There is an increasing recognition within the international system, of the need to understand Islamic law and legal system. This is due to the realisation that it either underpins or at least influences to some degree not only the legal but also the socio-cultural outlook of about a quarter of the world's population. In line with this reality, this study investigates delictual liability of the state under Saudi law. It evaluates what is the position of the Saudi courts in determining the liability of public authorities for delict and the extent to which the applications of the current principles of delictual liability are useful and sufficient for effectively tackling the growing number of cases that are confronting the public bodies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

A focal point of this study is the focus on a system of law which claims universal applicability, even more, a law for all times. For Muslims, the Shar'iah is a code that covers all aspects of life and is applicable to all situations. It governs individual and social relations and as such is claimed to be applied, to various degrees, all across the Muslim world and beyond even where Muslims live as minorities. However, a persistent concern, with advocates and sceptics of the system, remains the viability of a legal system steeped in a specific historical and even contextual setting, in societies and climes across the world. This study has sought to engage an aspect of that issue; namely the applicability of Shar'iah principles to state liability for delictual conduct through an interrogation of the experience in Saudi Arabia, commonly perceived to be a conservative Islamic society. The exploration in this study hopefully provides a useful insight on the veracity or otherwise of the adaptability of Islamic law to all aspects of life and in the contemporary period. The position argued in this study is that Shari'ah does contain mechanisms that make its application viable even in complex areas of law like the delictual liability of the state.


Impact of Social Support on Malaria Management by Burundian Community Health Workers by Bonaventure Bazirutwabo MPH, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, 2005 MD, University of Burundi, 1994 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Health Walden University May 2018 Abstract Malaria is the main cause of mortality for children under the age of 5 in Burundi. The access to malaria diagnostics and treatment is hampered not only because of logistical issues, but also due to the lack of qualified human resources and their inequitableMalaria is the main cause of mortality for children under the age of 5 in Burundi. The access to malaria diagnostics and treatment is hampered not only because of logistical issues, but also due to the lack of qualified human resources and their inequitable distribution across the country. To mitigate the lack of human resources for health, the government of Burundi, along with its partners, shifted some tasks to community health workers (CHWs) to cover unmet healthcare needs for selected diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the social support provided to CHWs had an impact on morbidity due to malaria for children under the age of 5. The social networks and social support theoretical framework was used to explore the type of social support received by CHWs and its impact on the number of children treated. The 88 CHWs who participated in this cross sectional survey, were randomly selected from a pool of 719 CHWs who were part of a pilot project that was implemented in the districts of Gahombo, Gashoho, and Mabayi, from 2011 to 2014. The study findings showed mixed results with a positive correlation between the instrumental support received and the number of children under the age of 5 treated. However, a statistically significant correlation was not established between the emotional, informational, and appraisal support received and the number of children under the age of 5 treated. The positive social change implications of the study include providing evidence to build and enhance human resource capacity for improving the health of children living in Burundi, an under-resourced country, through the development of a support package that can be offered to CHWs to help them perform their duties in a more effective way. Impact of Social Support on Malaria Management by Burundian Community Health Workers by Bonaventure Bazirutwabo MPH, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, 2005 MD, University of Burundi, 1994 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy


The advent of reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers with colorless and non-directional add/drop ports enables transponders and regenerators to be pre-deployed, without a priori knowledge of which wavelength or direction they will eventually serve. We study pre-deployment of optical regenerators as a means to drastically reduce the provisioning time, using Monte Carlo simulation of an optical backbone network. With appropriate placement strategies, regenerators can be efficiently pre-deployed so that new connections can be established rapidly, without the delays caused by service visits to intermediate network nodes.


We examine magnetic flux closure during an extended substorm interval on 29 August 2004 involving a two-stage onset and subsequent re-intensifications. Cluster and Double Star provide observations of magnetotail dynamics, while the corresponding auroral evolution, convection response, and substorm current wedge development are monitored by IMAGE FUV, SuperDARN, and the Greenland magnetometer chain, respectively. The first stage of onset is associated with the reconnection of closed flux in the plasma sheet; this is accompanied by a short-lived auroral intensification, a modest substorm current wedge magnetic bay, but no significant ionospheric convection enhancement. The second stage follows the progression of reconnection to the open field lines of the lobes; accompanied by prolonged auroral bulge and westward-travelling surge development, enhanced magnetic bays and convection. We find that the tail dynamics are highly influenced by ongoing dayside creation of open flux, leading to flux pile-up in the near-tail and a step-wise down-tail motion of the tail reconnection site. In all, 5 dipolarizations are observed, each associated with the closure of ~0.1 GWb of flux. Very simple calculations indicate that the X-line should progress down-tail at a speed of 20 km s -1 , or 6 R E between each dipolarization.


This article takes issue with a widely-held critical consensus about early modern natural philosophy, which posits that scientific apparatuses and prostheses, particularly the microscope, were enthusiastically embraced by natural philosophers, who prized them for opening up vast new regions of the knowable to the scientific observer while cultivating a "culture of fact" that sought the epistemological ground for knowledge in the ostensibly certain and manifest ocular proofs that these new prostheses provided. The botanical publications of Nehemiah Grew act as a case study to reveal that a sustained program among some mainstream natural philosophers to reject the use of microscopes and other instruments of perspectival dislocation, in favor of an "anthropocentric visuality" that instead grounded all facts in the proportionate range of the visible that was available to the unassisted human eye. Although Grew has been hailed as a father of microscopy, in fact his intention was to "first give a proof, How far it was possible for us to go, without the help of Glasses."


We have developed a fast target tracking system that utilizes four cameras with lenses of different focal lengths to track an object without blurring images, even when the object moves in the depth direction away from the cameras in three-dimensional (3-D) space. This system can maintain a well-focused camera view by switching among the four input images, instead of using lens motor control. The multi-camera system was mounted on a two-axis mechanical active vision platform. The active vision control and camera-view switching are executed by processing color 512 × 512 images from the four camera inputs at 500 fps in real time on a high-speed vision platform. The performance of our system was verified by its tracking results for objects moving rapidly in 3-D space.


The synthesis of well-designed metal organic framework-based hybrid structures still remains a very big challenge in recent scientific research. Here, we develop a facile route for preparing metal organic framework/graphene oxide hybrid films with highly ordered layer-by-layer architecture, and water-insoluble inorganic crystals, as excellent metal ion sources, also serve as the spacer materials to form interconnected porous networks and ensure the continuous proceeding of coordination reactions. The obtained hybrids are subsequently used as the precursors for the preparation of the active materials of supercapacitor electrodes. Their derived layered double hydroxide-based and nanoporous carbon-based hybrids could maintain the similar layer-by-layer structure, and they exhibit exceptional energy storage performances including high capacity and rate capability as well as good cycling stability, resulting from the unique structure offering higher surface area and faster ion and charge transfer efficiency. In addition, the assembled asymmetric supercapacitor device delivers an energy density of 50.5 W h kg−1 at a power density of 853.3 W kg−1, and even at a power density of 25.1 kW kg−1, it still achieves a high energy density of 34.8 W h kg−1. Our prepared layer-by-layer metal organic framework-derived materials demonstrate promise for high-performance energy storage application, and the as-prepared functional materials also show great potential in other fields.


Recent decades have seen an increased realisation by humanity that the resources of the Earth are not inexhaustible. International conferences have discussed ways in which the resources of the Earth can be better managed, giving rise to the term "sustainable development" . Since 1991 New Zealand local authorities have been drafting new plans to achieve the ' sustainable management of resources ' . However, with the population of New Zealand becoming increasingly urbanised, greater attention needs to paid as to whether the ways in which urban areas develop are sustainable. A benchmark needs to be established, against which New Zealand planning controls can be compared to find out how effective those controls are in encouraging sustainability, and pinpoint those areas where improvement is needed. This research identifies those factors which are generally though to be important in achieving more sustainable forms of residential subdivision and development, and investigates whether indeed the new Plans which are being developed incorporate provisions which are consistent with those factors. A series of indicators were developed, aimed principally at checking new plan provisions for their consistency with those factors which were thought to assist in bringing about more sustainable forms of residential subdivision and development. The reported research results found that experts in the field of sustainable development generally felt that sustainable residential subdivision and development avoided locating in areas of high ecological significance, hazards, or high soil value, promoted a more compact, energy-efficient urban form, made the most efficient use of infrastructure and minimised pollution, minimised the use of non-renewable resources, and helped reduce cnme. New Zealand planning controls were generally found to be slightly more sustainable than unsustainable when measured on a continuum. While this may be seen as positive, the fact remains that, there is still much room for improvement. Some of the reasons for the gap between New Zealand residential subdivision and development controls and the ideals of sustainable development undoubted lie with the current legislation which tends to separate social, economic and environmental objectives. The Resource Management Act (under which plans controlling subdivision and development are formulated) focuses, principally, on the environment only. Sustainable development on the hand, focuses on objectives associated with all three. Other factors hindering the development of controls which promote more sustainable forms of residential subdivision and development, are the relatively lack of research into residential design aspects and indicators of sustainability which are appropriate to New Zealand conditions, and, the general lack of awareness and acceptance by the community of planning controls which could help improve sustainability.


