I. INTRODUCTION While on the campaign trail in the fall of 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy addressed students at the University of Michigan, proposing a novel idea: How many of you who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and spend your lives traveling around the world? On your willingness to do that, not merely to serve one year or two years in the service, but on your willingness to contribute part of your life to this country, I think will depend the answer whether a free society can compete. I think it can! And I think Americans are willing to contribute. But the effort must be far greater than we have ever made in the past. (1) With this call to action, Kennedy launched the Peace Corps, (2) a federal program that continues to place thousands of Americans in service-work opportunities abroad. (3) While Kennedy evoked higher principles to draw young Americans on college campuses to action, young Americans on the same college campuses--and elsewhere--were publicly raging against a public duty: the military draft. (4) As the war in Vietnam ramped up, and more and more young American males were conscripted into the armed services, people asked more and more questions about the legitimacy--both constitutionally and practically--of requiring military service. While many proposed eliminating the draft completely, others proposed a broader and more creative solution: expanding service to create an obligation for all Americans. (5) While the scope of such proposals varied, the intentions were the same. None of these suggestions gained much traction, however, and calls for an expanded national service program faded, especially as increased hostilities in Vietnam distracted America's leaders. (6) In the late-1980s and early-1990s, the efforts of both Presidents George H. W. Bush (7) and Bill Clinton (8) led to the creation of AmeriCorps, a federal organization with goals similar to those of the Peace Corps, focused on domestic service. (9) AmeriCorps, and the many organizations under its umbrella, (10) have spiked in popularity, (11) attracting highly qualified young Americans and placing them in some of the most impoverished areas of the United States. (12) Despite the popularity of such programs, some scholars, mainstream media members, and politicians argue this is not enough, calling on the government to broadly expand the national service programs. (13) Many modest expansions of existing programs are met with little controversy. (14) However, a few have advocated for sweeping changes in the form of mandatory national service. (15) Merely mentioning mandatory national service can invoke calls of socialism and slavery, sparking pointed criticism regarding the merits and the constitutionality of such a program. (16) This Note will focus on the constitutionality of such a compulsory national service program in hypothetical form. While debate in the media has focused on the socio-economic and vocational benefits of a broad national service program, legal scholars have said little on the issue of whether such a program would even withstand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court. Although no court has addressed the issue, legal scholars in the 1980s briefly engaged in a dialogue regarding the validity of mandatory service. (17) This dialogue will serve as a good starting point, with a set of circuit opinions providing an additional analytical framework for what remains an open issue. This Note will argue that such a scheme, though unprecedented in scope and impact, would withstand constitutional scrutiny. Politicians, scholars, and--ultimately--voters must decide whether or not a program similar to that proposed by this paper should move beyond the hypothetical and become reality; such a normative argument, however, is beyond the scope of this Note. …


Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are an essential component in many areas of our daily life. They find application in diverse fields of private, commercial and scientific activities and are employed to meet the needs of police and military. Their fundamental importance for industrial countries is not the least the triggering point for the continuing modernisation of the existing and the development of new systems. The global satellite navigation systems are supplemented by regional satellite navigation systems (RNSS) and satellite based augmentation systems (SBAS). The diversity of systems, applied signal modulations and carrier frequencies, in particular in their combination, provide a broad range of opportunities along with new challenges.

The work presented herein focuses on the use of satellite navigation systems for precise positioning and timing applications and scientific analysis. For best and comprehensive results, an equivalent combination of all available systems and signals is a fundamental requirement. For these reasons, relative approaches based on observation differences are rather inappropriate. Hence, this thesis focuses primarily on the method of precise point positioning (PPP) by waiving linear combinations. The objective is the development of a universal PPP analysis approach for standalone PPP and network solutions. Raw observations conserve the physical properties of original observation. This allows a detailed analysis of individual signal characteristics, but leads to the necessity of handling them. The utilisation of raw observations comes along with maximum flexibility. It allows for the application of physical error models as well as individual weighting and edition of all individual observation types. The possibility of a joint processing of all observations and the estimation of all parameters in a single run results in a significant simplification of the processing procedure.

The first part of the thesis provides a general introduction to conventional GNSS analysis and highlights the limitations thereof. The second part introduces the technique of raw observations processing. It highlights the differences from the common ionosphere free processing approach and discusses the challenges. The concept presented for the analysis of GNSS raw observations is flexible and adjustable to any kind of GNSS application. This flexibility is attributed to a variety of different possible interpretations of the raw observation equation. In the frame of this thesis, a selection of different interpretations is introduced and demonstrated. One of the most important parameters for the analysis of raw observations is the so-called uncalibrated signal delays. The work presented exemplarily demonstrates their characteristics and discusses their implications for the analysis.

For maximum stability of the results, it is common practice to resolve and apply integer carrier phase ambiguities. The presented work discusses and demonstrates the feasibility of this methodology for the implemented approach. It shows that the new approach simplifies the resolution of inter-GNSS carrier phase ambiguities and extends the spectrum of resolvable ambiguities.

It is demonstrated that the proposed concept provides an "at least" equivalent alternative to the common processing strategies, applicable for highly precise standalone, as well as network PPP solutions, allowing for the simplified, consistent processing of different numbers of observation, suitable for an optimal, flexible, equivalent, joint processing of arbitrary GNSS observation types. It introduces a new dimension of analysis, with direct access to all individual observations and parameters.


Eighty-five patients with advanced squamous carcinoma or adenocarcinoma of the lung were randomly assigned to receive vindesine with either high dose (120 mg/m2 of body surface area) or low dose (60 mg/m2) cisplatin. All patients had measurable disease and had not previously received chemotherapy. The response rate was similar with both treatments (43% complete and partial remission rate), but the high dose cisplatin regimen was superior to the low dose in median duration of response (12 versus 5.5 months; p = 0.05) and in median survival for responding patients (21.7 versus 10 months; p = 0.02). Myelosuppression was generally not a treatment problem; peripheral neuropathy and moderate azotemia were the major dose-limiting toxicities. With improved survival and response rates over those reported for conventional regimens, this combination of new agents supports the approach of new drug investigation in patients with lung cancer and the importance of the incorporation of active new agents into initial chemotherapy regimens.


This study examines fuel switching in electricity production following the introduction of the European Union's Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for greenhouse gas emissions. A short-run restricted cost equation is estimated with carbon permits, high-carbon fuels, and low carbon fuels as variable inputs. Shadow values and substitution elasticities for carbon-free energy resources from nuclear, hydroelectric and renewable sources are imputed from the cost equation. The empirical analysis examines 12 European countries using monthly data on fuel use, prices, and electricity generation during the first phase of the European Emissions Trading System. Despite low emission permit prices, this study finds statistically significant substitution between fossil fuels and carbon free sources of energy for electric power production. Significant substitution between fossil fuels and nuclear energy also was found. Still, while 18 of the 20 substitution elasticities are statistically significant, they are all less than unity, consistent with limited substitution. Overall, these results suggest that prices for carbon emission permits relative to prices for carbon and carbon free sources of energy do matter but that electric power producers have limited operational flexibility in the short-run to satisfy greenhouse gas emission limits.


Abstract Objectives: It is unclear if there is value in measuring postoperative B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in patients risk-stratified using preoperative BNP. Design: Prospective observational study. Setting and subjects: Patients undergoing vascular surgery at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital, Durban. Data on intraoperative risk predictors, i.e. the nature of the surgery, number of transfused red blood cell units and the duration of surgery, were collected. Preoperative and postoperative BNP, electrocardiographic and troponin I monitoring were performed. Multivariable analysis was conducted to identify independent predictors of adverse cardiac events and then tested using reclassification statistics. Outcome measures: The composite of troponin elevation within the first three postoperative days and all-cause mortality within 30 days of surgery. Results: In 149 eligible patients, the study outcome occurred in 27 patients and was independently predicted by red blood cell (RBC) transfusion [odds ratio (OR) 1.8, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.08–3.08] and postoperative ischaemia (OR 7.1, 95% CI: 2.78–18.2). Postoperative BNP was not statistically significantly associated with the outcome (OR 2.1, 95% CI: 0.815.45, p-value = 0.13). In patients who were risk stratified using preoperative BNP, postoperative ischaemia appropriately improved risk classification overall (a net reclassification improvement of 82.5%, p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: RBC transfusion and postoperative ischaemia, but not postoperative BNP, were independent predictors of the composite outcome of all-cause mortality or postoperative troponin elevation. Postoperative ischaemia improved overall risk classification.


Catherine E. Dugan. School-Housed Community Libraries: A Case Study. 1999. Dr. Holly G. Willett, Program in School and Public Librarianship. What factors lead to the formation of a school-housed public library? The purpose of this case study was to investigate the issues involved in combining a school library and a public library into one facility designed to serve all members of the community. Such arrangements generate questions concerning planning, governance, staffing, finances, collection development, and evaluation. A combined school-housed library in Delanco, NJ was studied. Data was collected through literature, interviews, documents, observations, and site visitations. Dr. Shirley L. Aaron's A Study of Combined School-Public Libraries was used to design interview protocols. A site visitation checklist was also developed. Historical developments illustrated relevant patterns in the evolution of library service as well as those related to the community of Delanco. The data was then compared to findings of other studies presented in the literature. The study identified advantages and benefits along with problems and weaknesses associated with combining libraries. The research concluded that the public library and the school library are serving the members of the Delanco community better as a combined school-housed library.


