After the great depression of 1930s, financial crisis of 2007-09 were most serious. Due to these financial crises large financial crisis collapsed, key businesses failed & wealth of consumer has been lost. Pakistan can not be the exceptional case in this regard. The key industry of Pakistan - textile industry suffered huge financial losses in that period. This study is conducted to assess the impact of financial crisis on the textile sector of Pakistan. For this purpose a case study of Fateh Textile industry is carried out. Data was collected from the internal sources-fateh textile industry's records-as well as from external sources-Pakistan Economic Survey. Data was analyzed through vertical analysis i.e. Common size balance sheet analyses, Common size Income statement analysis, and through ratios - Liquidity Ratios, Asset Management Ratios, Debt Management Ratios and Profitability Ratios. Common size income statement analysis and profitability measuring ratios confirmed that Fateh textile industry earned higher profits before the financial crisis & financial crisis deteriorated the earning capacity of this industry. Common size balance sheet analyses showed that after financial crisis Fateh textile industry was lowly leveraged, which deprived the owners of high rate of return. Debt management ratio analyses proved that creditors provided lesser amount in financing after financial crisis as compared to before crisis. Liquidity ratio proved that debt retiring ability of fateh textile industry declined after financial crisis. Inventory turnover analysis showed that Fateh textile industry was more efficient in managing and selling the inventory before the financial crisis than after the crisis. Days Sales outstanding analysis indicated that after the financial crisis the average time period for the collection of receivables increased too much which meant that Fateh Textile industry faced problems in collection of receivables after crisis. Fixed Asset Turnover ratio analysis proved that fixed assets were managed poorly and were being used unproductively after financial crisis. This indicated that there were low sales in fateh textile industry after financial crisis as compared to before financial crisis period. The results yielded by the fixed asset turnover ratio analysis indicated that Fateh had greater efficiency in using assets to produce sales before financial crisis than after financial crisis.


Justice Denied is a biographical (visual and text) paper that combines stories of indigenous groups whose life chances are significantly altered and diminished because of the social space they occupy. The images included in this paper are a synopsis of work from a project that has spanned fifteen years. The text derives from interviews conducted between the participants and ourselves. Gathering the stories in Justice Denied argues for a shift away from the notion that 'to know' is a purely rational response to stimuli. As such, the work produced seeks to present knowledge as a combination of the rational and non-rational dimensions of cognition. David Lloyd and Angela Blakely lecture in photojournalism and documentary practice at Griffith University. For over fifteen years they have worked, individually and/or collaboratively, on a number of projects that have ranged from conflict areas to personal crises. They were commissioned by the History section of the Australian Army to document Australia's involvement in the Rwanda crises (publication: The Rwanda Mission, ed Gavin Fry). In 2006 and 2008 they returned to Rwanda to collect stories of the survivors of the 1994 genocide who are denied justice through the pragmatics of national politics and the indifference of the international community. Whether working collaboratively or alone, Blakely and Lloyd argue documentary practice as an intersection of investigative journalism, ethnography and the politics of aesthetics. Their work is published in books, exhibitions and papers.


Abstract The purpose of this review is to assess if there are any specific processes and morphologies distinguishing coastal dunes developed in cold-climate conditions, in order to illustrate how climate can exert a control on coastal dune morphologies. In the Arctic, availability of sand supply and the duration of winter conditions are limiting factors for the development of large coastal dunes. They are small in size, and embryo dunes including nebkha are the dominant and often only coastal dune type. In milder subarctic settings, characterized by a longer surficial ice-free season, a greater variety of coastal dunes are found, mainly foredunes, blowouts and parabolic dunes. In subarctic areas, as along the SE coast of Hudson Bay, niveo-aeolian processes actively affect coastal dune development. These processes do not generally imprint permanent morphologies, although some distinctive sedimentary structures owing to the melting of snow are observed. The coastal dunes of the arctic regions differ from the dunes of subarctic and temperate regions mainly because of their limited spatial and morphological development. Extreme climatic conditions (low precipitation, extreme cold), and very limited vegetation growing season, combined with low sediment supply, explain the fact that only embryo dunes develop in arctic environments.


During oogenesis and spermatogenesis transcription ceases prior to the differentiation of the mature cells. To complete germ cell differentiation and initiate early embryogenesis, proteins are synthesized from pre-existing mRNAs that are stored for several days. It is well established that important regulatory elements functioning in spatial localization, temporal translation or messenger RNA stability are located in the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) of mRNAs. During mammalian spermatogenesis temporal translational regulation of the protamine 1 (Prm1) mRNA is dependent on a highly conserved sequence located in the distal region of its 3' UTR. The 17-nucleotide translational control element (TCE) mediates translational repression of the Prm1 mRNA. Mutation of the TCE causes premature synthesis of protamine protein and sterility. The Prm1 mRNA is stored as a cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein (mRNP) particle in spermatids. Contained within the particle are several members of the Y box family of nucleic acid binding proteins. In the yeast three-hybrid system the murine Y box proteins MSY1, MSY2 and MSY4 bind in a sequence-dependent manner to a conserved region in the proximal portion of the Prm1 3' UTR. Sequence-specific binding by MSY4 to the Y box recognition sequence (YRS) is dependent on the highly conserved cold shock domain, possibly through the RNP1 and RNP2 motifs present within it. The Y box proteins may function as translational repressors in vivo. Alternatively, their primary function may be to protect mRNAs from degradation during their extended period of storage. Translational activation of stored mRNAs is essential for the completion of gametogenesis. Proper translational activation of the Prm1 mRNA in elongated spermatids requires the cytoplasmic double-stranded RNA binding protein TARBP2. Tarbp2 is expressed at low levels in many cells but is expressed at robust levels in late stage meiotic cells and in postmeiotic spermatids. Mice mutant for Tarbp2 are defective in proper translational activation of the Prm1 and Prm2 mRNAs and are sterile. Current studies are designed to determine the mechanism by which proteins bound to the 3' UTR communicate with the 5' end of the message to control translational silencing and activation.


The SuperDARN HF radars in Saskatoon, Sask. and Kapuskasing, Ont. have been used to measure Doppler velocity spectra of backscatter from the F -layer. A special multi pulse sequence was developed to increase the number of measured autocovariance points. These spectra were used to benchmark spectral estimators based on the Fourier Transform and parametric spectral estimators. A parametric spectral estimator using the Burg algorithm improved the resolution of the spectra. A distinct double-peaked spectral signature was found in spatially localized regions. A comparison with particle data as measured by a DMSP satellite suggests a strong spatial correlation of soft-electron precipitation with great variability with the occurrence of the spectral features. Several generating mechanisms for double-peak spectra are suggested, including the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and precipitation-induced electric fields in arc and ray structures.


Short copper standing wave (SW) structures operating at an X-band frequency have been recently designed and manufactured at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) using the vacuum brazing technique. High power tests of the structures have been performed at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. In this manuscript we report the results of these tests and the activity in progress to enhance the high gradient performance of the next generation of structures, particularly the technological characterization of high performance coatings obtained via molybdenum sputtering.


This work deals with how to utilise active suspension on individual vehicle wheels in order to improve the vehicle performance during straight-line braking. Through numerical optimisation, solutions have been found as regards how active suspension should be controlled and coordinated with friction brakes to shorten the braking distance. The results show that, for the studied vehicle, the braking distance can be shortened by more than 1 m when braking from 100 km/h. The applicability of these results is studied by investigating the approach for different vehicle speeds and actuator stroke limitations. It is shown that substantial improvements in the braking distance can also be found for lower velocities, and that the actuator strokes are an important parameter. To investigate the potential of implementing these findings in a real vehicle, a validated detailed vehicle model equipped with active struts is analysed. Simplified control laws, appropriate for on-board implementation and based on knowledge of the optimised solution, are proposed and evaluated. The results show that substantial improvements of the braking ability, and thus safety, can be made using this simplified approach. Particle model simulations have been made to explain the underlying physical mechanisms and limitations of the approach. These results provide valuable guidance on how active suspension can be used to achieve significant improvements in vehicle performance with reasonable complexity and energy consumption.


English teachers may come across challenges within the process of English language teaching, especially now, when technologies and innovations grow rapidly. Teachers who trapped in traditional comfort zone of teaching might left behind. Nevertheless, an English teacher of Sekolah Tunas Bangsa is familiar with new technological media by applying Game-Based Learning to teach English in the classroom. This research aims to explore the using of GBL to increase students' interest in learning English. This research was conducted in Primary level of Sekolah Tunas Bangsa where an English teacher became the focused participant of this study. The Narrative Inquiry method was used to conduct this research by following the research procedure taken from Creswell (2012). The findings show that the teacher used some game-based platforms, such as Kahoot!, Quizizz, ESL Games Plus, and Duolingo, because they are rich of visuals and easy to play. In this study, the teacher conducted GBL by using structured schedule consisted of instruction, presentation, and reflection helped the students to engage with the materials being learnt. The way the teacher managed the using of GBL by following a structured schedule has also promoted fun and interesting learning. Then, the teacher's reason on using GBL in the classroom was exposed as her way to engage and to motivate the students in learning English. She believes that when the students feel challenged as well as having fun during the learning, the level of interest increases. The students' achievements have also increased when the teacher uses GBL in the classroom. In conclusion, the using of GBL has successfully increased the students' interest in learning English.


