A theoretical model is presented which describes selection in a genetic algorithm (GA) under a stochastic fitness measure and correctly accounts for finite population effects. Although this model describes a number of selection schemes, we only consider Boltzmann selection in detail here as results for this form of selection are particularly transparent when fitness is corrupted by additive Gaussian noise. Finite population effects are shown to be of fundamental importance in this case, as the noise has no effect in the infinite population limit. In the limit of weak selection we show how the effects of any Gaussian noise can be removed by increasing the population size appropriately. The theory is tested on two closely related problems: the one-max problem corrupted by Gaussian noise and generalization in a perceptron with binary weights. The averaged dynamics can be accurately modelled for both problems using a formalism which describes the dynamics of the GA using methods from statistical mechanics. The second problem is a simple example of a learning problem and by considering this problem we show how the accurate characterization of noise in the fitness evaluation may be relevant in machine learning. The training error (negative fitness) is the number of misclassified training examples in a batch and can be considered as a noisy version of the generalization error if an independent batch is used for each evaluation. The noise is due to the finite batch size and in the limit of large problem size and weak selection we show how the effect of this noise can be removed by increasing the population size. This allows the optimal batch size to be determined, which minimizes computation time as well as the total number of training examples required.


This study explored sex differences in mathematics performance of students in the final year of high school and changes in these differences over a 3-year period in Ghana. A convenience sample of 182 students, 109 boys and 72 girls in three high schools in Ghana was used. Mathematics performance was assessed using their classroom marks in the first and third year. The results revealed that there was a significant difference between mathematics performance between boys and girls. These findings, consistent with previous Western studies, are discussed and educational implications of the findings suggested.


The inhibition ability of chitin (CH) for carbon steel corrosion in a 1.0 M HCl solution at 298K was studied by means of weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique. Polarization curves revealed that CH is a mixed-type inhibitor. EIS results show that the change in the impedance parameters (Rt and Cdl) with concentration of CH is indicative of the adsorption of molecules leading to the formation of a protective layer on the surface of carbon steel. Results showed that CH is a good inhibitor for the corrosion of carbon steel in 1.0 M HCl solution and inhibition efficiency is higher than 96% at 1×10-4 M of CH. Results indicate that the inhibition efficiencies increased with the concentration of CH. Adsorption of the inhibitor on the carbon steel surface followed Langmuir adsorption isotherm and the value of the free energy of adsorption, ΔGads indicated that the adsorption of CH molecule was a spontaneous process.


OF DISSERTATION AN EXAMINATION OF A YOGA INTERVENTION AND ELEMENTARY STUDENTS' SELECTIVE ATTENTION AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION IN THE SCHOOL SETTING The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of yoga on children's executive function and selective attention. There were three primary aims of this study. The first aim was to examine whether yoga would have a positive effect on children's selective attention in a school setting. Another aim was to explore if teachers will report an improved change in children's executive function in the classroom. The final aim was to determine if yoga would be a socially acceptable intervention to teachers and students. Participants included three fifth grade students and two teachers. Mixed methods were used to visually analyze selective attention data using a Multiple Probe Across Participants Multiple Baseline design, as well quantitative analysis of executive functioning data and qualitative analysis of social validity data. Results indicated that no functional relations were found between selective attention and yoga and no significant differences were found on pre-post measures of executive functioning. Improvements were seen when descriptive data was analyzed for dependent variables and the intervention was determined to be socially acceptable to teachers and students. Implications from the findings and recommendations for future research are presented.


AquaMOOSE 3D is a graphical environment designed to support the exploration of 3D mathematical concepts. One of the underlying motivations for the AquaMOOSE project is to leverage the entertainment value of video games to provide a learning environment that engages students in more meaningful ways than are typically seen in the classroom. In this quasi- experimental comparison class study at a suburban high school, we compared the AquaMOOSE intervention to instruction using the traditional curriculum. Our results were disappointing, and call into question our underlying assumptions. In this paper, we will describe factors that contributed and discuss broader implications. Student expectations for the software were high due to the production values seen in commercial video games. In addition, the 3D aspect of the AquaMOOSE software introduced usability concerns and increased content complexity. We also encountered many classic problems of research in the classroom that affected the outcome of the study.


The arrival of several hundred Guatemalan-born workers in a Morganton, North Carolina, poultry plant sets the stage for this dramatic story of human struggle in an age of globalization. When laborers' concerns about safety and fairness spark a strike and, ultimately, a unionizing campaign at Case Farms, the resulting decade-long standoff pits a recalcitrant New South employer against an unlikely coalition of antagonists. Mayan refugees from war-torn Guatemala, Mexican workers, and a diverse group of local allies join forces with the Laborers union. The ensuing clash becomes a testing ground for "new labor" workplace and legal strategies. In the process, the nation's fastest-growing immigrant region encounters a new struggle for social justice. Using scores of interviews, Leon Fink gives voice to a remarkably resilient people. He shows that, paradoxically, what sustains these global travelers are the ties of local community. Whether one is finding a job, going to church, joining a soccer team, or building a union, kin and linguistic connections to the place of one's birth prove crucial in negotiating today's global marketplace. A story set at the intersection of globalization and community, two words not often linked, The Maya of Morganton addresses fundamental questions about the changing face of labor in the United States.


In the most recent years, the pattern of economic development of the Italian Mezzogiorno has given signs of a remarkable change in progress. Up to the beginning of the 1990s, the whole area was by and large characterised by a single macroeconomic model of income and employment, whose dynamics were strongly based upon State intervention. The end of the special public support for the Mezzogiorno in the early 1990s - as a consequence of the completion of the Single European Market in 1992 - was followed by a substantial lack of legislative tools for the support of less favoured areas. Since then, the Italian southern regions have gone through a worsening of their economic fundamentals, particularly with regard to income growth and unemployment. The main obstacles to economic convergence are well known and in the majority of cases they are rooted in the historical and socio-cultural background of southern Italy. Public inefficiency, lack of infrastructures, problems of public order, State-dependence, are all "classical diseases" of the southern regions as compared to the North and the Centre of the country. Moreover, all these factors couple with other specific aspects seriously curbing the economic performance of the area, among which: inadequate entrepreneurial culture, low technology potential and innovation propensity, scarce services to firms, weak attractiveness towards external resources (i.e., FDI), insufficient promotion of internationalisation processes, feeble linkages with global markets and networks. In the most recent years, however, manifest differentials in the economic development pattern have begun to rise also within the southern area, giving shape to what has been labeled "the emergence of more than one Mezzogiorno". On the other hand, the export performance of the South as a whole has shown striking signs of dynamism - although, even in this case, not at all uniformly spread across regions - triggering an intense debate on the necessity to implement a sound restructuring process of both manufacturing and service industries. By using a wide range of both economic and social indicators for the period 1985-1998 and adopting a high disaggregation of the Italian southern territory up to the level of province (NUTS3%29, this paper aims at showing that the economic geography of the Mezzogiorno is somehow more complicated than what used to be traditionally maintained, as strong economic and social differences exist also within the area. The statistical analysis, carried out by means of principal components and cluster analyses, intends also to provide some support to the fact that, in order to achieve faster growth and stronger convergence, two elements seem to be crucial: %0D 1) the development of local firms, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs); 2) the internationalisation of the overall southern economy through various modalities, to allow its participation in the European and global competitive bidding. Therefore, within the overall public strategy to support the internationalisation of the Italian national system, the need for specific tools and geographically-targeted policies may emerge as vital to avoid further marginalisation and increasing economic divergence of the South from both the rest of the country and the EU area.


