Members of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family, best known for their roles in immunity and inflammation, are now shown to function in the morphogenesis of hair follicles in the epidermis. Yan et al. report the identification of two TNF receptor family members as binding partners for two products of the EDA gene. Mutations in this gene cause the disorder anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (EDA) in which patients lose hair, sweat glands, and teeth. The EDA gene produces two membrane-bound proteins with TNF-like domains that differ by an insert of only two amino acids. This small difference, however, is enough to cause essentially all-or-none binding to their respective receptors. EDA-A1, the longer isoform, binds exclusively to the receptor called EDAR, whereas the shorter, EDA-A2, binds exclusively to the related receptor called XEDAR (for X-linked ectodysplasin-A2 receptor). The two receptor-morphogen pairs appear to have distinct functions in the development of hair follicles. Yan, M., Wang, L.-C., Hymowitz, S.G., Schilbach, S., Lee, J., Goddard, A., de Vos, A.M., Gao, W.-Q., and Dixit, V.M. (2000) Two-amino acid molecular switch in an epithelial morphogen that regulates binding to two distinct receptors. Science 290: 523-527. [Abstract] [Full Text]


The paper reports on a four-pronged study of the physical controls on regional patterns of the flow duration curve (FDC). This involved a comparative analysis of long-term continuous data from nearly 200 catchments around the US, encompassing a wide range of climates, geology, and ecology. The analysis was done from three different perspectives – statistical analysis, process-based modeling, and data-based classification – followed by a synthesis, which is the focus of this paper. Streamflow data were separated into fast and slow flow responses, and associated signatures, and both total flow and its components were analyzed to generate patterns. Regional patterns emerged in all aspects of the study. The mixed gamma distribution described well the shape of the FDC; regression analysis indicated that certain climate and catchment properties were first-order controls on the shape of the FDC. In order to understand the spatial patterns revealed by the statistical study, and guided by the hypothesis that the middle portion of the FDC is a function of the regime curve (RC, mean within-year variation of flow), we set out to classify these catchments, both empirically and through process-based modeling, in terms of their regime behavior. The classification analysis showed that climate seasonality and aridity, either directly (empirical classes) or through phenology (vegetation processes), were the dominant controls on the RC. Quantitative synthesis of these results determined that these classes were indeed related to the FDC through its slope and related statistical parameters. Qualitative synthesis revealed much diversity in the shapes of the FDCs even within each climate-based homogeneous class, especially in the low-flow tails, suggesting that catchment properties may have become the dominant controls. Thus, while the middle portion of the FDC contains the average response of the catchment, and is mainly controlled by climate, the tails of the FDC, notably the low-flow tails, are mainly controlled by catchment properties such as geology and soils. The regime behavior explains only part of the FDC; to gain a deeper understanding of the physical controls on the FDC, these extremes must be analyzed as well. Thus, to completely separate the climate controls from the catchment controls, the roles of catchment properties such as soils, geology, topography etc. must be explored in detail.


As in many other developing countries, the concerns about food security in Indonesia during the 1980s and early 1990s resulted in policies aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in food crops. The Government of Indonesia (GOI) combined price interventions and economic incentives to encourage agricultural production, especially of the staple crops. From 1985 to 1998, Indonesia started a series of domestic and trade reforms emanating from a combination of unilateral undertakings, the country's commitments to the WTO, and the government's agreement with the IMF following the 1997/98 financial crisis. This study computes nominal protection rates and producer support estimates (NPR and PSE) for Indonesia for the period 1985-2003 for six agricultural commodities, rice, maize, sugar, soybeans, crude palm oil, and natural rubber (representing more than two-thirds of Indonesian agricultural output) in an attempt to quantify the net effects of these policies. The NPRs and PSEs computed for Indonesia show that in spite of the reforms, the GOI has protected its agriculture over the past twenty years, although not uniformly across commodities. Although the reforms went a long way in reducing trade and domestic regulations on agricultural products, the study results demonstrate a return to protection for some commodities in recent years.


During their meetings, the members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) make monetary policy, but they also make each other laugh. This article studies the amount of laughter elicited by members of the FOMC during their meetings. The study finds that a member elicits more laughter if he or she expects higher inflation, other things being equal. This finding suggests that members may use humor to cope with the threat of inflation.


This essay examines the rise of the honeybee as a tool and metaphor in the U.S. "war on terror." At present, the largest source of funding for apiary research comes from the U.S. military as part of efforts to remake entomology in an age of empire. This funding seeks to make new generations of bees sensitive to specific chemical traces—everything from plastic explosives, to the tritium used in nuclear weapons development, to land mines. Moreover, in an explicit attempt to redesign modern battlefield techniques, the Pentagon has returned to the form and metaphor of the "swarm" to combat what it takes to be the unpredictability of the enemy in the war on terror. At the same time, honeybee colonies are collapsing. Rethinking material assemblages of bees and humans in the war on terror, this essay moves beyond the constrained logic and limited politics of many epidemiological investigations of colony collapse. Honeybees are situated within a more expansive understanding of the role of and consequences for the animal in modern empire building.


The dentate gyrus is a part of the brain that has been a topic of intense interest since the beginning of neuroscience, and pioneering studies from the distant and recent past attest to this. One of the reasons for such interest is that this structure provides some of the most remarkable examples of plasticity within the nervous system. In addition, it is critical to normal cognitive function, although exactly how and when is still a question that eludes answers. Furthermore, abnormalities within the dentate gyrus appear to play a role in diverse clinical conditions, from depression to epilepsy and traumatic brain injury.The primary goal of this book is to provide a context, or background, upon which the detailed knowledge of the current era can be appreciated. A series of overviews are provided to clarify essentials related to structural organization and development, cellular components, neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, plasticity, and clinical relevance. This book covers the topic comprehensively from anatomy to cellular and systems perspectives. It includes basic research and addresses translational implications, so it will be useful to both researchers in the laboratory and clinicians who conduct experiments in humans. Chapters provide fundamentals, and also details and ample references for further review of the topic.


Written notation has a long history in many musical traditions and has been particularly important in the composition and performance of Western art music. This study adopted the conceptual view that a musical score consists of two coordinated but separate communication channels: the musical text and a collection of composer-selected performance marks that serve as an interpretive gloss on that text. Structurally, these channels are defined by largely disjoint vocabularies of symbols and words. While the sound structures represented by musical texts are well studied in music theory and analysis, the stylistic patterns of performance marks and how they acquire contextual meaning in performance is an area with fewer theoretical foundations.

This quantitative research explored the possibility that composers exhibit recurring patterns in their use of performance marks. Seventeen solo piano sonatas written between 1798 and 1913 by five major composers were analyzed from modern editions by tokenizing and tabulating the types and usage frequencies of their individual performance marks without regard to the associated musical texts. Using analytic methods common in information science, the results demonstrated persistent statistical similarities among the works of each composer and differences among the work groups of different composers. Although based on a small sample, the results still offered statistical support for the existence of recurring stylistic patterns in composers' use of performance marks across their works.


Over the last three centuries the world has been modernized. From the first stirrings of industrialism to the definitive arrival of globalization, artists, craftspeople and designers have engaged with modernization in order to make sense of the transformations it continually imposes. They have been, by turns, brutally critical and profoundly idealistic about the ongoing state of things. The Modern Ideal explores the idea of modernity, returning it to its historical context and showing how theory and practice in the modern visual arts emerged over three centuries. Concepts which are central to the meaning of modernity are explained, including style, modernization, progress, ideology and universality, and movements across all disciplines are discussed, from neoclassicism to postmodernism. The rise of idealism in the modern visual arts is also explored: the attempt to create a definitive, positive style that was capable of transforming not only art but society as a whole, became the obsessive quest of succeeding generations of artists, architects and designers. By dealing with issues at large in the contemporary art and design scene, and by speculating about the next phase of modern practice, the book identifies the collapse of idealism in the modern arts as being of central concern today.


Seventy-one late Middle and Late Ordovician trilobite species belonging to 50 genera and subgenera, 24 families and 7 orders are described from northwestern Tarim, Xinjiang. Of these, 18 species and 2 genera (the nileid Paraperaspis and lichid Tairongia) are new. Much new morphological information is provided and ranges of variation are revealed for previously known forms on the basis of the new material. Ten trilobite biofacies developed during the Darriwilian-early Katian in relation to environmental gradients of the platform margin, shallow outer-shelf basin and outer-shelf slope are reviewed herein, taking account of the newly described and revised trilobite faunas. Eustatic changes that took place in the region, including a latest Darriwilian-Sandbian transgression and an early Katian regression, are suggested by the shoreward or seaward shifts and the vertical replacement of trilobite associations. Trilobites exhibit close biogeographic connections with the coeval faunas recorded in other terranes of peri-Gondwana, especially in South China, North China and Central Asia. The occurrence of some early Darriwilian genera that were previously considered as typical of either Laurentian (e.g. Nanillaenus, Kawina and Xystocrania) or Baltoscandian (Parillaenus, Panderia and Hemisphaerocoryphe) faunas indicate that faunal exchanges between peri-Gondwana, Laurentia and Baltoscandia may have begun much earlier than the late Katian when the Ordovician faunal provinces finally broke down.