This practice-led research process investigates the design and construction of innovative textile sculptures made from three dimensional (3D) knitted composite materials, and how their unique material, structural and textural qualities can be expressed through integration with light.

This project shows how established machine knitted 3D form and surface structure techniques can be learnt on manual, hand-flat knitting machines, translated through knit notation and design software, and produced on computerised and automatic knitting machine systems. Through this process, procedures to foster learning and research are discussed, and opportunities for creative design and innovation are identified in order to find a stimulating and productive work and research method.

In the course of this research, a range of 3D surface knit textiles and several 3D structured knit textile patterns were designed and fabricated with composite materials. The resulting pieces were tested for suitability as sculptural display and with the incorporation of micro-controlled electronic lights to create e-textiles.

The findings of this research suggest that unique and innovative textile designs can be created by experimenting and extending proven 3D knit techniques with different combinations of materials. The findings suggest potential applicability towards cross-disciplinary fields like engineering, architectural design, consumer products and artistic endeavours, as well as further research within textile design to explore new materials with the developing scope of 3D shaping techniques.


Patterns present broad solutions rather than specific results for problem solving. Such generality is required in the complex world of software development, where the notion of model-driven development is integrated with that of patterns to provide a method of communicating shared experience and knowledge. In software engineering, the introduction of patterns was driven by recognition of the need for a higher level of abstraction in object-oriented design. Nevertheless, the concept of pattern is very broad, and almost anything can potentially be a pattern. According to some researchers, the search for a clear and complete definition of a pattern may very well be an elusive endeavor. The present paper proposes a conceptual representation that aims at capturing real-world structures and processes while serving as a ground fabric for analysis and discovery of recurrent constructs such as patterns. The representation is based essentially on the notion of flow, guaranteeing continuity of visualized descriptions given in typical narratives at the origin of requirements specification in any software system development. Through examples, it is shown that approaching the notion of pattern from this direction is viable.


Smoking has a profound adverse effect on health. Strong evidence links smoking to cancer, respiratory disorders and heart disease. As many as 90% of lung cancers, 90% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 25% of deaths from heart disease are related to smoking. One in three long-term smokers develop a chronic cough. Stopping smoking may therefore be the single most important intervention in the prevention of these diseases. The powerful addictive nature of nicotine, however, makes this intervention an extremely difficult one. It is the nicotine in cigarette smoke that quickly initiates and maintains dependence on smoking, thereby exposing smokers to the more than 4000 potentially hazardous substances in tobacco smoke.


Heterogeneous catalysts fulfill vital roles in industrial process, however due to the nature of the catalytic surfaces typically containing either a low abundance of active sites and being amorphous in nature leads difficulties when attempting to study the structure of the active sites. In this work we show how making use of fast MAS ssNMR probes allows to efficiently detect well resolved 1H detected spectra of heterogeneous catalysts. This approach was applied to study the structure of surface species resulting from the grafting of VO(OiPr)3 onto a partially dehydroxylated silica using the surface organometallic chemistry approach. The use of the 1H sensitivity enabled to detect various hetero- and homo-nuclear correlation spectra in order to study the structure of this system and to resolve the structure of the grafted vanadium complex. More specifically, VO(OiPr)3 grafts through both protonolysis and opening of siloxane bridges to generate a bis-grafted species, in contrast to most other alkoxides.


Does X affect Y? Answering this question is particularly difficult if reverse causality is looming. Many social scientists turn to panel data to address such questions of causal ordering. Yet even in longitudinal analyses, reverse causality threatens causal inference based on conventional panel models. Whereas the methodological literature has suggested various alternative solutions, these approaches face many criticisms, chief among them to be sensitive to the correct specification of temporal lags. Applied researchers are thus left with little guidance. Seeking to provide such guidance, we compare how different panel models perform under a range of different conditions. Our Monte Carlo simulations reveal that unlike conventional panel models, a cross-lagged panel model with fixed effects not only offers protection against bias arising from reverse causality under a wide range of conditions but also helps to circumvent the problem of misspecified temporal lags.


Abstract The precise mechanism for the initiation of follicle growth and progression through the earliest stages of follicle development remains largely unknown. Activins play a role during early follicle development, and evidence suggests that the extracellular matrix plays a role during later stages of follicular growth. We investigated the role of activin-A and extracellular matrix in follicle growth initiation and early follicular development in the mouse ovary. Ovaries were collected from 5-day-old mice and cultured for 10 days on polylysine, collagen, or laminin in the presence or absence of recombinant human activin-A. Follicle density, indices of follicle growth initiation (primary:primordial follicle [PY:PD] and primary:total follicle [PY:TF] ratios), ratios of multilayer follicle:total follicle (ML:TF), and follicle growth rates were compared between groups. Follicle densities were significantly higher in the extracellular matrix treatment group compared with the polylysine group (P < 0.01). Also, compared with polylysine, both collagen and laminin significantly increased indices of follicle growth initiation (PY:PD ratio: P < 0.001, odds ratio of 3.3; PY:TF ratio: P < 0.001, odds ratio of 2.5), and these were not altered by activin treatment. In the absence of activin-A, exposure to neither collagen nor laminin had an effect on multilayer follicle development. When activin-A was added, collagen and laminin had opposing effects on multilayer follicle development. Activin-A stimulated multilayer follicle development in the presence of laminin (ML:TF ratio: P = 0.01, odds ratio of 10.8), whereas it suppressed follicle growth in collagen (P = 0.01). Activin-A did not affect the ML:TF ratio in the polylysine-treated groups. These results strongly suggest that extracellular matrix components and activin-A interact with each other, and that they regulate follicle growth initiation and multilayer follicle development.


We consider the iteration of quasiregular maps of transcendental type from $\mathbb{R}^{d}$ to $\mathbb{R}^{d}$ . We give a bound on the rate at which the iterates of such a map can escape to infinity in a periodic component of the quasi-Fatou set. We give examples which show that this result is the best possible. Under an additional hypothesis, which is satisfied by all uniformly quasiregular maps, this bound can be improved to be the same as those in a Baker domain of a transcendental entire function. We construct a quasiregular map of transcendental type from $\mathbb{R}^{3}$ to $\mathbb{R}^{3}$ with a periodic domain in which all iterates tend locally uniformly to infinity. This is the first example of such behaviour in a dimension greater than two. Our construction uses a general result regarding the extension of bi-Lipschitz maps. In addition, we show that there is a quasiregular map of transcendental type from $\mathbb{R}^{3}$ to $\mathbb{R}^{3}$ which is equal to the identity map in a half-space.


OBJECTIVE
Experimental evidence suggests that inappropriate regulation of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) may play a role in the pathogenesis of Behçet's disease (BD). This is supported by recent reports highlighting the efficacy of anti-TNF alpha agents in the treatment of this disease. The TNF gene is encoded in the class III region of the HLA complex adjacent to HLA-B. This genetic proximity to a gene that is already widely implicated in disease susceptibility led us to investigate the association between TNF promoter polymorphisms and susceptibility to BD.

METHODS
We studied 133 UK white Caucasoid patients with BD and 354 healthy controls. We attempted to dissect the contribution of individual polymorphisms in this gene-dense region by linkage disequilibrium mapping across 6 adjacent genes.

RESULTS
We report a novel association with the TNF promoter allele TNF-1031C. Subsequent analysis identified 2 extended HLA haplotypes associated with BD. One of them contained the previously recognized susceptibility gene HLA-B*51, while the other was defined by HLA-B*5701. Both of these haplotypes contained the TNF promoter polymorphism -1031C, an allele that was associated with disease even in individuals who did not carry either HLA-B*51 or HLA-B*5701.

CONCLUSION
The TNF-1031C allele is independently associated with susceptibility to BD in Caucasoid patients. Further studies will be required to determine the functional effects of this polymorphism, its influence in disease pathogenesis, and its role in other ethnic groups.


Like other proposed mega-FTAs, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is intended to address twenty-first-century trade issues. The attributes of the RCEP negotiations are unique, however—being shaped by the dominant political interests in its member states and by the particular character of economic interdependence in the region.


One of the key modifications of proteins that can affect protein functions, activities, stabilities, localizations and interactions, represents phosphorylation. For functional phosphoproteomics, phosphopeptides are enriched from isolated sub-cellular fractions of interest and analyzed by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry. Such an approach was recently applied to the eyespot apparatus of the green flagellate alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which represents a primordial visual system. Thereby, 32 phosphoproteins of known eyespot proteins along with 52 precise in vivo phosphorylation sites were identified. They include enzymes of carotenoid and fatty acid metabolism, (putative) light signaling components and proteins with unknown function. Strikingly, the two unique green algal photoreceptors, channelrhodopsin-1 and -2 were found to be phosphorylated in the cytoplasmic loop next to their seven transmembrane regions in a similar distance as observed in vertebrate rhodopsins.