Scalability in terms of object density in a scene is a primary challenge in unsupervised sequential object-oriented representation learning. Most of the previous models have been shown to work only on scenes with a few objects. In this paper, we propose SCALOR, a probabilistic generative world model for learning SCALable Object-oriented Representation of a video. With the proposed spatially parallel attention and proposal-rejection mechanisms, SCALOR can deal with orders of magnitude larger numbers of objects compared to the previous state-of-the-art models. Additionally, we introduce a background module that allows SCALOR to model complex dynamic backgrounds as well as many foreground objects in the scene. We demonstrate that SCALOR can deal with crowded scenes containing up to a hundred objects while jointly modeling complex dynamic backgrounds. Importantly, SCALOR is the first unsupervised object representation model shown to work for natural scenes containing several tens of moving objects.


Do professionals have an ethical obligation to educate new members of their profession? The ancient Hippocratic oath recognized such a commitment, requiring all doctors "to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning...to pupils who have signed the covenant." Contemporary theories of professionalism point to the same result, identifying intergenerational education as an essential feature of professional status. Moral theory and economic policy, finally, underscore this outcome: In return for the exclusive right to practice a profession, established members of the profession must agree to share their knowledge, skills, and other expertise with newcomers.The rules of professional conduct governing lawyers, sadly, do not mention this duty to educate. Equally unfortunate, mounting evidence suggests that neither law schools nor the practicing bar are fulfilling their ethical obligation to educate new members of the profession. This Article explores both the nature of that ethical gap and ways that law schools could restore their ethical commitment to educate new members of the bar. To provide background for that discussion, Part I of the Article examines the historical, social, moral, and economic roots of a professional obligation to educate. Part II then analyzes the status of this obligation within the legal profession. Part III, finally, proposes six ways that legal educators can improve our ethical commitment to educating new lawyers.


A coherent laser radar system based on semiconductor laser technology has been designed and built. The compact design and the absence of adjustments makes the system mechanically robust and easy to use. The present system has an output power of 50 mW and a line width of 280 kHz (HWHM). The laser radar system has been used in vibrometry measurements. For vibrometry of moving objects, adaptive signal processing is required in order to obtain the vibration signature. Especially for unresolved objects, interference between different vibrating parts will complicate the analysis. Model based estimation techniques are used to obtain the parameters which determine the dynamics of the reflecting object.


Picturebooks represent a unique visual and literary art form that engages young readers and older readers in many levels of learning and pleasure. This form, however, is changing rapidly and in turn generating new possibilities for teaching and research. Knowledge of recent developments in picturebooks, ways of reading these books, and bridging picturebook forms and innovations with reader response will enable practitioners to initiate fruitful conversations about the importance of picturebooks in the curriculum and inspire new directions in research. Disciplines Educational Methods Comments Copyright 2007 by the National Council of Teachers of English. Posted with permission. Reprinted from Language Arts, Volume 83, Issue 3, January 2007, pages 273-280. Publisher URL: http://www.ncte.org/pubs/journals/la This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/gse_pubs/32


Background: We established a program of research to improve the development, reporting and evaluation of practice guidelines. We assessed the construct validity of the items and user's manual in the β version of the AGREE II. Methods: We designed guideline excerpts reflecting high-and low-quality guideline content for 21 of the 23 items in the tool. We designed two study packages so that one low-quality and one high-quality version of each item were randomly assigned to each package. We randomly assigned 30 participants to one of the two packages. Participants reviewed and rated the guideline content according to the instructions of the user's manual and completed a survey assessing the manual. Results: In all cases, content designed to be of high quality was rated higher than low-quality content; in 18 of 21 cases, the differences were significant (p < 0.05). The manual was rated by participants as appropriate, easy to use, and helpful in differentiating guidelines of varying quality, with all scores above the mid-point of the seven-point scale. Considerable feedback was offered on how the items and manual of the β-AGREE II could be improved. Interpretation: The validity of the items was established and the user's manual was rated as highly useful by users. We used these results and those of our study presented in part 1 to modify the items and user's manual. We recommend AGREE II (available at www.agreetrust.org) as the revised standard for guideline development, reporting and evaluation.


Eight of Russia's most popular and significant novels are presented in this important new guide for students. Works include: "We" by Evgenii Zamiatin "Red Cavalry" by Isaak Babel "Envy" by Iurii Olesha "How the Steel Was Tempered" by Nikolai Ostrovskii "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov "Doctor Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak "Cancer Ward" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn "Pushkin House" by Andrei Bitov In each chapter, David Gillespie examines one novel in detail and explores the career of the author and the critical reception of the work. Throughout, considerable reference is made to recently published scholarship and archival materials to provide students and scholars of Russian and Comparative Literature with a guide to these important Russian authors and their place in the world of literature. The book also includes an extensive bibliography of secondary literature and contains textual references in both the original Russian and in English translation.


Existing software fault-proneness analysis and prediction models can be categorized into software metrics and visualized approaches. However, the studies of the software metrics solely rely on the quantified data, while the latter fails to reflect the human aspect, which is proven to be a main cause of many failures in various domains. In this paper, we proposed a new analysis model with an improved software network called Composite Developer-Module Network. The network is composed of the linkage of both developers to software modules and software modules to modules to reflect the characteristics and interaction between developers. After the networks of the research objects are built, several different sub-graphs in the networks are derived from analyzing the structures of the sub-graphs that are more fault-prone and further determine whether the software development is in a bad structure, thus predicting the fault-proneness. Our research shows that the different sub-structures are not only a factor in fault-proneness, but also that the complexity of the sub-structure can affect the production of bugs.


This essay uses established United Nations treaties and agreements on human "development" and progress, that were part of the post World War II consensus, as a basis for rediscovering and reaffirming those "universal development goals" that were intended to be the measure of "development" success within all of the world's countries and that can be recognized again as the U.N. sets its agenda and measures for post-2015 "development goals". The author notes how the U.N.'s "Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)" established for 2001 to 2015, abandoned the earlier global consensus to substitute a narrower vision duplicating the "civilizing mission" of European colonialism. This approach undermined global aspirations and substituted a vision of homogeneity and basic needs with no possibility for progress. Current attempts to "fix" the failures of the MDGs with "Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" continue to subvert the earlier agreements. The 13 principles for development that the international community outlined as the basis of humanity's development vision after World War II can serve as the basis for contemporary "Universal Development Goals".


As public concern over fracking gains increased prominence in the media, litigation concerning the practice is starting to appear before Canadian courts. The litigation thus far has focused largely on water use and its associated licensing regimes, as well as Aboriginal treaty rights. Opponents of fracking have employed diverse strategies to combat the practice. Aside from the Environmental Appeal Board case involving the Fort Nelson First Nation, the British Columbia government and Nexen, no single strategy has proved particularly successful, though the litigation remains in its infancy. This article profiles the emerging Canadian litigation, considering it alongside the developing American civil litigation.