It is common for storage systems designed to run on edge datacenters to avoid the high latencies associated with geo-distribution by relying on eventually consistent models to replicate data. Eventual consistency works well for many edge applications because as long as the client interacts with the same replica, the storage system can provide session consistency, a stronger consistency model that has two additional important properties: (i) read-your-writes, where subsequent reads by a client that has updated an object will return the updated value or a newer one; and, (ii) monotonic reads, where if a client has seen a particular value for an object, subsequent reads will return the same value or a newer one. While session consistency does not guarantee that different clients will perceive updates in the same order, it nevertheless presents each individual client with an intuitive view of the world that is consistent with the client's own actions. Unfortunately, these consistency guarantees break down when a client interacts with multiple replicas housed on different datacenters over time, either as a result of application partitioning, or client or code mobility.SessionStore is a datastore for fog/edge computing that ensures session consistency on a top of otherwise eventually consistent replicas. SessionStore enforces session consistency by grouping related data accesses into a session, and using a session-aware reconciliation algorithm to reconcile only the data that is relevant to the session when switching between replicas. This approach reduces data transfer and latency by up to 90% compared to full replica reconciliation.


In addressing carbon emissions as the primary contributor to climate change, a study was conducted to examine the total carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emitted into the atmosphere from the production of crude oil and gas in the two largest producing regions of the U.S: the Permian Basin (PB) and the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The objective of this report is not to compare the carbon intensities between PB and GOM, but rather to understand the causes of deviations observed between the two Basins, particularly in the years 2016 to 2018. This report details the initiative, including the research of emissions and production data from three federal agencies: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). High-level analysis was conducted on six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, sulfur hexafluoride, perfluorocarbons, and hydrofluorocarbons. Some major findings of this study include the establishment of a clear trend in which GHG emission rates increase as production increases. The mean carbon intensity, derived from the log normal distribution, for PB production and GOM production was determined to be 14.83 ± 3.374 kg CO2e/BOE and 7.86 ± 2.32 kg CO2e/BOE, respectively, for the year 2018 with 95% confidence interval. While three years of data is not sufficient to conclude a trend, both GOM and PB experienced lower carbon intensity rates in 2017 compared to 2016 and a higher carbon intensity rate in year 2018 compared to 2017. The primary causes for the PB's higher carbon intensity are flaring practices, transportation, hydraulic fracturing and weather-related impacts, which will be further discussed in this report.


Background A feasibility study was conducted to investigate whether an occupational at-risk cohort of women in Mwanza, Tanzania are a suitable study population for future phase III vaginal microbicide trials. Methodology/Principal Findings 1573 women aged 16–54 y working in traditional and modern bars, restaurants, hotels, guesthouses or as local food-handlers were enrolled at community-based reproductive health clinics, provided specimens for HIV/STI and pregnancy testing, and asked to attend three-monthly clinical follow-up visits for 12-months. HIV positive and negative women were eligible to enter the feasibility study and to receive free reproductive health services at any time. HIV prevalence at baseline was 26.5% (417/1573). HIV incidence among 1156 sero-negative women attending at baseline was 2.9/100PYs. Among 1020 HIV sero-negative, non-pregnant women, HIV incidence was 2.0/100PYs, HSV-2 incidence 12.7/100PYs and pregnancy rate 17.8/100PYs. Retention at three-months was 76.3% (778/1020). Among 771 HIV sero-negative, non-pregnant women attending at three-months, subsequent follow-up at 6, 9 and 12-months was 83.7%, 79.6%, and 72.1% respectively. Older women, those who had not moved home or changed their place of work in the last year, and women working in traditional bars or as local food handlers had the highest re-attendance. Conclusions/Significance Women working in food outlets and recreational facilities in Tanzania and other parts of Africa may be a suitable study population for microbicide and other HIV prevention trials. Effective locally-appropriate strategies to address high pregnancy rates and early losses to follow-up are essential to minimise risk to clinical trials in these settings.


One of the long-term goals of the mandated early childhood curriculum document Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework[EYLF] (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2009) is to incite independent learners who will contribute to the development of their country. A vision of this framework is that "all children have the best start in life to create a better future for themselves and for the nation" (p. 5). This statement of intent aligns with the underlying aim of the Civics and Citizenship learning area of the Humanities and Social Sciences [HASS]learning area situated within the mandated Australian Curriculum for years F-10 (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA],2017). Civics and Citizenship encourages students to value their belonging to a diverse society and to positively contribute locally, nationally and globally (ACARA,2017). This paper will explore the direct association of these two curricula by explicitly analysing the two documents from an integrated perspective. A discussion follows on how the EYLF (DEEWR, 2009) and Civics and Citizenship (ACARA, 2014) can be referenced simultaneously to achieve both the short term and the long-term goal of producing informed, active, citizens in accordance with Goal Two of the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young People [Melbourne Declaration] (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs [MCEETYA], 2008).


Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus (KSHV), is a necessary cause of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), the risk of which increases among people with immune suppression, such as that caused by infection with HIV. KS incidence varies, being highest in places with a high prevalence of KSHV. Controlling KSHV transmission is key in reducing KS incidence. Documented KSHV prevalence is reported to be higher in rural Uganda than has been found elsewhere. This PhD research focused on investigating environmental and immunological factors associated with KSHV antibody responses and viral detection/shedding in blood and in saliva as well as KSHV specific cell-mediated immune responses in Uganda. ELISA and Luminex were used for antibody measurements, real-time PCR for viral detection and quantification and an ELISPOT assay for cell-mediated IFN-γ response measurement. Infections such as malaria and helminths were the main environmental risk factors analysed. The factors associated with higher KSHV antibody responses included early age of infection, malaria parasitaemia, low haemoglobin levels and Schistosoma mansoni infection. Malaria infection was also associated with higher levels of KSHV DNA in blood while male sex was associated with increased viral shedding in saliva. Children had the highest proportion of individuals with detectable KSHV DNA in blood and in saliva. In relation to IFN- production, individuals responded to a wide variety of KSHV peptides without any immune dominance. In conclusion, KSHV transmission in endemic areas occurs mainly in childhood; this may play a role in the failure to control the virus, leading to increased viral shedding and increased viral transmission. Parasite infections such as malaria and worms may play a significant role in rendering children susceptible to KSHV infection as well as in enhancing reactivation of the virus, increasing lytic replication and, thereby increasing transmission and 3 pathogenesis.The cell-mediated immune response to KSHV is complex due to the lack of immunodominance.


Companies that fail to innovate will, like prehistoric dinosaurs, eventually disappear from the face of the earth. This book contains 100 great innovation ideas, extracted from the world s best companies. Ideas provide the fuel for individuals and companies to create value and success. Indeed the power of ideas can even exceed the power of money. One simple idea can be the catalyst to move markets, inspire colleagues and employees, and capture the hearts and imaginations of customers. This book can be that very catalyst. Each innovation idea is succinctly described and is followed by advice on how it can be applied to the reader s own business situation. A simple but potentially powerful book for anyone seeking new inspiration and that killer application.


There are two components of communication that provide a natural index of mutualunderstanding in dialogue. The first is Repair; the ways in which people detect and deal with problems with understanding. The second is Ellipsis/Anaphora; the use of expressions that depend directly on the accessibility of the local context for their interpretation. This thesis explores the use of these two phenomena in systematic comparative analyses of human-human dialogue under different task and media conditions. In order to do this it is necessary to a) develop reliable, valid protocols for coding the different Repair and Ellipsis/Anaphora phenomena b) establish their baseline patterns of distribution in conversation and c) model their basic statistical inter-relationships and their predictive value. Two new protocols for coding Repair and Ellipsis/Anaphora phenomena are presented and applied to two dialogue corpora, one of ordinary 'everyday' conversations and one of task-oriented dialogues. These data illustrate that there are significant differences in how understanding is created and negotiated across conditions. Repair is shown to be a ubiquitous feature in all dialogue. The goals of the speaker directly affect the type of Repair used. Giving instructions leads to a higher rate of self-editing; following instructions increases corrections and requests for clarification. Medium and familiarity also influence Repair; when eye contact is not possible there are a greater number of repeats and clarifications. Anaphora are used less frequently in task-oriented dialogue whereas types of Ellipsis increase. The use of Elliptical phrases that check, confirm or acknowledge is higher when there is no eye contact. Familiar pairs use more elliptical expressions, especially endophora and elliptical questions. Following instructions leads to greater use of elliptical (non-sentential) phrases. Medium, task and social norms all have a measureable effect on the components of dialogue that underpin mutual-understanding.