Given entrepreneurs' special role in the economic growth and development, many developed and developing countries are attempting to motivate more number of people who have entrepreneurial characteristics towards entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities. The purpose of this research was to study the effectiveness of entrepreneurship training courses in Ilam Province, Iran. In this research a descriptive survey method was used. The statistical population consisted of 830 people that based on Cochran's formula and by using proportionate stratified random sampling method 130 people were selected as the sample. The research tool was a questionnaire which its validity was confirmed by a panel of experts' and its reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha as to be 0.83 proving its high reliability. Data were analyzed by SPSS Software Package. It was found that participants' inclination towards self-employment and entrepreneurship was increased after attending the courses. Also, significant differences were observed in participants' readiness to start a business, their familiarity with entrepreneurship concepts and their ability to make a business plan before and after attending the courses.


This study describes a collaborative research project between two composition instructors and two librarians that analyzed citation patterns among students in the First-year Composition Program at the University of Georgia. Built upon earlier bibliometric studies, this study seeks not only to examine a large data set of citations—larger than was possible in the previous studies—but also to examine citations within the context of individual writers, teachers, assignments, and library instruction, a move that allows the researchers to scrutinize and compare their own evaluations of and assumptions about student research. The authors conclude that neither library nor composition instruction alone yields the strongest student writing but that close collaboration between the two in both creating the assignment and delivering instruction is essential to supporting good student writing and research.


Abstract For animals that reproduce in water, many adaptations in life‐history traits such as egg size, parental care, and behaviors that relate to embryo oxygenation are still poorly understood. In pipefishes, seahorses and seadragons, males care for the embryos either in some sort of brood pouch, or attached ventrally to the skin on their belly or tail. Typically, egg size is larger in the brood pouch group and it has been suggested that oxygen supplied via the pouch buffers the developing embryos against hypoxia and as such is an adaptation that has facilitated the evolution of larger eggs. Here, using four pipefish species, we tested whether the presence or absence of brood pouch relates to how male behavior, embryo size, and survival are affected by hypoxia, with normoxia as control. Two of our studied species Entelurus aequoreus and Nerophis ophidion (both having small eggs) have simple ventral attachment of eggs onto the male trunk, and the other two, Syngnathus typhle (large eggs) and S. rostellatus (small eggs), have fully enclosed brood pouches on the tail. Under hypoxia, all species showed lower embryo survival, while species with brood pouches suffered greater embryo mortality compared to pouchless species, irrespective of oxygen treatment. Behaviorally, species without pouches spent more time closer to the surface, possibly to improve oxygenation. Overall, we found no significant benefits of brood pouches in terms of embryo survival and size under hypoxia. Instead, our results suggest negative effects of large egg size, despite the protection of brood pouches.


Increasingly, researchers are turning to computational models to understand the interplay of important variables on systems' behaviors. Although researchers may develop models that meet the needs of their investigation, application limitations-such as nonintuitive user interface features and data input specifications-may limit the sharing of these tools with other research groups. By removing these barriers, other research groups that perform related work can leverage these work products to expedite their own investigations. The use of software engineering practices can enable managed application production and shared research artifacts among multiple research groups by promoting consistent models, reducing redundant effort, encouraging rigorous peer review, and facilitating research collaborations that are supported by a common toolset. This report discusses three established software engineering practices- the iterative software development process, object-oriented methodology, and Unified Modeling Language-and the applicability of these practices to computational model development. Our efforts to modify the MIDAS TranStat application to make it more user-friendly are presented as an example of how computational models that are based on research and developed using software engineering practices can benefit a broader audience of researchers.


AbstractFrancis Fukuyama (... * ...), the famous American philosopher and political scientist, visited the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau (CCTB) in December 2010. He gave a speech on the Forum of CCTB in which he interpreted in detail his ideas about the financial crisis and recent development of Capitalism. After the forum, he was interviewed by the journal of Marxism and Reality, and had a thorough talk on the topic of "Democracy, Globalization and the Future of History". Professor Fukuyama answered the questions raised by the scholars in CCTB systematically. The following is the content of the dialogue.Keywords: Francis Fukuyama, democracy, globalization, historyJEL classification: B14, H11 , N35, Z13(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)1. Communal Culture and Political TrustLi Yitian: Hello, Professor Fukuyama! Welcome to CCTB and thank you for communicating with us. We know you have been interviewed in this way for many times and people often asked "big questions" to you. Nevertheless, I hope to begin our dialogue from some "small questions". Firstly, as a Japanese descendant born in the United States, why did you choose to be a scholar in humanities? Are there some influences from your family?Fukuyama: Well, first of all, there are a lot of academics in my family. My grandfather on my mother's side was actually a very palmary economist in Japan. He in his generation went to study in Germany before the First World War. He helped found the economic department in Kyoto University and he was the President of Osaka Municipal University. Throughout his life he had written something like 50 books. It is interesting to visit your library for works on Marxism. My grandfather actually requested books from the library of the German sociologist Werner Sombart and brought the books back to Japan with him. I inherited from him the first edition of Karl Marx's Das Kapital. Also, my father was an academic. He was a sociologist. He worked at Pennsylvania State University. So it is natural for me to be a scholar.Li Yitian: In your academic career, who are the most important persons to you? If you like, please name one historical figure and a contemporary thinker.Fukuyama: Well, there were three people who were probably the most important. Unfortunately all of them have passed away. My earliest teacher was Allan Bloom, who was my teacher when I was in Cornell. From him, I developed the appreciation of western philosophy and learned Greek so I could read Plato and Aristotle and was introduced to all of the big philosophic questions. The next person who was important was Samuel Huntington, who was my teacher in graduate school, who was a social scientist, who also I think posed some very big important questions that are still being debated. So in a lot of introductory of international relation classes, "the end of history" is contrasted with his classic theory. My third important person was Seymour Martin Lipset who was a great political scientist and sociologist, who was my colleague when I first started teaching, from whom I learned a great deal about American politics and comparative methods.Li Yitian: If I don't misremember, Allan Bloom wrote a famous book, The Closing of The American Mind, in which he showed his anxiety about the social problems and the future of the United States. You have pointed out that the most serious challenge in contemporary American society is still how to maintain the balance between individuals and communities. As for this issue, how do you consider the changes and stability in the US?Fukuyama: I think that American society in a certain way hasn't been stabilized since the end of the 1990s. There were a lot of social dislocations during the 1970s and 1980s, which was reflected in family breakdown, high rate of crime and general lack of social trust among people. But I think that in some ways it peaked in the 1990s. …


Private labels have witnessed considerable growth in grocery retailing. While existing academic studies have provided valuable insights concerning the evolution of private labels, several issues remain largely unexplored. First, in the face of these large private-label volumes, private-label production opportunities arise. Due to increased private-label competition, national-brand manufacturers increasingly pursue a dual-branding strategy and engage in private-label production next to their national-brand activities. In chapter two of this dissertation, a major motivation for national-brand manufacturers to engage in private-label production, namely whether it creates retailer goodwill, is investigated. It shows that private-label production is indeed rewarded: national-brand manufacturers involved in private-label production for a discounter have a higher likelihood of obtaining national-brand shelf presence at that discounter. The third chapter focuses on one of the main reasons why retailers push private labels, i.e. because they generate high margins, and considers how a retailer's private-label margins vary within categories. It demonstrates that a retailer's private-label margins depend on the nature of the private-label supplier-retailer relationship, that they differ across quality tiers and package sizes, and that they are affected by a supplier's extent of national-brand focus next to its private-label production for the retailer. Finally, this dissertation concentrates on the recent premium private-label trend. Even though premium private labels are seen as "one of the hottest trends in retailing," retailers are selective in picking their battles with top-quality national brands and do not feel the need to extend their standard private label with a premium private label in every category. The fourth chapter provides insight into why retailers offer premium private labels in some categories, but not in others. The research presented in this dissertation is among the first to empirically investigate the phenomenon of private-label production, and to shed light on the recent trend of premium private labels.


"Ambrose Bierce and the Dance of Death "uses psychoanalytic theory in combination with historical, cultural, and literary contexts to examine the complex motif of death in a full range of Bierce s writings. Scholarly interest in Bierce, whose work has long been undervalued, has grown significantly in recent years. This new book contributes to the ongoing reassessment by providing new contexts for joining the texts in his canon in meaningful ways. Previous attempts to consider Bierce from a psychological perspective have been superficial, often reductive Freudian readings of individual stories such as An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and The Death of Halpin Frayser. This new volume not only updates these interpretations with insights from post-Freudian theorists but uses contemporary death theory as a framework to analyze the sources and expressions of Bierce s attitudes about death and dying. This approach makes it possible to discern links among texts that resolve some of the still puzzling ambiguities that have until now precluded a fuller understanding of both the man and his writings. Lively and engaging, "Ambrose Bierce and the Dance of Death" adds valuable new insights not only to the study of Bierce but to that of nineteenth-century American literature in general."