This study assessed the Related Learning Experience (RLE) needs in terms of training, development and empowerment of the clinical instructors of the of the College of Nursing, University of Cebu-Banilad, Cebu City for SY 2010-2011. Findings of this study served as bases for a proposed action plan. This study utilized the descriptive-correlational design using a 50-item researcher-made questionnaire and purposive sampling procedure. It included 157 employed clinical instructors from Level 1 to Level 4 placements and midwifery/health aide instructors. Statistical treatments used in the data analysis were simple percentage, weighted mean, hypothetical mean range and the chi-square test of independence. Results revealed that the dominant RLE training needs were CPR, IV insertion, NGT insertion, colostomy care training, physical assessment skills, assisting in abdominal paracentesis and endoscopy procedures. The dominant development needs were research skills, continuing education, counseling, cultivating values and leadership skills. The extent of RLE needs in terms of training and development were needed while empowerment was most needed. In conclusion, there was a significant relationship between the clinical instructors' profile and their empowerment needs. The researchers strongly recommend the implementation of the proposed action plan. Keywords - needs, training, development, empowerment, clinical instructors, related learning experience,


ABSTRACT This article is based on studies carried out within the Young children's learning research education programme. This undertaking involved five graduate students, all recruited from the Swedish preschool system. The licentiate thesis makes up the final product of their education programme, and the focus of each candidate's licentiate thesis was preschool-level documentation. Using the results of all five theses, a re-analysis was conducted with the concept of normality as the common starting point. The purpose was to investigate whether documentation and assessment can change the view of normality in preschools, and furthermore, what consequences there may be for preschool activity. 'The narrow preschool and the wide preschool' is the model used to support the analysis, which is a model used in previous studies to review and discuss educational choices and conditions in the school system. Results of the present investigation show that the documents and assessments performed in preschool have a strong focus on the individual child and a traditional, school-oriented learning is highly valued. The documentation and assessment practices that take place now in our preschools, therefore, most likely influence the preschool view of normality and restrict the acceptance of differences.


Abstract In this paper, I argue that there is an emerging consensus among realists that the US should abandon its hegemonic strategy and adopt an offshore balancing strategy. Here, Iraq and the so called war on terrorism (or 'long war', or 'global counter-insurgency', as some American officials sometimes refer to it) have been the catalysts. Increasingly, it is recognised that US aims in the Persian Gulf/Middle East – and the American military presence in the region – have fuelled terrorism, and caused Iran to self-defensively seek to acquire a nuclear weapons capability. A number of leading realists now argue that the best strategy for the US is to extricate itself from Iraq, reduce its regional footprint, and adopt an offshore balancing strategy.


This 10-day course is required for officers who serve on vessels equipped with GMDSS equipment. It is divided into one theory week and one practical week. Subjects include: satellite systems, terrestrial communications, transmission and reception of distress alerts and messages, maritime safety information. A trainee successfully completing this course and passing the prescribed examination will be enabled to efficiently operate the GMDSS equipment, and to have primary responsibility of radio communications during Distress incidents. Given the severe problems being experienced in the GMDSS as a result of the large number of false Distress alerts that sometimes occur, training will also be provided in techniques to avoid the unintentional transmission of false Distress alerts and the procedures to use to mitigate the effects of false Distress alerts following unintentional transmission.


A major achievement in research supported by the Kluane Lake Research Station was the recovery, in 2001 – 02, of a suite of cores from the icefields of the central St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, by teams of researchers from Canada, the United States, and Japan. This project led to the development of parallel, long (103 – 104 year) ice-core records of climate and atmospheric change over an altitudinal range of more than 2 km, from the Eclipse Icefield (3017 m) to the ice-covered plateau of Mt. Logan (5340 m). These efforts built on earlier work recovering single ice cores in this region. Comparison of these records has allowed for variations in climate and atmospheric composition to be linked with changes in the vertical structure and dynamics of the North Pacific atmosphere, providing a unique perspective on these changes over the Holocene. Owing to their privileged location, cores from the St. Elias Icefields also contain a remarkably detailed record of aerosols from various sources around or across the North Pacific. In this paper we review major scientific findings from the study of St. Elias Mountain ice cores, focusing on five main themes: (1) The record of stable water isotopes (δ18O, δD), which has unique characteristics that differ from those of Greenland, other Arctic ice cores, and even among sites in the St. Elias; (2) the snow accumulation history; (3) the record of pollen, biomass burning aerosol, and desert dust deposition; (4) the record of long-range air pollutant deposition (sulphate and lead); and (5) the record of paleo-volcanism. Our discussion draws on studies published since 2000, but based on older ice cores from the St. Elias Mountains obtained in 1980 and 1996.


This book covers the area of unpaced, unbalanced production lines. You will find an up-to-date discussion of how designing these lines can be made more efficient by taking advantage of inherent imbalance, for example operators who work at different speeds - a concept which has traditionally been seen as an obstacle to efficient production. A series of experiments are presented to illustrate the issues involved in improving performance through production line imbalance. This area is of interest to postgraduate and executive level students interested in the area of production, and to managers of manual or semi-automated production lines who are interested in innovative approaches to line design. In this book you will find some surprisingly easy ways to improve performance with low or zero costs. Emphasis is placed on reducing the amount of time production lines lie idle, and on reducing work in process. This is a timely contribution to the field when managers are casting around for new ways to cut waste and reduce their use of natural resources.


This paper presents a novel algorithm for a discrete search optimisation and an approach to solve the problem of the hybrid power filter compensator with the design of C-type filter and fixed capacitor bank using discrete multi-objective particle swarm optimisation (MOPSO) method. This novel optimisation approach, a multi-objective particle swarm optimisation (MOPSO) method is implemented to tackle a number of conflicting search goals that define the complex optimal filter design problem. The paper presents the selection with conflicting objective functions and a compromising selection criterion: 1) minimum change in the fundamental frequency load bus voltage under steady state conditions, 2) minimum feeder current for maximum AC system grid capacity release, 3) minimum fundamental frequency utilisation feeder active and reactive power losses, due to reduced fundamental RMS current magnitude, 4) minimum dominant harmonic current penetration into the host electric grid system, 5) maximum harmonic current absorption by the hybrid harmonic power filter with the fixed capacitor bank, 6) minimum harmonic voltage distortion at the point of common coupling or load bus.


The book deals with the genesis, formation and development of two fundamental aspects of English Law, common law and equity. The common law laid down the rules governing cohabitation in communities and human rights. Equity was the offspring of natural law designed to prevent and remedy injustice resulting from unconscionable conduct. English law including both common law and equity was introduced in former British Colonies and dominions. In most of them it was retained after independence. This is the principal legacy of English colonization of countries. The introduction, application and retention of English law is reflected in Cyprus, a former British colony.


The Internet has gained enormous importance as an advertising medium. At the same time, the question of marketing accountability has become one of the top areas of research for researchers and practitioners who aim at optimal marketing budget allocations. The development of online advertising has had a huge impact on marketing, and its accountability is often held up as one of the main advantages over traditional advertising. But just how are online advertising campaigns measured and evaluated and what does the future hold for this area of advertising?

The purpose of this thesis is to identify how Irish marketing professionals measure and evaluate online advertising campaigns, what challenges they face, how online is changing the advertising landscape and to predict what the future holds for online advertising.