The thesis investigates a number of girls' writings as they occurred in the form of
graffiti in a sixth-form College in Malta. It develops an analysis of these graffiti texts,
which are mainly concerned with how their authors try to make sense of their gender
identity and involvement in sexual activity and romantic encounters. The analysis
examines possible reasons why a number of female students resort to writing graffiti.
It highlights the ways through which the acquisition of sexual knowledge occurs
informally outside the formal curriculum, through spaces created and struggled over
by the informants. The study interrogates the emotional, social, cultural, personal and
political worlds as described by them. This includes a discourse analysis, aimed at
providing a deeper understanding of ignored emotional and social perspectives. In the
absence of sexuality and relationships education in postsecondary education curricula
in Malta, this study challenges silences surrounding these matters. The study
documents the graffiti as subversive processes of learning, which reproduce and resist
dominant discourses. It regards the graffiti as constituting a discourse in itself,
understood as possibly promoting agency in some of the informants' lives.
A reflexive approach was adopted to arrive at the research aims. Poststructuralist
feminist and queer theory perspectives locate the study's theoretical positionings.
Ethnographic observations and informal conversations with nineteen female students
were employed to assist the data analysis.
The findings show that some informants question the ways they relate to their gender
identity when confronted by hetero, lesbian and bisexual social relationships.
Heteronormative dominance and familiarity are actively reproduced, contested,
disturbed and resisted. The findings suggest that the informants seek a safe school
environment, where they can discuss sexualities and relationships' matters in a
context of empathy, caring, understanding and support. They request detailed
information about decision-making processes related to conflicting emotions about
romantic feelings, relationships and interpersonal communication skills with their
partner/so
The study points to the need for a deeper understanding of the emotional and overall
wellbeing of teenagers with respect to romantic and sexual relationships. The study
aims to contribute towards academic debates and knowledge about teenage
perspectives on sexualities and romantic relationships and towards the planning,
discussion and design of future postsecondary sexuality education curricula in Malta.


Some recommendations suggest keeping the shank as vertical as possible during the barbell squat, thus keeping the knees from moving past the toes. This study examined joint kinetics occurring when forward displacement of the knees is restricted vs. when such movement is not restricted. Seven weight-trained men (mean ± SD; age = 27.9 ± 5.2 years) were videotaped while performing 2 variations of parallel barbell squats (barbell load = body weight). Either the knees were permitted to move anteriorly past the toes (unrestricted) or a wooden barrier prevented the knees from moving anteriorly past the toes (restricted). Differences resulted between static knee and hip torques for both types of squat as well as when both squat variations were compared with each other (p < 0.05). For the unrestricted squat, knee torque (N·m; mean ± SD) = 150.1 ± 50.8 and hip torque = 28.2 ± 65.0. For the restricted squat, knee torque = 117.3 ± 34.2 and hip torque = 302.7 ± 71.2. Restricted squats also produced more anterior lean of the trunk and shank and a greater internal angle at the knees and ankles. The squat technique used can affect the distribution of forces between the knees and hips and on the kinematic properties of the exercise. Practical applications: Although restricting forward movement of the knees may minimize stress on the knees, it is likely that forces are inappropriately transferred to the hips and low-back region. Thus, appropriate joint loading during this exercise may require the knees to move slightly past the toes.


Learn to use Microsoft Word 2010 the easy, visual way Word is the most popular application in the Microsoft Office suite, and Word 2010 has some exciting new features. If you learn best when you can see how something is done, you'll find the step-by-step instructions and full-color screen shots make it quick and easy to learn this new version of Word. The visual format helps you understand Word's new features, including Web Apps and the revised user interface. Learn to set up and format documents, work with graphics, use Mail Merge, post documents to the Web, and more. Word 2010 includes support for typographic features that enable you to create more sophisticated documents This guide shows how to use the new features with step-by-step instructions and full-color views of what you see on the screen at each step Perfect for visual learners who like to see how something is done Covers dozens of common tasks you will use every day Teach Yourself VISUALLY Word 2010 gets you up to speed on the new version of Word quickly and easily.


We have fabricated a CdS-coated Ag nanoparticle using the reverse micelle method and observed the nonlinear optical response of the scattered light intensity caused by an individual particle. In addition, we succeeded in obtaining the complex third-order nonlinear susceptibility χ(3) spectrum near the energy band edge of the CdS film by comparing the experimental result and the result of the Mie calculation that considered the optical Kerr effect of the CdS. At ħωi = 2.43 eV, the χ(3) of the CdS was (1.1 + i0.6) × 10−17m2/V2. We conjecture that an increase in the carriers in the interband transition of the CdS originates from the increase in the χ(3) of the CdS at ħωi > 2.4eV.


Controlled attachment of organic molecules to silicon surfaces offers the promise of enabling a new class of molecular electronic devices and sensors with the potential to significantly enhance the functionality of conventional microelectronics. In this review, we describe recent progress in probing and understanding the interaction of organic molecules with clean and H-terminated silicon surfaces. While unsaturated molecules react readily with the dangling bonds on the clean surface, typically adopting multiple bonding configurations, hydrogen terminated surfaces with a small number of isolated reactive sites can be used to increase the selectivity of these reactions. At single dangling bonds a variety of molecules (alkenes, alkynes and aldehydes) react with the surface via a propagating chain reaction, resulting in the formation of molecular nanostructures. Such propagating chain reactions can also be exploited to form molecular monolayers with a range of terminal functionalities. The properties of these monolayers appear promising for device and sensor applications.


Freelancing offers an ideal way of making a living for many of us, providing the opportunity to work from home, and be our own boss. However, working for yourself comes with its own set of challenges and is definitely not an easy option. Success is never a certainty, nor is the level of income you will generate. This article provides some basic points to consider before making the transition and provides helpful advice for those already freelancing and want to maintain or grow their business.


In Appraising Work Group Performance: New Productivity Opportunities in Hospitality Management – a discussion by Mark R. Edwards, Associate Professor, College of Engineering, Arizona State University and Leslie Edwards Cummings, Assistant Professor, College of Hotel Administration University of Nevada, Las Vegas; the authors initially provide: "Employee group performance variation accounts for a significant portion of the degree of productivity in the hotel, motel, and food service sectors of the hospitality industry. The authors discuss TEAMSG, a microcomputer based approach to appraising and interpreting group performance. TEAMSG appraisal allows an organization to profile and to evaluate groups, facilitating the targeting of training and development decisions and interventions, as well as the more equitable distribution of organizational rewards." "The caliber of employee group performance is a major determinant in an organization's productivity and success within the hotel and food service industries," Edwards and Cummings say. "Gaining accurate information about the quality of performance of such groups as organizational divisions, individual functional departments, or work groups can be as enlightening..." the authors further reveal. This perspective is especially important not only for strategic human resources planning purposes, but also for diagnosing development needs and for differentially distributing organizational rewards." The authors will have you know, employee requirements in an unpredictable environment, which is what the hospitality industry largely is, are difficult to quantify. In an effort to measure elements of performance Edwards and Cummings look to TEAMSG, which is an acronym for Team Evaluation and Management System for Groups. They develop the concept. In discussing background for employees, Edwards and Cummings point-out that employees at the individual level must often possess and exercise varied skills. In group circumstances employees often work at locations outside of, or move from corporate unit-to-unit, as in the case of a project team. Being able to transcend individual-to-group mentality is imperative. "A solution which addresses the frustration and lack of motivation on the part of the employee is to coach, develop, appraise, and reward employees on the basis of group achievement," say the authors. "An appraisal, effectively developed and interpreted, has at least three functions," Edwards and Cummings suggest, and go on to define them. The authors do place a great emphasis on rewards and interventions to bolster the assertion set forth in their thesis statement. Edwards and Cummings warn that individual agendas can threaten, erode, and undermine group performance; there is no I in TEAM.


The relationship between parasitemia, seroreactivity to Trypanosoma cruzi, and electrocardiographic abnormalities was studied in 115 individuals from a rural community in northeast Brazil where Chagas' disease is endemic. Vector control measures were introduced, and after 3 years 106 of the original participants were located and re-examined. Serum antibodies to T. cruzi were measured by complement fixation and indirect fluorescent antibody tests and parasitemia by xenodiagnosis and blood cultures. On both examinations more seropositive children than seropositive adults showed parasitemia, and parasitemia was more likely to persist over the 3-year period in younger individuals. Electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities were seen more frequently in seropositive individuals without parasitemia. However, ECG abnormalities, as expected, were more prevalent in older individuals and therefore no specific inverse relationship between ECG findings and parasitemia could be shown. The decreased prevalence of infection noted in younger individuals following the introduction of vector control measures indicates that this approach limited transmission.


Pharmacokinetics of oxytetracycline (OTC) was studied in
swamp
mg/kg
buffalo heifers and cows after a single injection of
OTC hydrochloride intravenously and OTC long acting
20
(LA)
formulation (Terramycin/LA, Pfizer) intramuscularly using a crossover
study. The concentration of OTC in serum samples was measured
by a bioassay technique using Bacillus cereus (ATCC 11778)
as the test organism.
The disposition curve for oxytetracycline activities after
intravenous administration was best described by a two-compartment
open model. The serum concentrations at time zero, co'p, for
buffalo cows and buffalo heifers were 61 . 37+19 . 62 mcg/ml and 33 . 09+9 . 93 mcg/ml respectively . The elimination half-lives for
buffalo cows (10.13+2 . 72 h) and heifers ( 8.72+2.14 h) after intravenous
injection of the drug were not significantly different
( P)0.05). The apparent volume o f distribution was significantly
higher in buffalo cows ( 2.84+0 . 46 L/kg) than in heifers ( 2.0+0.42
L/kg ) but the total body clearance did not differ significantly
(P>0 . 05) .
Following a single intramuscular injection of OTC-LA formulation
only one rate constant of absorption was noted in buffalo
cows (ka1-0. 05 h) but two rate constants of absorption were noted
for heifers - a fast rate ( ka1-3 . 62 h) and a slow rate ( ka2 -0. 04
h). The peak serum concentration of OTC for buffalo cows was
4 . 56+1 . 48 mcg/ml at 4.67+1.91 hours and for buffalo heifers was
4.40+ 0.57 mcg/ml at 1.67+0.26 hours.The bioavailability of OTC
was 64 and 24 per cent for buffalo cows and heifers respectively .
Plasma concentrations above 0.5 mcg/ml were maintained for approximately
50-60 hours . The minimum inhibition concentration (MIC)
for eleven isolates from diseased buffaloes ranged from 0 . 25 to
4.0 mcg/ml .
For the swamp buffalo OTC-LA is recommended at a dosing rate
of 20 mg/kg injected intramuscularly at 48-hour dosage intervals
for highly susceptible organisms (MIC<1 mcg/m1 ) . However it
is preferable to use the conventional OTC formulation intramuscularly
for less susceptible organisms (MIC>2 mcg/ml ) .