PURPOSE
To show that postgadolinium three-dimensional time-of-flight MR angiography shows abnormal intradural vessels associated with spinal dural arteriovenous fistula better than routine MR imaging and provides screening information useful for subsequent diagnostic conventional angiography and/or posttreatment evaluation.

METHODS
Precontrast and postcontrast MR imaging and MR angiograms, as well as subsequent digital subtraction angiograms, were obtained for eight patients with dural arteriovenous fistulas, diagnosed with digital subtraction angiography and verified with surgery. In four patients, MR studies also were obtained after surgery.

RESULTS
All patients had cord hyperintensity of T2-weighted images and postgadolinium enhancement on T1-weighted images. Five had vessellike signal abnormalities in the subarachnoid space on MR. Abnormal intradural vessels were detected in all eight patients with MR angiography. Comparison with digital subtraction angiography revealed these vessels to be primarily enlarged veins of the coronal venous plexus on the cord surface. In six patients, the medullary vein draining the fistula was demonstrated, indicating the level of the fistula, later identified by digital subtraction angiography. After surgical obliteration of the fistula, the draining medullary vein and most or all of the abnormal coronal veins were no longer demonstrated, with decrease or resolution of cord hyperintensity on T2-weighted images.

CONCLUSION
Postgadolinium, spinal MR angiography in cases of suspected dural arteriovenous fistula provides information about intradural veins that supplements the diagnostic value of the MR imaging results, facilitates the subsequent digital subtraction angiography study, and, in treated cases, reflects the success of surgery and/or embolization.


ABSTRACTAn online, interactive tutorial, Smart Searcher, was introduced at Deakin University as part of the library's information skills program in late 2000. As liaison librarians responsible for library skills training we wanted to compare and evaluate this mode of instruction with our normal face-to-face delivery of library instruction. This study found that students with face-to-face instruction did, in fact, gain higher posttest mean scores than students completing the online tutorial. Also, students attending these library sessions felt more confident about their library skills than those in the online tutorial only session.


Multiple intelligences and extracurricular activities are two variables that may affect a student's academic and non-academic performance in school. This study aimed at describing and finding the relationship between multiple intelligences and participation rates in extracurricular activities of students from a Catholic educational institution. The study also used a descriptive-correlational design. For the respondents, the study randomly selected a sample of 200 students studying within the academic year of 2017-2018 from a Catholic educational institution. For the instrument, this study adapted the Multiple Intelligence Survey developed by Chislett and Chapman (2006) and Extracurricular Activities Survey by Kelley (2012). The study analyzed and treated statistically the collected data using rank and Spearman Rho with the help of SPSS 20. The findings revealed that visual intelligence emerged as the top-ranked multiple intelligences. Dance/ sports club emerged as the top extracurricular activities took part by most of the students. Also, there was no statistical evidence of the relationship between the multiple intelligences and participation rate to extracurricular activities of the students. Based on the result, the researchers provided pertinent recommendations for teachers, students, and the institution.


An automatic washer-rinser-dryer for spectrographic plates has been developed to supplement the film washer-rinser-dryer previously described (1). While the principle of operation is similar to that of the film strip unit, the design was modified to accommodate plates (Figure 1). A versatile controller permits the choice of one of three processing cycles best suited to the emulsion. The holder for a 4- by 10-inch photographic plate fits snugly in the main chamber. The small side chambers which feed water to the spray holes leading into the main chamber are connected (Figure 1) and share inlets of both tap and distilled water used in washing and rinsing the film. The plates are dried by compressed air and strip heaters. The control circuit shown in Figure 2 is set for a two-minute wash, one-minute rinse, and six-minute dry cycle.


The city-state of Singapore commemorated its 50th year of independence in 2015. In that 50-year period, Singapore defied the odds by forging itself into an important media and communication hub, one that services the Asian region by linking it to other global media centres. This article examines Singapore's efforts to develop its media sector over the years from a historical (and) policy perspective. The article begins by explaining how early policy discourses were bifurcated along internal versus external lines, where the development of a national media system to mould a fledgling society was the internal mission, while externally, the vision was to promote Singapore to the rest of the world as a reliable port (where media and cultural goods can be safely and reliable transported to/through) and teleport (where messages and satellite signals can be exchanged via reliable telecommunications infrastructure and uplink–downlink facilities). It was not until the early 2000s, with the launch of Media 21 and the Creative Industries Development Strategy (both in 2002), that the external mission began to dominate. In 2009, the Singapore Media Fusion Plan (SMFP) declared that Singapore would become a 'Trusted Global Capital for New Asia Media'. While articulating that a strong media sector engenders a better understanding of Singapore culture, the latest policy does little to promote local culture. Instead, the cultural footprint of Singapore has expanded to include not just Asia, but 'new Asia', defined very problematically in the report as 'newly confident Asian countries' (p. 26). This article unpacks the 'Asian media fusion' discourse and contends that the positioning of Singapore as a 21st century media hub is arguably the most overtly economic media and cultural policy that Singapore has yet produced. It is clear that the media sector is a little more than a cluster of economic activity, where the goal of the government and the agencies involved is to boost Singapore's status as the best business city. The media hub policy rationales have thus been, for better or worse, coherent with the Singapore government's broader economic ideologies over the past 50 years and look set to continue into the foreseeable future.


In early 2003, the Bush administration proposed and Congress considered two types of highly controversial structural reform to Head Start, the federal program that since 1965 has provided early education and comprehensive health and social services to low-income preschoolers and their families. First, the proposal would begin funding Head Start through federal block grants to the states rather than through direct federal grants to local agencies. Second, the proposal would shift oversight of Head Start at the federal level from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the Department of Education (ED). Variations on these two proposals have been offered many times since Head Start was created, and each time Head Start advocates have successfully lobbied against them. This time is no different: neither the version of the reauthorization bill approved by the House in September 2005 nor the version of the bill currently awaiting consideration by the Senate contains either of these structural reforms. That these proposed reforms are no longer under active consideration has been held out as a victory by Head Start advocates, led by the National Head Start Association (NHSA) and joined by a variety of other advocacy organizations. This article questions that conclusion, and instead argues that Head Start advocates would do well to reconsider their long-held opposition to both changes. Much of the opposition to these changes stems from reflexive reaction and a history of mistrust instead of dispassionate policy analysis. The policy needs and doctrinal context that led to the original structure of the program – for example, the need to bypass racist state governors who were willing to close down school systems to avoid integration, in an environment of almost limitless federal authority to create civil rights legislation – are increasingly out of place in today's world. In fact, Head Start is now an outlier with respect to other social welfare and education programs, which are largely funded by the federal government through block grants to the states; educational authorities are now turning towards comprehensive service delivery models that are the hallmark of Head Start programs; and the Supreme Court has sharply curtailed the atmospherics of limitless federal power in which context Head Start was created. This article proceeds in four parts. Section I traces the history of the conflict over proposals to change Head Start's funding and organizational structure. I conclude that the dispute cannot easily be reduced to partisan politics and that the substance of the opposition has changed very little over the years, even though the particular proposals for structural change have been quite different. Section II examines the policy and doctrinal changes relevant to Head Start over the last forty years, arguing that the needs and expectations of the 1965 program have a very different resonance in the new millennium. Section III considers why the advocates have been so resistant to structural change, given these changed circumstances. The literature on negotiation theory and practice offers a helpful lens. through which to analyze the problem, especially in the literature's distinction between positions – the particular and opposing outcomes to which each side stakes a claim – and interests – the underlying reasons why each side finds its desired outcome appealing. I explore the benefits of paying attention to interests over positions, the perils of focusing on narrow positions, and the barriers to an interest-based process. Finally, Section IV proposes a way forward, offering an inclusive and participatory consensus-based process to help the parties consider and respond to the underlying interests behind their positions. The article concludes that an honest assessment of the role of Head Start in the country's early childhood education and care movement could lead to structural experimentation that would benefit all concerned.


This study investigates the relation of total quality management (TQM) and just-in-time purchasing (JITP) with respect to firms' performance, based on theories from operations management, organization theory, strategic management and marketing. U.S. companies have implemented TQM and JITP techniques to improve their global competitive position. The lack of empirical research on how these techniques effect firms performance makes it necessary to explain their strategic values as management innovations. In this study, a cross-sectional mail survey was used with the target population of firms in the continental United States that have implemented either technique, or both. The results indicate that the extent of TQM and JITP implementation positively correlates with a firm's performance. Furthermore, the relation between JITP and financial and market performance is more significant in those industries that face high as opposed to low foreign competition. In this study, the validity of findings was assessed in four parts: statistical conclusion, internal, construct, and external validity. Each validity type is defined and its threats are discussed. Based on the findings, a revised research model is offered. The author also notes likely avenues of future research for theorists and practitioners.