The literature review examines the history of advertising and how the birth of the Internet has transformed the dynamic of the industry. The various types of online advertising are discussed as well as the Irish advertising market as a whole.

A mixed-method approach was used to gather research in the area. Quantitative research comes in the form of a questionnaire that was completed by 50 professionals in the Irish market, while six in-depth interviews were carried out as part of the qualitative research conducted into the topic area.

It was discovered that while a number of factors are used to determine the success or failure of an online advertising campaign, the most important aspect is the creation of pre-campaign objectives, which must also be realistic. Online advertising has developed rapidly over the past few years in Ireland as it offers more accurate measurement, tracking and subsequently evaluation of campaigns which makes the budget spend more accountable. The indications are that online advertising will continue to grow as traditional advertising continues to decrease, but most professionals agree that traditional advertising still has an important role to play in conjunction with online advertising.


Only a small fraction of law enforcement agencies in the United States obtain a warrant before tracking the cell phones of suspects and persons of interest. This is due, in part, to the fact that courts have struggled to keep pace with a changing technological landscape. Indeed, courts around the country have issued a disparate array of holdings on the issue of warrantless cell phone tracking. This lack of judicial uniformity has led to confusion for both law enforcement agencies and the public alike. In order to protect reasonable expectations of privacy in the twenty-first century, Congress should pass legislation requiring law-enforcement agencies to obtain a warrant based upon probable cause before they can track a cell phone except in a limited set of time-sensitive situations and emergencies. This Issue Brief describes the technology police use to track cell phones, discusses the need for federal legislation, concludes that current Fourth Amendment jurisprudence is inadequate to address cell phone tracking, analyzes two bills dealing with "geolocation information" privacy that legislators have introduced in Congress, and ultimately concludes that one of those bills is superior to the other.


Context. The central regions of galaxies are complex environments, rich in evolved and/or massive stars. For galaxies hosting an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with jets, the interaction of the jets with the winds of the stars within can lead to particle acceleration, and to extended high-energy emitting regions. Aims. We compute the non-thermal emission produced by the jet flow shocked by stellar winds on the jet scale, far from the jet-star direct interaction region. Methods. First, prescriptions for the winds of the relevant stellar populations in different types of galaxies are obtained. The scenarios adopted include galaxies with their central regions dominated by old or young stellar populations, and with jets of different power. Then, we estimate the available energy to accelerate particles in the jet shock, and compute the transport and energy evolution of the accelerated electrons, plus their synchrotron and inverse Compton emission, in the shocked flow along the jet. Results. A significant fraction of the jet energy, ~ 0.1 − 10%, can potentially be available for the particles accelerated in jet-wind shocks in the studied cases. The non-thermal particles can produce most of the high-energy radiation on jet scales, far from the jet shock region. This high-energy emission will be strongly enhanced in jets aligned with the line of sight due to Doppler boosting effects. Conclusions. The interaction of relativistic jets with stellar winds may contribute significantly to the persistent high-energy emission in some AGNs with jets. However, in the particular case of M 87, this component seems too low to explain the observed gamma-ray fluxes.


Collisionless shocks play a role in many astrophysical phenomena, from coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the heliosphere to supernova remnants. Their role in heating and accelerating particles is well accepted yet the exact mechanism for ion heating is not well understood. Two systems, CMEs and supernova remnants, were examined to determine the heating of heavy ions as they pass through collisionless shocks thus providing a seed population for cosmic ray acceleration processes. Three parameters are examined, the plasma beta, the Mach number of the shock and the magnetic angle of the shock. CMEs heat heavy ions preferentially. This is in contrast to the supernova data which shows less than mass proportional heating. In addition to these studies, heating in astrophysical systems involves neutral atoms. A Monte Carlo model simulated neutral particles as they pass through the shock. Neutrals can create a precursor to the shock additionally heating the plasma. This work uses in situ data from the heliosphere to study astronomical systems because of common shock properties is a unique way to study magnetic components of shocks remotely.


Chile is considered to be a sub-center of origin for the cultivated potato, with native and introduced genetic material coexisting in the country. Thus, the different varieties present in Chiloe Island are characterized by a rich diversity of forms, sizes, colours and phenological characteristics. In the present work, the level of polymorphism and the genetic relationship were studied by means of molecular markers using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique and twenty-seven morphological characters. Twenty varieties of potatoes from the Chiloe Island were analyzed. The commercial variety Desiree and one specie from the Etuberosa series, S olanum fernandezianum , collected in the Juan Fernandez Island were included as controls. A similarity tree-diagram was made, based on all the AFLP bands generated in the range between 65 and 290 base pairs. With these tools, it was possible to identify molecular differences and similarities that might be associated with important morphological traits such as the predominant forms of the tuber, flower colour and resistance to disease.


The carboxyl terminus of heat‐shock cognate (Hsc)70‐interacting protein (CHIP) is a ubiquitin E3 ligase that can collaborate with molecular chaperones to facilitate protein folding and prevent protein aggregation. Previous studies showed that, together with heat‐shock protein (Hsp)70, CHIP can regulate tau ubiquitination and degradation in a cell culture system. Ubiquitinated tau is one component in neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), which are a major histopathological feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the precise sequence of events leading to NFT formation and the mechanisms involved remain unclear. To confirm CHIP's role in suppressing NFT formation in vivo, we performed a quantitative analysis of CHIP in human and mouse brains. We found increased levels of CHIP and Hsp70 in AD compared with normal controls. CHIP levels in both AD and controls corresponded directly to Hsp90 levels, but not to Hsp70 or Hsc70 levels. In AD samples, CHIP was inversely proportional to sarkosyl‐insoluble tau accumulation. In a JNPL3 mouse brain tauopathy model, CHIP was widely distributed but weakly expressed in spinal cord, which was the most prominent region for tau inclusions and neuronal loss. Protein levels of CHIP in cerebellar regions of JNPL3 mice were significantly higher than in non‐transgenic littermates. Human tau was more highly expressed in this region of mouse brains, but only moderate levels of sarkosyl‐insoluble tau were detected. This was confirmed when increased insoluble tau accumulation was found in mice lacking CHIP. These findings suggest that increases in CHIP may protect against NFT formation in the early stages of AD. If confirmed, this would indicate that the quality‐control machinery in a neuron might play an important role in retarding the pathogenesis of tauopathies.


Cold-formed steel wood-sheathed floor diaphragm system behavior is analyzed from a system reliability perspective. Floor systems consisting of oriented strand board (OSB), cold-formed steel (CFS) joists, tracks and screw fasteners are modeled using shell and spring elements in ABAQUS. (Dassault-Systems ())The models consider typical seismic demand loads, with careful treatment of light steel framing diaphragm boundary conditions and OSB sheathing kinematics, i.e., two sheets pulling apart or bearing against each other at an ultimate limit state, consistent with existing experimental results. The finite element results are used to build surrogate mathematical idealizations (series, parallel-brittle and parallel-ductile) for the critical system components. System reliability and reliability sensitivity, defined as the derivative of system reliability with respect to component reliability, are studied for these idealizations. These results represent mathematical upper and lower bounds to real system behavior, and are being used in ongoing research to codify beneficial diaphragm system effects.


