trade.


O-Acetylserine sulfhydrylase is a homodimeric enzyme catalyzing the last step of cysteine biosynthesis via a Bi Bi ping-pong mechanism. The subunit is composed of two domains, each containing one tryptophan residue, Trp50 in the N-terminal domain and Trp161 in the C-terminal domain. Only Trp161 is highly conserved in eucaryotes and bacteria. The coenzyme pyridoxal 5′-phosphate is bound in a cleft between the two domains. The enzyme undergoes an open to closed conformational transition upon substrate binding. The effect of single Trp to Tyr mutations on O-acetylserine sulfhydrylase structure, function, and stability was investigated with a variety of spectroscopic techniques. The mutations do not significantly alter the enzyme secondary structure but affect the catalysis, with a predominant influence on the second half reaction. The W50Y mutation strongly affects the unfolding pathway due to the destabilization of the intersubunit interface. The W161Y mutation, occurring in the C-terminal domain, produces a reduction of the accessibility of the active site to acrylamide and stabilizes thermodynamically the N-terminal domain, a result consistent with stronger interdomain interactions.


The author undertook a systematic screening of the inducing capacity of all available thiogalactosides, of their affinity to the purified β-galactosidase, and of their "apparent affinity" to the intracellular enzyme. Constitutive strains, which synthesized β-galactosidase in media devoid of inducer, had been isolated. The prevailing hypothesis was that they accumulated an "internal" inducer. The availability of powerful inhibitors of induction prompted the author's group to check their ability to block the constitutive synthesis, with entirely negative results. The author attempted to map the operator gene. The bias was that the strains utilized were heterogeneous in the activity of a galactose transport system. The operator moved back to one end of the galactose operon. The striking similarity exhibited by the regulatory elements of the lactose and galactose systems strengthened both the repressor hypothesis and the notion that the unit of genetic expression can comprise several genes. Taking advantage of the fact that the lactose regulator gene i is close enough to the genes it controls to also remain associated to them in the transducing phages, Salvador Luria could establish that the cointegration of an active i gene was necessary and sufficient to prevent the derepression of the lactose enzymes during the phage vegetative growth. Unfortunately, the structure of the galactose system did not enable one to decide if the same explanation accounted entirely for the derepression of galactokinase. The switch "from lactose to galactose" induction analysis also supplied unexpected insights on the deregulation of host enzyme synthesis by viral induction.


Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the central Philippines on 8 November 2013 as one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever. It also affected a 23-year-old multi-species 'reforest' at Manobo near Tacloban City. As part of a larger hydrological investigation of the impacts of reforestation on streamflow response in the Tacloban area, gross rainfall (P), throughfall (TF; 24 roving collectors) and stemflow (SF; 12 trees) were monitored at Manobo between June 2013 and May 2014. Leaf Area Index (LAI) above each TF collector was measured regularly. Total rainfall interception losses (I) were determined using Gash's revised analytical model for three consecutive periods:(i) pre-Haiyan (baseline), (ii) post– Haiyan (damaged canopy), and (iii) after initial canopy recovery. Modeled I was 18% of P before disturbance, 12% for the period with the most extensive canopy damage, and 17.5% after initial canopy recovery. Weighted mean stemflow values accounted for 2.7%, 1.3% and 2.0% of P for the respective periods. Contrasts in period-average values of I reflected changes in LAI as well as wet-canopy evaporation rates. Storm-based TF fractions were inversely related to LAI, especially for small storms and low rainfall intensities. Inferred hourly rates of wet-canopy evaporation showed a strong positive relationship to hourly rainfall intensity during large storms. The model estimated annual losses with and without canopy disturbance were 514 mm (15% of P) and 572 mm (17%), respectively. Thus, observed and inferred changes in rainfall partitioning after canopy disturbance and initial recovery were comparatively modest, likely because the measurement site was relatively sheltered from the winds during typhoon passage and re-foliation relatively rapid. However, given the predicted increase in occurrence of 'super-typhoons' due to continued global warming and oceanic freshening, the structure of forests in affected regions can be expected to be modified, with potential consequences for rainfall partitioning and hydrological