Canadian exports have often disappointed since the Great Recession. The apparent disconnect between exports and the Bank of Canada's current measure of foreign demand has created an impetus to search for an alternative. Based on a dynamic factor model (DFM) methodology, we use a broad range of international economic indicators (close to 300) to estimate external demand for Canadian exports. The new measure, Global Real Activity for Canadian Exports (GRACE), follows Binette et al. (2014) who suggest that a mix of global final expenditure and production variables could help better identify activity relevant to Canadian exports. They also suggest that non?US variables might be relevant. GRACE uses final expenditure and production variables not only from the United States but also for all of Canada's major trading partners. We apply this approach to total exports and 14 subaggregates of Canadian exports. Overall, we find that this new measure has good theoretical and empirical properties, especially for higher-level aggregates.


The study of quantum mechanical bound states is as old as quantum theory itself. Yet, it took many years to realize that three-body Borromean systems that are bound when any two-body subsystem is unbound are abundant in nature. Here we demonstrate the existence of Borromean systems of spin-polarized (spinless) identical fermions in two spatial dimensions. The ground state with zero orbital (planar) angular momentum exists in a Borromean window between critical two- and three-body strengths. The doubly degenerate first excited states of angular momentum one appears only very close to the two-body threshold. They are the lowest in a possible sequence of so-called super-Efimov states. While the observation of the super-Efimov scaling could be very difficult, the Borromean ground state should be observable in cold atomic gases and could be the basis for producing a quantum gas of three-body states in two dimensions.


Natural organic matter (NOM) is responsible for organic fouling during membrane filtration. Flux decline can be affected by the characteristics of the NOM and its interaction with membranes and their associated properties. The results showed that serious flux decline observed for MF membranes may be caused by pore blockage associated with large (macromolecular) hydrophilic molecules. In the case of UF membranes, flux decline may be caused by sequential or simultaneous processes such as cake/gel formation with large (macromolecular) molecules and pore blockage with relatively smaller molecules during filtration. The flux decline tests with representative macromolecules showed that fouling was affected more by the physical characteristics (e.g. size and structure (shape)) of foulants than the characteristics (e.g. hydrophilicity) of foulants.


The objective of this study was to compare approaches to modeling surface runoff due to summer and autumn storms on a cultivated field. The data consisted of measurements performed every 15 minutes during rainfall-surface runoff events in 1993. A transfer function model was formulated using measured rainfall or rainfall excess as an input and surface runoff as an output. The physical models were based on the kinematic wave approximation of the Saint Venant equations. Surface runoff was assumed to flow first as an overland flow on a level field and second in rills. The results showed that the transfer function model using rainfall excess as an input, and the implicitly solved rill flow model performed the best with respect to the fitness coefficients, which denoted the efficiency of the model. The testing of the models using fixed parameter combinations indicated that an event based parameter estimation was not applicable in verifying the models to changing conditions.


This study involved understanding the cash budget process and its effectiveness in Telkom Kenya Limited. The firm understudy is wholly owned by the government and has been in existence for over six years. Cash budget is an indispensable tool which assists organizations to manage their cash flows over a given period of time. The study therefore attempted to evaluate how the firm has employed a cash budget as a management tool. It involved understanding the cash budgeting process and its effectiveness in improving the management of cash. It also involved appreciating the role of liquidity management in the firm by ensuring sustenance of enough cash for operations while investing excess cash profitably. The study also assessed the weaknesses the firm faces in management of cash and how this management tool can be implemented as a strategy to alleviate the same. The study was done through interviewing the relevant staff using an interview guide to understand how the cash budget is prepared and used in decision making in the organization. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and historical information used as benchmark. Information relating to how the cash budget helped in forecasting cash flows and its flexibility in accommodating unbudgeted transactions assisted to evaluate cash budget effectiveness. The relevant literature was used as the benchmark to evaluate effectiveness. The study revealed that the firm ends up loosing huge cash amounts due to lack of established and operationalised mechanisms and strategies to harmonize cash collection and expenditure. There were many pitfalls with loose controls which ensured that the cash budget does not capture the total cash movement in the organization. There was also cash planning mismatch due to poor coordination between the various operationally related departments vested with management of cash. For example actualization of projects by engineers took longer than foreseen but is usually cash budgeted for. Operational expenditure also took the larger chunk of the cash generated instead of capital expenditure thus leading to dwindling cash sources in the future. To ensure the cash budget is valuable and effective, the firm needs to strive and achieve set standards. As a prerequisite also, the f irm's operations when managing cash need to be coordinated and harmonized to ensure that the cash budget objectives are achievable.


3555 Background: HIF-1α mediates adaptive responses to hypoxic conditions induced by anti-angiogenic therapy. Bortezomib has demonstrated the ability to inhibit transcriptional activity of HIF-1α. We hypothesized that the addition of bortezomib to bevacizumab would augment response, and we performed this phase I trial to assess safety, MTD, and correlative studies of anti-angiogenic activity.

METHODS
Patients with advanced malignancy refractory to standard therapy were eligible. Cohorts of 6 patients received bevacizumab and bortezomib on a 3-week cycle, with a stair-step dose escalation design. Pharmacodynamic assessment included plasma VEGF, VEGFR2, 20S proteasome inhibition, DCE-MRI, and tumor expression of HIF-1α, VEGF, VEGFR2, and polymorphisms of VEGF and VEGFR2.

RESULTS
71 patients were treated, and the MTD was identified at the highest dose level (bevacizumab 15 mg/kg, bortezomib 1.3 mg/m2). Two partial responses were observed in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) (Total patients with RCC = 6). Minor responses or stable disease lasting ≥4 months was achieved in 8 patients, including RCC (1), breast (1), leiomyosarcoma (1), nasopharyngeal (2), hepatocellular (1), neuroendocrine (1), lacrimal gland adenocystic carcinoma (1). The most common drug-related toxicities observed included hypertension (36%), fatigue (34%), thrombocytopenia (29%), and myalgia (19%). 22 patients (31%) experienced no drug-related toxicities greater than grade 1. 56 patients (79%) experienced no drug-related toxicities greater than grade 2. One DLT (G5 bleeding) was observed at the MTD. Plasma VEGF levels demonstrated decreases at 1 and 4 hours post-infusion, followed by increases to levels above baseline on days 2, 3, and at the end of cycle 1. DCE-MRI analysis demonstrated decreases in Ktrans on days 2 and 3. Analysis of HIF-1α expression in biopsies is underway.

CONCLUSIONS
Combination bevacizumab and bortezomib is well-tolerated and has demonstrated clinical activity in patients with previously treated, advanced malignancy. Pharmacodynamic assessment with biomarkers and DCE-MRI suggests that inhibition of angiogenic activity was achieved. Updated clinical and biomarker data will be presented. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


He was the first to popularize the concept of time travel. He disturbed--and fascinated--us with a frightening doctor's island. He wrote of an invisible man, of men on the moon, and of a war of the worlds. He has influenced countless other writers, artists, and even scientists. H. G. Wells is one of the most acclaimed science fiction writers who ever lived, and five of his classic tales are collected in this book for readers to treasure. H. G. Wells includes The Time Machine, The Island of Dr Moreau, The Invisble Man, The War of the Worlds, The First Men in the Moon, and The Food of the Gods. Readers new to this remarkable author will delight in these amazing stories, while fans of Wells will enjoy the insightful introduction by an expert on the author's life and work. All will appreciate the leather cover, gilded edges, printed endpapers, ribbon bookmark, and other features on this unique gift book. No library is complete without the works of H. G. Wells, the father of science fiction!


Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) data (180 sites) from Hercynian granitoids from Southern Corsica (France) and Northern Sardinia (Italy) provide a high-density net of structural information for this part of the European Hercynian belt. Two main groups of granitoids, defined according to petrography and relative chronology, provide contrasting AMS results. For both groups, shallowly dipping magnetic foliations and lineations suggest that these granitoids were emplaced as large-scale shallowly dipping sheets or open funnel-shaped structures at a high structural level. In non-leucocratic granitoids (305–300 Ma), foliation and lineation trajectory maps reveal antiforms and synforms with a N130 axial trace. Intersection of the foliation planes indicates a N120 low-plunging 'fold' axis, revealing a N120 maximum stretching direction. Slightly younger leucocratic granitoids (295–285 Ma), bounded by late Hercynian faults, display N50 lineations parallel to the elongated shapes of these intrusions. This structural pattern is undisturbed by the faults, and suggests an intrusion in decakilometre-scale tensional fractures indicating a N140 instantaneous stretching direction compatible with the stretching direction evidenced in non-leucocratic granitoids. A younger c. N20-oriented Permian dyke swarm confirms the permanence of this stretching direction over at least 35 Ma and indicates a coaxial strain regime. To integrate these new data within a broader context in the Hercynian belt, Corsica has to be back-rotated clockwise by 70° to its Permian position, which indicates a north to N30 stretching direction for the 305–285 Ma interval, compatible with the post-collisional strain and stress fields of the French Massif Central at about the same period.


Imagine That! explores new ways to enliven your classroom by opening 'the mind's eye, ear and heart' with over 70 motivating activities that help your students learn more effectively. Using more of their inner resources, students will find greater personal meaning in the classroom experience. Imagine That! presents a clear introduction to mental imagery, stressing its importance for our cognitive processes in general and for better language learning. A brief review of relevant research provides a background for the many practical ideas about using imagery in secondary and adult ELT classrooms described in this book. All the language skills are addressed. The book comes with a multimedia CD-ROM with worksheets, artwork, music, and recordings of parts of the activities. It can be used on a computer with Power Point and with a CD player. The activities can be adapted and used for all level of students from beginner to advanced.