Heterogeneity in host populations is an important factor affecting the ability of a pathogen to invade, yet the quantitative investigation of its effects on epidemic spread is still an open problem. In this paper, we test recent theoretical results, which extend the established "percolation paradigm" to the spread of a pathogen in discrete heterogeneous host populations. In particular, we test the hypothesis that the probability of epidemic invasion decreases when host heterogeneity is increased. We use replicated experimental microcosms, in which the ubiquitous pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani grows through a population of discrete nutrient sites on a lattice, with nutrient sites representing hosts. The degree of host heterogeneity within different populations is adjusted by changing the proportion and the nutrient concentration of nutrient sites. The experimental data are analysed via Bayesian inference methods, estimating pathogen transmission parameters for each individual population. We find a significant, negative correlation between heterogeneity and the probability of pathogen invasion, thereby validating the theory. The value of the correlation is also in remarkably good agreement with the theoretical predictions. We briefly discuss how our results can be exploited in the design and implementation of disease control strategies.


This article addresses how the progressive development of a strong research evaluation system in Spain has affected research practices in two highly prestigious university departments in History. Our research finds that researchers perceive that evaluation mechanisms relying on bibliometric indicators pressure them to publish more and to publish in international indexed journals. Researchers feel the time available to develop their research before publishing their results has been reduced, which does not allow them to address research questions with the former rigour and to fully exploit information sources. The pressure is also perceived as an obstacle to conceiving long-term intellectual projects. The strong evaluation culture and its accompanying mechanisms are thus perceived as directly undermining the fundamental pillars on which the academic prestige of these departments was built, namely originality, scientific rigour and methodological innovations.


The purpose of this note is to address a problem faced in using stated preference methods to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for a project. The considered problem occurs under pure altruism. Even though an agent is equipped with well-behaved preferences, a conventional closed-ended (binary) valuation question may induce her to overrate or underrate her true WTP. On the other hand, an open-ended valuation format seemingly provides a correct answer, but such a format fails to be incentive compatible.


Patients suffering from mental retardation have a smaller risk of becoming criminals than other people. This is, however, not true for violent crimes: The risk to be prosecuted for violent crime is said to be twice for men, for women it is even twelve times higher than for the average population. This risk is especially high when there is a comorbid psychiatric disorder as e.g. an autism spectrum disorder [1]. Contrary to the average population, the prevalence of aggression is equal for both sexes. Autistic children who are violent have a poor prognosis [2].
This report discusses the case of a young woman suffering from mental retardation and a comorbid autism spectrum disorder who committed a serious violent crime. Since the causes of mental retardation are usually genetically founded [3], I will - after having described the case report and the related diagnostic deliberations - ask questions about the limitations of the usual categorical-descriptive diagnosis, as is usual in current forensic-psychiatric practice.


Abstract. Due to the chaotic nature of atmospheric dynamics, numerical weather prediction systems are sensitive to errors in the initial conditions. To estimate the forecast uncertainty, forecast centres produce ensemble forecasts based on perturbed initial conditions. How to optimally perturb the initial conditions remains an open question and different methods are in use. One is the singular vector (SV) method, adapted by ECMWF, and another is the breeding vector (BV) method (previously used by NCEP). In this study we compare the two methods with a modified version of breeding vectors in a low-order dynamical system (Lorenz-63). We calculate the Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) of the subspace spanned by the breeding vectors to obtain an orthogonal set of initial perturbations for the model. We will also use Normal Mode perturbations. Evaluating the results, we focus on the fastest growth of a perturbation. The results show a large improvement for the BV-EOF perturbations compared to the non-orthogonalised BV. The BV-EOF technique also shows a larger perturbation growth than the SVs of this system, except for short time-scales. The highest growth rate is found for the second BV-EOF for the long-time scale. The differences between orthogonal and non-orthogonal breeding vectors are also investigated using the ECMWF IFS-model. These results confirm the results from the Loernz-63 model regarding the dependency on orthogonalisation.


Imaging time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to investigate two sets of pre- and post-chemotherapy human breast tumor tissue sections to characterize lipids associated with tumor metabolic flexibility and response to treatment. The micron spatial resolution imaging capability of ToF-SIMS provides a powerful approach to attain spatially-resolved molecular and cellular data from cancerous tissues not available with conventional imaging techniques. Three ca. 1 mm(2) areas per tissue section were analyzed by stitching together 200 μm × 200 μm raster area scans. A method to isolate and analyze specific tissue regions of interest by utilizing PCA of ToF-SIMS images is presented, which allowed separation of cellularized areas from stromal areas. These PCA-generated regions of interest were then used as masks to reconstruct representative spectra from specifically stromal or cellular regions. The advantage of this unsupervised selection method is a reduction in scatter in the spectral PCA results when compared to analyzing all tissue areas or analyzing areas highlighted by a pathologist. Utilizing this method, stromal and cellular regions of breast tissue biopsies taken pre- versus post-chemotherapy demonstrate chemical separation using negatively-charged ion species. In this sample set, the cellular regions were predominantly all cancer cells. Fatty acids (i.e. palmitic, oleic, and stearic), monoacylglycerols, diacylglycerols and vitamin E profiles were distinctively different between the pre- and post-therapy tissues. These results validate a new unsupervised method to isolate and interpret biochemically distinct regions in cancer tissues using imaging ToF-SIMS data. In addition, the method developed here can provide a framework to compare a variety of tissue samples using imaging ToF-SIMS, especially where there is section-to-section variability that makes it difficult to use a serial hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained section to direct the SIMS analysis.


The performance of code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems is affected by multiple factors such as large-scale fading, small-scale fading, and cochannel interference (CCI). Most of the published research on the performance analysis of CDMA systems usually accounts for subsets of these factors. In this work, it is attempted to provide a comprehensive analysis which joins several of the most important factors affecting the performance of CDMA systems. In particular, new analytical expressions are developed for the outage and bit-error probability of CDMA systems. These expressions account for adverse effects such as path loss, large-scale fading (shadowing), small-scale fading (Rayleigh fading), and CCI, as well as for correcting mechanisms such as power control (compensates for path loss and shadowing), spatial diversity (mitigates against Rayleigh fading), and voice activity gating (reduces CCI). The new expressions may be used as convenient analysis tools that complement computer simulations. Of particular interest are tradeoffs revealed among system parameters, such as maximum allowed power control error versus the number of antennas used for spatial diversity.