Examples of recent investigations in several laboratories, where measurement of effects due to electron spin polarization provided new insight into surface phenomena, will be reviewed. The results to be discussed include the use of spin dependent electron scattering to determine the surface potential barrier, the magnetic critical behavior of a semi‐infinite solid, and the low temperature surface magnetization. Examples from spin‐polarized photoemission include studies of the nature of the resonant 6 eV satellite in Ni and of oxygen‐induced magnetism in a Cr(100) surface. The use of angle‐resolved spin‐polarized inverse photoelectron spectroscopy to obtain information on spin dependent band structure of unoccupied states will also be described. The rapid growth of measurements involving electron spin polarization, where previously only electron energy or momentum was measured, is explained by the development of new experimental techniques like the GaAs spin‐polarized electron source and advances in spin p...


Adolf Hitler and the Nazis looted thousands of works of art throughout World War II. After the war, many pieces were not returned to the rightful owners but instead remained in public and private collections throughout the United States and abroad. California enacted California Code of Civil Procedure Section 354.3 in response to difficulties encountered by plaintiffs seeking to recover these pieces. The statute created a forum in California courts for plaintiffs to bring claims as rightful owners of Holocaust-era artwork. The Ninth Circuit recently found that this statute was preempted by the federal government's exclusive power to conduct foreign affairs. This note argues that the Ninth Circuit was incorrect in its reasoning because it assumed that the statute addressed an issue related to the war, and therefore was preempted by the federal government's power to conduct foreign affairs. Instead, the Ninth Circuit should not have found the statute preempted because it does not actually deal with foreign affairs and therefore does not impede on the federal government's exclusive power to conduct foreign affairs. This note also discusses the negative implications of this holding as the ruling may have far broader implications than the court intended. Further, this holding could have significant separation of powers implications.


- Bronze Medal Winner of the Independent Publishers Award 2009 - Since 9/11, stories about Muslims and the Islamic world have flooded headlines, politics, and water-cooler conversations all across the country. And, although Americans hear about Islam on a daily basis, there remains no clear explanation of Islam or its people. The Muslim Next Door offers easy-to-understand yet academically sound answers to these questions while also dispelling commonly held misconceptions. Written from the point of view of an American Muslim, the book addresses what readers in the Western world are most curious about, beginning with the basics of Islam and how Muslims practice their religion before easing into more complicated issues like jihad, Islamic fundamentalism, and the status of women in Islam. Author Sumbul Ali-Karamali's vivid anecdotes about growing up Muslim and female in the West, along with her sensitive, scholarly overview of Islam, combine for a uniquely insightful look at the world's fastest growing religion.


This thesis attempts to develop our understanding of volcanic magma plumbing systems and the magmatic processes that operate within them, such as fractional crystallisation, crustal partial melting, assimilation, and magma mixing. I utilise petrology, rock and mineral geochemistry, and isotope systematics to seek to improve our ability to forecast the eruptive frequency and style of active volcanoes, an aspect often lacking in current volcano monitoring efforts. In particular, magma reservoir dynamics are investigated from a mineral scale at Katla volcano in Iceland, to a sub-mineral scale at Merapi, Kelud, and Toba volcanoes in Indonesia.The magma plumbing architecture of Katla volcano on Iceland is explored in the first part of this thesis. Crystalline components within tephra and volcanic rock preserve a record of the physical and chemical evolution of a magma, and are analysed through oxygen isotopic and thermobarometric techniques to temporally constrain changes in reservoir depth and decode the petrogenesis of the lavas. We find both prolonged upper crustal magma storage and shallow level assimilation to be occurring at Katla. The results generated from combining these analytical strands reveal the potential for unpredictable explosive volcanism at this lively Icelandic volcano.The second part of this thesis examines the magma plumbing systems of Merapi, Kelud and Toba volcanoes of the Sunda arc in Indonesia at higher temporal and petrological resolution than possible for Katla (e.g., due to the crystal poor character of the rocks). For this part of the thesis, minerals were analysed in-situ to take advantage of sub-crystal scale isotopic variations in order to investigate processes of shallow-level assimilation in the build-up to particular eruptions. We find that intra-crystal analyses reveal an otherwise hidden differentiation history at these volcanoes, and establish a better understanding as to how they may have rapidly achieved a critical explosive state.The outcomes of this thesis therefore deepen our knowledge of evolutionary trends in magma plumbing system dynamics, and highlight the importance of understanding the geochemical processes that can prime a volcano for eruption. Lastly, I emphasise the vital contribution petrology can make in current volcano monitoring efforts.


Stable-isotope-labeled precursors were used to establish the biosynthetic pathway leading from β-alanine towards isoxazolin-5-one glucoside 1 and its 3-nitropropanoate (3-NPA) ester 2 in Chrysomelina larvae. Both structural elements originate from sequestered plant-derived β-alanine or from propanoyl-CoA that is derived from the degradation of some essential amino acids, e.g. valine. β-Alanine is converted into 3-NPA and isoxazolinone 5 by consecutive oxidations of the amino group of β-Ala. Substituting the diphospho group of α-UDP-glucose with 5 generates the isoxazolin-5-one glucoside 1, which serves in the circulating hemolymph of the larva as a platform for esterification with 3-nitropropanoyl-CoA. The pathway was validated with larvae of Phaedon cochleariae, Chrysomela populi as well as Gastrophysa viridula.


In recent years there has been a significant increase in the flow of investment into emerging equity markets. The low return correlations between this class of stock market and developed equity markets has allowed global investors the opportunity to earn higher portfolio returns while at the same time reducing overall portfolio risk. The investment climate in emerging markets has improved vastly and many of these countries have experienced superior rates of economic and capital market growth and, increasingly, they are contributing to global trade and investment. Emerging capital markets are now recognised as a distinct investment class and have become an essential component of any global investment strategy. Until recently, African stock markets were not considered as mainstream investment opportunities. However, in recent times there have been widespread structural and economic improvements in many African countries and they have sought to attract foreign investment. These changes have resulted in impressive economic and capital market growth; African markets are now becoming recognised as a legitimate investment destination and capital flows to these countries are beginning to increase. This thesis attempts to shed light on the potential of these newly emerging African stock markets to offer UK investors the opportunity for international portfolio diversification. The analysis begins by conducting a Johansen cointegration analysis and Granger causality tests to examine the inter-relationships between African markets and the UK, in order to determine their time-varying potential for investment. The results of this analysis suggest that stock markets in Africa are weakly related to that of the UK and that opportunities for diversification could be significant. The second part of the thesis builds upon these results and investigates the magnitude of the risk-return gains available from investing in African stock markets. In so doing, the xi analysis seeks to examine, on an ex-post basis, whether a sample of African equity indices might have offered higher returns for relatively lower levels of risk as compared to a UK or World index only portfolio. The results of the analysis reveal that African markets can offer a UK investor risk-return gains that are significantly greater than those available from investing solely in the domestic market. This finding applied to all periods examined. The final section in this thesis examines the gains available in African stock markets on an ex-ante basis. In particular, various forecasting techniques are employed in order to assume the conditions under which investors operate. Creating portfolios based on historical data and comparing the results to the theoretical gains available, the study analyses the predictability of returns in African stock markets. The findings from this ex-ante analysis suggest that it may be difficult for UK investors to achieve the theoretical gains available from investing in African stock markets.


A structural product made of recycled plastics in standard sections similar to dimensional lumber is referred to as plastic lumber. The recycled plastics used in the manufacture of these members include high density polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate and polystyrene. Plastic lumber is a viscoelastic material possessing mechanical properties that are time and temperature dependent. This structural product is currently used primarily in non-load-bearing and low-end structural applications because of the non availability of engineering data and concerns about its creep behavior. Creep, which is the time dependent deformation under constant stress, is high for plastic lumber and is temperature sensitive. A good understanding of the creep behavior of plastic lumber is important in the design of structural members since this process is often controlled by serviceability rather than by its strength. This dissertation presents an in-depth study of the flexural creep at different stress and temperature levels for plastic lumber. Different methods for modeling the creep response of plastic lumber are presented. These methods include rheological models and mathematical functions based on statistical analysis. The goal of this study was to develop models for predicting the long term behavior of plastic lumber utilizing relatively short duration creep test results. These predictive models are useful in that they eliminate the need to conduct elaborate and expensive long-term creep tests at different temperature levels to establish long-term response of these members. This investigation shows that the long-term deformation of plastic lumber elements under constant load can be several times the initial elastic deformation. In addition to presenting models to predict the creep behavior of plastic lumber, xiv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. procedures for determining the strength, based on specified failure criterion, corresponding to different durations of sustained loading are also presented.


The rate of forest clearing by small farmers in the humid forest zone (HFZ) of Cameroon increased significantly in a period of economic crisis dating from 1986. A random sample survey of 648 households was conducted in 54 villages in the HFZ to understand the effect of the crisis and of a 1996 currency devaluation on the practices of small farmers, and the effect of these practices on forest cover change. Three hypotheses were tested: (1) the balance between export crop and food crop production; (2) the degree of market-orientation of food crop production; and (3) the gender division of labour. The key results are: (1) the area of cocoa production has stagnated while that of coffee, plantain and other food crops has tended to increase; (2) food crop production is now more market-oriented; and (3) more men are now far more involved in food crop production than in the past. The results corroborate other studies showing that increased deforestation in the HFZ is largely a product of these three factors and also of: increased rural population, partly resulting from urban-rural migration; decline of food imports and corresponding increase in food crop production; decreased government subsidies for agricultural inputs; and increased logging. The study concludes that: (1) macroeconomic instability can lead to unforeseen and grave consequences not only for the well-being of farmers but also for efforts to protect remaining tropical forests: and (2) crop diversification might be one way to help avert future income shocks to farmers and minimise forest clearing activity.