This study compares student exam participation, performances and withdrawal rates in a web-enhanced traditional and hybrid Anatomy and Physiology II class. Although hybrid students had the convenience of attempting online tests over a period of a week, there was no difference in exam participation relative to traditional students that did the exams during a regularly scheduled class. About half of hybrid students did not attempt the four hourly online exams a second time, and over three quarter of them did not use their third attempt. Students in the hybrid sections generally waited until the last day, or after reminders were posted a day or two earlier, to make their first attempt. Overall, there were no significant differences in student performances between the traditional and hybrid students. Hybrid students had slight, but insignificant, improvements in performance in the four hourly exams, most likely due to the few students attempting the exams more than once. In contrast, web enhanced traditional students performed slightly better in the comprehensive final exam conducted on campus for both groups. Overall, the grade distribution for the two groups was similar, especially for D and C students, with hybrid students having more withdrawals and a lower failure rate.


The Malaysian oil palm industry is one of the major economic backbones of the country. The industry as a whole brought in an export revenue of RM 63 billion just in the year 2015. In the past, the competiveness of palm products along the supply chain was based on direct economic comparison with other vegetable oil products. However, with increasing attention on sustainable development, the environmental performance of products are now defining issues in trade. This articles presents the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the production of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO). Crude palm oil (CPO) and CPKO both come from the oil palm fresh fruit bunch (FFB). CPO is obtained from the mesocarp of the fruit and the lauric CPKO comes from the kernel at the fruit's core. CPO is produced in the palm oil mill while palm kernels which are the by-product of the production of CPO are transported to kernel crushing plants to be processed into CPKO. The objectives of this study are to quantify the GHG emissions for the production of CPKO and suggest the best solution to reduce the emissions if any. The system boundary starts from the production of oil palm seedlings at the nursery stage right till the production of CPKO at the kernel crushing plant which makes it a cradle to gate study. Inventory data for the production of CPKO was collected from 24 crushing plants which were located near the ports and two kernel crushing plants which were integrated with a palm oil mill. Weight allocation was performed at the kernel crushing plant. The largest GHG contribution came from upstream nursery and plantation with continued land use which amounts to 394.19 kg CO2 eq/t CPKO followed by emissions from biogas at the palm oil mill which amounts to 87.48 kg CO2 eq/t CPKO even though the scenario chosen is the biogas capture scenario. The third largest GHG emissions comes from the kernel crushing plant due to the processing of CPKO using the electricity from the grid which emits 74.33 kg CO2 eq/t CPKO. The GHG emissions from the consumption of electricity from the grid of the kernel crushing plant integrated with a palm oil mill reduced to only 7.59 kg CO2 eq/t CPKO. A sensitivity analysis on allocation was conducted. With weight allocation, the burden on CPKO was reduced compared to when economic allocation was conducted, where almost the whole burden was on CPKO. The allocation parameter seems to change the outcome of the study drastically because the volume of the palm kernel cake which is the by-product at the kernel crushing plant is high but has low economic value. QUANtIFIcAtION OF GrEENHOUsE GAs EMIssIONs FOr tHE PrODUctION OF crUDE PALM KErNEL OIL – A crADLE tO GAtE stUDY Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 28 (3) September 2016 p. 359 – 365 JOURNAL OF OIL PALM RESEARCH 28 (3) (SEPTEMBER 2016)


To investigate further the functional mechanisms underlying the so-called 'loss of psychic self-activation' following paramedian bithalamic lesions, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in a patient who presented with this clinical picture after paramedian bithalamic infarction due to arterial occlusion. The patient showed higher motor thresholds than the controls; the cortical silent period and intracortical inhibition to paired-pulse stimulation, two different forms of inhibition that are believed to reflect GABAergic mechanisms, were significantly increased; short latency afferent inhibition (SAI), a technique that may give direct information about the function of some cholinergic circuits in the human brain, was significantly reduced. This study first demonstrates that there are changes in the intracortical excitatory and inhibitory circuits in this neurobehavioral syndrome, that lead to cortical hypoexcitability. The modulation in GABAergic activity may result in excitability changes in those cholinergic cortical networks that are involved in SAI. TMS may provide important information on connections between the thalamus and cortex and may help in better understanding the role of the thalamo-cortical relationship in behavioural changes associated with thalamic stroke.


The management of IP networks is currently based on the SNMP protocol, and the use of expensive network management platforms designed according to the manager/agent paradigm of the SNMP framework. It uses two different schemes to transfer management data: a request/response protocol for data collection and network monitoring (data polling), and unsolicited push to deliver SNMP notifications. This design is exposed to a number of problems, with regards to the time-to-market of vendor-specific management software, versioning, protocol efficiency, security, etc. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to network management based on the push model. This model is well-known in software engineering, and encountered a large success on the Web recently with the push technologies. It relies on the publish/subscribe/distribute paradigm, and uses a single scheme to transfer all management data. We describe why it is more efficient, in terms of network and systems resources, than the traditional pull model. We also explain in detail how to implement this model with Web technologies to deliver SNMP notifications, to handle events, and to distribute MIB data for network monitoring and data collection.


BACKGROUND: Activation of the coagulation factor II (thrombin) receptor, F2R, by coagulation proteinases contributes to lung inflammation and fibrosis following lung injury. F2R gene expression is raised in fibroproliferative lung disease and F2R-deficient mice are protected in a model of lung inflammation and fibrosis. F2R mRNA expression is highly variable, and its regulation and the role of genetic influences has not been fully characterised. The association of F2R polymorphisms was investigated in sarcoidosis, a highly inflammatory, multisystem disorder in which a proportion of subjects develop lung fibrosis; and the function of F2R promoter haplotypes was explored.
METHODS: F2R polymorphisms were genotyped using PCR-based techniques in UK White and Black Afro-Caribbean sarcoidosis subjects and healthy controls. Haplotypes were estimated using PHASE2 software. The function of F2R promoter haplotypes was investigated using dual luciferase reporter gene assays and transfecting in HeLa cells; basally and in response to TNF-\alpha and IL-1\beta.
RESULTS: F2R haplotypes associate with sarcoidosis in UK Whites and Black Afro-Caribbeans. This appears to be driven by the rs2227744G>A and rs11267092ins polymorphisms. In reporter gene experiments, basally, the rs2227744A allele alone conferred the highest promoter activity compared with the wild type (2.6 \pm 0.31-fold higher activity, p<0.001). With the rs11267092ins allele alone, promoter activity was 1.3 \pm 0.22-fold higher (p<0.001). Together, the rs2227744A and rs11267092ins alleles increased promoter activity by 1.6 \pm 0.19-fold (p<0.001). There was no response to treatment.
DISCUSSION: Both rs2227744G>A and rs11267092ins appear functional. Intriguingly, the rs11267092ins allele appears to interact with the rs2227744G>A allele, reducing the observed increase in promoter activity of the rs2227744G>A allele alone from 2.6 to 1.6-fold. Population studies suggest that rs11267092ins alone and rs11267092ins combined with rs2227744A may be important in sarcoidosis. Elucidating the function and interaction of F2R polymorphisms may help ascertain the mechanism by which F2R contributes to fibroproliferative lung disease.


Especial Constraint a] acid dry farming is acidity grasp having the character of permanent and dryness grasp having the character of temporal. Alumunium condensation at acid pH is very high so that will poison crop. IMRG-4, IMRG-5, IMRG-19 And IMRG-30 is rhizobakteri which hold up acidity and dryness and potency as manure involve because can produce hormone growth of IAA, betain osmoprotektan and some can be nitrogen's fixation.
This research aim to obtain system produce manure formulation and inoculum involve from rhizobakteri where hold up acidity and dryness. This research is executed in November 2007 till finish in Laboratory Pusbang Biotek University State Muhammadiyah of Malang. This research is conducted in 2 phase that is inoculum production use soybean extract media, taoge and potato with culture batch system ( fermentor) with incubation temperature variation of ( 28 oC and 36 oC) with aeration level ( 20% and 30%). growth of Cell perceived periodical ( 2 hour once) with spectrophotometer at wavelength = 600 nm and density of cell perceived microscopicly with Petroff method reach optimum growth. And formulation phase, tidy inokulum product of carrier materials that is: powder peat, dusty powder of chaff, and kaolin with variation of water rate and tidiness materials like foil alumuium and plastic ( Walter Paau and, 1993).
Perception of Phase formulasi perceived to cover: (1) ability of life energy ( rhizobacteri viability) at depository with plate drop method ( Herigstad, al et., 2001) and ( 2) perceiving depository time. As for way of which is used by drop plate method with time 1 week once during 1 months with thinning 10-8, 10-9, 10-10 . Result show in growth curve result of fermentor optimation that growth of Rhizobakteri IMRG-5 and IMRG-19 tend to better at DO fermentor setting 30%, 36 oC substrat pH 5.0 and speed of agitator 250 rpm with tired absorbance value 2,5 compared to DO fermentor setting 20%, temperature 28 oC substrat pH 5.0 and speed of agitator at 250 rpm with absorbance value 1,9.
Pursuant to result of perception amount of bacterium production, density of IMRG-5 rhizobakteri population that is 109,25 cfu / ml. From Rhizobakteri cell viabilitas data, for the tidiness of growth plastic at week to 4, rhizobakteri at Peat media + Caolin ( GK) show cell viabilitas the pick of the bunch other carrier media with density of population 1011,39 cfu / g, While at tidiness of foil alumunium, peat carrier with pH 6,46 giving better cell viabilitas with density of population 1011,35 cfu / g.