Dynamic analyses of structures under buffeting wind loads can be performed in a deterministic (Clough and Penzien, 1997) or stochastic (Preumont, 1994) context, both with a modal approach for computational efficiency reasons. In the first option, the forces are deterministically given, and the uncoupled modal equations of motion are solved either in the time domain with a stepby-step method, either in the frequency domain, with Fourier transformation. In the second option, the analysis relies on the determination of the Power Spectral Density (PSD) matrix of the structural response given that of the loading. The choice of one or another method usually depends on whether the loading is provided in the time or frequency domain and as a deterministic (a single time history) or stochastic manner. From a designer's point of view, the wind loading can be defined using design codes (e.g. Eurocode, 2005) where analytical expressions of (i) the PSD of wind velocities (Davenport, Von Karman, etc) (ii) the coherence functions and (iii) the pressure coefficients are given to compute, finally, (iv) the PSD of the aerodynamic pressures. Design engineers are usually familiar with this probabilistic approach. Alternatively, the design may be conducted from aerodynamic pressures measured in a wind tunnel. This approach is more realistic than the aforementioned codified procedure since a number of phenomena as (a) the aerodynamic instabilities, (b) aerodynamic admittance (Scanlan and Jones, 1999), (c) site effects are taken into account. Pressures are thus given as unique (deterministic) time histories at each sensor. In a Finite Element context and a modal analysis, the generalized forces are computed from the measured pressures. With the firm wish to perform the analysis in a stochastic manner (for a number of good reasons mentioned next), we suggest to fit a probabilistic model to the measured data. Such a model could be fitted to the measured pressures right away, or any other subsequent quantity such as the generalized forces. The following discussion is about the most favorable quantity that has to be fitted and how to do it appropriately in view of typical measurement imperfections.


Stratigraphic and sedimentological data from New South Wales and Queensland, eastern Australia, indicate that the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age comprised at least eight discrete glacial intervals (each 1–8 Ma in duration, here termed 'glaciations'), separated by nonglacial intervals of comparable duration. These events spanned an interval from mid-Carboniferous (c. 327 Ma) to the early Late Permian (c. 260 Ma), and illustrate a pattern of increasing climatic austerity and increasingly widespread glacial ice from initial onset until an acme in the late Early Permian, followed by an opposite trend towards the final demise of glaciation in the Late Permian. The alternating glacial–nonglacial motif suggests that the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age was considerably more dynamic than previously thought. These patterns are remarkably consistent with recent interpretations of palaeofloral change, eustatic sea-level fluctuations and CO2–climate–glaciation relationships for this interval of time. The detailed record of alternating glacial and nonglacial climate mode disclosed herein may facilitate more closely resolved evaluations of stratigraphic records elsewhere, notably in far-field, ice-distal, northern hemisphere successions.


In this chapter, we discuss the use of reflective diffraction gratings to manipulate the phase of ultrashort pulses in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and soft X-ray spectral regions. Gratings may be used to condition the spectral phase of ultrashort pulses, e.g., to compensate for the pulse chirp and compress the pulse, similarly to what is routinely realized for visible and infrared pulses. The chirped pulse amplification technique has been already proposed for soft X-ray free-electron laser radiation; however, it requires the use of a compressor to compensate for the pulse chirp and get closer to the Fourier limit. There are fundamental differences when operating the gratings at wavelengths shorter than ≈40 nm on a broad band: (a) the gratings are operated at grazing inci‐ dence; therefore, the optical design has to be consequently tailored to this peculiar geometry; (b) the grating efficiency is definitely lower; therefore, the number of diffractions has to be limited to two. We discuss the different configurations that can be applied to the realization of a grating stretcher/compressor. fs to about 30 fs. This gives a substantial increase in the temporal resolution of the FEL pulses when used for ultrafast experiments.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate early recognition and clinical evaluation of spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma (SSEH) and to analyze the factors related to prognosis.

METHODS
Nine patients with SSEH were include in current study. There were 7 men and 2 women with a mean age of 45.4 years (range, 18-83 years). Etiological factors were noted in 9 patients, 3 with hypertension, 2 with angioma, 2 with laminar osteoblastoma, 1 with neuroblastoma, and 1 with thrombolysis treatment. Six patients presented with acute onset of neck or back pain. Two patients initially presented with incomplete paralysis. One patient emerged with ascending bilateral lower extremity weakness and loss of sensation after thrombolysis treatment. Neurologic deficit was four as Frankel A, two as Frankel B, one as Frankel C and two as Frankel D. Evacuation of the hematoma was carried out in eight patients. One patient of thrombolysis treatment was treated conservatively because of loss of optimum for operation.

RESULTS
Eight hematomas were located in thoracic region, one was found in the cervicothoracic region. Mean extension was 3.7 segments (range, 2-8 segments). One patient died of severe pulmonary infection 50 days postoperatively. The average follow-up observation was 7. 5 months. Evaluation of the neurological function showed that 2 patients being classified as Frankel B, 1 as Frankel D and 4 patients as Frankel E. There was no improvement of neurological function in 1 patient with conservative treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
The keys to the early diagnosis of SSEH are the characteristic of clinical symptoms, and the lesion site, the extent of the lesion demonstrated by MRI. The prognosis is worse for SSEH with etiological factor of hypertension. Early diagnosis and surgical treatment might get better results for SSEH resulting from tumour.


Labour, Mobility and Temporary Migration delves into sociological research on Polish migrants who migrated to the lesser-explored South Wales region after Poland joined the European Union in 2004. At the time of enlargement, Polish migrants were characterised as being economically motivated, short-term migrants who would enter the UK for work purposes, save money and return home. However, over ten years after enlargement, this initial characterisation has been challenged with many of the once considered 'short-term' Poles remaining in the UK. In the case of Wales, the long-term impact of this migration is only starting to be fully realised, particularly in consideration of the different spatial areas – urban, semi-urban and rural – explored in this book. Such impact is occurring in the post-Brexit referendum period, a time when the UK's position in the EU is itself complex and changing


A population-based retrospective case-control study has been conducted in Tasmania since October 1988. Study measurements pertained to the scene of death of last sleep, as well as a verbal questionnaire on relevant exposures. From 1 October 1988 to 1 October 1991, 62 cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) occurred. Case response rate for retrospective interviews was 94% (58/62). The initial control response rate was 84% (101/121). After stratification for maternal age and birthweight, there was no increase in risk associated with the usual side position (odds ratio [OR] 1.05 [0.27, 5.02]), compared with the supine position (OR 1.00, reference). The prone position was associated with increased risk [OR 5.70 (1.67, 25.58)], relative to the supine position. In the final multivariable model, predictors of SIDS in this study were usual prone position (P < 0.001), maternal smoking (P = 0.008), a family history of asthma (P = 0.045) and bedroom heating during last sleep (P = 0.039). Protective factors were maternal age over 25 years (P = 0.013) and more than one child health clinic attendance (P = 0.003). The results provide further support for current health education activities which aim to inform parents of modifiable risk factors for SIDS, including the prone sleeping position, thermal stress and infant exposure to tobacco smoke.


Abstract. The fully rough form of the law of the wall is commonly used to quantify velocity profiles and associated bed shear stresses in fluvial, aeolian, and coastal environments. A key parameter in this law is the roughness length, z0. Here we propose a predictive formula for z0 that uses the amplitude and slope of each wavelength of microtopography within a discrete-Fourier-transform-based approach. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling is used to quantify the effective z0 value of sinusoidal microtopography as a function of the amplitude and slope. The effective z0 value of landscapes with multi-scale roughness is then given by the sum of contributions from each Fourier mode of the microtopography. Predictions of the equation are tested against z0 values measured in  ∼ 105 wind-velocity profiles from southwestern US playa surfaces. Our equation is capable of predicting z0 values to 50 % accuracy, on average, across a 4 order of magnitude range. We also use our results to provide an alternative formula that, while somewhat less accurate than the one obtained from a full multi-scale analysis, has an advantage of being simpler and easier to apply.


The Annals of Niketas Choniates depict Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos (1183-1185) in certain aspects of his lifestyle as a mirror image of his first cousin, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180). The life and death of Andronikos I Komnenos provide us with a window into the aesthetic, moral, intellectual, religious, economic and emotional world of Byzantine society in the 12th century. It was thanks to the Byzantine empire that the ancient texts were preserved and transmitted. Ancient Greek culture and reason, in particular, continued to inform Christian values while, at the same time, both could be in radical conflict. The tragic reign of Andronikos as presented by Niketas Choniates conforms to Aristotle's principles of classical drama, but there is a fundamental disagreement between the author of the Poetics and the historian as to what constitutes tragedy, which underlines this conflict.