In Sweden discussions on regional identity and regional belonging have become more and more integrated with perspectives of the meaning of culture and local communities as important for regional development and growth. In local, regional and national policies cultural diversity is emphasized as a potential for development and growth. Sweden is today a multi-cultural society where its citizens have backgrounds from all over the world. However, there is a distance in regional politics between policies of cultural diversity for local and regional development and the actual citizens. It is therefore not clear how policies of cultural diversity are to be applied in practical regional planning. Research shows that immigrants in Sweden often have a feeling of exclusion and that they do not belong there and that they aren't accepted as they are. There seems to be a gap between policies and the actual situation in everyday life of inhabitants in Swedish regions.Research on sense of place and migration is extensive, but there is still not much done on the influence of place in relation to issues of integration. The meaning and importance of place has not been emphasized enough in immigration studies. Therefore, this paper will – from a Swedish perspective - discuss the sense of place and belonging related to a person's identity and background, with the aim to contribute to an understanding of who feel belongingness where. This discussion is mainly based on a survey conducted in the region of Varmland in Sweden. The results show that persons with a Swedish background feel more at home in the place where they live, in the municipality where they live, as well as in the region of Varmland, than persons with a foreign background. Not surprisingly people having lived more than ten years or their whole life at the same place feel more at home in as well the local, regional as the national level. This can in turn be related to Swedish integration policy and the situation of immigrants in Sweden experiencing a sense of exclusion and thereby a lack of sense of belonging to a certain place. But we can also see that other factors, like if you live in the city or in the countryside), are important for a sense of place and feeling at home. Our results will be discussed in relation to issues of urban, regional and social sustainable development.


Background Dietary supplement use is common in athletes. Besides their cost, they may have side effects on health and performance. They may also cause inadvertent doping violation. Objective The study aimed to explore the frequency, type, believes, attitudes and knowledge of participants regarding dietary supplements. Design KAP analysis, cross sectional, cluster sampling, year 2011. Setting Face to face data gathering strategy from national level athletes performed based on valid questionnaire. Participants 350 national level athletes (mean age 21.87 years) from 26 different sports fields and both sexes. Risk factor assessment Age, sex, level of education, sports field, history of sports participation, weight, height, body mass index. Main Outcome Measurements Knowledge was good in 36.70%, average in 59.80%, and poor in 3.20% of respondents. 65% of them either did not use any sports supplements at all, or they used less than 2 times weekly. The most widely used supplements were vitamins (m=76.9%, f=77.4%), energy supplements (m=56.9%, f=47.1%), and minerals (m=44.6%, f=57.4%). 72.1% of athletes believed in their efficacy, 40.2% experienced performance enhancement and 11.4% reported side effects. Over 60% rated their knowledge inadequate and 57.5% were eager to learn more. Conclusions Many athletes believe in the efficacy of supplements and think they are an unavoidable part of competitive sports. Considering three aspects of supplement consumption –safety, efficacy, legitimacy, it should be focused that "optimal dietary intake is the basics for sport for life". We have to stress on education, consulting sessions, and rational prescription.


Abstract. The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry's interest in more advanced ways of regular monitoring of construction site activities and the achieved building progress has been rising recently. This requires frequent recordings of the area. This is only feasible if the profound observations only require limited time, both for the actual capturing on-site as well as processing of the recorded data. Moreover, for monitoring purposes, it is vital that all datasets use a single, unique reference system. This allows for an easy comparison of various observations to determine both building progress as well as possible construction deviations or errors.In this work, a framework is proposed that facilitates a faster and more efficient way of co-registering or geo-registering consecutive datasets. It comprises three major stages, starting with the capturing of the surroundings of the construction site. By thoroughly adding numerous ground control points (GCPs) in a second phase, the processed result of this input data can be considered as a reference dataset. In a third stage, this known component is used as additional input for the processing of subsequently captured datasets. Using overlapping areas, the new observations can be immediately transferred to the correct reference system. This eliminates the indication of GCPs in subsequent datasets, which is known to be time-consuming and error-prone.Although in this work the focus of the proposed framework lies on a photogrammetric recording approach, it also is applicable for laser scanning. Its potential is showcased on a real-world apartment construction site in Ghent, Belgium. In the test case, the presented approach is shown to be efficient, with comparable accuracies as other current methods, however, requiring less time and effort.