In "Start Late", Finish Rich, David Bach provides much-needed advice for all those who've asked themselves 'Why didn't I start saving when I was younger?' Whether you're in your thirties, forties, fifties or sixties you still have the opportunity to put your life on the right track and stop worrying about the future. Using the Finish Rich wisdom that has already inspired millions of people, David Bach shows how you really can transform your finances with the right attitude and clear, step-by-step guidance. This positive, practical book is packed with a wealth of information on how to get out of debt, save more, earn more, and most importantly live more! You've spent long enough working for money; now it's time to make your money work for you.


Natural stone is considered to be a versatile, durable and aesthetically pleasing building material. From the beginning of civilization, important structures and monuments have been built from, or based on, natural stone. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the use of local stone resources was mostly in balance with the local environment. Strict environmental legislation has resulted in the closing of many long-standing quarries in industrialized countries, which has led to a shortage of traditional stone varieties. This has caused problems for restoration practice. Cheap, imported stone from less industrialized countries has become more widely available in recent years. Some of the issues related to built stone conservation and restoration covered by this volume are: the establishment of inventories of possible replacement stones; understanding the decay mechanism and use of preventive conservation methods for slowing down decay processes; evaluation of the properties of natural stone; and assessing the risks of using replacement stones of different qualities.


This article presents a framework of semiotic analysis that could be used for interpreting learning objects. Many learning objects are multimodal representations that aim at servicing specific educational objectives. Consequently, an urgent need arises to know what kind of meanings these representations produce and what kind of pedagogic relationships are shaped between students and them. Taking a concrete learning object as an example, we deploy a sample of multimodal discourse analysis in order to elucidate these issues. Finally, we conclude with a few thoughts about the possibility of elaborating such a framework in relation to the effective design and the implementation of learning objects.


Determining whether a scene observed with a satellite imager is composed of a thin cirrus over a water cloud or thick cirrus contiguous with underlying layers of ice and water clouds is often difficult because of similarities in the observed radiance values. In this paper an artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm, employing several Aqua MODIS infrared channels and the retrieved total cloud visible optical depth, is trained to detect multilayer ice-over-water cloud systems as identified by matched April 2009 CloudSat and CALIPSO (CC) data. The CC lidar and radar profiles provide the vertical structure that serves as output truth for a multilayer ANN, or MLANN, algorithm. Applying the trained MLANN to independent July 2008 MODIS data resulted in a combined ML and single layer hit rate of 75% (72%) for nonpolar regions during the day (night). The results are comparable to or more accurate than currently available methods. Areas of improvement are identified and will be addressed in future versions of the MLANN.


Zernike moments are widely used in several pattern recognition applications, as invariant descriptors of the image shape. Zernike moments have proved to be superior than other moment functions in terms of their feature representation capabilities. The major drawback with Zernike moments is the computational complexity. This paper presents a fast algorithm for the computation of Zernike moments of a binary image. The Zernike moment integrals are evaluated along the object boundary points using a discrete version of the Green's theorem. The real-valued Zernike radial polynomials are computed with the help of a recursive procedure. The performance of the algorithm based on contour integration is faster and more accurate than the moments evaluated using the whole image. Experimental results are presented for the image of a ellipse shape. The exact (analytically derived) values of the Zernike moments are compared with the numerically evaluated moments of the discretized image, using both the conventional direct sum method and the contour integration method.


The nucleolus constitutes a cytologically visible phenotype for ribosomal DNA (rDNA). Nucleolar size, as determined by silver staining, is a good indicator of cell proliferation rate and biosynthetic activity. Nevertheless, the relationship between rDNA content and sexual dimorphism for nucleolar size is not well documented. In the present study, the impact of sex and ploidy level on nucleolar size is investigated in three haplo/diploid and three diplo/diploid species of insect. Nucleolar sizes are found to be proportional to ploidy level in the haplo/diploid hymenopterans Trypoxylon albitarse and Nasonia vitripennis. Conversely, in the ant Messor barbarus, nucleolar sizes are larger in haploid males (winged) than diploid females (apterous). Among the diplo/diploid species, evidence for gene dosage compensation on nucleolar activity is suggested by the absence of sex differences in Drosophila simulans, a species in which rDNA is limited to the X chromosome. By contrast, in the grasshopper Stenobothrus festivus, another species with rRNA genes restricted to the X chromosome, the size of the nucleolus is significantly larger in females than in males. Additionally, in the grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus, where rDNA is distributed evenly on several auto- somes of males and females, the females also show larger nucleoli than males. In both grasshopper species, the magnitude of the female/male ratio for nucleolus area is very similar to the body size ratio, suggesting that body size, as well as sex, ploidy, gene dosage and physiological activity, may be an important determinant of nucleolus area.


A history of government drug regulation and the relationship between the pharmaceutical companies in the U.K. and the licensing authority is outlined. Phases of regulatory stringency are identified with the formation of the Committees on Safety of Drugs and Medicines viewed as watersheds. A study of the impact of government regulation on industrial R&D activities focuses on the effects on the rate and direction of new product innovation. A literature review examines the decline in new chemical entity innovation. Regulations are cited as a major but not singular cause of the decline. Previous research attempting to determine the causes of such a decline on an empirical basis is given and the methodological problems associated with such research are identified. The U.K. owned sector of the British pharmaceutical industry is selected for a study employing a bottom-up approach allowing disaggregation of data. A historical background to the industry is provided, with each company analysed or a case study basis. Variations between companies regarding the policies adopted for R&D are emphasised. The process of drug innovation is described in order to determine possible indicators of the rate and direction of inventive and innovative activity. All possible indicators are considered and their suitability assessed. R&D expenditure data for the period 1960-1983 is subsequently presented as an input indicator. Intermediate output indicators are treated in a similar way and patent data are identified as a readily-available and useful source. The advantages and disadvantages of using such data are considered. Using interview material, patenting policies for most of the U.K. companies are described providing a background for a patent-based study. Sources of patent data are examined with an emphasis on computerised systems. A number of searches using a variety of sources are presented. Patent family size is examined as a possible indicator of an invention's relative importance. The patenting activity of the companies over the period 1960-1983 is given and the variation between companies is noted. The relationship between patent data and other indicators used is analysed using statistical methods resulting in an apparent lack of correlation. An alternative approach taking into account variations in company policy and phases in research activity indicates a stronger relationship between patenting activity, R&D Expenditure and NCE output over the period. The relationship is not apparent at an aggregated company level. Some evidence is presented for a relationship between phases of regulatory stringency, inventive and innovative activity but the importance of other factors is emphasised.


Though Brazilian academia claims equality, the sector has largely been referred to as non-meritocratic, and academic hiring is still inward-oriented. The Lattes platform, a public curricular information system, reflects elements of this protectionism. This article assesses two 'obsessions' in Brazilian academia: the 'mandatory' Lattes CV, and the assessment criteria and procedures in public tenders for faculty positions. The current situation is introduced to the reader, and the shortcomings of these methods and their effect on academia in Brazil are analyzed. The following improvements are proposed: (1) evaluations in public tenders based on a candidate's CV, interview, and a sample lecture, (2) removing the Lattes CV as a mandatory format, and (3) using platforms such as Microsoft Academic, Google Scholar, ORCID or ResearcherID for curricular information. With these recommendations, Brazil can move towards a more open and international-oriented academic hiring system.


This thesis explores the ceramic work of Ian Garrett and Magdalene Odundo, in order to examine the manner in which two artists of opposite identity in terms of race, gender and global location, come to create art which is visually, technically and conceptually similar. It is the intention ofthis study to focus primarily on the cross-cultural aspect of the two artist's work. However, it has been necessary to include biographical and technical information as this information gives a more complete understanding ofthe cross-cultural issues involved. Most ofthe information for this study has been gained through interviewing the artists. Copies oftwo interviews with Ian Garrett are appended at the back ofthis thesis. The interviews were conducted with Garrett in Cape Town. The first interview took place in 1998 and the second interview was conducted in the year 2000. A week was spent with Magdalene Odundo in Surrey, England, during May 2000. In this time similar questions to those asked of Ian Garrett in October 2000 where put to Odundo. The interview was, however, conducted in a conversational form and was not recorded as Odundo finds recording an interview has the potential to be a limiting factor, preferring her work to remain open-ended. This thesis discusses the broader implications ofGarrett and Odundo's art. The study makes an attempt to situate their work globally, suggesting not only that their work plays an active role in narrowing the boundaries which exist between African art and western art, but that it also plays a part in closing down the distinctions which continue to exist between art and craft. Finally, the thesis suggests that Garrett's and Odundo's art can be seen as a symbol of current cultural conditions and global affairs. CONTENTS Page Number


Abstract. Agriculture is one of the most critical sectors of the Mongolian economy. In Mongolia, land degradation is increasing in the cropland region, especially in a cultivated area. The country has challenges to identify new croplands with sufficient capacity for cultivation, especially for local decision-makers. GIS applications tremendously help science in making land assessments. This study was carried out in Bornuur soum, Mongolia. The goal of this study to estimate that best suitable area for supporting crop production in Bornuur soum, using a GIS-based multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and remote sensing. GIS-based multi-criteria analysis (MCA) has been widely used in land suitability analyses in many countries. In this research, the GIS-based spatial MCA among the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method has employed. The approach was enhanced for each criterion which as soil, topography and vegetation. The opinions of agronomist experts and a literature review helped in identifying criteria (soil data, topography, water and vegetation data) that are necessary to determine areas suitable for crops. The detailed cropland suitability maps indicate that 46.12 % is highly suitable for cropland, 34.68 % is moderate suitable, 13.64 % is marginal suitable and 5.56 % is not suitable. The MCA and AHP tools play an essential role in the multi-criteria analysis. Therefore, the results of these methods allow us to estimate an appropriate area for cultivation in Bornuur soum, Tuv province. The crop suitability method implies significant decisions on different levels and the result will be used for cropland management plan to make a decision. It is an integral role in agricultural management and land evaluation. Future research should further develop this method by including socio-economic (potential citizens for agriculture, current crop growth, water resource, etc.) and environmental variables (rainfall, vegetation types, permafrost distribution, etc.) to obtain specific results. However, it could be also be applied for a single crop type (mainly barley, wheat and potato) in Mongolia.


The chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect, which describes the spin-filtering ability of diamagnetic structures like DNA or peptides having chiral symmetry, has emerged in the past years as the central mechanism behind a number of important phenomena, like long-range biological electron transfer, enantiospecific electrocatalysis, and molecular recognition. Also, CISS-induced spin polarization has a considerable promise for new spintronic devices and the design of quantum materials. The CISS effect is attributed to spin–orbit coupling, but a sound theoretical understanding of the surprising magnitude of this effect in molecules without heavy atoms is currently lacking. We are taking an essential step into this direction by analyzing the importance of imaginary terms in the Hamiltonian as a necessary condition for non-vanishing spin polarization in helical structures. Based on first-principles calculations and analytical considerations, we perform a symmetry analysis of the key quantities determining transport probabilities of electrons of different spin orientations. These imaginary terms originate from the spin–orbit coupling, and they preserve the Hermitian nature of the Hamiltonian. Hence, they are not related to the breaking of time-reversal symmetry resulting from the fact that molecules are open systems in a junction. Our symmetry analysis helps to identify essential constraints in the theoretical description of the CISS effect. We further draw an analogy with the appearance of imaginary terms in simple models of barrier scattering, which may help understanding the unusually effective long-range electron transfer in biological systems.


Background: Hypertension is a major public health challenge worldwide. It is the most important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of hypertension and associated factors among the residents of Yemetu community in Ibadan-North Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. The study involved 806 respondents aged from 18-90 years from 171 households, selected by cluster sampling technique. It was a house-to-house survey. Behavioural risk factors were measured using World Health Organisation (WHO) STEPwise approach to chronic disease risk factor surveillance (STEPS 1 & 2). Hypertension was defined as Systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥ 140 and/or Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 90mm Hg or currently on anti-hypertensive medication. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square and binary logistic regression tests at P<0.05. Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension was 33.1% (male 36.8% and female 31.1%). The proportion of self reported hypertension was 11.1%, while 5.1% were currently on anti-hypertensive medication. The mean age of the respondents was 38.8 ±15.6 years. The body mass index of the respondents was 5.2%, 52.0%, 29.5% and 13.3% for underweight, normal, overweight and obese, respectively. Alcohol and tobacco use were found in 11.5% and 3.2%, respectively. The result of binary logistic regression analysis revealed that hypertension was significantly associated with being in age groups 30-49 years (OR 2.258, 95% CI: 1.311 - 3.884), ≥50 years (OR 7.145, 95% CI: 3.644 - 14.011), being overweight or obese (OR 2.281, 95% CI: 1.022 – 5.088). Hypertension was inversely associated with being underweight (OR 0.537, 95% CI: 0.395 – 0.832). Conclusion: This study revealed a high prevalence of hypertension. These data underscores the need for urgent steps to create awareness and implement interventions for prevention and early detection of hypertension, especially among those aged ≥30 years and the overweight or obese.


Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes Drummond M, Schulper M, Torrance G, O'Brien B and Stoddart G 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 2005 ISBN: 019-852945-7. RRP $99.95. 350 pages AS THE NAME SUGGESTS, Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes, third edition, is a recently updated and revised textbook that explores the various forms of economic evaluation - applied to the health care setting. However, at first glance, the title of this book could be slightly misleading. One might even mistake it for being yet another introductory text in health economics! Indeed, it is quite the contrary, as the authors have gone beyond merely describing methods of economic evaluation, to critically evaluating the methods per se. The authors have managed to deliver a comprehensive text which enables its readers to reach beyond the basics of economic evaluation and ultimately prepare themselves for some "handson" experience when dealing with contentious or "thorny" issues in the real world. There are currently a number of good introductory texts in health economics and this book is clearly intended as a supplement (and not a substitute) for these. The text comprises 11 chapters in which the following key points are covered: * A quick introduction to the basic forms of evaluation; * A guide to critically appraising economic evaluations; * Four chapters discussing the methodological issues in the main forms of evaluation; * Two chapters exploring the use of the main approaches for data collection in economic evaluation; and * Two final chapters dealing with the presentation and use of economic evaluation results, followed by the author's own "survival guide" for evaluators. The first two chapters provide a brief overview of the book, followed by a short introduction to the basic methods of economic evaluation. The authors also touch on some of the issues to be discussed in later chapters. Chapter 3 provides a comprehensive checklist for assessing economic evaluations, followed by supportive notes to each question, and critical appraisal exercises at the end of other chapters (3, 5 and 6). Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7 are spent discussing the four main forms of economic evaluation - cost analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis and cost-benefit analysis - and form the main part of the book. The allocation of overhead costs and discussion on estimating productivity changes are dealt with well in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 introduces the notion of "net benefits" as a proxy for measuring the "value for money" of health care programmes. A very strong theoretical grounding for cost-utility analysis has been incorporated into Chapter 6, and this is followed by some useful exercises on calculating quality-adjusted life-years and healthy-year equivalents. Chapter 7 introduces and explores the measurement technique of "willingness-to-pay", and Chapters 8 and 9 effectively deal with analysing patient-level data and decision-analytic modelling. The remaining two chapters discuss the problems, potential and transferability of economic evaluation results to other settings (Chapter 10) and, finally, the economic evaluators "survival guide" in Chapter 11. The text has been written by internationally recognised health economics "gurus" in a clear and concise manner and, at times, the authors have even added their own cheeky touch of humor. …


In this paper we primarily summarize and highlight the major
findings regarding reactions of human beings to disaster warnings of
an immediate event. Response in this approach is viewed more narrowly
as the adjustive behavioral outcome of the reaction pattern.
Reaction is the broader set of activities involved in exposure to
and use of disseminated warning messages, as well as other observations
regarding a dangerous situation. Our focus is on individual reactions to relatively short-term
warnings as might be issued in a sudden emergency generated by a
flood from a dam collapse or sudden river rising, hurricane-typhoon
and cyclone, tsunamis or so called tidal wave, transportation accident
involving fire or explosion of dangerous chemicals, or a major
technological accident in a nuclear plant. We do not concern
ourselves with longer term messages which might warn about slowly
developing disasters such as might be involved in famines, droughts,
most epidemics, diffuse toxic poisonings, or even long range earthquake
predictions. More than logic is involved in distinguishing
between warnings in short run and long run situations. Empirically, research studies show there are some qualitative differences in how
people react to warnings in the two kinds of situations (e.g., warnings
are less recognized, believed, and responded to In the long run situations.


Abstract Postherpetic neuralgia is a complication following 10% of herpes zoster infections. It is a complex pain syndrome, thought to be driven by peripheral factors and central nervous system sensitisation. Herpes zoster is common in South Africa. It is important to identify high-risk patients and intervene early to reduce the likelihood and severity of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). This review discusses a stepwise approach to the treatment of PHN in primary care.


Correspondence Camilla Hawthorne, Department of Sociology, UC Santa Cruz. Email: email@example.com Abstract Katherine McKittrick famously wrote in Demonic Grounds that "black lives are necessarily geographic, but also struggle with discourses that erase and despatialize their sense of place" (McKittrick, 2006, p. xiii). From analyses of diaspora to the plantation, from studies of urban segregation to anticolonial circuits of resistance, Black thought has long been concerned with questions of space, place, and power. Yet these interventions, which span centuries and continents, have not always been recognized as "properly" geographical and have thus been systematically excluded from the formal canon of disciplinary geography. Within the last five years, however, Black Geographies as a field of inquiry has gained increasing institutional recognition—thanks to the tireless labor of Black scholars to carve out spaces for their work within the discipline. This article reflects on the state of the field of Black Geographies, with an emphasis on the radically interdisciplinary interventions this body of scholarship has made into the mainstream of disciplinary geography. I review some of the most prominent thematic areas within Black Geographies, including space-making and the Black geographic imagination; racial capitalism; cities, policing, and carceral geographies; and racism and plantation futures. I conclude with a consideration of avenues for future research, including the need for more studies that provincialize North America and connect with Latinx and Native/ Indigenous geographies. Received: 7 February 2019 Revised: 22 June 2019 Accepted: 5 July 2019


We propose a method to reduce cross talk by using single-mode filters, namely, extracting the fundamental mode from a multimode optical network (EFMON). The EFMON effect is evaluated for a three-step switching system consisting of cascade electro-optic (EO) waveguide prism deflector (WPD) micro-optical switches (MOSs) and a multimode waveguide network. The WPD MOS is optimized for single-mode operation in lead lanthanum zirconate titanate thin films as EO slab waveguides with a driving voltage of 12 V, a length of 310 microm, and a channel distance of 20 microm. Beam propagation method simulation reveals that mode disturbance, higher-order modes, and cross talk are accumulated by switching steps. A single-mode filter for EFMON in the output region of the switching system reduces cross talk to below -20 dB at a propagation length of 2000 microm in the single-mode filter and below -30 dB at 20000 microm.