The internet technology has revolutionized the teaching and learning methods, and appropriate use of the technology is critical for University students. The unprecedented growth of information on internet necessitates the continual evaluation from time to time how students have embraced the technology. Thus, the research explored the pattern of internet usage by students of Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. The research approach adopted for the study was descriptive survey in which a questionnaire was used as the research instrument to collect data from 200 undergraduates selected by stratified random sampling from the four faculties in the university, with a valid response rate of 95%. Findings showed that nearly all respondents used Internet regularly; the main access point being from home/hostels (51.6%), while only 21.1% used the university library, and mobile phones (91.1%) was the main access device. The acquisition of internet use skills was mainly from University training (49%) and by trial and error (45.8%) and the majority of them used the Internet to complete class assignment (78.4%), entertainment(76.3%) and for communication(73.2%). The most used internet services and resources were the social media and search engines, online newspapers and e-books. The respondents that agreed that they filtered their information were 53.2%, while only 28.9% claimed to know how to use the Boolean logic operators. The respondents agreed that internet use has been of immense benefits to their academic pursuit even though, only 36% respondents were satisfied to some extent with the Internet service provided by the university. The major constraints faced in using the internet were slow internet speed, difficulty in finding relevant information and lack of skills of information retrieval methods. To optimize student's internet use, the authorities at FUOYE should pay more attention to providing enabling environment for the development of appropriate internet infrastructure and strengthen the students' information literacy capacity. The other institutions of learning in Nigeria and elsewhere that have similar situations highlighted in this study could also benefit from the findings to improve their internet provision.


Postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) reduces the risk of locoregional and distant recurrence and improves overall survival in women with lymph node-positive breast cancer. Because of stage migration and improvements in systemic therapy and other aspects of breast cancer care, the absolute benefit of PMRT and regional nodal irradiation may be small in some favorable subsets of patients with very low nodal burden, and newer consensus guidelines do not mandate PMRT in all node-positive cases. The use and need for PMRT may considerably complicate breast reconstruction after mastectomy and therefore mandates multidisciplinary input that takes into account patient choice given potential risk of acute and long-term toxicities, benefits, life expectancy, the biology of the tumor, plans for systemic therapy, and actual tumor burden. Management of axillary lymph node metastases is changing with selective use of axillary lymph node dissection for advanced disease, sentinel lymph node biopsy alone for clinically and pathologic node-negative cases receiving mastectomy, and targeted axillary dissection alone among patients with eradication of initial biopsy-proven nodal metastases with neoadjuvant systemic therapy use. In general, when the need for PMRT is anticipated, autologous reconstruction should be delayed. This comprehensive article reviews the current indications and implications regarding integration of breast cancer surgery and timing of reconstruction with optimum radiation delivery to achieve the best possible patient outcomes.


Before and during the vaccine roll out, governments reported surging COVID-19 cases due to unsafe socializing among younger individuals. Officials continue to search for effective ways to encourage safe socializing behaviour within this demographic. However, a key challenge is that public health advice is necessarily nuanced and complex, which can create ambiguity. Appropriate behaviour depends on specific circumstances and public messaging cannot detail every situation. When people confront ambiguity in expert guidance, they may engage in motivated reasoning—that is, people's underlying motivations may influence how they process information and make decisions. In a pre-registered experiment, we look at the effect of ambiguous public health messaging on people's inferences regarding the behaviours the government expects them to avoid and intentions to engage in unsafe socializing. We find no evidence of an effect on inferences—that is, people who receive an ambiguous message about COVID-19 make inferences about correct behaviour that are similar to the inferences of those who receive no message. However, we find ambiguous messaging increases unsafe socializing intentions, especially among people aged 18-39 who socialized before the pandemic. Our findings underscore the need for unambiguous communications during public health crises.


Remotely sensed radiation, attractive for its spatial and temporal coverage, offers a means of inferring energy deposition in fires (e.g. on soils, fuels and tree stems) but coordinated remote and in situ (in-flame) measurements are lacking. We relate remotely sensed measurements of fire radiative energy density (FRED) from nadir (overhead) radiometers on towers and the Wildfire Airborne Sensor Program (WASP) infrared camera on a piloted, fixed-wing aircraft to energy incident on in situ, horizontally oriented, wide-angle total flux sensors positioned ~0.5m above ground level. Measurements were obtained in non-forested herbaceous and shrub-dominated sites and in (forested) longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Miller) savanna. Using log–log scaling to reveal downward bias, incident energy was positively related to FRED from nadir radiometers (R2=0.47) and WASP (R2=0.50). As a demonstration of how this result could be used to describe ecological effects, we predict stem injury for turkey oak (Quercus laevis Walter), a common tree species at our study site, using incident energy inferred from remotely sensed FRED. On average, larger-diameter stems were expected to be killed in the forested than in the non-forested sites. Though the approach appears promising, challenges remain for remote and in situ measurement.


The pro-apoptotic TNF-family ligand TRAIL is currently one of the most promising novel anti-cancer agents. Although TRAIL has been intensively studied in the past decade, the signalling cascades which lead to and regulate TRAIL-induced apoptosis are still not completely elucidated. Furthermore, since in vivo treatment with TRAIL alone did not reveal very spectacular outcomes, particular importance is given to characterizing mechanisms that may amplify TRAIL-induced apoptosis.
The present study investigated the role of acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) and ceramideenriched membrane platforms for the apoptotic pathway triggered by TRAIL upon ligation of DR5 receptors. The major findings of the study are:
• ASM is activated by TRAIL and plays a crucial role in apoptosis induced by physiological doses of TRAIL.
• TRAIL activates the ASM via a direct or indirect redox mechanism.
• TRAIL-induced ASM activation leads to generation of ceramide-enriched membrane platforms on the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane.
• Ceramide-yenriched membrane platforms are essential for TRAIL-induced apoptosis.
• Ceramide-enriched membrane platforms serve to trap ligated DR5 receptors leading to a massive aggregation of the receptors (receptor clustering).
• Receptor clustering is essential for successful induction of apoptosis by TRAIL via amplification of the primary signal. Furthermore, the present study identifies a novel mechanism of amplification of TRAILinduced apoptosis via ceramide-enriched membrane platforms. Since ceramide platforms are able to amplify the killing potential of very low doses of TRAIL, this mechanism may prove of relevance for the in vivo treatment with TRAIL. The results demonstrate:
• Non-lethal doses of doxorubicin and TRAIL have a synergistic apoptotic effect.
• Non-lethal doses of doxorubicin are able to induce ceramide-enriched membrane platforms.
• Doxorubicin-induced ceramide platforms are generated via activation of the ASM.
• Doxorubicin-induced ceramide platforms trap and cluster the ligated DR5 receptors leading to successful induction of apoptosis.


Pediatric rheumatology includes autoinflammatory monogenic diseases, autoinflammatory multifactorial diseases with complex inheritance, and diseases with uncertain clinical diagnosis or undefined conditions, even though they show signs of autoinflammation. Most of these diseases are systemic; it is important to diagnose patients promptly and definitively and to select proper treatment options based on the diagnoses. Clinical observation and acute-phase responses are usually sufficient for diagnosis; however, genetic analyses can provide supportive data for definite diagnosis and treatment, especially for rare monogenic diseases. As for multifactorial autoinflammatory diseases, susceptibility genes, and factors involved in the etiopathogenesis have not been fully identified. It is possible to identify disease genes and novel diseases, and lead to new treatment options by gene mapping studies and high-throughput screening strategies for multifactorial diseases and conditions with uncertain clinical characteristics. In this review, we discuss the three groups of autoinflammatory diseases and role of genetics in their diagnosis.


Project management is omnipresent, yet the research on project management ethics is still lacking. Recent research stresses the importance of developing virtue ethics for project managers. This study contributes to this research by offering an empirical exploration as to whether virtue ethics is used by project managers and project management students, and whether the use of it is fundamentally maximalistic or minimalistic. The study shows that virtue ethics is used by respondents—particularly virtues of courage, fortitude, truthfulness, and moderation, and the avoidance of vices, such as weakness of will and cowardice. It also shows that virtue ethics is invoked both maximalistically and minimalistically.


Export controls are domestic trade restrictions placed on technologies that have been determined to be important to the national security concerns of a country. In recent years, the policy purpose for maintaining export control regulations have shifted, and how these new export control regulations would interact with new emerging technologies is something that should be analyzed and considered. The passage of the United States (US) Export Control Reform Act (ecra) of 2018 and the proposed regulatory changes for the European Union's (EU) Council Regulation (ec) No. 428/2009 have shifted the focus of dual-use export controls so that the national security goals of these controls have broadened to include economic security and human rights concerns. This paper argues that the infusion of geoeconomics into US national security considerations and the proposed expansion to include human rights considerations into EU export control regulations are made mutually exclusive of each other and were not made to expand the reach of export controls in a unifying way. Rather, the purpose and structural change to export control regulations serves to create more regulatory barriers on the trade of emerging technology industries that would not only impact the US and the EU, but also their international trading partners.