The transition to democracy in South Africa in 1994 catalysed new forms of governance in all sectors of society including water resource management. This paper examines the extent to which traditional governance systems have been acknowledged and incorporated into these new water management institutions and approaches. The research focused on understanding the cultural, religious and customary practices and rules relevant to water resource management as well as the roles of traditional leaders in 2 water user associations in the Eastern Cape Province. Findings from the research reveal that both state governance systems and traditional governance systems are relevant to water resource management in the study areas. However, management is predominantly guided by state-driven strategies which are based on statutory legal systems. Yet, traditional governance systems, including customary laws and cultural and religious practices, have an important role to play in achieving the purposes of the water user associations. Failure to acknowledge and incorporate aspects of these traditional governance systems may undermine the ability of government to achieve the objectives of the National Water Act.


Post-analyses of major extreme events reveal that information sharing is critical for effective emergency response. The lack of consistent data standards for current emergency management practice, however, hinders efficient critical information flow among incident responders. In this paper, we adopt a third-generation activity theory guided approach to develop a data model that can be used in the response to fire-related extreme events. This data model prescribes the core data standards to reduce information interoperability barriers. The model is validated through a three-step approach including a request for comment (RFC) process, case application, and prototype system test. This study contributes to the literature in the area of interoperability and data modeling; it also informs practice in emergency response system design.


Traffic sampling is a crucial step towards scalable network measurements, enclosing manifold challenges. The wide variety of foreseeable sampling scenarios demands for a modular view of sampling components and features, grounded on a consistent architecture. Articulating the measurement scope, the required information model and the adequate sampling strategy is a major design issue for achieving an encompassing and efficient sampling solution. This is the main focus of the present work, where a layered architecture, a taxonomy of existing sampling techniques distinguishing their inner characteristics and a flexible framework able to combine these characteristics are introduced. In addition, a new multi-adaptive technique proposal, based on linear prediction, allows to reduce the measurement overhead significantly, while assuring that traffic samples reflect the statistical behavior of the global traffic under analysis.


Bedload transport rates in mountain streams may exhibit wide fluctuations even under constant flow conditions. A better understanding of bedload pulses is key to predict natural hazards induced by torrential activity and sediment issues in mountainous areas. Several processes such as bedforms migration, grain sorting and random particles' trajectories are evoked as the driving agents of pulse formation and development. Quantifying the effects of these processes is a difficult task. This work aims to investigate the interactions between bedload transport and bedform dynamics in steep gravel-bed rivers. Experiments are carried out in a 17-m long 60-cm wide flume inclined at an angle of 2.7%. The bed is initially flat and made of homogenous natural gravel with a mean diameter of 6 mm. We imposed 200 identical hydrographs (of 1 hr duration) at the flume inlet (the bed surface was not flattened out during these cycling floods). The input hydrograph and the input sediment discharge are nearly triangular. Bed topography is measured after each flood using ultrasound sensors while the bedload transport rate is steadily monitored at the outlet using accelerometers (accelerometers fixed on metallic plates record the impacts of the grains flowing out of the flume). For the sake of comparison, a similar experiment consisting of 19 floods of 10 hours is carried out under constant supply conditions. We show that accelerometers are a cost effective technique to obtain high-frequency bedload discharge data. Spectral analysis of the bedload timeseries is used to highlight the different time scales corresponding to different bedload transport processes. We show that long timeseries are necessary to capture the different processes that drive bedload transport, including the resilience time after a perturbation of the bed. The alternate bars that develop and migrate along the flume are found to significantly influence bedload transport rate fluctuations.


Childhood parental disengagement predicts mid- to late-adolescent gun carrying, in part because parental disengagement is associated with higher peer delinquency and externalizing problems during early adolescence. BrightcoveDefaultPlayer10.1542/6138655494001PEDS-VA_2018-1552 Video Abstract OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between parental disengagement in childhood and adolescent gun carrying and determine whether this association is accounted for by externalizing problems and affiliation with delinquent peers during early adolescence. METHODS: The sample included 503 boys (55.7% African American, 40.6% white, 3.7% other) recruited from first-grade classrooms in Pittsburgh public schools. Multi-informant assessments were conducted regularly (semiannually then annually) from approximately ages 7.5 to 20 years. Latent factors were constructed by using parent-reported parental disengagement (ie, poor parental involvement, poor parent-son communication, poor parent-son relationship quality) collected from ages 7.5 to 10 years, youth-reported peer delinquency from ages 10.5 to 13 years, and teacher-reported externalizing problems from ages 10.5 to 13 years. The outcome was youth-reported gun carrying from ages 14 to 20 years. RESULTS: Twenty percent of individuals sampled reported carrying a gun during adolescence. Childhood parental disengagement was significantly associated with adolescent gun carrying (β = .22; 95% confidence interval: 0.08 to 0.36). Furthermore, the association between parental disengagement and gun carrying was partially mediated through peer delinquency and externalizing problems during early adolescence. The 2 indirect paths accounted for ∼29% of the total effect of parental disengagement. CONCLUSIONS: Boys exposed to poorer parental engagement during childhood are more likely to affiliate with delinquent peers and exhibit externalizing problems during early adolescence, which (in turn) increases their risk of carrying a firearm in later adolescence. This suggests that gun violence prevention efforts with children should work to enhance aspects of parental engagement.


The reserves of the petroleum‐based fuels are directly correlated with the increasing demand of human mankind for energy production. With the growing world popula‐ tions, industries, vehicles, and equipment, energy demand leads to the search for the substitute of petroleum fuels, which can cater for the need of people today. Considering the current global economic crisis, the interest in alternative fuels is extremely high. It is known that there is a limited amount of fossil‐based fuels as a sustainable energy source. The majority of the energy used today is obtained from the fossil fuels. Due to the continuing increase over the cost of fossil fuels, demands for clean energy have also been increasing. With this increasing demand for energy very soon the petroleum fuels will be depleted so researchers are focusing on to find the ways and means to generate cheap and abundant renewable and clean energy sources. Moving ahead with these plans, hydrogen‐enriched compressed natural gas (HCNG) engines have emerged as a future energy carrier for an internal combustion engine. Several countries are striving hard to bring down the pollution level by promoting hydrogen‐enriched compressed natural gas‐fueled vehicles in general by powering heavy vehicles like transportation buses as well as passenger cars. In general, under certain conditions, the indicated thermal efficiency of the HCNG engine is much better than CNG engines without compromising the high level of pollutant emissions. Even so, the hydrogen addition to CNG increases the NOx emission, due to high heat generated inside combustion chamber. This can be minimized by application of lean‐burn combustion or with three‐ way catalyst.


Adrenal deficiencies are often associated with problems related to its development, which is not fully understood. To better understand adrenocortical development, we studied zebrafish because of the ease of embryo manipulation. The adrenocortical equivalent in zebrafish is called the interrenal, because it is embedded in the kidney. We find that interrenal development parallels that of the embryonic kidney (pronephros). Primordial interrenal cells first appear as bilateral intermediate mesoderm expressing ff1b in a region ventral to the third somite. These cells then migrate toward the axial midline and fuse together. The pronephric primordia are wt1-expressing cells located next to the interrenal. They also migrate to the axial midline and fuse to become glomeruli at later developmental stages. Our gene knockdown experiments indicate that wt1 is required for its initial restricted expression in pronephric primordia, pronephric cell migration, and fusion. wt1 also appears to be involved in interrenal development and ff1b expression. Similarly, ff1b is required for interrenal differentiation and activation of the differentiated gene, cyp11a1. Our results show that the zebrafish interrenal and pronephros are situated close together and go through parallel developmental processes but are governed by different signaling events.


An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale hit Haiti on January 10th, 2010. The earthquake, an urgent crisis, occurred in the context of persistent social dysfunctions, amplifying both the chronic poor living conditions and adversities for children and families. The purpose of the study was to enquire into the possible ways children in Haiti are socialized by the religiousness and other coping ways of their mothers and caretakers in the childhood contexts of societal and continuous trauma. Participants were Haitian mothers (N = 27) who participated in three focus groups that were conducted in their location of residence: Canaan-Damien (n=10), the Providence Orphanage (n=8), and Blanchard (n=9). Participants were also the children of these mothers (N=42). Religious and non-religious qualitative themes emerged from the focus group discussions. For example, some of the themes were: You talk to God to help you; God will not leave you; Parenting Factors, and Shame and Embarrassment. The themes and their frequencies formed five thematic clusters: (a) Positive Religious Cluster, (b) Negative Religious Cluster, (c) Positive Secular Cluster, (d) Negative Secular Cluster, and (e) Shame and Embarrassment Cluster. The correlations among the thematic clusters, as well as their relationships with the Resilience and Vulnerability scores of the children were studied. The Resilience and Vulnerability scores were derived from ratings of the children's House-Tree-Person (HTP) drawings reported in a previous study (Roysircar, Colvin, Afolayan, Thompson, & Robertson, 2017). Data-based similarities and differences between and among thematic clusters, as well as in the thematic clusters by the children's different locations, were investigated. There was a significant negative relationship between the Positive Religious Cluster and HTP Vulnerability. There was a significant positive relationship between the Shame and Embarrassment Cluster and HTP Resilience. All locations had a significantly higher incidence of MOTHERS' RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE IN HAITI 2 the Positive Secular Cluster than the Positive Religious Cluster. There was a nonsignificant effect of location on the Positive Religious Cluster. However, some themes differed by location. The study's results, limitations, and implications for future research are discussed.