Defects in as-grown undoped and tellurium-doped gallium antimonide were studied using positron lifetime and coincidence Doppler broadening measurements. The grown-in defects in these samples were supposed to be Ga vacancy (VGa)-related defects. More VGa-related defects were introduced into undoped and lightly Te-doped GaSb after electron irradiation at the doses of 1.0 × 1017 cm−2 and 1.0 × 1018 cm−2; however, in the heavily Te-doped GaSb, electron irradiation led to partial recovery of VGa. The role of Te content in the defect evolution is also discussed.


Conditional Random Fields offer some advantages over traditional models for sequence labeling. These conditional models have mainly been introduced up to now in the information retrieval context for information extraction or POS-tagging tasks. This paper investigates the use of these models for signal processing and segmentation. In this context, the input we consider is a signal that is represented as a sequence of real-valued feature vectors and the training is performed using only partially labeled data. We propose a few models for dealing with such signals and provide experimental results on the data from the eye movement challenge.


Learning-by-teaching has been identified as one of the more effective approaches to learning. Recently, educational researchers have investigated virtual environments in order to utilize the learning-by-teaching pedagogy. In a face-to-face learning-by-teaching situation, the role of the learners is to teach their peers or instructors. In virtual environments, learners take an active role by teaching a computer agent, which is referred to as Teachable Agent (TA). Although the current TA systems have shown their effectiveness on students' learning, there are some challenges associated with learner-computer interaction methods. One of the most popular interaction methods between the learner and the system is a concept map approach. The learner teaches TA by creating information structures by drawing and editing their concept map. However, the learner can teach TA rather constrained topics, such as concept-related materials or causal effects. It is difficult for TA systems to be utilized in different types of learning along with concept-related areas. Therefore, new approaches or methods for communication between a human learner and TA systems are required. This project aims to suggest a virtual learning-by-teaching environment. A communication method (i.e., a symbol manipulation approach) was adopted in this system. The method facilitates the interaction between the learner and the computer agent, specifically for K-12 students' mathematics learning. The design and development process is described, and future research areas are discussed.


The goal of this paper is to extend the framework of finite-size analysis recently developed for quantum key distribution to continuous-variable protocols. We do not solve this problem completely here, and we mainly consider the finite-size effects on the parameter estimation procedure. Despite the fact that some questions are left open, we are able to give an estimation of the secret key rate for protocols which do not contain a postselection procedure. As expected, these results are significantly more pessimistic than those obtained in the asymptotic regime. However, we show that recent continuous-variable protocols are able to provide fully secure secret keys in the finite-size scenario, over distances larger than $50$ km.


We study the geometry of deep (neural) networks (DNs) with piecewise affine and convex nonlinearities. The layers of such DNs have been shown to be {\em max-affine spline operators} (MASOs) that partition their input space and apply a region-dependent affine mapping to their input to produce their output. We demonstrate that each MASO layer's input space partitioning corresponds to a {\em power diagram} (an extension of the classical Voronoi tiling) with a number of regions that grows exponentially with respect to the number of units (neurons). We further show that a composition of MASO layers (e.g., the entire DN) produces a progressively subdivided power diagram and provide its analytical form. The subdivision process constrains the affine maps on the (exponentially many) power diagram regions to greatly reduce their complexity. For classification problems, we obtain a formula for a MASO DN's decision boundary in the input space plus a measure of its curvature that depends on the DN's nonlinearities, weights, and architecture. Numerous numerical experiments support and extend our theoretical results.


Technology is becoming an integral part of the educational realm; this article provides an overview of constructivism and its implications for learner's practices inside the classroom. It describes the educational features of constructivism with its basic forms and/or variations. It then elucidates the constructivist view of technology, learning, and the relationship among them. It will provide various definitions of constructivist approaches, and explains the assumption and principles of constructivist pedagogy. Finally, this study presents how constructivism as a learning theory can guide the process of learning in classroom situations.


Over the last several years, one area of sentence processing research that has received considerable attention is how native speakers resolve structural ambiguities while reading, as in Someone shot the servant of the actress who was on the balcony (e.g., Cuetos & Mitchell 1988). Cross-linguistic research on this kind of ambiguous relative clause (RC) attachment has revealed that speakers of some languages prefer to attach the RC who was on the balcony to the first noun phrase (the servant), whereas speakers of other languages prefer attachment to the second noun phrase (the actress). From the perspective of bilingual sentence processing, research on RC attachment can provide insight into a number of important issues related to language transfer, language attrition, and processing efficiency. The present study, therefore, seeks to build upon some of these lines of research by examining the on-line parsing strategies among native speakers of Basque (N = 17) on two self-paced reading tasks in Basque and Spanish. Our purpose was to investigate which parsing routines these bilinguals utilized for each language in order to determine whether they maintained separate strategies or adopted one strategy for both languages. Analyses of reading times at critical regions in experimental sentences suggest that this group of bilinguals employed a single parsing strategy in Basque and Spanish. The findings are discussed within recent proposals of monolingual and bilingual sentence processing.


Spirituality and spiritual care are both generating considerable interest as part of holistic and client-centred approaches of the profession of Occupational Therapy. Concerns have been raised regarding the teaching and learning needs of occupational therapy educators and students regarding spirituality and spiritual care. The aim of this study was to explore educators' and students' needs regarding teaching and learning strategies for integrating spirituality and spiritual care in the South African occupational therapy education. An interpretive, qualitative exploratory-descriptive approach was used with nine educators and 29 students who were purposively recruited from a university in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Four focus group discussions were used for data collection and thematically analysed and managed in Atlas.ti 7. Two themes emerged: "We actually use transformative learning as a pedagogical approach," and "We need philosophical guidelines for integrating spirituality". These results imply that the transformative learning theories could contribute significantly to the integration of spirituality and spiritual care in occupational therapy education. Additionally, the findings support the use of critical reflection and consciousnessraising as teaching and learning strategies for spirituality. Overall, the findings indicated that the phases of transformative learning could be used to integrate spiritualty and spiritual care in occupational therapy education. This study suggests a basis for development of guidelines to assist the educators and students to address the need for integrating spirituality in the occupational therapy classroom.


The growing use of the web log reveals a radical socio-cultural transition and a progressing public sphere in China. In particular, bloggers actively exchange interests, comments and values and have formed a characteristically Chinese blogging culture. The feature of individualism shows that bloggers who insist on freedom of expression and pursue personal ideas can always find a place in the blogosphere. The two examples given in this paper – Muzimei's sexual diary and Wang Xiaofeng's satirical blog – demonstrate that individual opinions across the blogosphere have significantly reflected public consensus and implicitly changed political culture. However, the pursuit of freedom of expression in the blogosphere has to struggle with a strong political censorship, negotiate an unstable living space and thus, can only enjoy a limited success. Therefore, critical communication and democratic participation in China still have a long way to go.


Recovery of severely declining resource stocks often leads to enforced quotas or reduced human access to those resources. Predators, however, do not recognize such restrictions and may be attracted to areas of increased prey abundances where human extraction is being lim- ited. Such targeting by predators may reduce or retard the potential recovery of depressed stocks. In the San Juan Islands, northern Puget Sound, USA, marine reserves were implemented to recover depressed fish populations. We examine the role of harbor seals Phoca vitulina in the San Juan Islands food web. We describe the temporal and spatial variability in their diet, emphasizing species for which reserves were established (rockfish Sebastes spp.) and other important de - pressed stocks, including salmon Oncorhynchus spp. and Pacific herring Clupea pallasii. During winter and spring, seals primarily consumed Pacific herring, Pacific sand lance Ammodytes hexa- pterus, northern anchovy Engraulis mordax, and walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma. During summer/fall, adult salmonids composed >50% of the diet and were particularly important in odd- numbered calendar years, when pink salmon O. gorbuscha spawn. Rockfish were not a primary prey species at any time of the year, suggesting that the abundance of alternative prey species may reduce predation pressure and provide a critical buffer to rockfish predation. The importance of considering increased visitation by marine predators to areas where potential prey are enhanced through restrictions on human extractions should be considered when modeling the efficacy of quotas and reduced access areas, such as marine reserves.