Key Words: agency, diversity, interpretive sociology, social structure. We are excited and encouraged by the enthusiasm that our work on ambivalence has generated. Considering the comments in confidential reviews and, now, the public responses that you have just read has been intellectually stimulating. We thank all of the reviewers for the time and effort that they spent reviewing and responding to our work, especially Sara Curran for her innovative and challenging feedback. Like our colleagues, we commend Alexis Walker for proposing this opportunity for open debate and exchange. The willingness to publish theoretical work and to foster discussion supports the goal of articles such as ours to move the understanding of family relations forward by building ideas. Clearly, we are not the first to suggest ambivalence as a useful concept in the study of family relations. However, ours is among very few attempts to develop ambivalence as a distinctly sociological concept connected to strong theoretical traditions in our discipline. Our response addresses four key issues. First, we hope to put to rest the notion that ambivalence can somehow be subsumed within the solidarity model. Then we discuss three interlocking issues related to our thinking about family relationships: assumptions about "science," the distinction between theory and ideology, and views about what constitutes the "stuff" of sociology. We use this approach to highlight fundamental differences (and sometimes, parallels) between our views of theory, society, and doing sociology and those of our commentators. This thematic approach also minimizes repetition and maintains our focus on major points. Before exploring these four issues, we make a summary comment or two about each of the responses. Vern Bengtson, Roseann Giarrusso, Beth Mabry, and Merril Silverstein have launched a defence of the solidarity model more than a critique of our conception of ambivalence. Nonetheless, their discussion indicates serious misunderstandings about ambivalence and a quite different perspective from ours about family relations, science, and theory. Kurt Luscher is in fundamental agreement with us about the value of ambivalence as a concept for studying intergenerational relations, but he takes exception to some of our interpretations of his work with Pillemer (Lubscher & Pillemer, 1998), espouses some assumptions about science and theory that we do not share, and presents his own typology on ambivalence. His closing outlook suggests the promise and growing relevance of ambivalence to studying ever more diverse family relations. Finally, Sara Curran provides a good example of how attempts to think in new ways, as we have tried to do in presenting a sociological conception of ambivalence, can prompt others to take off with an idea in both expected and unexpected directions. Despite some points of divergence, she shares with us the value of theorizing before empirical evaluation, provides a sound summary of our article, and discusses motivation and accountability as ways of extending our conceptualization of ambivalence. AMBIVALENCE AND SOLIDARITY: COMPATIBILITY? YES. CO-OPTATION? No. Rather than rehash the history and shortcomings of solidarity as a concept, we focus on the assertion by Bengtson and his colleagues that ambivalence can somehow be subsumed within the solidarity model. Counter to their claim (Bengston, Giarrusson, Mabry, & Silverstein, 2002, p. 570), we do not suggest that ambivalence is incompatible with solidarity. This is largely because we do not consider them to be on the same plane. We develop a theoretical context for the sensitizing concept of ambivalence as a motivator of action (negotiating relationships). In contrast, solidarity is a set of operational definitions that reduces to six variables that may or may not vary together (in other words, may covary or operate independently). Theoretical Concepts Versus Measures The longitudinal, multigenerational data produced by the research projects at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, are among the best in the world. …


This book provides a clear and concise explanation of corporations, agency and partnership, and the other subjects addressed in most Business Associations courses. To accompany its explanations, the guide utilizes a checklist format to lead students through questions they need to ask and issues they need to address, to fully evaluate the agency, partnership or corporations, problems they will face when studying this subject. It also synthesizes the material in a way that most students are unable to do on their own, and organizes the critical issues, presenting a clear guide to analyze business associations issues that students can draw upon when writing their exams. Other study aids provide sample problems, but this book offers a systematic approach to problem solving.


Author(s): Hutton, Paul H.; Roy, Sujoy B. | Abstract: We evaluated two historically important data sets to characterize the San Francisco Estuary's salinity regime before the State of California began systematic data collection in the early 1920s. One set documents barge travel along the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers to obtain water of adequate quality for local industry; a second set documents Delta inflow used to compute antecedent outflow. The barge travel distance reported over 2 decades (1908–1929) was well explained by flow–salinity modeling, indicating internal consistency in these measurements. However, absolute salinity intrusion estimated through the barge travel data is systematically lower than suggested by contemporaneous water-quality measurements available since 1921. Through integration of these data sets, our work showed substantial similarities between 1908–1921 and the subsequent period before construction of Shasta Dam (1922–1944). Our analysis reveals an apparent shift in the estuary's salinity regime, with lesser salinity intrusion occurring in pre-1919 summer and fall months as a result of higher summer Delta outflow; this shift may be related to lower storage and irrigation diversions as well as a preponderance of wet years with higher summer runoff in the pre–1919 period. We found seasonal patterns of wet year salinity intrusion to be comparable over the full study period (1908–1944), indicating that the relative effect of upstream water management is minimal when flows are high, consistent with findings reported in later periods. The barge and flow data provide qualitative insights on early 20th century conditions, when limited data are available. Post–1920 hydrology and salinity data are preferable for quantitative analyses because of better documentation associated with collection and analysis, and sustained reporting over several decades. This work provides a foundation for future efforts to characterize the hydrologic and hydrodynamic changes that occurred in the system between the 1850s (i.e., natural or pre-development conditions) and the 1920s.


The growing demand for submillimetre wave (SMW ) circuits is spurred not only by the needs of traditional science applications such as radio astronomy and atmospheric remote sensing but also by military and commercial applications such as compact range radar. Several approaches to device and circuit fabrication have been developed and in the past 20 years, many successful SM W components have been built for operation up to THz frequencies. However, they all suffer one or more drawback, such as low reliability and repeatability, lengthy and difficult assembly and reliance on mechanical tuners. The first part of the work described here has been the development of high yield, high quality and high repeatability antiparallel Schottky diodes entirely fabricated at the University of Bath. After producing Schottky diodes having state of the art characteristics, the main focus of the research was the development of a process to monolithically integrate the anti-parallel Schottky diode in a 200 GHz RF mixer circuit. Throughout this research, advantage has been taken of the recent development of advanced computer aided design tools that are suitable for simulating both linear and nonlinear parts of the submillimetre mixer to design and fabricated a fixed-tuned integrated mixer at 183 GHz.


As machine translation technology improves comparisons to human performance are often made in quite general and exaggerated terms. Thus, it is important to be able to account for differences accurately. This paper reports a simple, descriptive scheme for comparing translations and applies it to two translations of a British opinion article published in March, 2017. One is a human translation (HT) into Swedish, and the other a machine translation (MT). While the comparison is limited to one text, the results are indicative of current limitations in MT.


[1] Altimeter data have significantly improved our understanding of regional sea level variability and trends, but their relatively short records do not allow either evaluation of the ocean state prior to 1993 or multidecadal low-frequency signals in the ocean. Here we characterize and quantify the multidecadal regional sea level rise (rSLR) and related ocean heat content in the Pacific from a non-Boussinesq ocean circulation model in comparison with data sets from altimeters, two sea level reconstructions, and in situ ocean profiles from 1958 to 2008. We show that the rSLR trends have undergone two shifts, during the mid-1970s and in the early 1990s, with an east-west dipole pattern in the tropical Pacific. In each of these phases, rSLR accelerated on one side of the Pacific, but decelerated on the other side. The multidecadal sea level shifts can be explained by the dynamical (steric) upper-ocean responses to the surface wind forcing associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), with negligible contributions from internal (depth-integrated) ocean mass changes. Additional model experimentation further confirms that the Pacific wind stress trend over the recent two decades has played an important role in strengthening the rSLR in the western Pacific while suppressing the rSLR in the eastern Pacific. The climate-forced large-scale rSLR variability is likely to impose a long-term and uneven impact on coastal communities.


In this paper, we formulate object tracking in a particle filter framework as a multi-task sparse learning problem, which we denote as Multi-Task Tracking (MTT). Since we model particles as linear combinations of dictionary templates that are updated dynamically, learning the representation of each particle is considered a single task in MTT. By employing popular sparsity-inducing ℓp, q mixed norms (p ∈ {2, ∞} and q = 1), we regularize the representation problem to enforce joint sparsity and learn the particle representations together. As compared to previous methods that handle particles independently, our results demonstrate that mining the interdependencies between particles improves tracking performance and overall computational complexity. Interestingly, we show that the popular L1 tracker [15] is a special case of our MTT formulation (denoted as the L11 tracker) when p = q = 1. The learning problem can be efficiently solved using an Accelerated Proximal Gradient (APG) method that yields a sequence of closed form updates. As such, MTT is computationally attractive. We test our proposed approach on challenging sequences involving heavy occlusion, drastic illumination changes, and large pose variations. Experimental results show that MTT methods consistently outperform state-of-the-art trackers.