Can be pulled conclusion result of best fermentor optimation at DO setting 30%, temperature 36 oC, pH 5,0 and speed of agitator 250 rpm. The best formulation of organic's fertilizer Materials carrier ( Peat carrier) + kaolin ( 2:1 w:w + 2,5% w / Caco3 w with pH 6,46 for the tidiness of plastic with density of Rhizobakteri IMRG-4 population, IMRG-5, IMRG-19, IMRG-30 is 1011,39 cfu / g. Carrier materials ( peat carrier) + 2,5% w / Caco3 w with pH 6,4 for the tidiness of foil alumunium with density of Rhizobakteri IMRG-4 population, IMRG-5, IMRG-19, IMRG-30 [is] 1011,35 cfu / g.


For more than a year now, the Radio GIS Research Group, assisted by the Schools of Electrical, Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering (E3T) at UIS, together with other local research groups (i.e. ICESI´s I2T, UFPS's GIDT, and UDI's MAXWELL, and the Colombian Ministry of Communications have been conducting a number of studies on high-frequency electromagnetic radiation under outdoor conditions to determine acceptable human exposure levels to this kind of radiation. These studies are driven not only by academic interest in this subject, but also by concerns raised by communities in the city of Bucaramanga and other regions in Colombia with respect to the installation of a large number of radiocommunications stations. With this paper, the Radio GIS group makes some contributions, which will hopefully benefit both the population in general and the regulatory agencies, aiming at establishing control policies based on concrete theoretical and technical studies. The results of the studies discussed in this paper derive from previous research conducted in the field of electromagnetic propagation. They were extrapolated to new research studies on sectorized radio bases under Andean region conditions. Based on modern simulation and measurement methods to determine the coverage areas and radiation levels generated by cellular systems which are now operating in Colombia at frequencies of 800 MHz and 1,900 MHz (i.e. CDMA2000.1x, TDMA/IS-136 and GSM 800 and 1900 Standards), safe human exposure levels and limits were calculated efficiently. In addition to this, this paper presents the results and relevant analysis of the main commercial frequencies on the radioelectric spectrum which are considered critical to the safety of the general public (i.e. AM, FM, TV, 300MHz, and cellular frequencies) based on readings taken in the field. This is intended to make a comparison of the percentile and specific radiation of mobile phone and PCS systems against international standards. These studies were conducted in cooperation with the Bucaramanga Regional Management Division of the Ministry of Communications, which made available their spectrum monitoring systems.


Mounting evidence from proxy records suggests that variations in solar activity have played a significant role in triggering past climate changes. However, the mechanisms for sun-climate links remain a topic of debate. Here we present a high-resolution summer sea-surface temperature (SST) record covering the past 9300 yr from a site located at the present-day boundary between polar and Atlantic surface-water masses. The record is age constrained via the identification of 15 independently dated tephra markers from terrestrial archives, circumventing marine reservoir age variability problems. Our results indicate a close link between solar activity and SSTs in the northern North Atlantic during the past 4000 yr; they suggest that the climate system in this area is more susceptible to the influence of solar variations during cool periods with less vigorous ocean circulation. Furthermore, the high-resolution SST record indicates that climate in the North Atlantic regions follows solar activity variations on multidecadal to centennial time scales.


Since 1989, reform of Poland's 1952 Constitution--gradually transforming Poland from a communist to a democratic state--has undergone five stages of development. The process began in 1988 with an understanding reached between the government and the opposition within the framework of roundtable talks. The Polish United Worker's Party's (PUWP) recognized political and trade union pluralism in return for the creation of a powerful new office of president. The second stage began with the communist party's overwhelming defeat during the June 1989 general parliamentary elections, in which 35 percent of the Sejm seals were contested and which also resulted in the 24 August 1989 election of Tadeusz Mazowiecki as Poland's first non-communist prime minister. The third stage commenced with the 9 December 1990 presidential elections which brought Lech Walesa to the presidency and the appointment of Jan Bielecki as the second non-communist prime minister in January 1991. The fourth stage commenced after the full Sejm and Senate democratic elections held on 27 October 1991, which resulted in the rule of Jan Olszewski and Hanna Suchochka as Poland's third and fourth non-communist prime ministers. The fifth stage started after the fall 1993 Sejm and Senate elections, with the return of the socialists, the appointment of Waldemar Pawlak as prime minister, and constitutional crisis in Poland. During the same period, Poland initiated an extensive domestic defense reform--to ensure civilian command and control and extensive restructuring of the military and to return the armed forces to the people. As it did so, Poland also had to grapple with a rapidly changing threat environment. Before 1989, Polish military doctrine viewed the West, specifically NATO, as the primary threat. Until the 14 November 1990 Polish-German border treaty, Poland viewed Germany as a threat. Then until the August 1991 failed coup and resulting disintegration of the USSR in December, Poland viewed the Soviet Union as a threat. Since 1992 Poland has come full-circle; it is now attempting to develop an "all-round" defense strategy regarding primary threats arising from its unstable four eastern border states; Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. Stillborn Defense Reform To achieve democratic civil-military relations, Poland must establish consensus and law on civilian (president, government, and Parliament) command and control of the defense ministry and military, the former Polish People's Army (PPA). Poland's reform has included amending the Constitution to formalize the round-table agreements to create a new office of the president, an office which for a long period lacked a constitutional basis. Poland still must clarify the lines of authority between the president and government (prime minister and civilian defense minister) and of the government's control of the military in peacetime and war. So far, this effort has failed. In addition, the Polish reform had to refurbish the image of the military and return the armed forces to Polish society. Because of the extensive use of Polish armed forces in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and in suppressing strikers on the Baltic coast in December 1970 and in planning and implementing martial law in 1980-81, (1) the military's reputation was tarnished in the population's estimation as well as in its own eyes. (2) To refurbish its image, the reform had to remove Polish United Worker's Party (PUWP) influence from the defense establishment and ensure that Polish military forces are sufficient to guarantee the integrity and sovereignty of Poland. In this part of reform, Poland has been somewhat more successful. First stage of constitutional reform (1988-June 1989). Not unlike 1918, Poland's new leadership inherited empty political 'traditions.' As Andrzej Korbonski has argued, when Poland reappeared after World War I (Poland disappeared from the map of Europe in 1795), Poland's political leadership inherited empty political traditions. …


Eosinophilic gastroenteritis, an inflammatory disease of unknown etiology, commonly involves the stomach and small intestine with eosinophilic infiltration. Here, we report an unusual case of eosinophilic gastroenteritis involving the entire digestive tract as a manifestation of hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES). A 22-year-old woman presented to us with diarrhoea, pleural effusion, ascites and marked peripheral oeosinophilia. Stool specimens were negative for parasites, ova, bacteria, and fungi. Endoscopic studies showed pangastritis and duodenitis. Biopsy specimens of the oesophagus, stomach, duodenum, ileum, and colon demonstrated oeosinophilic infiltration. A diagnosis of hypereosinophilic syndrome with eosinophilic gastroenteritis involving the entire digestive tract was made. Hence, she was treated with prednisolone. Symptoms and peripheral oeosinophilia rapidly resolved with treatment, and radiological investigations revealed resolution of effusion. This case illustrates the wide spectrum of clinical manifestation of the disease, whereby it involves the entire digestive tract and it also emphasizes the diagnostic yields of endoscopic biopsies.


We propose a deep neural network architecture and a training algorithm for computing approximate Lyapunov functions of systems of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Under the assumption that the system admits a compositional Lyapunov function, we prove that the number of neurons needed for an approximation of a Lyapunov function with fixed accuracy grows only polynomially in the state dimension, i.e., the proposed approach is able to overcome the curse of dimensionality. We show that nonlinear systems satisfying a small-gain condition admit compositional Lyapunov functions. Numerical examples in up to ten space dimensions illustrate the performance of the training scheme.


Initially introduced as special-purpose accelerators for games and graphics code, graphics processing units (GPUs) have emerged as widely-used high-performance parallel computing platforms. GPUs traditionally provided only software-managed local memories (or scratchpads) instead of demand-fetched caches. Increasingly, however, GPUs are being used in broader application domains where memory access patterns are both harder to analyze and harder to manage in software-controlled caches. In response, GPU vendors have included sizable demand-fetched caches in recent chip designs. Nonetheless, several problems remain. First, since these hardware caches are quite new and highly-configurable, it can be difficult to know when and how to use them; they sometimes degrade performance instead of improving it. Second, since GPU programming is quite distinct from general-purpose programming, application programmers do not yet have solid intuition about which memory reference patterns are amenable to demand-fetched caches.
 In response, this paper characterizes application performance on GPUs with caches and provides a taxonomy for reasoning about different types of access patterns and locality. Based on this taxonomy, we present an algorithm which can be automated and applied at compile-time to identify an application's memory access patterns and to use that information to intelligently configure cache usage to improve application performance. Experiments on real GPU systems show that our algorithm reliably predicts when GPU caches will help or hurt performance. Compared to always passively turning caches on, our method can increase the average benefit of caches from 5.8% to 18.0% for applications that have significant performance sensitivity to caching.