We study job displacement in France. In the medium run, losses in firm-specific wage premium account for a substantial share of the overall cost of displacement. However, and despite the positive correlation between premium and productivity in the cross-section of firms, we find that workers are reemployed by high productivity, low labor share firms. The observed reallocation is therefore productivity-enhancing, yet costly for workers. We show that destination firms are less likely to conclude collective wage agreements and have lower participation rates at professional elections. Overall, our results point to a loss in bargaining power.


In April 2017, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) issued its evidence report on the value of targeted immune modulators (TIMs) in rheumatoid arthritis. The report made the case that for the TIMs to be accepted for formulary placement in the US, where notional willingness-to-pay thresholds are the ICER gateway criteria, manufacturers should be prepared to offer substantial unit price discounts. The purpose of this commentary is to make the case that the methodology underpinning the ICER claims for value assessment does not meet the required standards of normal science. None of the claims made for clinical and comparative cost-effectiveness are credible, evaluable and replicable. As such, formulary committees have no idea whether ICER recommendations are right or even if they are wrong. They are, in fact, immune to failure and should be rejected. Utilizing ICER claims generated by simulated projections, this review points out that it is entirely possible to justify the current WAC or net pricing structure of TIMS. The review concludes that if ICER is to contribute to the successful formulary placement of drugs and devices the methodology for pricing recommendation should be re-assessed. As it stands, questions must be raised regarding recommendations for, possibly unnecessary, price discounts. ICER needs to develop an assessment framework that focuses on developing claims for competing therapies that are robust, evaluable and replicable together with recommendations on how these claims are to be evaluated in a timeframe meaningful to health care decision makers.

Type: Commentary


Recent advancements in neural language modelling make it possible to rapidly generate vast amounts of human-sounding text. The capabilities of humans and automatic discriminators to detect machine-generated text have been a large source of research interest, but humans and machines rely on different cues to make their decisions. Here, we perform careful benchmarking and analysis of three popular sampling-based decoding strategies—top-_k_, nucleus sampling, and untruncated random sampling—and show that improvements in decoding methods have primarily optimized for fooling humans. This comes at the expense of introducing statistical abnormalities that make detection easy for automatic systems. We also show that though both human and automatic detector performance improve with longer excerpt length, even multi-sentence excerpts can fool expert human raters over 30% of the time. Our findings reveal the importance of using both human and automatic detectors to assess the humanness of text generation systems.


This article investigates Gray Box Optimization for pseudo-Boolean optimization problems composed of M subfunctions, where each subfunction accepts at most k variables. We will refer to these as Mk Landscapes. In Gray Box Optimization, the optimizer is given access to the set of M subfunctions. We prove Gray Box Optimization can efficiently compute hyperplane averages to solve non-deceptive problems in time. Bounded separable problems are also solved in time. As a result, Gray Box Optimization is able to solve many commonly used problems from the evolutional computation literature in evaluations. We also introduce a more general class of Mk Landscapes that can be solved using dynamic programming and discuss properties of these functions. For certain type of problems Gray Box Optimization makes it possible to enumerate all local optima faster than brute force methods. We also provide evidence that randomly generated test problems are far less structured than those found in real-world problems.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) seroconversion was detected by routine screening in a haemodialysis patient, Patient 1. Serological investigations were undertaken over the following 3 months to determine if further transmission to other patients on the unit had occurred. No additional cases were identified. Twenty‐two haemodialysis patients known to have HCV infection were investigated using molecular epidemiological methods to determine if transmission between patients had occurred. HCV viraemia was demonstrated by polymerase chain reaction in 19 of 22 patients (86%). Genotyping showed that eight patients were infected with genotype 1, three with genotype 3 and eight, including Patient 1, with genotype 2. Phylogenetic analysis of viral sequences from the eight patients with genotype 2 revealed three, including Patient 1,with a novel subtype of HCV type 2, and revealed close similarity between viral sequences from patient 1 and those from one other patient, suggesting transmission. This was consistent with haemodialysis histories. Among other patients with genotype 2, there were two with subtype 2a and three others with three separate novel subtypes, as yet undesignated. With the exception of patient 1, all patients infected with novel subtypes were of Afro‐Caribbean origin. The HCV prevalence among patients on the haemodialysis unit was high (14%), which may reflect the ethnicity of our haemodialysis population. This case emphasises the risk of nosocomial transmission and the importance of infection control procedures on haemodialysis units, and highlights the usefulness of molecular epidemiological techniques for the investigation of outbreaks of HCV infection. J. Med. Virol. 59:135–140, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