Introduction Local governments provide social welfare benefits in the United States through three main mechanisms: (1) directly, using their own personnel; (2) indirectly, through grants or contracts awarded to private nonprofit or for-profit organizations to supply services to government-designated, eligible individuals; and (3) indirectly, through vouchers that are given to eligible recipients, who can use them to purchase services from approved service suppliers. These mechanisms differ significantly. Under direct government provision, as well as under grants and contracts, the producer of the service is subsidized, whereas with vouchers the consumers of the service are subsidized. Both contracts and grants on the one hand, and vouchers on the other, can introduce competition and choice. These ingredients--important for good performance--are lacking in direct, monopolistic government services, hence the move toward privatization of public services, where the principal benefits are achieved by competition (Savas 2000, 122-24). In the 1970s, social services underwent a dramatic change as government awarded contracts and grants to the private, nonprofit sector to supply social services. Between 1971 and 1979, the fraction of state and local social services provided in this manner increased from 25 percent to 55 percent (Kettner and Martin 1994) because local governments could not mobilize internally fast enough to take advantage of the federal funding available for new social programs. By 1992, the fraction of U.S. local governments that relied entirely on their own in-house units for various programs was small, as illustrated in table 1. (Miranda and Andersen 1994, 26-35). None of the responding local governments was operating its own homeless shelters, for example, while 54 percent contracted with private organizations for day care facilities and for homeless shelters. The nonprofit world faces major environmental changes in the United States: devolution from the federal to state governments, welfare reform, tax reform, reinvented government, cuts in government budgets, managed health care, and the evolution of AIDS into a chronic illness, requiring relatively more outpatient social-support services and relatively less in-patient medical care. Welfare reform alone is having a major impact, with renewed emphasis on job training, job placement, child care, and transportation. Nowhere do these changes have more impact than in New York City, which has some 19,500 nonprofit organizations, including about 5,650 active in social services and health care (Haycock 1992). Government funding of nonprofits in New York City--by the federal, state, and city governments--has grown to significant proportions and even dominates some fields: Nonprofit agencies in health care receive 74 percent of their funds from government; in housing, 68 percent; and in social services, 66 percent (Haycock 1992). In 1998, New York City entered into 4,361 such contracts for $1.95 billion (table 2); the vast majority of these were with nonprofit agencies, but the number with for-profit firms was rising. The average contract was for $447,000, an amount large enough, generally speaking, to affect the organization winning such an award. Research Questions This large-scale use of the private sector offers an opportunity to study the use of contracts for social services. The process of contracting for social services has been examined both conceptually and empirically, and, in particular, the issue of competition has been addressed. Kramer and Grossman (1987) identify major policy issues that arise in contracting for social services: Under what conditions should competition be encouraged? Should low bids always be accepted? Should nonprofit organizations be preferred over for-profits? Should government make special efforts to assist small nonprofit organizations so they can compete? DeHoog (1984) asks the pertinent empirical question: "To what extent are [social] service environments characterized by competition? …


A baseline correction tool using the method of Bézier has been developed to permit the drawing of curves in a manner that allows full control of the line curvatures by the user. The basic concepts and principle of the Bézier algorithm are explained as well as the modifications that were made to take into account the limitations imposed by the treatment of spectral data. The application of this particular curve drawing routine to an existing baseline correction module offers facilities and extended capabilities that typical polynomial methods using least-squares fitted lines cannot attain. The examples of applications that are given demonstrate how this method can be performed, as well as its efficiency.


Objective: To compare results obtained using different procedures to measure 10-metre walking time. Design: Walking was timed over a straight 10 m, and over 5 m with return. Further, the time taken to turn was measured directly. Setting: Rehabilitation department of a university hospital. Subjects: Patients who had walking disability after stroke. Results: In the group of 43 patients, the time taken to walk 5 m and return was 3.3 (SD 5.0) s longer than the time to walk 10 m straight, but there was a large variation with some patients walking faster. The measured time to turn in a second group of 27 patients was 3.2 (SD 1.6) s. The times taken to walk 10 m straight and 5 m and return, and the time taken to turn were all highly correlated (r = 0.69 or more). Conclusions: Timing walking over 5 m with a return is an acceptable alternative to the 10 m straight walk, but the actual time taken varies. On average, the walk with a turn is 3.2 s longer but in individual patients the difference may be much more or less. Sometimes the walk with a turn is even faster than that without.


National scandals involving corporate fraud, political corruption, lobbyists, and campaign finance have called attention to worrisome dynamics: the decreasing power of natural persons relative to legal persons in the political process; and the erosion of civic or democratic values in favor of corporate values. Both dynamics relate to the vexing problem of money in politics. American political thought and constitutional structure offer much-needed guidance in the form of analogies and separationist logic. This Essay recasts the phenomenon of money in politics as a separation problem that is, a problem of the private sphere of business overreaching into the public sphere of governance; in short, excessive entanglement. Once the problem is seen in this light, it is natural to search for insights in the two most significant separations in U.S. law: the separation of powers and the separation of church and state. An analysis of these earlier separations reveals that the forces at work today arise from the same perennial forces contemplated by the Founders: unreformed human nature, dominated by unenlightened self-interest and ideological passion, and factions which emerge as a collective manifestation of interest and passion. Relevant political philosophy from the first two separations helps define the contours of a third, that between business and state. Taken as analogies, the earlier separations help explain what is happening to politics and suggest a solution.


Objective: The aim of this study was to review the current methods of pharmaceutical purchasing by Iranian insurance organizations within the World Bank conceptual framework model so as to provide applicable pharmaceutical resource allocation and purchasing (RAP) arrangements in Iran. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted through a qualitative document analysis (QDA), applying the four-step Scott method in document selection, and conducting 20 semi-structured interviews using a triangulation method. Furthermore, the data were analyzed applying five steps framework analysis using Atlas-ti software. Findings: The QDA showed that the purchasers face many structural, financing, payment, delivery and service procurement and purchasing challenges. Moreover, the findings of interviews are provided in three sections including demand-side, supply-side and price and incentive regime. Conclusion: Localizing RAP arrangements as a World Bank Framework in a developing country like Iran considers the following as the prerequisite for implementing strategic purchasing in pharmaceutical sector: The improvement of accessibility, subsidiary mechanisms, reimbursement of new drugs, rational use, uniform pharmacopeia, best supplier selection, reduction of induced demand and moral hazard, payment reform. It is obvious that for Iran, these customized aspects are more various and detailed than those proposed in a World Bank model for developing countries.


Time series prediction problems are becoming increasingly high-dimensional in modern applications, such as climatology and demand forecasting. For example, in the latter problem, the number of items for which demand needs to be forecast might be as large as 50,000. In addition, the data is generally noisy and full of missing values. Thus, modern applications require methods that are highly scalable, and can deal with noisy data in terms of corruptions or missing values. However, classical time series methods usually fall short of handling these issues. In this paper, we present a temporal regularized matrix factorization (TRMF) framework which supports data-driven temporal learning and forecasting. We develop novel regularization schemes and use scalable matrix factorization methods that are eminently suited for high-dimensional time series data that has many missing values. Our proposed TRMF is highly general, and subsumes many existing approaches for time series analysis. We make interesting connections to graph regularization methods in the context of learning the dependencies in an autoregressive framework. Experimental results show the superiority of TRMF in terms of scalability and prediction quality. In particular, TRMF is two orders of magnitude faster than other methods on a problem of dimension 50,000, and generates better forecasts on real-world datasets such as Wal-mart E-commerce datasets.