The intraneuronal conversion of testosterone to oestradiol constitutes a critical step in the development and sexual differentiation of the brain of many short gestation mammalian species and has been inferred to play a similar role in long gestation sheep. This conversion is catalysed by cytochrome P450 aromatase (CYP19), which is expressed in specific brain structures during foetal development. The present study was undertaken to examine the specific neuroanatomical distribution and relative expression of aromatase mRNA in the developing sheep hypothalamus. The foetal sheep is a highly tractable model system for localising the region‐specific expression of aromatase in the brain during prenatal development that can help predict regions where oestrogen acts to shape neural development. Our results, obtained using real time quantitative reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction, revealed that aromatase mRNA was expressed throughout mid to late gestation in the foetal preoptic area and amygdala. In the preoptic area, aromatase expression declined with advancing gestation, whereas, it increased in the amygdala. No sex differences were observed in either brain area. We next investigated the anatomical distribution of aromatase using in situ hybridisation histochemistry and found that the pattern of mRNA expression was largely established by midgestation. High expression was observed in the medial preoptic nucleus, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and corticomedial amygdala. We also observed substantial expression in the dorsal striatum. These results extend our understanding of the developmental expression of aromatase in the foetal sheep brain and lend support to the view that it plays an essential role in sexual differentiation and maturation of the neuroendocrine, motor and reward control systems.


Hospitals must maintain safe nurse-to-patient ratios in patient care units to offer adequate and safe patient care. Since the patient demand is highly variable, during high patient demand periods temporary or overtime nurses are hired to ensure safe nurse-to-patient ratios. These overtime nurses incur higher expense, and are often less effective. We study the problem of permanent nurse staffing level estimation under demand uncertainty as a newsvendor model. Our models are based on limited moment information of the demand distribution. Additionally, we introduce the use of asymmetric cost functions representing overstaffing and understaffing nursing costs. Findings using data from the general surgery and intensive care units at hospitals in Chicago, IL and Augusta, GA are presented. Computational results based on publically available cost data show that 3.1% and 7.3% annual cost savings result by introducing salvage value and newsvendor optimization in intensive care and general care units respectively. This new staffing scheme also improves patient safety as shifts are staffed with more permanent nurses.


Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to map cortical areas that control eye blinking. T2*-weighted asymmetric spin-echo MRI (or BOLD-blood oxygen level dependent-MRI) was used to detect changes caused by focal variations in blood oxygenation. Six normal volunteers and two cases of dry eye (less than 5-mm Schirmer's test) entered the study. The experimental scheme consisted of three cycles of a two-step sequence: (eyes closed)-(blink or blink inhibition). And to minimize contamination from photic activation, the experiments were carried out in a dark environment and the volunteers reported no light perception during the MR scans. In all eight cases, normal blinking (about one blink every 4 sec) activated areas in the orbitofrontal cortex and in some cases, the visual cortex including the anterior portion of the visual cortex and the primary visual cortex. In severe dry eye, blink-inhibition strongly activated the visual cortex even after irritation due to corneal desiccation was removed by topical anesthesia. The blinking process, especially the rate, appears to be controlled in the orbitofrontal cortex. The significance of visual cortex activation in the dark and in the case of severe dry eye still remains unclear; although it may be associated with attention and arousal.


The Corymbia and Eucalyptus species eaten by koalas are generally large trees, but these are often unpopular with urban landowners and councils because of the dangers of limbs falling from a great height. We aimed to develop shorter koala food and habitat trees for urban areas by heterografting tall eucalypt species onto rootstocks of shorter species and comparing their survival and growth with homografted trees and control ungrafted trees. In total, 12 of 14 interspecific scion/rootstock combinations were grafted successfully in the nursery but graft compatibility and field survival depended on taxonomic relatedness. The six interspecific combinations that had multiple surviving trees at 5 years after planting were all between species within the same taxonomic section or between a species and its own interspecific hybrid. Almost all trees died from grafts between species in different taxonomic sections. In most cases, the height of surviving interspecific grafted trees did not differ from control intraspecific grafted trees or from ungrafted trees of their scion species. Grafting elicited a 'thrive or not survive' response that diminished its usefulness for producing shorter trees. However, one combination, E. moluccana/E. behriana, had field survival of 40% and reduced height (4.0 m vs 9.9 m). These could be valuable habitat trees for koalas and other fauna in urban areas.


In the present study, we investigate a new approach to electroencephalography (EEG) three-dimensional (3D) dipole source localization by using a non-recursive subspace algorithm called FINES. In estimating source dipole locations, the present approach employs projections onto a subspace spanned by a small set of particular vectors (FINES vector set) in the estimated noise-only subspace instead of the entire estimated noise-only subspace in the case of classic MUSIC. The subspace spanned by this vector set is, in the sense of principal angle, closest to the subspace spanned by the array manifold associated with a particular brain region. By incorporating knowledge of the array manifold in identifying FINES vector sets in the estimated noise-only subspace for different brain regions, the present approach is able to estimate sources with enhanced accuracy and spatial resolution, thus enhancing the capability of resolving closely spaced sources and reducing estimation errors. The present computer simulations show, in EEG 3D dipole source localization, that compared to classic MUSIC, FINES has (1) better resolvability of two closely spaced dipolar sources and (2) better estimation accuracy of source locations. In comparison with RAP-MUSIC, FINES' performance is also better for the cases studied when the noise level is high and/or correlations among dipole sources exist.


In seeking to explain how securitized funds became available for the large volume of mortgages that were inappropriately extended in the runup to the financial crisis, a number of commentators have argued that credit rating agencies and the market itself were unaware of the low quality of the assets backing many residential mortgage back securities (RMBS) offerings and that this lack of awareness was the result of inadequate due diligence. These concerns prompted a number of due diligence related provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act that are now the subject of SEC rule-making.These developments raise two central questions: what is the socially appropriate level of due diligence that should be undertaken by persons preparing RMBS offering documents and credit ratings, and what is the proper role of regulation, if any, in assuring this level of due diligence. The paper reviews the general theory of asymmetric information in economics and applies this theory to the particular institutional features of securitized mortgage finance. The desirability of two possible policy options are discussed. One is direct regulation of the conduct of due diligence by certain securitization process participants. The other is imposition of liability on such participants for investor losses if these participants do not engage in due diligence that meets a governmentally determined standard.The paper then engages in a review and assessment of the due-diligence-related provisions of Dodd-Frank and of the rules that have been adopted or are currently proposed by the SEC pursuant to these Dodd-Frank provisions or otherwise in reaction to the perceived role of RMBS offerings in the financial crisis. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations.


Heaven's Gate, a secretive group of celibate 'monks' awaiting pickup by a UFO, captured intense public attention in 1997 when its members committed collective suicide. As a way of understanding such perplexing events, many have seen those who join cults as needy, lost souls, unable to think for themselves. This book, a compelling look at the cult phenomenon written for a wide audience, dispels such simple formulations by explaining how normal, intelligent people can give up years of their lives - and sometimes their very lives - to groups and beliefs that appear bizarre and irrational. Looking closely at Heaven's Gate and at the Democratic Workers Party, a radical political group of the 1970s and 1980s, Janja Lalich gives us a rare insider's look at these two cults and advances a new theoretical framework that will reshape our understanding of those who join such groups. Lalich's fascinating discussion includes her in-depth interviews with cult devotees as well as reflections gained from her own experience as a high-ranking member of the Democratic Workers Party. Incorporating classical sociological concepts such as 'charisma' and 'commitment' with more recent work on the social psychology of influence and control, she develops a new approach for understanding how charismatic cult leaders are able to dominate their devotees. She shows how members are led into a state of 'bounded choice', in which they make seemingly irrational decisions within a context that makes perfect sense to them and is, in fact, consistent with their highest aspirations. In addition to illuminating the cult phenomenon in the United States and around the world, this important book also addresses our pressing need to know more about the mentality of those true believers who take extreme or violent measures in the name of a cause.


A broad range of radical, new art and design approaches came about during the punk and post-punk boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s, though as is the nature of the profession, the graphic designer's anonymity often kept them out of the limelight and away from wider public acknowledgement or recognition. In an age of 'anyone can do it', punk inspired not just musicians, but also artists, designers, filmmakers, photographers, writers and a whole array of new creatives. Some simply took the opportunity to make something immediate and of the moment, without the need for any kind of formal education, training and guidance, while others found their way into a new career as a result. A colossal new book by Mike Coles, Forty Years in the Wilderness: A Graphic Voyage of Art, Design & Stubborn Independence, charts a pictorial history of the designer's work under the Malicious Damage banner, from early record sleeves, posters and flyers promoting Killing Joke alongside label-mates Ski Patrol and Red Beat, to the ambient house experimentation of The Orb, and more recent music graphics for Shriekback, Headcount and Vertical Smile. Part autobiography, part personal reflection, part celebration, this publication may lead to a critical reappraisal of the designer's work alongside more widely acknowledged contemporaries, though such considerations are far from being a driving force for the project, and the title ironically sums up Coles' attitude towards independent and autonomous production.