This lecture examines the role of borders in the Berne Convention at the time of the treaty's first passage in 1886, and today. The later 19th century was an era of increasing commerce and communication among countries whose domestic production and reproduction of works of authorship had vastly increased, thanks in part to new technologies, such as photography, lithography, and high-speed printing. But at that time, the frontiers between nations often frustrated authors' hopes for control over, or at least compensation for, the international exploitation of their works. Authors' rights ceased at their national boundaries; the world beyond foreboded not dragons, but pirates. At the inception of the 21st century, thanks to digital communications, authors are again encountering a world of increased international commerce in works of authorship, a world in which the persistence of national borders, and the disparate national regulation they entail, may seem even more frustrating than before. (Though, admittedly, the consequences of disparity are less dire than before; today, in lieu of expiration of protection, authors primarily face inconsistency of protection.) Moreover, the simultaneous and geographically pervasive nature of digital communications may undermine some basic rules of the Berne Convention. While the Berne Convention was designed to mute the significance of international boundaries, much of its structure presumes those borders. Their effective absence may provoke perverse results. This lecture will consider the extent to which Berne relies on national boundaries. It will also suggest measures that might be taken to alleviate the unintended consequences of the application of Berne's rules to the geographically indiscreet communication of copyrighted works, especially by digital media.


The success of Mexico City's New International Airport will depend not least on the quality of access to the airport on the ground. This report reviews policies and planning controls for surface access at a selection of comparable airports in cities of OECD countries. It offers input for the Mexican Federal Government's plans for infrastructure investments that will serve passengers, the airport workforce and the public by ensuring convenient, reliable airport journeys; supporting business travel for a productive Mexican economy; and by maintaining within acceptable bounds the airport's impact on road congestion and related air pollution.This report was prepared in collaboration with the OECD's Directorate for Public Governance.


Temperature is a strong driver of vector-borne disease transmission. Yet, for emerging arboviruses we lack fundamental knowledge on the relationship between transmission and temperature. Current models rely on the untested assumption that Zika virus responds similarly to dengue virus, potentially limiting our ability to accurately predict the spread of Zika. We conducted experiments to estimate the thermal performance of Zika virus (ZIKV) in field-derived Aedes aegypti across eight constant temperatures. We observed strong, unimodal effects of temperature on vector competence, extrinsic incubation period, and mosquito survival. We used thermal responses of these traits to update an existing temperature-dependent model to infer temperature effects on ZIKV transmission. ZIKV transmission was optimized at 29°C, and had a thermal range of 22.7°C - 34.7°C. Thus, as temperatures move toward the predicted thermal optimum (29°C) due to climate change, urbanization, or seasonally, Zika could expand north and into longer seasons. In contrast, areas that are near the thermal optimum were predicted to experience a decrease in overall environmental suitability. We also demonstrate that the predicted thermal minimum for Zika transmission is 5°C warmer than that of dengue, and current global estimates on the environmental suitability for Zika are greatly over-predicting its possible range.


This paper investigates the influence of both concentration and foreign banks expansion in Russian banking sector on the level of its competition. The estimation of competition is based on widely used non-structural methodology of Panzar-Rosse H-statistic (Rosse, Panzar, 1977; Panzar, Rosse, 1987) and draws upon a comprehensive panel data set of 525 Russian banks covering the period 2004q1–2009q4. From the one hand, the panel estimation outcome reveals a gradually increasing time trend for the H-statistic, thus suggesting an intensification of competition in the whole sector and among the large banks especially. From the other hand, the empirical evidence provided in this paper corroborates that foreign bank expansion strengthens competition and vice versa confirms the traditional view that concentration weakens competition


Devin Fore introduces the GAKhN Dictionary of Artistic Terms (1923–29), a selection of which is published in translation here for the first time. After a brief history of the State Academy of Artistic Sciences (GAKhN), which was established in 1921 and dissolved in 1930, Fore situates the unfinished collaboration between the academy's Section of Visual Arts and the Philosophical Department in the context of GAKhN's larger commitment to democratizing knowledge, and he suggests that what emerges from these dictionary entries are the contours of a program for a positivist aesthetics.


Class imbalance and lack of ground truth are two significant problems in modern machine learning research. These problems are especially pressing in operational contexts where the total number of data points is extremely large and the cost of obtaining labels is very high. In the face of these issues, accurate estimation of the performance of a detection or classification system is crucial to inform decisions based on the observations. This paper presents a framework for estimating performance of a binary classifier in such a context. We focus on the scenario where each set of measurements has been reduced to a score, and the operator only investigates data when the score exceeds a threshold. The operator is blind to the number of missed detections, so performance estimation targets two quantities: recall and the derivative of precision with respect to recall. Measuring with respect to error in these two metrics, simulations in this context demonstrate that labeling outliers not only outperforms random labeling, but often matches performance of an adaptive method that attempts to choose the optimal data for labeling. Application to real anomaly detection data confirms the utility of the approach, and suggests direction for future work.


This thesis aims to explore some of the factors that affect the dynamics of an organisational change initiative designed to create a positive work environment. To address this research objective, two research sub-questions were developed from the literature review: 1) What are the factors that accelerate organisational change? and 2) What are the factors that decelerate organisational change? A characteristic of dynamic approaches is that change does not necessarily become enacted, but can decelerate, reverse or change in direction. This thesis builds on the momentum and process change work of Beck, Brudel and Woywode (2008), Dawson (1997) and Jansen (2004) to examine how and why process, context, substance, actors and temporal factors may alter the planned path of organisational change over time. A critical realist approach was adopted for this thesis to identify the factors, events and experiences underlying change momentum. Multiple case studies are incorporated within a qualitative approach in order to examine how organisational change fluctuates across different contexts. Data have been collected from two organisations that contemplated a change initiative, in addition to five cases that did not proceed. This thesis contributes to understanding the potential causes and outcomes of the processes underpinning change, in addition to how these processes might move over time. The findings of this study suggest that organisational change processes ebb and flow according to the momentum shaped by a number of dynamic factors. This study has identified eight accelerating factors that build, leverage and maintain momentum: 1) the clear need to change, 2) adequate resources, 3) senior management support, 4) small wins, 5) little resistance, 6) alignment with vision, 7) repetitive momentum, and 8) the customisation and ownership of the change process. The findings indicate that an accelerating factor at one point in time can also act to decelerate (i.e. stall, divert or slow down) the change process within later temporal stages. Eight additional decelerating factors are identified during the initial discussions surrounding the decision of whether or not to adopt change: 1) organisational inertia, 2) competing priorities, 3) inadequate resources, 4) little change history, 5) politics, 6) lack of readiness to change, 7) change fatigue, and 8) superficial change. This thesis expands the definition of momentum as a "systematic trajectory over time" (Lehman & Hahn, 2013, p.852) by demonstrating how momentum can not only build, accelerate and maintain, but also circulate, fail to get off the ground, remain temporally consistent, divert or regress. The study's findings extend the empirical process perspective of Cross, Baker and Parker (2003), Fletcher (2008), Jansen (2004) and Pettigrew (2012) by considering Prochaska and DiClemente's (1982) Transtheoretical Model of Change. In doing so, it presents a revision of the original factors (i.e. how, why, who and what) identified within Dawson's (1994) framework of how change happens by contributing two additional determinants of early change processes: when change happens and why change does not happen.


We present the results of a study designed to provide insight into interactive simulation use during guided-inquiry activities in chemistry classes. The PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado develops interactive simulations that utilize implicit – rather than explicit – scaffolding to support student learning through exploration and experimentation. In the study, 80 students in a General Chemistry class were given ten minutes to explore the PhET simulation Molecule Polarity in self-selected groups, with no instructions on how to interact with the simulation. Using mouse click data, audio recordings and clicker question responses, we investigated: students' ability to use the simulation by analyzing the extent to which they explored the simulation, the discussions students engaged in during simulation use, and student perceptions of simulation use. We found effective simulation use, with the 22 groups exploring an average of 18 of the 23 available features in Molecule Polarity. Sixty-four percent of student utterances were part of on-topic (polarity) discussion segments, with most off-topic discussions being intermittent and brief. Students largely found the simulation useful for their learning and experienced either brief or no frustration during sim exploration. These results indicate that students in large classes can use interactive simulations designed with implicit scaffolding through exploration, and can do so without frustration overwhelming the perception of value brought by the simulation use. This work suggests that implicitly scaffolded interactive simulations can provide environments that support guided-inquiry learning and channel students into productive inquiry while minimizing the need for explicit guidance.


PURPOSE
Rod photoreceptors are exquisitely sensitive light detectors that function in dim light. The timely inactivation of their light responses is critical for the ability of rods to reliably detect and count photons. A key step in the inactivation of the rod transduction is the phosphorylation of the rod visual pigment, rhodopsin, catalyzed by G-protein-dependent receptor kinase 1 (GRK1). Absence of GRK1 greatly prolongs the photoreceptors' light response and enhances their susceptibility to degeneration. This study examined the light responses from mouse rods expressing various levels of GRK1 to evaluate how their function is modulated by rhodopsin inactivation.

METHODS
Transretinal and single-cell rod electrophysiological recordings were obtained from several strains of mice expressing GRK1 at 0.3- to 3-fold the wild-type levels. The effect of GRK1 expression level on the function of mouse rods was examined in darkness and during background adaptation.

RESULTS
Altering the expression of GRK1 from 0.3- to 3-fold that in wild-type rods had little effect on the single photon response amplitude. Notably, increasing the expression level of GRK1 accelerated the dim flash response shut off but had no effect on the saturated response shut off. Additionally, GRK1 excess abolished the acceleration of saturated responses shut off during light adaptation.