What is the fate of middle powers during the transition of great powers in the international system? In particular, what happens to middle powers that are tethered to a declining unipolar power? Virtually every close ally of the United States is asking this question today against the backdrop of a rising China. The question is particularly acute for the middle powers of Asia that are aligned with the US - especially South Korea but also the Philippines, Taiwan, and Australia.The reconfiguration of the economic and political environment resulting from the rise of China is less acute for Canada, whose external environment will continue to be shaped far more by the geographically contiguous United States than by distant China. Nonetheless, the new global context that is being created by China's rise has uncertain implications for Canada-US relations. China's rise will affect Canada-US relations and the way that Ottawa and Washington respond to China's rise will affect their foreign policies towards one another.I will make the empirical claim that Canada is more likely to reassert its traditional close ties with the US in a period of growing tensions with China than to bandwagon with China. Canada has neither the structural nor normative incentives to bandwagon with China. This is especially the case because a rising China will reduce Canada's international influence far more than that of the US, adding to the need for Canada to leverage its relationship with the US.The paradox that emerges, then, is that a successful integration of China into world order will likely weaken Canada-US ties by highlighting growing divergences within liberal internationalism. But this is true only in a narrow, technocratic sense. In a larger sense, such an outcome would reinforce the shared liberal commitments of both nations, commitments that ultimately underlie their strong bilateral relationship.CHINA'S RISE AND LIBERAL NORMSChina's rise can be measured using both traditional "hard power" (material capabilities) as well as "soft power" (human and social capabilities) data. China's share of global economic output (13 percent in 2010 using the International Monetary Fund's purchasing-power equivalent-based estimates) has closed in quickly on that of the United States (20 percent in 2010), while its military spending (US$98.8 billion in 2009 using midrange estimates), while only 15 percent of the US level, exceeds the combined spending of Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. The "correlates of war composite index" of national material capabilities, which uses economic, military, and population data, gives China a 20-percent share of international power in 2007, compared to 14 percent for the US (in part because of its somewhat archaic emphasis on steel production). RAND gave China a 14 percent share versus 20 percent for the US in 2005, but predicted that China would close that gap by around 2015.1 An Australian measure concurs that China's power will surpass that of the US by 2015.2China's soft-power capabilities lag far behind its hard-power capabilities, although this is normal for rising powers. Kim calculates that China's "structural network" power ranked only 24th in the world in 2000 (the US was first and Canada an impressive fifth) behind even South Africa and Poland.3 However, a common finding is that China's soft-power capabilities are improving rapidly. For instance, The Economist's index of innovation for 2009 ranked China 54th out of 82 countries, but forecast it would climb to 46th position by 2014, the fastest riser among nations. The shifting allegiance of middle powers like Canada may be one of the best indicators of a power transition in the international system.Moreover, China is today widely perceived to be a rising power. Among the 22 countries other than China and the US in the 2008 Pew global attitudes survey, the mean country score of decided respondents who believed that China had already or would eventually replace the US as the world's leading superpower was 51 percent (versus 49 percent who believed it would not). …


This paper examines boundary-spanning knowledge-coordination in the definition of information systems by the e-Commerce systems group for a global service consultancy. We report on the findings of an eighteen-month field study to investigate distributed and virtual knowledge coordination across organizational boundaries. Our study reveals multiple ways in which knowledge is coordinated by means of a web of functional and domain-expert roles, distributed knowledge-resources, and imposed or negotiated procedures. We identify a "problemcoordination distance" that relates to the organizational-span of coordination and the type of problems to be resolved. We observe that different forms of group memory are used to manage boundary-spanning collaboration according to three degrees of problem-coordination-distance. These findings are related to the potential use of knowledge management systems to support boundary-spanning coordination for enterprise managers in virtual organizations.


Ferns are seedless vascular plants which differ from gymnosperms and flowering plants as they do not have either seeds or flowers but reproduce via spores. They have many features similar to mosses and algae but are usually differentiated from these simpler plants as they have xylem and phloem for the conduction of water and food materials. They are most commonly found in moist, shady forest,
crevices in rock faces, and also grow in arctic and alpine tundra, saline mangrove swamps, semiarid deserts and on coastal rocks. The greatest number of fern species can be found in the tropics of both hemispheres. It was estimated that about 10500-11300 of the fern species have been described and 1165 species were recorded in the tropical rain forest of Malaysia. This lecture discusses the
morphological diversity, anatomy and cytology of Malaysian rain forest ferns. Selected research works on morphology, anatomy and cytology of these ferns are reviewed. The economic importance of ferns as food, medicine, fibre, craft, fuel and building materials is also discussed. In addition, a number of comprehensive studies on the chemistry and biological activities in ferns are also reviewed. Apart from exploitation of fern taxa for their significant scientific documentation and economic value, the awareness on their conservation status is also emphasized.


CARAIB (Dury et al. , 2011) is a state-of-the-art dynamic vegetation model with various modules dealing with (i) soil hydrology, (ii) photosynthesis/stomatal regulation, (iii) carbon allocation and biomass growth, (iv) litter/soil carbon dynamics, (v) vegetation cover dynamics, (vi) seed dispersal, and (vii) vegetation fires. Climate and atmospheric CO 2 are the primary inputs. The model calculates all major water and CO 2 /carbon fluxes and pools. It can be run with plant functional types or species (up to 100 different species) at various spatial scales, from the municipality to country or continental levels. Within the VOTES project (Fontaine et al. , 2013), the model has been improved to include crops and meadows, and some modules have been written to translate model outputs into quantitative indicators of ecosystem services (e.g., evaluate crop yield from net primary productivity or calculate soil erosion from runoff, slope, grown species and various soil attributes). The model was run over an area covering four municipalities in central Belgium, where land-use is dominated by crops, meadows, housing and some forests and was introduced in the model at the land parcel level. Simulations were also performed for the future. In these simulations, CARAIB was combined with the Aporia Agent-Based Model,  to project land-use changes up to 2050. This approach is currently extended within the MASC project (funded by Belgian Science Policy, BELSPO) to the whole Belgian territory (at 1 km 2 ) and to Western Europe (at 20  km x 20 km).


The authors propose a novel region-based method to recognise human actions. Other region-based approaches work on silhouette of the human body, which is termed as the positive space according to art theory. In contrast, the authors investigate and analyse regions surrounding the human body, termed as the negative space for human action recognition. This concept takes advantage of the naturally formed negative regions that come with simple shape, simplifying the job for action classification. Negative space is less sensitive to segmentation errors, overcoming some limitations of silhouette-based methods such as leaks or holes in the silhouette caused by background segmentation. Inexpensive semantic-level description can be generated from the negative space that supports fast and accurate action recognition. The proposed system has obtained 100% accuracy on the Weizmann human action dataset and the robust sequence dataset. On KTH dataset the system achieved 94.67% accuracy. Furthermore, 95% accuracy can be achieved even when half of the negative space regions are ignored. This makes our work robust with respect to segmentation errors and distinctive from other approaches.


This paper focuses on the youth's decisions on household formation and human capital investment - in further education or work experience - and the factors influencing these choices. While previous studies limited their analyses to decisions concerning the living arrangements and the labour market, the choice set is extended here to take into account other alternatives. The decisions of either remaining in the parental household or going to live with a partner are modelled jointly with those of either entering the labour market (i.e. investing in work experience) or investing in higher (university) education. Using the Bank of Italy 1995 Sample Survey on Italian Households, a multinomial probit model estimates the probabilities of the different pairs of outcomes. The results highlight the crucial role of economic variables in shaping young adults' decisions. Among these, expected lifetime earnings from attending university have the most important impact on the choice of studying and coresiding. Implications for policy stem from the estimated impact of housing and labour market performance variables on young adults' decisions. In particular, a sizeable discouraged worker effect, inducing young people to study when the local unemployment rate is high, is detected. The effect of the cost of housing in delaying young workers' decisions to leave the parental home and form a new household is also remarkable. Two policy experiments are presented. The former measures the impact of housing policies targeted at reducing housing cost on the probability of marriage. The latter measures the extent to which labour policies targeted at reducing youth unemployment would decrease the number of discouraged workers that choose to study.