This article discusses risk management measures available to legal professionals, focusing on peer review as an important aspect of meaningful risk management. Part I of this article provides background information regarding the prevalence of legal malpractice claims and the importance of preventative risk management programs. Part II defines law practice risk management and outlines the different processes involved in risk management. These processes are expanded upon in the subsequent parts. Part III articulates the importance of client management procedures in risk management outlines the various aspects of client management. Part IV details the significance of effective administrative systems in the prevention of malpractice claims. Part V conveys how successful human resources management may prevent malpractice and employment claims. Part VI explains why, in addition to implementing preventative measures, a firm should also establish procedures for handling problems and actual claims. Part VII defines peer review and argues that peer review plays an essential role in risk management programs. The conclusion suggests various resources for guidance in developing a risk management program.


OBJECTIVES
To explore the perspectives of older adults on the acceptability of reminder letters for influenza vaccinations.

METHODS
We randomly selected 23 family physicians from each Family Health and Primary Care network participating in a demonstration project designed to increase the delivery of preventive services in Ontario. From the roster of each physician, we surveyed 35 randomly selected patients over 65 years of age who recently received a reminder letter regarding influenza vaccinations from their physician. The questionnaires sought patient perspectives on the acceptability and usefulness of the letter. We also conducted follow-up telephone interviews with a subgroup of respondents to explore some of the survey findings in greater depth.

RESULTS
85.3% (663/767) of patients completed the questionnaire. Sixty-five percent of respondents recalled receiving the reminder (n=431), and of those, 77.3% found it helpful. Of the respondents who recalled the letter and received a flu shot (n=348), 11.2% indicated they might not have done so without the letter. The majority of respondents reported that they would like to continue receiving reminder letters for influenza vaccinations (63.0%) and other preventive services (77.1%) from their family physician. The interview participants endorsed the use of reminder letters for improving vaccination coverage in older adults, but did not feel that the strategy was required for them personally.

CONCLUSIONS
The general attitude of older adults towards reminder letters was favourable, and the reminders appear to have contributed to a modest increase in influenza vaccination rates.


The concept of 'the commons' has been used as a framework to understand resources shared by a community rather than a private entity, and it has also inspired social movements working against the enclosure of public goods and resources. One such resource is free (libre) and open source software (FLOSS). FLOSS emerged as an alternative to proprietary software in the 1980s. However, both the products and production processes of FLOSS have become incorporated into capitalist production. For example, Red Hat, Inc. is a large publicly traded company whose business model relies entirely on free software, and IBM, Intel, Cisco, Samsung, Google are some of the largest contributors to Linux, the open-source operating system. This book explores the ways in which FLOSS has been incorporated into digital capitalism. Just as the commons have been used as a motivational frame for radical social movements, it has also served the interests of free-marketeers, corporate libertarians, and states to expand their reach by dragging the shared resources of social life onto digital platforms so they can be integrated into the global capitalist system.  The book concludes by asserting the need for a critical political economic understanding of the commons that foregrounds (digital) labour, class struggle, and uneven power distribution within the digital commons as well as between FLOSS communities and their corporate sponsors.


Abstract. The effectivity and efficiency of geovisual displays is highly dependent on visual search processes to detect, locate, and interpret relevant information for the tasks at hand. To speed up this process in interactive displays, a technique called "pop-out" is usually applied in order to afford visual prompts. By definition, such pop-outs depend on a sufficiently large contrast of the popped-out elements in regard to their contextual elements.Visual attributes most suitable for attracting attention and hence potentially realising pop-outs are colour, motion, orientation, and size (Wolfe & Horowitz, 2004). Visual cognition theory suggests that items on a display featuring one of these visual attributes are processed pre-attentively, in parallel, and therefore need less time to be detected.In previous work we proposed an approach to attention-guiding geovisualisation (Swienty, Reichenbacher, Reppermund, & Zihl, 2008). Based on visual cognition and design theory we demonstrated how relevant information can be visually encoded, such as to guide the users' attention towards them. Although we collected first empirical evidence for the effectiveness of that approach, further and more detailed investigations are indispensable.What we propose here is a tool for producing geovisual displays for empirical user studies. Such studies may test pop-outs, i.e. how contrast changes of display items make them faster detectable, and ultimately increase the effectiveness of such displays. The tool can also randomly select a set of target elements, i.e. those that should be emphasised and pop-out.


The Greylag Goose Anser anser has increased markedly in South Sweden in recent years. During 1985–1996 the field choice and local distribution of post-breeding foraging Greylag Geese was studied in an inland breeding area (with marked changes in land-use), and in a coastal area (with small changes in land-use) used by the same population. During late summer the geese gathered into one or two major flocks in the lake area and one or a few flocks in the coastal area. In the first years, geese in the inland area only made short feeding flights to crop fields close to the roosts, but with the introduction of large set-asides close to the roosts feeding flights were extended; the average distance increased threefold at two roosts and fivefold at a third. In the last year of the study, the fields close to the roost were again grown with cereals and the geese returned to their old pattern. The preferred feeding areas in the lake area were stubble fields and the geese started to leave the area when fields were ploughed. When available, peas were a preferred food before the harvest of cereals. In the first years of the set-aside programme, some set-asides were highly preferred early in the season. During the first years, relatively few geese used the coastal area, mainly in late autumn, but increased markedly in importance during the study period, whereas only a slight increase was found in the lake area. During the study period the Greylags in the coastal area established the new habit of feeding on sugar beet spill.


Background: The clinical presentation of children and adolescents referred to mental health services is frequently complicated by comorbid and severe affective and behavioral dysregulation. This dysregulation phenotype seems to be an indicator of overall psychopathology, symptom severity and functional impairment. Currently, this phenotype is assessed by the Child Behavior Checklist. However, the widely used Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been recently validated to screen the Dysregulation Profile (SDQ-DP) in clinical settings. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and demographic, psychosocial and clinical correlates of the SDQ-DP phenotype in a Spanish clinical sample. Sampling and Methods: In a clinical sample of 623 consecutively referred children and adolescents (4-17 years old), we compared clinical and sociodemographic correlates between subjects who met the SDQ-DP criteria (DP) and those who did not (NO_DP). Sociodemographic data, parent-rated SDQ, Children's Global Assessment Scale, Clinical Global Impression, family Apgar scale and clinical diagnoses were collected by experienced child and adolescent psychiatrists. Results: Overall in our sample, 175 subjects (28.1%) met the SDQ-DP criteria (DP group). Compared with the NO_DP group, the DP subjects had significantly higher scores on internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, problems with peers and overall problems as well as significantly lower scores on prosocial behavior. Clinical diagnoses assigned revealed that DP subjects showed significantly greater psychiatric comorbidity. DP subjects also showed significantly worse family functioning and increased symptom severity and significantly lower scores on psychosocial functioning. Conclusions: A high prevalence of children and adolescents with the dysregulated profile, assessed by the SDQ-DP, was found in our clinical setting. The SDQ-DP may serve as an index of overall psychological severity and functional impairment. In addition, it may indicate family dysfunction. Further research is needed to validate the clinical value of SDQ-DP by examining longitudinal stability, heritability, adult outcome, risk factors and diagnostic correlates.


Ginsberg and Smith [6, 7] propose a new method for reasoning about action, which they term a possible worlds approach (PWA). The PWA is an elegant, simple, and potentially very powerful domain-independent technique that has proven fruitful in other areas of AI [13, 5]. In the domain of reasoning about action, Ginsberg and Smith offer the PWA as a solution to the frame problem (What facts about the world remain true when an action is performed?) and its dual, the ramification problem [3] (What facts about the world must change when an action is performed?). In addition, Ginsberg and Smith offer the PWA as a solution to the qualification problem (When is it reasonable to assume that an action will succeed?), and claim for the PWA computational advantages over other approaches such as situation calculus.

Here and in [16] I show that the PWA fails to solve the frame, ramification, and qualification problems, even with additional simplifying restrictions not imposed by Ginsberg and Smith. The cause of the failure seems to be a lack of distinction in the PWA between the state of the world and the description of the state of the world. I introduce a new approach to reasoning about action, called the possible models approach, and show that the possible models approach works as well as the PWA on the examples of [6, 7] but does not suffer from its deficiencies.


The Stein-Chen approach is used to obtain bounds on the Poisson approximation of a random field, in both a random variable and a stochastic process sense. The hypotheses are Dobrushin's condition or, alternatively, positive dependence combined with a bound on decay of correlations. Rates of convergence are derived which supplement the limit theorems of Berman. The results have application to certain Gibbs states at both high and low temperature.