The generation of frequency upshifted, pressure-tunable third-harmonic pulses during ultrafast ionization of subatmospheric noble gases at peak intensity 1016 W/cm2 is reported. Pressure tuning of the power spectrum centroid over the range 10−5 ≲ Δω/ω ≲ 10−1, corresponding to a pressure range of 0.1 ≲ p ≲ 700 Torr, is demonstrated. We also demonstrate that the blue-shifted portions of both the 3ω and the ω pulses are preferentially self-guided in a limited pressure range (10 ≲ p ≲ 500 Torr), which is key to separating the pressure-tunable component of the harmonic from nontunable harmonic generated by means of atomic nonlinearities.


Background: Under the challenge of many post-modern theories and critics on art and art history, the boundaries and definition of art has becoming more diverse. Conventional art appreciation no longer covers all the debates and issues arising from the complex meaning of art in the modern world. Art education today must widen students' vision of art appreciation. Focus of discussion: The experience central to art appreciation relates one to a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary exposure. This paper aims to elucidate the close relationship between art and other disciplines including aesthetics, anthropology, history, social studies, and even science. It demonstrates how such integrated perspective can be conveyed to the students of different levels. Art appreciation, in many ways, is the study of human behaviours and experience, both past and present. Cross-disciplinary knowledge and comparative studies of various art help understand the meaning of art both in its microscopic and macroscopic levels. Arguments: Conventional art education focuses on the intrinsic values of art, having well defined objects to study for their artistic qualities and theoretical bases. Today, the world of art has lost much of its autonomy. The paper argues that we can take art as a way of seeing and therefore will be better understood by relating art to its social, historical and cultural context. An interdisciplinary approach to art appreciation will widen students' perspective of and sensitivity to the meaning of art, and could be attained by students of different levels. Conclusion: The interdisciplinary vision of art appreciation accords with the vision of Liberal Studies. It enhances students' analytical and critical thinking, broadens their world of ideas, and hones their judgement of cultural products and related issues.


We use 1995-2000 interstate migration data for the elderly population in the U.S. to test how taxes and specific tax exemptions affect migration decisions. We show that the elderly prefer to migrate to states with low inheritance taxes, high property taxes, low amounts of federal revenue transfers, low cost of living, and higher average temperatures. The preference for high property taxes in destination states may be an indication that the elderly prefer loca-tions where local amenities are capitalized into property values, since the elderly tend to be empty-nesters and presumably own properties that are on average smaller and less valuable. We show that exempting pension payments from income tax affects elderly out-migration negatively and significantly, while exempting prescription drug sales from sales tax affects el-derly in-migration positively and significantly. As in the case of the preference for higher property taxes, free-riding behavior may be an explanation for these preferences.


Saliva testing, a non-invasive alternative to serum testing, may be an effective modality for diagnosis and for prognosis prediction of oral cancer, as well as for monitoring post therapy status, by measuring specific salivary macromolecules, examining proteomic or genomic targets such as enzymes, cytokines, growth factors, metalloproteinases, endothelin, telomerase, cytokeratines, mRNA's and DNA transcripts. Salivary analysis has been shown to be a useful diagnostic tool also for distant malignancies such as breast cancer. In recent years, significant alterations have been demonstrated in the saliva of oral cancer patients in the epithelial tumor markers – Cyfra 21-1, TPS and CA12, various oxidative stress-related salivary parameters as ROS and RNS, biochemical and immunological parameters as IGF and MMP's and RNA transcripts of IL8, IL-1B, DUSP1, HA3, OAZ1, S100P, and SAT. Collectively these accumulated data are predicted to alter the field of oral cancer diagnosis by employing highly sensitive new tools which will enable both medical professionals and the patients themselves to monitor their saliva for diagnosis and prognosis prediction, as they relate to oral cancer. At this point however, the aim of salivary analysis is mainly for screening which may be helpful in the future. This article reviews on role of saliva in detection of oral cancer.


DO YOU TRAVEL? Do you want to know what is happening in the place and vicinity you are traveling to? Do you want to keep up with the latest news in the place and neighboring vicinity you left, especially if it is where you may have once lived or worked? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then our NewsStand, denoting Spatio-Textual Aggregation of News and Display, and related systems, are for you. NewsStand is an example application of a general framework for enabling people to search for information with a map-query interface. As such, it is a variant of systems we have been developing for the past 30 years at the University of Maryland that we call "spatial browsers," as in Samet et al. and Samet et al.41 The advantage of the map-query interface is that a map, coupled with the ability to vary the zoom level at which it is viewed, provides inherent granularity to a search process that facilitates approximate search. This capability distinguishes it from prevalent keyword-based conventional search methods that provide a limited facility for approximate searches that are realized primarily by permitting a match through a subset of the keywords. However, users often lack a firm grasp of which keyword to use, and would thus welcome the search to also account for synonyms. For queries to spatially referenced data, termed "spatial queries to spatial data," the map-query interface is a step in this direction. Consider the action of pointing at a location (such as through the appropriate positioning of a pointing device or gesturing appropriately) and making the interpretation of the precision of this positioning specification dependent on the zoom level. This is equivalent to permitting use of spatial synonyms. Being able to use spatial synonyms is important, as it enables users to search for data when they are not exactly sure what they seek or what the answer to their query should be. For example, suppose the query seeks a "rock concert in Manhattan." The presence of "rock concerts" in Harlem, Brooklyn, Reading News with Maps by Exploiting Spatial Synonyms


The purpose of this research is :to measure: the study orientation skills: and to provide remedial tools in correcting respondents' study orientation skills faults. The research also measures the relationship between study orientation skills and the academic performance among first year students of University Malaysia PAHANG. The measurement of study orientation skills is done by innovating a website based on a survey of study habits and attitudes questionnaire (SSHA); http://portal.ump.edu.my/survey. The students' study orientation skills are analyzed and sorted into three groups of achievement; the higher achiever, normal achiever and lower achiever. The treatment tools comprise of the treatment website; http://portal.ump.edu.my, a textbook (Study Orientation Skills in Action, Ghani format of note-taking, DVD on the study orientation skills and lecture on study orientations skills aspects. The assessment on the academic performance is based on grade point average (GPA) scores of UMP undergraduates from their first semester and second semester results. 59 respondents are randomly from undergraduates students from the Faculty of Civil Engineering & Natural Resources. The research uses Quasi-experimental design with a pre-test and post-test by comparing the group samples. The finding has shown that the study orientation skills (SOS) website was able to measure SOS effectively among the respondents . There is a significant difference in SOS and academic performance between pre-test and post test scores of the respondents. The results also show that there is a correlation between SOS and GPA scores in pre-test and post-test within the group.


This doctoral thesis investigates the influence of social signals in the spatial domain that aim to raise a robot's awareness towards its human interlocutor.
A concept of spatial awareness thereby extends the robot's possibilities for expressing its knowledge about the situation as well as its own capabilities.
As a result, especially untrained users can build up more appropriate expectations about the current situation which supposedly leads to a minimization of misunderstandings and thereby an enhancement of user experience.
On the background of research that investigates communication among humans, relations are drawn in order to utilize gained insights for developing a robot that is capable of acting socially intelligent with regard to human-like treatment of spatial configurations and signals. In a study-driven approach, an integrated concept of spatial awareness is therefore proposed. An important aspect of that concept, which is founded in its spatial extent, lies in its aspiration to cover a holistic encounter between human and robot with the goal to improve user experience from the first sight until the end of reciprocal awareness. It describes how spatial configurations and signals can be perceived and interpreted in a social robot. Furthermore, it also presents signals and behavioral properties for such a robot that target at influencing said configurations and enhancing robot verbosity.
In order to approve the concept's validity in realistic settings, an interactive scenario is presented in the form of a receptionist robot to which it is applied. In the context of this setup, a comprehensive user study is conducted that verifies the implementation of spatial awareness to be beneficial for an interaction with humans that are naive to the subject. Furthermore, the importance of addressing an entire encounter in human-robot interaction is confirmed as well as a strong interdependency of a robot's social signals
among each other.


Context Overweight and obesity rates are on a continuous incline in the United States leading to increased rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death. Much of the healthcare costs are going into treating this disease; therefore, it is vital to find effective weight loss treatments in both the primary care and community settings to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity and subsequent healthcare costs. Objective To assess whether primary care-based therapy or commercial weight loss programs help overweight and obese patients lose 5% of their weight from baseline. Design, Setting and Participants A systematic review of four randomized control trials of weight loss in overweight and obese adults (mostly women, 18 years of age) each conducted for at least one year. Intervention Commercial weight loss programs (Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig), which incorporate behavioral skills, nutritional plans and/or prepackaged meals, activity plans, group support and counseling. All commercial weight loss resources were provided free of charge. Participants assigned to primary care received weight loss and diet advice based upon their national clinical guidelines for treatment and behavioral skills (such as self-monitoring, goal setting and relapse prevention) during a select number of one-on-one or group sessions with a general practitioner. All sessions with the general practitioner were provided free of charge. Main Outcome Measure Weight change over one year Results All those allocated to Weight Watchers had a statistically significant decrease in weight from baseline; whereas some allocated to primary care achieved statistically significant decrease in weight from baseline. Not all studies revealed that there were significant differences between treatment groups for the percent of participants who achieved a 5% weight loss. Conclusion Compared to primary care, Weight Watchers was the most effective treatment modality, which resulted in the greatest weight loss and best weight loss maintenance.