Background: Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is a major cause of irreversible visual loss in the elderly and a significant threat to their quality of life. Although low vision services often improve the functional outcomes of individuals with macular disease, it remains unclear whether or not they have any impact on quality of life. The principal aim of this study was to determine the effect of a hospital-based low vision clinic on the quality of life of individuals with ARMD. Methods: Forty patients with ARMD attended the low vision clinic at Milton Keynes University Hospital. Quality of life was measured with the vision-specific Low Vision Quality of Life (LVQOL) questionnaire and the general health EuroQol (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire. Measures were completed at baseline (time zero, T0), and at three- (T3) and six-month (T6) follow-up visits. Results: The near visual acuity of individuals attending the low vision clinic for the first time improved significantly between visits T0 and T3 (p=0.005), reflecting the practiced use of their newly-dispensed low vision aids. As expected, there was no significant change in near acuity over this time period for existing patients. For both new and existing patients, a significant increase in LVQOL score was evident between visits T0 and T3, with a further significant improvement between T3 and T6. Similarly, there was a significant decrease in EQ-5D-5L questionnaire scores between visits T0 and T6. Conclusions: The higher LVQOL scores obtained at the end of the study period (T6) provide evidence that low vision services at Milton Keynes University Hospital served to improve patient quality of life. The reduction in EQ-5D-5L scores over the same time period suggests that low vision services also provide for an improvement in general health-related quality of life. Impact: The findings support the cause of low vision services to improve not only the vision and functional outcomes of individuals with macular disease but also their quality of life. Moreover, the findings suggest that a more efficient allocation of resources at low vision clinics may be possible through the standardisation of patient follow-up frequency.


This ten day show in the Beaney Front Room gallery presents material from our recent radio art workshops and interventions, It showcases our Radio Arts Commissions exploring the theme of 'Dreamlands' with Gregory Whitehead, Noise Choir and Joaquim Cofreces new works broadcast for the first time in the gallery pior to their bening aired by community and radio art stations worldwide. The showcase also features 'Radio Recall', a radio installation by Magz Hall with Jim Backhouse drawing on peoples' memories of radio with award-winning digital artists Genetic Moo visualising radio across the space with a new interactive work.

The Radio Arts showcase offered the first public airing of the first Dreamlands radio art commissions. An open call for works responding to the theme of Radio 'Dreamlands' has produced a series of outstanding new radio works from international artists Gregory Whitehead, Joaquim Cofreces and Michael McHugh and Noizechoir with new work to come from UK radio artist Esther Johnson.

Gregory Whitehead (USA)'s CRAZY HORSE ONE-EIGHT (a radio cantata in memory of those killed) is a provocative and chilling new work explicitly addressing the use of language and the weaponization of radiophonic space in the perpetration of US war crimes, as evidenced in Bradley (Chelsea) Manning's leaked 'collateral murder' video.

Joaquim Cofreces (Argentina) Dreamland was a captivating radiophonic work which explores the fragile line between the real and the illusion, representing acoustically the elusive Edgar Allen Poe poem, through a shifting soundscape, narrated by the voices of women reading the work across the globe.

Michael McHugh and Noizechoir's The Dream of the Dream Scientist used biomedical data examining brain patterns during sleep, re-interpreted vocally through graphical scores. This eerie sound portrait of the sleep centre and the scientists working therein consists of building choral pieces performed and recorded by the Noizechoir with an explanation of the process and the science that underpins it. Radio Recall (2013) Magz Hall, is one of eight speculative 'trace stations': fictional radio stations that comprise from her 'Switch Off' project that imagines the sounds and novel uses to which the FM spectrum will be put following the proposed 'analogue switch off' of terrestrial FM broadcasting. It features local peoples radio memories recorded at the Old Lookout Gallery in Broadstairs last summer heard via a growing collection of vintage radio receivers, many donated offers are still welcome. Jim Backhouse composed a series of Incidentals in response to the interviews sourced from SW, LW and MW transmissions picked up from my collection and ones we built.

All the radio art works were broadcast in the space over 50 radios. We had some fantastic feedback people particularly loved the vintage radios comments such as " Interesting ideas the sounds feel like the last groans of old technology fading away " and " excited by the every growing army of radios multiples have the power to take over the world." made it all worthwhile. People also were excited by the tone of the older radios which clearly contrasted with the new FM radios each old radio unlocked memories which visitors were keen to share, there was a real buzz in the air.

The audio showcase was accompanied by interactive visual art from digital artists Genetic Moo. Many children were drawn to this work as it was responsive to the surrounding sounds through an interactive visual wall called Aeroplankton (2014). Microscopic airborne protozoa called Radiolaria Aeoliae, display intricate mineral skeletons which act as receivers of extremely shortwave radio signals and children loved watching them and joining in.

The Dreamlands commissions are to be broadcast more traditionally this year on Basic FM, Radio Reverb, Sound Art Radio and Resonance FM in the UK, Radio Papesse in Italy and Wave Farm in the USA. Please read on to hear about the artists and more about the works


Polychronous groups are unique temporal patterns of neural activity that exist implicitly within non-linear, recurrently connected networks. Through Hebbian based learning these groups can be strengthened to give rise to larger chains of spatiotemporal activity. Compared to other structures such as Synfire chains, they have demonstrated the potential of a much larger capacity for memory or computation within spiking neural networks. Polychronous groups are believed to relate to the input signals under which they emerge. Here we investigate the quantity of groups that emerge from increasing numbers of repeating input patterns, whilst also comparing the differences between two plasticity rules and two network connectivities. We find - perhaps counter-intuitively - that fewer groups are formed as the number of repeating input patterns increases. Furthermore, we find that a tri-phasic learning rule gives rise to fewer groups than the `classical' double decaying exponential STDP plasticity window. It is also found that a scale-free network structure produces a similar quantity, but generally smaller groups than a randomly connected Erdös-Rényi structure.


The axis "Integrated Design Architecture and Sustainability" (IDEAS) is a joint initiative of both the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Performance-Integrated Design (LIPID) and Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) of the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC) at EPFL. It aims to address an increased integration of the various issues related to sustainable architecture within the framework of the Doctoral program Architecture & Science of the city (EDAR) as well as a desire to strengthen exchanges and synergies between the three institutes of ENAC. Towards this end, it lies on one hand on a new interdisciplinary education offer in the form of seminlasars and workshops, and on the other hand on a networking structure for EPFL PhD students.


Abstract The European Commission asked EFSA for a Scientific Opinion: to revise the state of knowledge about the differences between the chronic wasting disease (CWD) strains found in North America (NA) and Europe and within Europe; to review new scientific evidence on the zoonotic potential of CWD and to provide recommendations to address the potential risks and to identify risk factors for the spread of CWD in the European Union. Full characterisation of European isolates is being pursued, whereas most NA CWD isolates have not been characterised in this way. The differing surveillance programmes in these continents result in biases in the types of cases that can be detected. Preliminary data support the contention that the CWD strains identified in Europe and NA are different and suggest the presence of strain diversity in European cervids. Current data do not allow any conclusion on the implications of strain diversity on transmissibility, pathogenesis or prevalence. Available data do not allow any conclusion on the zoonotic potential of NA or European CWD isolates. The risk of CWD to humans through consumption of meat cannot be directly assessed. At individual level, consumers of meat, meat products and offal derived from CWD‐infected cervids will be exposed to the CWD agent(s). Measures to reduce human dietary exposure could be applied, but exclusion from the food chain of whole carcasses of infected animals would be required to eliminate exposure. Based on NA experiences, all the risk factors identified for the spread of CWD may be associated with animals accumulating infectivity in both the peripheral tissues and the central nervous system. A subset of risk factors is relevant for infected animals without involvement of peripheral tissues. All the risk factors should be taken into account due to the potential co‐localisation of animals presenting with different disease phenotypes.


This dissertation consists of four essays on the macroeconomics of financial markets. Chapter 1 presents a theoretical framework to study the rise of securitization and secondary markets for financial assets. I show that the interplay of banks and the non-bank financial intermediary sector can lead to credit booms that end in financial crises, much like the financial boom and bust observed in the U.S. from 1990 to 2008. In line with empirical evidence, I show that low risk-free interest rates driven by expansionary monetary policy or a large inflow of savings can trigger such booms. I end by proposing regulatory tools to manage the credit cycle. Chapter 2, co-authored with Harold L. Cole and Guillermo Ordonez, is a theoretical study of international sovereign default crises. We propose a framework in which risk-averse investors can spend resources to learn about the default probabilities of sovereign countries. Sovereign bond price volatility increases when some investors acquire information because prices now more closely reflect default probabilities. This force induces other investors to learn, further increasing volatility and raising the specter of a crisis. When investors are exposed to the default risk of multiple countries, these crises events spill over across borders. Chapters 3 and 4, co-authored with Farzad Saidi, analyze the impact of universal banking on the performance of bank-dependent firms. Our basic argument, laid out in Chapter 3, is that universal banks, who are able to concurrently offer both loans and underwriting products, are better informed about their borrower firms, and thus can more efficiently provide external funds to these borrowers. We show empirically that the advent of universal banking after the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act led to an increase in both the volatility and productivity of borrower firms, suggesting that more informed lenders allow firms to invest in productive ventures further along the risk-return frontier than was previously possible. In light of recent proposals to limit the scope of banking and re-establish the Glass-Steagall Act, our evidence suggests that there may be firm-level efficiency gains from concurrent lending and underwriting of corporate securities that should be balanced against the risks associated with banks becoming too big to fail and other concerns of macroeconomic fragility. In Chapter 4, we trace out the importance of universal banking for the structure of loan syndicates, one of the dominant sources of corporate borrowing. Loan syndicates typically assign one member to be the prime monitor of the borrower firm, with the other members taking a passive role. We show that universal banks are more likely to be chosen as lead arrangers, but take smaller lead arranger shares conditional on doing so. This result is driven only by the superior monitoring ability of universal banks and does not lead to worse firm-level outcomes. Our findings contrast with the previous literature that argued that falling lead arranger shares prior to 2008 were indicative of weak bank monitoring, and provides a deeper view of intermediary-firm interactions in the modern financial system. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1913 Graduate Group Economics First Advisor Harold L. Cole