This dissertation examines the life and conflicted career of Sir James Wright (17161785), in an effort to better understand the complex struggle for power in both colonial Georgia and eighteenth-century British Empire. Specifically, this project will highlight the contest for autonomy between four groups: Britains and Georgians (core-periphery), lowcountry and backcountry residents, whites and Natives, and Rebels and Loyalists. An English-born grandson of Chief Justice Sir Robert Wright, James Wright was raised in Charleston, South Carolina following his father's appointment as that colony's chief justice. Young James served South Carolina in a number of capacities, public and ecclesiastical, prior to his admittance to London's Gray's Inn in London. Most notably, he was selected as their attorney general and colonial agent prior to his appointment as governor of Georgia in 1761. Wright collected more than public offices in his endless quest for respect and social advancement. He also possessed a voracious appetite for land and became colonial Georgia's largest landowner, accumulating nearly 26,000 acres, worked by no less than 525 slaves. As governor, he guided Georgia through a period of intense and steady economic and territorial growth. By the time of the American Revolution, Georgia had become fully integrated into the greater transatlantic mercantilist economy, resembling South Carolina and any number of Britain's Caribbean colonies. Moreover, Governor Wright maintained royal authority in Georgia longer and more effectively than any of his North American counterparts. Although several factors contributed to his success in delaying the seemingly inexorable revolutionary tide, his patience and keen political mind proved the deciding factor. He was the only of Britain's thirteen colonies to enforce the Stamp Act of 1765 and managed to stay a step or two ahead of Georgia's Sons of Liberty until the winter of 1775-1776. In short, Sir James Wright lived a transatlantic life, taking advantage of every imperial opportunity afforded him. He earned numerous important government positions and amassed an incredible fortune, totaling over £100,000 sterling. His long imperial career delicately balanced dual loyalties to Crown and colony and offers important and unique insights into a number of important historiographic fields. INDEX WORDS: Sir James Wright, Colonial Georgia, Colonial America, American Revolution, American South, Atlantic world, Imperialism, Loyalist studies, Transatlantic, Native America "MY ZEAL FOR THE REAL HAPPINESS OF BOTH GREAT BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES": THE CONFLICTING IMPERIAL CAREER OF SIR JAMES WRIGHT


On October 25th 2007 the Wall Street Journal published a blistering attack onEurope entitled Regulatory Imperialism. The editorial took issue with Europe'sintent to force its norms on the rest of the world by taking advantage of the dynamismof its internal market both affluent and attractive and in addition highly organized.Examples cited included the Microsoft Affair, the ban on the importation of chlorinerinsedpoultry, the Reach legislation on chemical products, as well as the plan to taxairline companies as part of the battle against climate change.*Why does Europe favour norms as its mode of influence? Why has its normative influence become global?*What are the main areas for externalizing European norms? These are three questions that this paper will attempt to answer.


Abstract The spent electrolyte arising from pyroprocessing should be recycled to reduce the volume of high-level radioactive waste. To establish the spent electrolyte process by a phosphate conversion method, a preliminary experiment that followed a thermodynamical approach and used an electric furnace under argon gas atmosphere was carried out. The results obtained are that most thermodynamic properties of target phosphates acquired by the CALPHAD method were good in agreement with the experimental result; lithium and rare earth elements (REEs) tend to form the precipitate as orthophosphates, but other alkali metal (AL) and alkaline earth metal elements do not form the orthophosphate particles; and some elements such as ALs could form insoluble double salts with REEs. The development of separation techniques of insoluble and soluble fission product elements will be the next challenge.


NICOLAS SARKOZY. La Republique, les religions, l'esperance. EDITIONS DU CERF. 172 PAGES. [euro]17. IN THIS LAST American election cycle, political observers noted a significant gap between the ways in which George W. Bush and John Kerry approached the delicate matter of politics and religion. Bush was comfortable proclaiming his faith as an integral, if not the most essential, aspect of his life. Kerry, on the other hand, was considerably more reticent. Much of his rhetoric seemed to suggest that American politics is simply a secular affair, in which all political claims derived from religious teaching are prima facie illegitimate, because values cannot or should not be imposed on others who do not share them. These two Americans are poles apart regarding the manner in which they discuss religion and politics, and their disparity highlights the increasing differences with which American conservatives and American liberals and most Europeans view the role of religion in public life. On the other side of the Atlantic, Nicolas Sarkozy, formerly France's interior minister and minister of finance, who was recently overwhelmingly elected as leader of France's major center-right political party, is causing a stir with his singular understanding of this question. His new book, La Republique, les religions, l'esperance (The Republic, religions, and hope), is being touted as a quasi-revolutionary document that seeks to redefine relations between religion and politics in France. In it he unveils his "personal sentiments," the result of his experience in political life, condensed and revealed in a series of interviews. Most Americans, plagued either by a Francophilia that wants to enlist France's muscular military forces and diplomatic finesse in the war against terrorism, or a Francophobia that condemns France, its history, and all it has ever produced as a spineless and subversive menace beyond any hope of rapprochement, don't seem to be noticing. Few Americans even attempt to steer a via media toward a more measured (one hesitates to say "nuanced") understanding of the proper relationship between America and France, or to appreciate potential friends among the allegedly homogeneously oppositional French. A protege of Jacques Chirac in the 1970s, Nicolas Sarkozy is an unabashedly ambitious politician who is currently Chirac's most feared rival, and is positioning himself to capture the French presidency in 2007. A deal was struck in early September 2004 between Chirac and Sarkozy that would allow Sarkozy to run for head of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), Chirac's moderate conservative party, if he promised to resign as minister of finance in November. Now Sarkozy is head of the UMP, a potential springboard to the presidency. IT MIGHT SEEM strange that a former finance minister who managed the important though relatively prosaic job of trying to spur France's perennially flagging economy would now be in the national spotlight for raising the question of religion and politics in France. But as minister of the interior, Sarkozy has increased police presence in Muslim neighborhoods and worked energetically and optimistically with the recently formed French Council on the Muslim Religion (CFCM) and its Union of Islamic Organizations of France (UOIF) in the hope of dissuading Muslim leaders from embracing extremist politics and integrating them into democratic processes. By appealing to, and indeed clearly appreciating, religious believers in national life, "Sarko" seems to be breathing new life into demons long thought dead and fanning the flames of spirits that haven't yet been killed. France's elites are not taking kindly to his ideas: In an interview in L'Express, he was told that his book was "disturbing," and he was derided for his "offensive manner." France's religious demons were supposed to have been exorcized with the enactment in 1905 of a law forbidding state funding of religion. …


Contending Economic Theories offers a unique comparative treatment of the three main theories in economics as it is taught today: neoclassical, Keynesian, and Marxian. Each is developed and discussed in its own chapter, yet also differentiated from and compared to the other two theories. The authors identify each theory's starting point, its goals and foci, and its internal logic. They connect their comparative theory analysis to the larger policy issues that divide the rival camps of theorists around such central issues as the role government should play in the economy and the class structure of production, stressing the different analytical, policy, and social decisions that flow from each theory's conceptualization of economics. The authors, building on their earlier book Economics: Marxian versus Neoclassical, offer an expanded treatment of Keynesian economics and a comprehensive introduction to Marxian economics, including its class analysis of society. Beyond providing a systematic explanation of the logic and structure of standard neoclassical theory, they analyze recent extensions and developments of that theory around such topics as market imperfections, information economics, new theories of equilibrium, and behavioral economics, considering whether these advances represent new paradigms or merely adjustments to the standard theory. They also explain why economic reasoning has varied among these three approaches throughout the twentieth century, and why this variation continues today--as neoclassical views give way to new Keynesian approaches in the wake of the economic collapse of 2008.