Insofar the interactions developed between social, technical and natural agents have been now significantly modified by the new information and communication technologies (ICT), we can speak of a new social dynamic arisen therefrom. Moreover, the central role that information takes in social life has lead us to talk about the dawn of the information age. If we take this seriously, a consequent ethical thinking should start unravelling the tangled skein through rephrasing what information really is and how it can be understood throughout reality. Otherwise, how could we think our proper behaviour embedded in the complex realm of informational interactions of all kind? In any case, is it feasible puzzling out most appropriate behaviours from the outset –as a sort of optimized code? Or rather, are there fundamental constraints setting the optimum completely out of reach and our whole (cultural) history just the path of the exploration? The globalisation process, developed in strong connection to the deployment of information technologies in very unequal benefit to different groups of the global human system, settles a situation in which the management of the global system complexity is significantly apart from democratic handling, despite the broad usage of democratic facades. Indeed participatory process –concerning relevant decision-making issues– are hard to be found behind these facades. Addressing the issue of inequality at the global scale is in our view a fundamental question of today's information ethics for which an approach based on electronic-Subsidiarity is proposed.


The Constitution of South Africa recognises the multicultural nature of its citizens by stating that the South African nation consists of a diversity of cultural, religious and linguistic communities where everyone has the right to use the language and to participate in the cultural life of their choice (South Africa, 1996).
As a public enterprise, public libraries need to acknowledge the Constitution and provide products and services that support the cultural, religious and linguistic diversity of South Africa's communities (LIASA Policies 2005). A study into the services and products offered by public libraries, specifically in Region Eight of the City of Johannesburg Library and Information Services (CJLIS), examined the role that public libraries are playing in supporting the multicultural nature of the communities they serve.
It became evident from the investigation that, although policy documents that encourage the principle of providing equitable services and collections to culturally diverse communities do exist, public libraries - such as the CJLIS, Region Eight, which operates within a culturally diverse environment - often do not provide these. Possible reasons for the current situation were identified. Based on the research findings, recommendations on the development of multicultural library services and collections were made which may be applied - not only to the CJLIS - but also to other public libraries in South Africa that have to serve culturally diverse communities.


Abstract We explore whether investors who are more financially knowledgeable earn more on their retirement plan investments compared with their less sophisticated counterparts, using a unique new dataset linking administrative data on investment performance and financial knowledge. Results show that the most financially knowledgeable investors: (a) held 18% points more stock than their least knowledgeable counterparts; (b) could anticipate earning 8 basis points per month more in excess returns; (c) had 40% higher portfolio volatility; and (d) held portfolios with about 38% less idiosyncratic risk, as compared with their least savvy counterparts. Our results are qualitatively similar after controlling on observables as well as modeling sample selection. We also examine portfolio changes to assess the potential impact of the financial literacy intervention. Controlling on other factors, those who elected to take the financial literacy survey boosted their equity allocations by 66 basis points and their monthly expected excess returns rose by 2.3 basis points; no significant difference in volatility or non-systematic risk was detected before versus after the survey. While these findings relate to only one firm, we anticipate that they may spur other efforts to enhance financial knowledge in the workplace.


We propose a novel and simple all-optical 160-Gb/s orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol generator which is based on discrete triangle waveform driving-LiNbO3 modulators to realize largerange linear optical shift. The entire system needs 64 discrete modulators: at the transmitter, a 2.5-Gb/s optical duobinary (ODB) modulator for data modulation and a 2.5-Gb/s triangle waveform driving-LiNbO3 phase modulator for phase shift to generate each subcarrier; and at the receiver, a 2.5-GHz optical band pass filter (OBPF) using Faraday anomalous dispersion optical effect to separate them. Excellent bit error rate (BER) is observed after 1060 km of transmission without any dispersion compensation.


Mostly forsaken, but revived after the emergence of all-dielectric nanophotonics, the Kerker effect can be observed in a variety of nanostructures from high-index constituents with strong electric and magnetic Mie resonances. Necessary requirement for the existence of a magnetic response limits the use of generally non-magnetic conventional plasmonic nanostructures for the Kerker effect. In spite of this, we demonstrate here for the first time the emergence of the lattice Kerker effect in regular plasmonic Al nanostructures. Collective lattice oscillations emerging from delicate interplay between Rayleigh anomalies and localized surface plasmon resonances both of electric and magnetic dipoles, and electric and magnetic quadrupoles result in suppression of the backscattering in a broad spectral range. Variation of geometrical parameters of Al arrays allows for tailoring lattice Kerker effect throughout UV and visible wavelength ranges, which is close to impossible to achieve using other plasmonic or all-dielectric materials. It is argued that our results set the ground for wide ramifications in the plasmonics and further application of the Kerker effect.


Human reliance and dominance are ubiquitous in sustaining a high-quality large software system. Automatically assigning the right solution providers to the maintenance task at hand is arguably as important as providing the right tool support for it, especially in the far too commonly found state of inadequate or obsolete documentation of large-scale software systems. Two maintenance tasks related to assignment and assistance to software developers and reviewers are addressed, and solutions are proposed. The key insight behind these proposed solutions is the analysis and use of micro-levels of human-to-code and human-to-human interactions (eg., code review). We analyzed code reviews that are managed by Gerrit and found different markers of developer expertise associated with the source code changes and their acceptance, time line, and human roles and feedback involved in the reviews. We formed a developer-expertise model from these markers and showed its application in bug triaging. Specifically, we derived a developer recommendation approach for an incoming change request, named rDevX , from this expertise model. Additionally, we present an approach, namely cHRev, to automatically recommend reviewers who are best suited to participate in a given review, based on their historical contributions as demonstrated in their prior reviews. Furthermore, a comparative study on other previous approaches for developer recommendation and reviewer recommendation was performed. The metrics recall and MRR were used to measure their quantitative effectiveness. Results show that the proposed approaches outperform the subjected competitors with statistical significance.


LOCATION RELIABILITY AND GAMIFICATION MECHANISMS FOR MOBILE CROWD SENSING by Manoop Talasila People-centric sensing with smart phones can be used for large scale sensing of the physical world by leveraging the sensors on the phones. This new type of sensing can be a scalable and cost-effective alternative to deploying static wireless sensor networks for dense sensing coverage across large areas. However, mobile people-centric sensing has two main issues: 1) Data reliability in sensed data and 2) Incentives for participants. To study these issues, this dissertation designs and develops McSense, a mobile crowd sensing system which provides monetary and social incentives to users. This dissertation proposes and evaluates two protocols for location reliability as a step toward achieving data reliability in sensed data, namely, ILR (Improving Location Reliability) and LINK (Location authentication through Immediate Neighbors Knowledge). ILR is a scheme which improves the location reliability of mobile crowd sensed data with minimal human efforts based on location validation using photo tasks and expanding the trust to nearby data points using periodic Bluetooth scanning. LINK is a location authentication protocol working independent of wireless carriers, in which nearby users help authenticate each other's location claims using Bluetooth communication. The results of experiments done on Android phones show that the proposed protocols are capable of detecting a significant percentage of the malicious users claiming false location. Furthermore, simulations with the LINK protocol demonstrate that LINK can effectively thwart a number of colluding user attacks. This dissertation also proposes a mobile sensing game which helps collect crowd sensing data by incentivizing smart phone users to play sensing games on their phones. We design and implement a first person shooter sensing game, "Alien vs. Mobile User", which employs techniques to attract users to unpopular regions. The user study results show that mobile gaming can be a successful alternative to micro-payments for fast and efficient area coverage in crowd sensing. It is observed that the proposed game design succeeds in achieving good player engagement. LOCATION RELIABILITY AND GAMIFICATION MECHANISMS FOR MOBILE CROWD SENSING


This study investigated whether the steady-state suppression method proposed by Arai et al. (2001, 2002) improved consonant identification for nonnative listeners in reverberation. It also compared the effect of steady-state suppression on consonant identification by native and nonnative listeners in reverberation. We used steady-state suppression as a preprocessing technique which processes speech signals before they are radiated from loudspeakers in order to reduce the amount of overlap-masking. Participants were 24 native English (native listeners) and 24 Japanese speakers (nonnative listeners), both with normal hearing. A diotic Modified Rhyme Test was conducted with and without steady-state suppression for reverberation times of 0.4, 0.7 and 1.1 s and a nonreverberant condition. The results showed that native listeners performed better than nonnative listeners, and that the mean percentage of correct answers in initial consonants was higher than in final consonants. The results also showed that processed and unprocessed speech was comparable for word initial and final consonants. These findings indicate that parameters of steady-state suppression would need adjustment to accommodate speech materials and reverberant conditions. They also suggest that the difficulties that nonnative listeners have might not be due to the actual acoustic-phonetic information from the signal.