We identify a new subgroup of Type I Restriction-Modification enzymes that modify cytosine in one DNA strand and adenine in the opposite strand for host protection. Recognition specificity has been determined for ten systems using SMRT sequencing and each recognizes a novel DNA sequence motif. Previously characterized Type I systems use two identical copies of a single methyltransferase (MTase) subunit, with one bound at each half site of the specificity (S) subunit to form the MTase. The new m4C-producing Type I systems we describe have two separate yet highly similar MTase subunits that form a heterodimeric M1M2S MTase. The MTase subunits from these systems group into two families, one of which has NPPF in the highly conserved catalytic motif IV and modifies adenine to m6A, and one having an NPPY catalytic motif IV and modifying cytosine to m4C. The high degree of similarity among their cytosine-recognizing components (MTase and S) suggest they have recently evolved, most likely from the far more common m6A Type I systems. Type I enzymes that modify cytosine exclusively were formed by replacing the adenine target recognition domain (TRD) with a cytosine-recognizing TRD. These are the first examples of m4C modification in Type I RM systems.


The functionality of mobile devices, such as cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), has evolved to include various applications where security is a critical concern (secure web transactions, mobile commerce, download and playback of protected audio/video content, connection to corporate private networks, etc.). Security mechanisms (e.g., secure communication protocols) involve cryptographic algorithms, and are often quite computationally intensive, challenging the constrained processing and battery resources of mobile devices. Extensive design effort and aggressive hardware and software optimizations are required to address this challenge. Previous work has addressed the design of hardware architectures (custom accelerators, domain-specific processors, etc.) to accelerate security processing, and many emerging systems-on-chip (SoCs) feature some form of hardware support for security. In this paper, we address the complementary problem of mapping a complex security software library to an SoC platform with security hardware enhancements. We present a systematic methodology for exploring the software architecture for security processing for a commercial heterogeneous multiprocessor SoC for mobile devices. The SoC contains multiple host processors executing applications and a dedicated programmable security processing engine. We developed an exploration methodology to map the code and data of security software libraries onto the platform, with the objective of maximizing the overall application-visible performance. The salient features of the methodology include: 1) the use of real performance measurements from a prototyping board, which contains the target platform, to drive the exploration; 2) a new data structure access profiling framework that allows us to accurately model the communication overheads involved in off loading a given set of functions to the security processor; and 3) an exact branch-and-bound-based design space exploration algorithm that determines the best mapping of security library functions and data structures to the host and security processors. We used the proposed framework to map a commercial security library to the target mobile application SoC. The resulting optimized software architecture outperformed several manually designed software architectures, resulting in up to 12.5 times speed-up for individual cryptographic operations (encryption, hashing) and 2.2-6.2 times speed-up for applications such as a digital rights management (DRM) agent and secure sockets layer (SSL) client. We also demonstrate the applicability of our framework to software architecture exploration in other multiprocessor scenarios.


Oceans regulate our climate, provide us with natural resources such as food, materials, substances, and energy and are essential for international trade, recreational, and cultural activities. Free access to and availability of ocean resources and services, together with human development, have put strong pressures on marine ecosystems, ranging from overfishing and reckless resource extraction to various channels of careless pollution. International cooperation and negotiations are required to protect the marine environment and use marine resources in a way that the needs of future generations will be met. For that purpose, developing and agreeing on a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Oceans and Coasts could be an essential element for sustainable ocean management. The SDGs will build upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and replace them by 2015. Even though ensuring environmental sustainability is one of the eight MDG goals, the ocean is not explicitly included. Furthermore, the creation of a comprehensive underlying set of oceanic sustainability indicators would help assessing the current status of marine systems, diagnose on-going trends, and provide information for forward-locking and sustainable ocean governance.


Abstract. The concept of wavelength-dependent absorption Angstrom coefficients (AACs) is discussed and clarified for both single and two-wavelengths AACs and guidance for their implementation with noisy absorption spectra is provided. This discussion is followed by application of the concept to models for brown carbon bulk absorption spectra including the damped simple harmonic oscillator model, its Lorentzian approximation, and the band-gap model with and without Urbach tail. We show that the band-gap model with Urbach tail always has an unphysical discontinuity in the first derivative of the AAC at the band-gap – Urbach-tail matching wavelength. Complex refractive indices obtained from the bulk damped simple harmonic oscillator model are used to calculate absorption spectra for spherical particles, followed by a discussion of their features. For bulk material and small particles, this model predicts a monotonic decrease of the AAC with wavelength well above the resonance wavelength; the model predicts a monotonic increase for large particles.


This paper presents the chromatic dispersion dependence of the averaged Q-factor method based on an evaluation of an asynchronous amplitude histogram. We analyze nonreturn-to-zero optical signals using a numerical simulation based on several parameters for signal quality monitoring. The results are compared with the optical signal-to-noise ratio dependence of the method and the possibility of distinguishing the origins of the bit-error-rate distortion is discussed.


Our main motivation is to design more user-friendly security protocols. Indeed, if the use of the protocol is tedious, most users will not behave correctly and, consequently, security issues occur. An example is the actual behavior of a user in front of an SSH certificate validation: while this task is of utmost importance, about 99% of SSH users accept the received certificate without checking it. Designing more user-friendly protocols may be difficult since the security should not decrease at the same time. Interestingly, insecure channels coexist with channels ensuring authentication. In practice, these latters may be used for a string comparison or a string copy, e.g., by voice over IP spelling. The shorter the authenticated string is, the less human interaction the protocol requires, and the more user-friendly the protocol is. This leads to the notion of SAS-based cryptography, where SAS stands for Short Authenticated String. In the first part of this thesis, we analyze and propose optimal SAS-based message authentication protocols. By using these protocols, we show how to construct optimal SAS-based authenticated key agreements. Such a protocol enables any group of users to agree on a shared secret key. SAS-based cryptography requires no pre-shared key, no trusted third party, and no public-key infrastructure. However, it requires the user to exchange a short SAS, e.g., five decimal digits. By using the just agreed secret key, the group can now achieve a secure communication based on symmetric cryptography. SAS-based authentication protocols are often used to authenticate the protocol messages of a key agreement. Hence, each new secure communication requires the interaction of the users to agree on the SAS. A solution to reduce the user interaction is to use digital signature schemes. Indeed, in a setup phase, the users can use a SAS-based authentication protocol to exchange long-term verification keys. Then, using digital signatures, users are able to run several key agreements and the authentication of protocol messages is done by digital signatures. In the case where no authenticated channel is available, but a public-key infrastructure is in place, the SAS-based setup phase is avoided since verification keys are already authenticated by the infrastructure. In the second part of this thesis, we also study two problems related to digital signatures: (1) the insecurity of digital signature schemes which use weak hash functions and (2) the privacy issues from signed documents. Digital signatures are often proven to be secure in the random oracle model. The role of random oracles is to model ideal hash functions. However, real hash functions deviate more and more from this idealization. Indeed, weaknesses on hash functions have already been discovered and we are expecting new ones. A question is how to fix the existing signature constructions based on these weak hash functions. In this thesis, we first try to find a better way to model weak hash function. Then, we propose a (randomized) pre-processing to the input message which transforms any weak signature implementation into a strong signature scheme. There remains one drawback due to the randomization. Indeed, the random coins must be sent and thus the signature enlarges. We also propose a method to avoid the increase in signature length by reusing signing coins. Digital signatures may also lead to privacy issues. Indeed, given a message and its signature, anyone can publish the pair which will confirm the authenticity of the message. In certain applications, like in electronic passports (e-passports), publishing the authenticated data leads to serious privacy issues. In this thesis, we define the required security properties in order to protect the data privacy, especially in the case of e-passport verification. The main idea consists for the e-passport to keep the signature secret. The e-passport should only prove that it knows a valid signature instead of revealing it. We propose a new primitive, called Offline Non-Transferable Authentication Protocol (ONTAP), as well as efficient implementations that are compatible with the e-passport standard signature schemes.


Nearly ten years in preparation and production, Jewelry Concepts and Technology is the definitive guide and handbook for jewellery makers on all levels of ability. It is also a unique reference source for those not directly active in the field but who wish to gain an understanding of what lies behind the jewellery-making mystique. All traditional as well as innovative contemporary techniques are thoroughly described, making this. The more than 900 photographs in colour and black and white illustrate work of all degrees of complexity and show the incredible range of concepts which jewellers in all times, including today, incorporate in their work. Historic and ethnic jewellery, as well as contemporary work done by approximately 300 jewellers from twenty-six countries, are grouped under particular technical processes. This arrangement dramatically illustrates the mutual bonds between today's creative jewellers and their colleagues: historic style-oriented, and anonymous, tradition-dominated ethnic jewellers. The detailed text is accompanied by 377 illustrations showing tools and processes used to carry out particular techniques. In addition, thirty step-by-step photo demonstrations show master jewellers working from raw material to finished jewels, some of them revealing their methods for the first time. Supplemented by an extensive index, glossaries of jewellery forms and findings, and an international sources supply list, Jewelry Concepts and Technology is indispensable for anyone interested in any aspect of jewellery making.