We assume the existence of a function f that is computable in polynomial time but its inverse function is not computable in randomized average-case polynomial time. The cryptographic setting is, however, different: even for a weak one-way function, every possible adversary should fail on a polynomial fraction of inputs. Nevertheless, we show how to construct an infinitely-often one-way function based on f .


It is common knowledge that an organisation cannot operate in isolation without the critical roles that various stakeholders play in influencing organisational operations and ultimate corporate performance. Thus, stakeholders that are interdependent have to be rewarded based on their respective efforts in promoting and creating organisational wealth in different capacities. This study aimed at ascertaining the extent of corporate conscience phenomenon as on how body corporates in Malawi tackle and distribute wealth to their different stakeholders who are actively involved in the creation of such an organisational wealth. The study findings reveal that most business executives in Malawi recognise that being a body corporate with a conscience is a recipe for success of their current and future operations and the ultimate sustainable corporate performance. It is anticipated that the study results will improve the perception of business executives towards corporate conscience as well as transform the approaches in academic and business research programmes.


Over the past decade, a variety of ion channels have been identified and characterized in lymphocytes by use of the patch-clamp technique. This review discusses biophysical and regulatory aspects of lymphocyte potassium and calcium channels with the aim of understanding the role of these channels in lymphocyte functions. Lymphocytes express both voltage-dependent potassium [K(V)] channels and calcium-activated potassium [K(Ca)] channels, and each is upregulated as cells progress toward division following mitogenic stimulation. The genes encoding two K(V) channels, Kv1.3 (type n) and Kv3.1 (type l), have been cloned. Mutational analysis is revealing functionally important regions of these channel proteins. Exogenous expression studies and the use of highly specific channel blockers have helped to establish the roles of type n K(V) channels in sustaining the resting membrane potential, in regulating cell volume, and in enabling lymphocyte activation. Blockade of K(V) and K(Ca) channels effectively inhibits the antigen-driven activation of lymphocytes, probably by inducing membrane depolarization and thereby diminishing calcium influx. A prolonged rise in intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i) is a required signal for lymphocyte activation by antigen or mitogens. Single-cell fluorescence measurements have revealed underlying [Ca2+]i oscillations that are linked closely to the opening and closing of Ca2+ and K+ channels. Sustained Ca2+ signaling and oscillations depend absolutely on plasma-membrane Ca2+ channels that are activated by the depletion of intracellular calcium stores. Under physiological conditions these channels open as a consequence of store depletion induced by inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3), but they can also be activated experimentally by several agents that empty the stores without generating IP3, such as the microsomal Ca(2+)-ATPase inhibitor thapsigargin. The intricate causal relationships among ion channels, membrane potential, [Ca2+]i, and lymphokine gene expression can now be pursued at the single-cell level with patch-clamp recording, calcium-dependent dyes, reporter genes, and fluorescence video techniques. These approaches will help to clarify the essential roles of ion channels in the molecular pathways subserving activation and other lymphocyte behaviors.


The measurement of information security levels is a very important but difficult task. So far, various measurement methods have studied the development of new indices. Note, however, that researches have focused on the problem of attaining a certain level but largely neglecting research focused on the issue of how different types of possible flaws in security controls affect each other and which flaws are more critical because of these effects. Furthermore, applying the same weight across the board to these flaws has made it difficult to identify the relative importance. In this paper, the interrelationships among security flaws that occurred in the security controls of K-ISMS were analyzed, and the relative impact of each security control was measured. Additionally, a case-control study was applied using empirical data to eliminate subjective bias as a shortcoming of expert surveys and comparative studies. The security controls were divided into 2 groups depending on whether or not a security flaw occurs. The experimental results show the impact relationship and the severity among security flaws. We expect these results to be applied as good reference indices when making decisions on the removal of security flaws in an enterprise