Thermoelectric (TE) technology is regarded as alternative and environmentally friendly technology for harvesting and recovering heat which is directly converted into electrical energy using thermoelectric generators (TEG). Conversely, Peltier coolers and heaters are utilized to convert electrical energy into heat energy for cooling and heating purposes The main challenge lying behind the TE technology is the low efficiency of these devices mainly due to low figure of merit (ZT) of the materials used in making them as well as improper setting of the TE systems. The objective of this work is to carry out a comprehensive review of TE technology encompassing the materials, applications, modelling techniques and performance improvement. The paper has covered a wide range of topics related to TE technology subject area including the output power conditioning techniques. The review reveals some important critical aspects regarding TE device application and performance improvement. It is observed that the intensified research into TE technology has led to an outstanding increase in ZT, rendering the use TE devices in diversified application a reality. Not only does the TE material research and TE device geometrical adjustment contributed to TE device performance improvement, but also the use of advanced TE mathematical models which have facilitated appropriate segmentation TE modules using different materials and design of integrated TE devices. TE devices are observed to have booming applications in cooling, heating, electric power generation as well as hybrid applications. With the generation of electric energy using TEG, not only does the waste heat provide heat source but also other energy sources like solar, geothermal, biomass, infra-red radiation have gained increased utilization in TE based systems. However, the main challenge remains in striking the balance between the conflicting parameters; ZT and power factor, when designing and optimizing advanced TE materials. Hence more research is necessary to overcome this and other challenge so that the performance TE device can be improved further. A Comprehensive Review of Thermoelectric Technology: Materials, Applications, Modelling and Performance Improvement


Collegiate athletes have demonstrated a need for social support to help cope with their daily responsibilities. The purpose of this research was to explore National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II athletes' perception of social support from friends, teammates, family, coaches, significant others, and athletic trainers following injury, illness, or other identified life stressors. There were 546 participants who completed a five-part survey using the University Stress Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Athletic Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Perceived Stress Scale, and a demographic section. Of the participants, 352 (64.5%) stated that they experienced moderate stress levels, and all participants indicated experiencing an identified life stressor within the last 12 months. The results indicated statistically significant differences when comparing providers of social support: females preferred the support of friends, significant others, and athletic trainers, and freshmen and sophomores perceived more social support from friends than did juniors and seniors.


Background Systematic reviews (SR) are the gold standard evidence synthesis method. Rapid reviews (RR) have been proposed as an alternative method that may provide evidence in a more timely fashion to inform clinical decision making and policy making. However, RR may fail to identify all relevant evidence, which may bias the review conclusions. An analysis was conducted to compare SR and RR versions of a large epidemiological review in terms of completeness and efficiency of evidence retrieval and any differences in overall review findings. Methods A SR on the political determinants of health was conducted with searches in November 2017 on 10 scholarly bibliographic databases using a combination of MeSH terms and key words, accompanied by a search on Google Scholar (GS) and backward citation chasing. Internationally comparative studies assessing the relationship between any of four political themes (democracy, globalisation, political tradition, and welfare state) and any population health outcome, excluding healthcare expenditure, were eligible for inclusion. A RR version of this review was conducted with the same search dates. The RR comprised a GS search for health plus each of 'politics', 'political' and the four political themes plus backward and forward citation chasing. The SR and RR were compared on completeness (% of total included studies identified), efficiency (% of reviewed records that were included) and results profile (% of included studies with positive vs non-positive results). Analysis was descriptive in terms of n(%) and used chi-square and McNemar test as appropriate in SPSS v.25. Results 114 studies were eligible for inclusion, of which SR identified 101 (89%, due to absence of forward citation chasing) and RR 64 (56%, McNemar test p<0.001). SR reviewed 35,262 records (0.3% were included) and RR reviewed 92 records (70% were included). For the welfare state theme, 54(77%) studies had positive results in SR vs 31(78%) in RR (chi-square=0.002, p=0.966), for political tradition theme 3(60%)vs 2(50%, chi-square=0.090, p=0.764), for democracy theme 14(78%) vs 14(82%, chi-square=0.114, p=0.735), and for globalisation theme 3(17%) vs 5(38%, chi-square=1.873, p=0.171). Conclusion RR identified significantly fewer included studies than SR, but there were no significant differences in the review results. RR offered greater efficiency with far greater% of reviewed records being included. This analysis benefited from using data from a large scale epidemiological review. However, it only assessed one broad topic area. Further research and evidence synthesis is needed to assess the value of RR in an epidemiological setting.


As modern networks grow in scale and complexity, the need for rapid
and dynamic control increases. With scale, the need to automate even
the simplest operations is important, but even more critical is the
ability to quickly interact with more complex operations such as
policy-based controls. In order to enable network applications to have
access to and control over information in the Internet's routing
system, we need a publicly documented interface specification. The
interface needs to support real-time, asynchronous interactions using
data models and encodings that are efficient and potentially different
from those available today. Furthermore, the interface must be
tailored to support a variety of use cases. This document expands upon
these statements of requirements to provide a detailed problem
statement for an Interface to the Routing System (I2RS).


The cobalt (I)-catalyzed intramolecular [2+2+2] cyclization reactions previously investigated by Vollhardt were successfully applied to alkynylbisnitrile species in the formation of novel annulated pyridazines. This chemistry demonstrates the first successful formation of an N,N bond through a [2+2+2] cyclization pathway. Nitrogen linkers with different protecting groups were incorporated into the alkynylbisnitrile species, and were used as a site of selective deprotection and diversification of the cyclized scaffold. Using this methodology, two novel ureas were formed from the annulated pyridazines with high yields (88-93%), indicating the feasibility of the development of a diverse small molecule library using this chemistry. Expanding upon the success in the intramolecular cyclizations, the intermolecular incorporation of alkynes and nitriles with arylbisnitriles was examined. Although the intermolecular incorporation of diphenylacetylene was found to only provide trace amounts of the desired product, favoring the trimerization product, benzonitrile was found to incorporate well, forming the corresponding 1,2,4-triazine regioselectively (44%).


A review of 150 consecutive endoprosthetic replacements for acute displaced femoral neck fractures was undertaken to investigate the following serious criticisms of the method. The first is excessive hospital mortality and morbidity, especially in comparison to internal fixation procedures retaining the femoral head. The second is pain, derived from the "unphysiologic" nature of placing a metal prosthesis against otherwise normal acetabular cartilage. In the first instance the procedure is condemned as too major an operative procedure, poorly tolerated by elderly patients. In the second, it is a poor procedure if it requires revision in a patient incapable of withstanding more than one operation. A detailed follow-up shows that the in-hospital mortality in patients averaging 79.8 years of age, was 4%, lower than published mortality for either hemiarthroplasty or internal fixation. Close postoperative monitoring, antibiotic and antiembolic prophylaxis (2.0% infection, 6% embolic complications), and rapid mobilization contributed significantly to the increased survival. Painful endoprostheses, the most frequent complication, occurred in 16.7% of the 125 patients available for follow up at an average of 21 months. The causes of pain were considered technical problems judging prosthetic neck length, head size, sinking and loosening. Dissolution of the medial femoral neck was associated with a narrow stem prosthesis in five of six of these failures. The above statistics suggest that primary endoprosthetic replacement for displaced femoral neck fractures carries with it neither the excessive mortality and morbidity nor the pain induced potential for early reoperations that have been suggested by the recent literature.


Carbonate clumped-isotope geothermometry is a tool used to reconstruct formation or (re)equilibration temperatures of carbonate bearing minerals, including carbonate groups substituted into apatite. It is based on the preference for isotopologues with multiple heavy isotopes (for example, 13C16O218O2− groups) to be more abundant at equilibrium than would be expected if all isotopes were randomly distributed amongst all carbonate groups. Because this preference is only a function of temperature, excesses of multiply substituted species can be used to calculate formation temperatures without knowledge of the isotopic composition of water from which the mineral precipitated or other phases with which it may have equilibrated. However, the measured temperature could be modified after mineral growth if exchange of isotopes amongst carbonate groups within the mineral has occurred through internal isotope-exchange reactions. Because these exchange reactions occur through thermally activated processes, their rates depend on temperature and increase at higher temperatures. Thus internal isotope-exchange reactions could lead to effective re-equilibration at high temperatures, overprinting the original temperatures recorded during mineral growth. We measured clumped-isotope temperatures in carbonate bearing minerals (including apatites) from several carbonatites to constrain the kinetics of these internal isotope-exchange reactions. We observe two key trends for clumped-isotope temperatures in carbonatites: (i) clumped-isotope temperatures of apatites and carbonate-bearing minerals decrease with increasing intrusion depth and (ii) apatites record lower clumped-isotope temperatures than carbonate minerals from the same intrusion. We additionally conducted heating experiments at different temperatures to derive the temperature dependence for the rate constants that describe the alteration of clumped-isotope temperatures with time in calcites and apatites. We find that calcites exhibit complex kinetics as has been seen in previous studies. To quantify these results, we constructed a model that incorporates both diffusion of isotopes through the crystal lattice and isotope-exchange reactions between adjacent carbonate groups. We tested this model through comparison to previous measurements of optical calcites and brachiopods and to samples with known cooling histories and find that the model is able to reasonably capture kinetic data from previous experiments and the observed clumped-isotope temperatures of calcites assuming geologically reasonable cooling rates. A similar model for apatite over-predicts the observed clumped-isotope temperatures found in natural samples; we hypothesize this discrepancy is the result of annealing of radiation damage in our experiments, which lowers the diffusivity and rate of isotope exchange of carbonate groups compared to damaged natural samples. Finally, we constructed models to explore how heating can alter recorded clumped-isotope temperatures. Our model predicts that samples change in clumped-isotope temperatures in two stages. The first stage changes the recorded clumped isotope temperatures by <1 °C if held at 75 °C for 100 million years and by up to ∼40 °C if held at 120 °C, but the clumped-isotope temperatures does not reach ambient values through this low-temperature mechanism. A second, slower change becomes effective at temperatures above 150 °C and can take the measured clumped-isotope temperature up to the true ambient temperature. This result implies that old (hundreds of million years) samples that have only experienced mild (<100-125 °C) thermal histories could exhibit small but measurable (order 10 °C) changes in their clumped-isotope temperatures. We compared this heating model to clumped-isotope measurements from paleosol samples from the Siwalik Basin in Nepal, which were buried up to 5 km and then rapidly exhumed to the surface; these samples often do not give reasonable surface temperatures. The modeled temperatures agree with measured temperatures of these samples, suggesting that partial re-equilibration during shallow crustal burial is responsible for their elevated clumped-isotope temperatures.