CONCLUSIONS
These results demonstrate that rhodopsin inactivation can modulate the kinetics of recovery from dim light stimulation. More importantly, the ratio of rhodopsin kinase to its modulator recoverin appears critical for the proper adaptation of rods and the acceleration of their response shut off in background light.


One of the most important aspects for a successful police operation is the ability for the police to obtain timely, reliable and actionable intelligence related to the investigation or incident at hand. Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) provides an invaluable avenue to access and collect such information in addition to traditional investigative techniques and information sources. This book offers an authoritative and accessible guide on how to conduct Open Source Intelligence investigations from data collection to analysis to the design and vetting of OSINT tools. In its pages the reader will find a comprehensive view into the newest methods for OSINT analytics and visualizations in combination with real-life case studies to showcase the application as well as the challenges of OSINT investigations across domains. Examples of OSINT range from information posted on social media as one of the most openly available means of accessing and gathering Open Source Intelligence to location data, OSINT obtained from the darkweb to combinations of OSINT with real-time analytical capabilities and closed sources. In addition it provides guidance on legal and ethical considerations making it relevant reading for practitioners as well as academics and students with a view to obtain thorough, first-hand knowledge from serving experts in the field.


The aim of this research was to test the attitudes of professional accountants with regards to financial reporting issues. Given the changes arising from the adoption of the International Accounting Standards the expectation was that problems identified by prior research would have been mitigated. Surveys were conducted of accounting professionals using the questionnaire instrument designed by Francia and Strawser (1971).  The data were collated and processed to determine the perceived information deficiency and importance of the various aspects of financial reporting. The major items in which information was considered to be deficient were – timing of revenue recognition, income tax effect accounting, executory contracts and treatment of prior period adjustments. By contrast the most important items were found to be uniformity in financial reporting, income tax effect accounting, use of fair market values, definition of equity versus liability and treatment of prior period adjustments. The findings have implications for the future development of accounting standards. Greater guidance should be given to explaining the practice, applications and consequences of the accounting standards on financial reporting. This paper provides a valuable insight into the perceived deficiencies of information on items that affect financial reporting by accountants in the Australian environment and adds a new perspective to the evaluation of adoption of international accounting standards.


A method of measuring the profile along one diameter of a conic surface is presented. Using some well-known formulas for the conic sections, useful mathematical relations are derived that, together with a simple experimental setup can be used for comparing theoretical and real values of the sagitta of the surface.


This unique collection of recipes, or menus as they include not only how to make a dish, but also how and when to serve it, has been compiled from more than twenty medieval manuscripts. The recipes date from the fourteenth century and are the earliest such examples in English. Interestingly, it appears that many of these recipes, found only on the menus of the upper classes, remained virtually unchanged until the sixteenth century. The menus include the all-important order of serving, that strict etiquette that ruled medieval mealtimes, and which meant that most members of a household were only entitled to the first course and that the more delicate dishes were served only to the higher ranks. This too seems to have remained unchanged for hundreds of years. Here, we can also see how it was thought natural to take the most substantial foods first, leaving the richer and sweeter courses for later, much as we do today. We do not, however, include small game birds as part of 'dessert' as these menus do. Presented here in early English, this invaluable collection gives great insight into the medieval kitchen and household, and is the perfect guide to modern recreations of medieval meals and feasts.


Statistics based experimental design on chitinase production by Trichoderma harzianum was optimized in solid state fermentation using Plackett-Burman design and response surface methodology. The important medium components identified by initial screening method of Plackett-Burman were peptone, malt extract, citric acid and urea. Plackett-Burman Pareto chart illustrates the order of significance of the variables affecting the cellmass production. Central composite response surface methodology was performed to evaluate the effects of temperature, pH, inoculum size and substrate concentration on production of chitinase by Trichoderma harzianum using sugarcane bagasse under solid state fermentation. Statistical analysis of results showed that, the linear and quadric terms of these four variables had significant effects and evident interactions existing between pH and inoculum size were found to contribute to the response at a significant level. After optimization, the maximum enzyme yield was 34 U/mL from agroindustrial waste sugarcane bagasse.


James Livesey traces the origins of the modern conception of civil society--an ideal of collective life between the family and politics--not to England or France, as many of his predecessors have done, but to the provincial societies of Ireland and Scotland in the eighteenth century. Livesey shows how civil society was first invented as an idea of renewed community for the provincial and defeated elites in the provinces of the British Empire and how this innovation allowed them to enjoy liberty without directly participating in the empire's governance, until the limits of the concept were revealed. The concept of civil society continues to have direct relevance for contemporary political theory and action. Livesey demonstrates how western governments, for example, have appealed to the values of civil society in their projections of power in Bosnia and Iraq. Civil society has become an object central to current ideological debate, and this book offers a thought-provoking discussion of its beginnings, objectives, and current nature.


Vivek Reddy from the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY moderated the topic "VT Ablation: Survival Free from ICD Therapy" with Drs. William Stevenson from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, and David Wilber from Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL. The discussion focused primarily on: (1) Treating VT using catheter mapping and ablation; (2) the evolution of ablation therapy to a substrate based approach; (3) the complications of VT ablation; (4) the late referral of patients; (5) additional improvements in catheter ablation; and (6) treating atients who have VT in the setting of a structurally-normal heart. (Med Roundtable Cardiovasc Ed. 2012;3(2):130-136) ©2012 FoxP2 Media, LLC


Article history: Received February 10, 2020 Accepted March 17, 2020 Available online November 5, 2020 The present study was aimed to record and analyze the prevalence of obstructive urolithiasis in domestic animals like cattle, buffalo, horse, goat, sheep, dog and cat presented at RVP-TVCC, Indian Veterinary Research Institute. A total of 777 cases were reported during the academic session starting from April 2018 to March 2019 from Bareilly and its surrounding regions. Incidence were highest among ruminants 92.92% comparing to other domestic animals 7.08%. Among the different animal species, caprine were found to be the most affected, followed by buffalo and canine. A positive correlation was noted between the occurrence of obstructive urolithiasis and the season with maximum number of cases being reported during the winter season December February. The female to male ratios in urolithiasis affected animals were 1:81, 1:75 and 1:22 for buffalo, goat, and dog, respectively indicating higher occurrence in male animals. Majority of the goat 67.89% and buffalo 84.80% presented with obstructive urolithiasis were also found to be fed exclusively with a grain rich diet that are excess in phosphorous thereby contributing to urolith formation. The role played by behavioral changes associated with different seasons and the dietary status of the animal plays a significant role in the pathophysiology of urolithiasis. Such an interplay between the season and the dietary imbalance will lead to higher incidence of obstructive urolithiasis in domestic animals.


Cloud computing is one of the latest Information Technology innovation phenomena that has risen from the idea of sharing, consolidating, and standardizing of resources in a centralized infrastructure and facility. This concept offers many advantages such as cost reduction in both hardware and software investment for organizations. Despite these advantages, cloud computing adoption among organizations is relatively slow with a low adoption rate. As such, this study attempts to bridge the gap by offering insight into possible factors that could influence such adoption decisions. By integrating the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) and IT personnel characteristics, a conceptual model is developed and tested as a preliminary study to determine the influencing factors of cloud computing adoption by the Malaysian public sector to enhance its service delivery. The results revealed that relative advantage, compatibility, and IT personnel knowledge are the innovation attributes and the human factor for cloud computing adoption in the Malaysian public sector. This study contributes to the knowledge domain of cloud computing adoption literature on theories of IT adoption particularly in the public sector.


We reported a few years ago that protein-bound nitrotyrosine was increased in early type 1 diabetes and showed a negative correlation with motor nerve conduction velocity (1). We measured nitrotyrosine and tyrosine by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) followed by electrochemical detection and expressed our results as the ratio of nitrotyrosine to tyrosine, which we found to be 0.34 0.12 10 3 in the control subjects and 0.778 0.04 in diabetic patients. Unfortunately, at the time we published these data, we were unaware of a study by Frost et al. (2), who performed alkaline hydrolysis of the plasma protein followed by mass spectrometry and reported a much lower nitrotyrosine-to-tyrosine ratio (0.044 10 ). A few years later, Shishehbor et al. (2) performed acid hydrolysis of serum protein and reported a ratio in nondiabetic patients of 5.2 10 , also much lower (100-fold) than we observed. Because of these discrepancies, we have reassessed our HPLC method and performed a more in-depth analysis of the electrical properties of the peaks we have previously identified as nitrotyrosine using a multichannel CoulArray liquid chromatograph (ESA, Chelmsford, MA). We observed that the electrical properties of the compound we "identified" as nitrotyrosine on the basis of HPLC retention time differed from the authentic compound in many samples and concluded that interfering substances were obscuring the true nitrotyrosine peaks. We have used a second HPLC column and eliminated the interferences from some of our samples, and this decreased the estimated ratio of nitrotyrosine to tyrosine by approximately a factor of 100. On the basis of these considerations, we have concluded that our previously published nitrotyrosine data (1) are invalid. We therefore formally retract this publication. Increased nitrotyrosine has been documented in other laboratories in clinical diabetes using other methods (3,4).