This study has researched the dynamics of upward communication within organisations through the rubric of ingratiation theory (Jones, 1964) and impression management (Goffman, 1955). Upward communication was explored via in-depth case studies, in a hundred and five semi-structured interviews across four organisations in Scotland. A qualitative, interpretive methodology was used. The interviews probed how upward communication was transmitted and investigated how ingratiation theory and impression management dynamics could impact on it by exploring the story telling (Gabriel, 200) and sense making approaches (Weick, 1995) employed by interviewees. The data was then tabulated on Excel sheets, using the Framework Analysis (Swallow et al., 2002), thus establishing an easily referenced, perfectly structured database. Finally, the data was sifted, perused, distilled and analysed interpretively. It was found that upward communication was shaped by processes such as downsizing, management and leadership styles, the power dynamics of the organisation, issues of publicness, and the perceived physical and psychological distance of the superior from the subordinate. Finally, the components of opinion conformity (a factor common to ingratiation theory and impression management), employee silence (Morrison and Milliken, 2000, Milliken, 2003), and cynicism (Fleming and Spicer, 2002; Naus, 2004, 2007) were identified as the most significant syndromes that impacted on the levels of upward communication within the four organisations. Hence, a Conformity/Silence/Cynicism model of upward communication (the CSC model) was devised as a means of illustrating the significance of the most important stimuli of upward communication that the study revealed. The issues raised in this study are fundamental to the theory and practice of management. Openness in the search for solutions to organisational problems is central to organisational learning. The creation of an organisational environment in which this is possible is therefore vital. This is the dominant context of this research.


The early detection of surface defects on raw sheet metal parts is a critical problem in the automotive industry. Typical defects like dents, bumps and waviness are invisible at the early production stages because of the parts' rough surfaces. The defects become visible and disturbing only after the later production steps, in which the parts get painted and varnished, meaning that they become specular reflecting. The later the defect gets detected, the more the correction will cost. Currently, the raw sheet metal parts are only randomly tested by special, trained experts, which means subjective and qualitative results. To overcome this problem, we propose a method that can be used on-line on each part directly at the production line. The system employs a one-shot deflectometry method in the infrared range. At sufficiently long wavelengths, the sheet metal's surface becomes specular reflecting, thus enabling the use of the deflectometry method. For this method, a device capable of displaying a reference pattern at the infrared wavelengths was developed. This single infrared reference pattern is reflected from the surface of the raw sheet metal object and the reflected image is captured by a thermo-camera. The distortion of the reflected pattern due to the surface's geometry and defects is analyzed by the Fourier-transform method. Due to the single exposure method, vibrations during the measurement are not disturbing and the alignment problem, that is characteristic for multi-exposure methods, is nonexistent in this case.


This short book chapter analyses the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Gamble v. United States (2019), which decided not to overrule "170 years of precedent" allowing the "same sovereigns" to both prosecute an individual for the same crime. Here, the feds prosecuted Gamble as a "felon-in-possession" after Gamble had pled guilty to that same offense under State law. He received an additional three years in prison for the federal conviction, consecutive to a year in Alabama. Justice Alito wrote for 7 Justices that the "separate sovereigns" exception to the Double Jeopardy Clause is backed by reasonable policy as well as precedents dating back to at least 1852. Interestingly, Justices Ginsburg and Gorsuch, ideological opposites to some extent, both dissented, and wrote that "individual liberty" should prevail over "stare decisis." Doctrinal thoughts on three issues are offered at the end.


As a previous British colony, India had inherited its intellectual property regime from the United Kingdom. However, after independence in 1947, product patents were removed from protection under the patent laws. During the 1990s, India needed to adapt its patent legislation to be TRIPS compliant. Therefore, in 1999 India allowed for transitional filing of product patents with retrospective effect from 1995, and full product patent protection was re-introduced from 2005, when transitional regulations ended.


Introduction Remaining physically active is important to patients undertaking dialysis, however, clinical recommendations regarding exercise type, timing, intensity, and safety precautions vary. The purpose of this scoping review was to analyse and summarise recommendations for physical activity and exercise for people undertaking dialysis and identify areas that require further research or clarification. Materials and methods A scoping review of literature from five bibliographic databases (Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and SPORTDiscus) was conducted. Eligible articles included consensus guidelines, position statements, reviews, or clinical practice guidelines that included specific physical activity and exercise recommendations for people undertaking dialysis. Key search terms included "kidney disease" OR "kidney failure" OR "chronic kidney disease" OR "end stage kidney disease" AND guideline* OR consensus OR "position statement" OR prescription OR statement AND exercise OR "physical activity". Hand searching for relevant articles in all first twenty quartile 1 journals listed on SCImago under 'medicine—nephrology' and 'physical therapy, sports therapy and rehabilitation' using the terms 'exercise and dialysis' was undertaken. Finally, home pages of key societies and professional organisations in the field of sports medicine and nephrology were searched. Results The systematic search strategy identified 19 articles met the inclusion criteria. Two were specific to pediatric dialysis and three to peritoneal dialysis. Whilst many publications provided recommendations on aerobic exercise, progressive resistance training and flexibility, few provided explicit guidance. Recommendations for the intensity, duration and frequency of aerobic and resistance training varied. Discrepancies or gaps in guidance about precautions, contraindications, termination criteria, progression, and access site precautions were also apparent. Conclusion Future guidelines should include specific guidance regarding physical activity, safety precautions, and timing and intensity of exercise for individuals who undertake dialysis. Collaborative multidisciplinary guideline development and appropriate exercise counselling may lead to increased participation in physical activity and exercise and facilitate better patient outcomes.


The complexity of plate interactions and associated crustal deformation in the Eastern Mediterranean region is reflected by the numerous destructive earthquakes that have occurred throughout its history. Many of these have been well documented and studied. In addition, the Aegean region provides examples of core-complex formation, synchronous basin evolution and subsequent graben formation and continental extensional deformation following orogenic contraction. It is therefore considered to be a perfect natural laboratory for the study of these mechanisms. The region has been the subject of intensive research for several decades. This book contains current results and ideas regarding the geodynamics of the Aegean and Anatolia. It will be essential reading for all geoscientists with an interest in the structural evolution of the Eastern Mediterranean.


The relationship between media and religion seems to be a well established research topic today. Themes like identity formation and community with regard to digital religion are well researched, but religious authority is pointed out as an area that needs more detailed investigation. Although the topic of authority has been of interest to scholars and practitioners, religious authority received less attention and systematic analysis. Therefore, this article considers the interplay between media and religion by highlighting the possible implications for religious authority when religion is mediated specifically through technology. To illustrate the possible implications for religious authority in a context where religion is mediated through technology, this article will identify certain shifts that took place with regard to religion. In the light of the identified changes with regard to religion, the article will attempt to specifically explore and identify the possible implications for religious authority. At least two theoretical perspectives used to investigate and understand the relationship between technology and theology will be mentioned, namely the instrumentalist and the cultural approach. The mediatisation theory will be discussed as a theory that fits within the cultural approach to media and religion. Furthermore, the mediatisation theory will serve as a theoretical lens to provide insight into how the changes and shifts discussed are changing religion and religious authority. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article draws on literature from cultural, media and religious studies and intends to stimulate and challenge theological reflection on the theme of mediatisation of religion and the implications for religious authority. Furthermore the article contributes to interdisciplinary research within theology. Keywords: Religion; mediation; religious authority; media


Here, we report the transmutation of K-Ca under the negative hydrogen condition (NaBH4, LiBH4 and NH3BH3) at room temperature. In all reaction systems, the amount of K+ and Ca2+ concentrations were monitored by inductive coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) techniques. The ICP-OES test results showed that K+ concentration was gradually decreasing, while the Ca2+ concentration was gradually increasing. In addition, by comparing the K and Ca concentrations and their isotopes from the ICP-MS results, we found the increase of 40Ca concentration accompanied by the increasing concentration of 41K in the presence of hydride under our 'reaction' conditions, which implying 40Ca formation correlated to 41K.


A completely automated temperature-programmed reaction (TPR) system for carrying out gas–solid catalytic reactions under atmospheric flow conditions is fabricated to study CO and hydrocarbon oxidation, and NO reduction. The system consists of an all-stainless steel UHV system, quadrupole mass spectrometer SX200 (VG Scientific), a tubular furnace and micro-reactor, a temperature controller, a versatile gas handling system, and a data acquisition and analysis system. The performance of the system has been tested under standard experimental conditions for CO oxidation over well-characterized Ce1–x–yPtx(La/Y)yO2–δ catalysts. Testing of 3-way catalysis with CO, NO and C2H2 to convert to CO2, N2 and H2O is done with this catalyst which shows complete removal of pollutants below 325°C. Fixed oxide-ion defects in Pt substituted Ce1–y(La/Y)yO2–y/2 show higher catalytic activity than Pt ion-substituted CeO2.