In Morocco, the adoption of recent improved wheat varieties is low, casting doubt on whether investments in wheat research are paying off. This paper generates estimates of the returns to the national and international investment in wheat research for Morocco. The benefits are estimated by applying the endogenous switching regression model to data from a nationally representative sample survey of 2,296 wheat fields, whereas costs were estimated using data on public and CGIAR (INRA-CG) investments on wheat research in Morocco. Considering all the benefits and costs of wheat research investment in Morocco, we estimated a conservative benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 19.64 with 623 thousand tons (14.8%) of additional wheat supply from domestic production and net economic benefit of US$355 million. We also estimated that institutional problems in the seed system identified by past research are causing the country to lose at least 746.6 thousand tons (17.7%) wheat production and net economic benefit of US$75.2 million. These results show that despite the institutional challenges, wheat research in Morocco is still paying off and the country has sufficient incentives to address the problems in the seed sector that prevent the development and uptake of recent varieties.


This volume gathers essays by leading scholars and principals of regional public-opinion surveys, known as "barometers," which are making possible the first systematic, worldwide study of how citizens think about democracy and weigh it against other forms of government. Originally published in the Journal of Democracy, the essays cover topics from Arab opinion about democracy to the nostalgia for authoritarianism found in East Asia. Other contributions shed light on the rise of populism in Latin America, and explain why postcommunist regimes in Europe have won broad public support. Additional chapters invite reflection on the role of ordinary people in democratization through the rise of "expressive" social values, and ask whether political or economic factors more decisively influence how people evaluate democracy in their own countries. No serious student of democracy can afford to be without this book. It offers an original and comprehensive view of what citizens around the world think as democracy's global "third wave" prepares to enter its fourth and perhaps most challenging decade. Contributors: Michael Bratton, Yu-tzung Chang, Yun-han Chu, Russell J. Dalton, Peter R. deSouza, Ronald Inglehart, Amaney Jamal, Willy Jou, Marta Lagos, Suhas Palshikar, Chong-Min Park, Richard Rose, Mitchell A. Seligson, Sandeep Shastri, Doh C. Shin, Mark Tessler, Christian Welzel, Yogendra Yadav


The expanding health information infrastructure offers the promise of new medical knowledge drawn from patient records. Such promise will never be fulfilled, however, unless researchers first address policy issues regarding the rights and interests of both the patients and the institutions who hold their records. In this article, the authors analyze the interests of patients and institutions in light of public policy and institutional needs. They conclude that the multicenter study, with Institutional Review Board approval of each study at each site, protects the interests of both. "Anonymity" is no panacea, since patient records are so rich in information that they can never be truly anonymous. Researchers must earn and respect the trust of the public, as responsible stewards of facts about patients' lives. The authors find that computer security tools are needed to administer multicenter patient records studies and describe simple approaches that can be implemented using commercial database products.


Known for his fearlessness in both the political arena and the battlefield, Frank Blair is a Missouri legend. As a member of one of the most prominent and powerful political families in America during the nineteenth century, possibly the equivalent of the twentieth-century Kennedys, Frank was steeped in politics at an early age. The youngest son of Francis Preston Blair, editor of Andrew Jackson's "Washington Globe" and adviser to Presidents Andrew Jackson through Andrew Johnson, Frank Blair was greatly influenced by his father, who had high political expectations of him.Volatile and combative, Blair was either strongly admired or hated by the public figures of his day. He held adamantly to his opinions and fought hard for his political causes. He was an ardent supporter of Abraham Lincoln and championed the president's program in Congress and in Missouri against the frequent assaults of the Radicals. Credited with being the principal leader in saving Missouri for the Union in 1861, Blair later served with great distinction at Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and in the Sherman campaigns throughout Georgia and the Carolinas. He is one of only two Missourians ever honored by his state in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol."Frank Blair: Lincoln's Conservative" reveals the full extent of Blair's importance as a national political figure. Specialists in nineteenth-century America, students of Missouri history, and Civil War buffs will welcome this study, which will long stand as the definitive work on this influential and colorful character.


This paper describes a method for constructing a generative model for sets of graphs. The method is posed in terms of learning a supergraph from which the samples can be obtained by edit operations. We construct a probability distribution for the occurrence of nodes and edges over the supergraph. We use the EM algorithm to learn both the structure of the supergraph and the correspondences between the nodes of the sample graphs and those of the supergraph, which are treated as missing data. In the experimental evaluation of the method, we a) prove that our supergraph learning method can lead to an optimal or suboptimal supergraph, and b) show that our proposed generative model gives good graph classification results.


Ibrutinib, obinutuzumab plus venetoclax demonstrate synergy in pre-clinical models of mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL). OAsIs (NCT02558816), a single-arm multi-center prospective phase I/II trial, aimed to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of venetoclax in combination with fixed doses of ibrutinib and obinutuzumab, in relapsed MCL patients. At the venetoclax MTD, extension cohorts were opened for relapsed and untreated patients. Safety and efficacy were secondary objectives. Minimal residual disease (MRD) was assessed by allele-specific oligonucleotide-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (ASO-qPCR). Between Oct 14, 2015 to May 29, 2018, forty-eight patients were enrolled. No dose limiting toxicity (DLT) was reported, and venetoclax at 400mg per day was chosen for extension. Eighteen (75%) relapsed and 8 (53%) untreated patients experienced grade 3/4 adverse events (AEs). The complete response rate assessed by positron-emission tomography at the end of cycle 6 was 67% in relapsed and 86.6% in untreated patients. MRD clearance for evaluable patients was seen in 71.5% of relapsed (10 out of 14) and 100% of untreated MRD-evaluable patients (n=12), at the end of three cycles. The median follow-up (mFU) for relapsed patients was 17 months (range, 10 to 35). The 2-years PFS was 69.5% (95% CI, 52.9- 91.4%) and 68.6% (95% CI, 49.5- 95.1%) for OS. The mFU was 14 months (range, 5 to 19) for untreated patients, the 1-year PFS was 93.3% (95% CI, 81.5- 100%). Obinutuzimab, ibrutinib and venetoclax combination is well tolerated and provides high response rates including at the molecular level in relapsed and untreated MCL patients.


Introduction: Occupational and environmental exposures to workplace hazards in office workers could effect on their health including the mucus membranes, skin and upper respiratory system. Some exposures cause related disorders. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of environmental factors on mucus membranes, skin and upper respiratory system in office setting in 2014-2015. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study on office workers in low and high exposure groups. The study tool was questionnaire for filling with flexible interview and environmental factors measurement. Personnel were followed for one yr as for signs and symptoms. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16, t-test, and Chi-2 were calculated considering P < 0.05 as significant level. Odds ratios were calculated with a confidence interval 95%. Results: Red eyes were higher in office personnel with high level of computer using but were not significant. Red eyes were more in working hours than free times (P =0.001) and odds ratio was 3.50 (1.085-11.292) Conclusion: Environmental pollutants had more effects on mucous membranes of eyes than using the


This paper presents a comprehensive empirical evaluation of option-implied and returns-based forecasts of volatility, in which recent developments related to the impact on measured volatility of market microstructure noise are taken into account. The paper also assesses the robustness of the performance of the option-implied forecasts to the way in which those forecasts are extracted from the option market. Using a test for superior predictive ability, model-free implied volatility, which aggregates information across the volatility 'smile', and at-the-money implied volatility, which ignores such information, are both tested as benchmark forecasts. The forecasting assessment is conducted using intraday data for three Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) stocks and the S&P500 index over the 1996-2006 period, with future volatility proxied by a range of alternative noise-corrected realized measures. The results provide compelling evidence against the model-free forecast, with its poor performance linked to both the bias and excess variability that it exhibits as a forecast of actual volatility. The positive bias, in particular, is consistent with the option market factoring in a substantial premium for volatility risk. In contrast, implied volatility constructed from liquid at-the-money options is given strong support as a forecast of volatility, at least for the DJIA stocks. Neither benchmark is supported for the S&P500 index. Importantly, the qualitative results are robust to the measure used to proxy future volatility, although there is some evidence to suggest that any option-implied forecast may perform less well in forecasting the measure that excludes jump information, namely bi-power variation.


The view on the communication process as a process in which something is communi- cated (transmitted), is a collective view and as such must be regarded as subject to historical changes. This article aims to analyse the metaphorical conceptualizations, which form part of the collective view, and which are important research subjects of communicology. A new division introduced in the article is the distinction between the pre-theoretical and the theoretical metaphorical concep- tualization in relation to communication processes. This procedure allows for an analysis of the rela- tionship between pre-theoretical views (conduit, container metaphor) and theoretical ones (transfer metaphor). The author suggests how the introduction of the diachronic perspective to the study of defining of communication helps to better understand the genesis of the modern understanding of communication practices.