Where there are infinitely many possible basic states of the world, a standard probability function must assign zero probability to each state—since any finite probability would sum to over one. This generates problems for any decision theory that appeals to expected utility or related notions. For it leads to the view that a situation in which one wins a million dollars if any of a thousand of the equally probable states is realized has an expected value of zero (since each such state has probability zero). But such a situation dominates the situation in which one wins nothing no matter what (which also has an expected value of zero), and so surely is more desirable. I formulate and defend some principles for evaluating options where standard probability functions cannot strictly represent probability—and in particular for where there is an infinitely spread, uniform distribution of probability. The principles appeal to standard probability functions, but overcome at least some of their limitations in such cases.


Theorists and academics often assume that the most important function of an option pricing model is deriving the option's theoretical value. But for practitioners, this is often not so. The market gives them the option price; what they need the model for is to provide the "Greek letter" parameters so they can gauge and hedge the option's exposure to the many sources of risk it is subject to. Sophisticated hedging of plain vanilla calls and puts already requires knowledge of several Greek letters, and more complex instruments, especially those with barriers or multiple underlying assets, can involve many more. These are frequently not available as closed-form expressions, and must be approximated by numerical derivatives. For instruments that are priced with lattice methods or Monte Carlo simulation, obtaining a full set of Greeks can require solving the whole problem many times with slightly different parameter values. However, as Reiss and Wystup show in this article, there are many mathematical interrelationships among option sensitivities to different parameters that can be exploited. For example, knowledge of just two of the Greek letters in the Black-Scholes model allows the others to be computed without differentiating. Use of the Greek letter relationships Reiss and Wystup examine here can lead to more accurate values where numerical derivatives are required, and also to a great saving in time and effort for options priced by numerical methods.


We propose a stochastic modelling framework to simulate the spatially lumped sediment and vegetation dynamics in a flood plain of a braided gravel bed river as an alternative to detailed morphodynamic modelling. The idea is that floods intermittently erode the river bed and expose sediment on gravel bars, while riparian vegetation continuously recolonises the exposed area. The exposed sediment and water stochastic dynamics can be analytically solved in terms of their probability density function (pdf), and later used to force a vegetation model, together forming a so-called coupled "Master-Slave" stochastic dynamical system in continuous time. We apply and validate the master model by using a historical record of aerial photographs of the Maggia River (Tessin, Switzerland) and daily streamfiow measurements. This approach is useful to statistically quantify the amount of sediment that is reworked by flood events, as well as the effects of changes in the flood disturbance regime on flood-plain dynamics.


Microporous materials with high water uptake capacity are gaining attention for low temperature heat transformation applications such as thermally driven adsorption chillers (TDCs) or adsorption heat pumps (AHPs). TDCs or AHPs are alternatives to traditional air conditioners or heat pumps operating on electricity or fossil fuels. By using solar or waste heat as the driving energy, TDCs or AHPs can minimize primary energy consumption. TDCs and AHPs are based on the evaporation and consecutive adsorption of coolant liquids, preferably water, under specific conditions. Their ranges of application, as well as their efficiencies, power densities and total costs, are substantially influenced by the microporosity and hydrophilicity of the employed sorption materials. Here, we briefly summarize current investigations, developments and possibilities of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) compared to classical materials. With their high water uptake, MOFs surpass those materials, while, at the same time, the variability of the building blocks allows for tuning of the microporosity and hydrophobic/hydrophilic design, depending on the specific application.


For several decades the conceptualization and treatment of mental health problems, including psychosis, have been dominated by a rather narrow focus on genes and brain functions. Psychosocial factors have been relegated to mere triggers or exacerbators of a supposed genetic predisposition. This paper advocates a return to the original stressvulnerability model proposed by Zubin and Spring in 1977, in which heightened vulnerability to stress is not, as often wrongly assumed, necessarily genetically inherited, but can be acquired via adverse life events. There is now a large body of research demonstrating that child abuse and neglect are significant causal factors for psychosis. Ten out of eleven recent general population studies have found, even after controlling for other factors, including family history of psychosis, that child maltreatment is significantly related to psychosis. Eight of these studies tested for, and found, a dose-response. Interpreting these findings from psychological and biological perspectives generates a genuinely inte grated bio-psycho-social approach as originally intended by Zubin and Spring. The routine taking of trauma histories from all users of mental health services is recommended, and a staff training program to facilitate this is described.


Al Qaeda is the most dangerous terrorist movement in history. Yet most people in the Americas and Europe know very little about it, or their view is clouded by misperceptions and half truths. If the first rule of war is to "know your enemy," then we have a long way to go. This important book fills this gap with a comprehensive analysis of al Qaeda --the origins, leadership, ideology, and strategy of the terrorist network that brought down the Twin Towers and continues to threaten us today. Bruce Riedel is an expert on the Middle East and South Asia, with thirty years of intelligence and policymaking experience. He was actually in the White House Situation Room during the 9/11 attacks, serving as special assistant to the president and National Security Council senior director for Near East Affairs. He draws on this insider experience in profiling the four most important figures in the al Qaeda movement: Osama bin Laden, its creator and charismatic leader; ideologue Ayman Zawahiri, its Egyptian coleader and principal spokesman; Abu Musaib al Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq until his death in 2006; and Mullah Omar, its Taliban host. These profiles provide the base from which Riedel delivers a much clearer understanding of al Qaeda and what must be done to counter it. Th e Search for al Qaeda r eviews how al Qaeda was created and developed, presenting authoritative and chilling background on "The Manhattan Raid," but Riedel focuses more closely on what has happened to it since that awful day. He outlines al Qaeda's ultimate goals, which are to drive America out of the Muslim world, to destroy Israel, and to create a jihadist caliphate larger than the Ottoman Empire at its height. The profiles and subsequent analysis reveal the network's multipronged strategy for accomplishing those goals: Draw America into "bleeding wars" like the one that drove the Soviets from Afghanistan. Build a safe haven for al Qaeda in Pakistan. Develop other "franchises" in the Islamic world that can overthrow pro-American regimes. Conduct more Western attacks along the lines of 9/11 or the transit bombings in Madrid and London. The book concludes with a strategy for dealing with --and defeating --this most dangerous menace.


The paper is concerned with the practical determination of the characteristic values and functions of the wave equation of Schrodinger for a non-Coulomb central field, for which the potential is given as a function of the distance r from the nucleus. The method used is to integrate a modification of the equation outwards from initial conditions corresponding to a solution finite at r = 0, and inwards from initial conditions corresponding to a solution zero at r = ∞, with a trial value of the parameter (the energy) whose characteristic values are to be determined; the values of this parameter for which the two solutions fit at some convenient intermediate radius are the characteristic values required, and the solutions which so fit are the characteristic functions (§§ 2, 10). Modifications of the wave equation suitable for numerical work in different parts of the range of r are given (§§ 2, 3, 5), also exact equations for the variation of a solution with a variation in the potential or of the trial value of the energy (§ 4); the use of these variation equations in preference to a complete new integration of the equation for every trial change of field or of the energy parameter avoids a great deal of numerical work. For the range of r where the deviation from a Coulomb field is inappreciable, recurrence relations between different solutions of the wave equations which are zero at r = ∞, and correspond to terms with different values of the effective and subsidiary quantum numbers, are given and can be used to avoid carrying out the integration in each particular case (§§ 6, 7). Formulae for the calculation of first order perturbations due to the relativity variation of mass and to the spinning electron are given (§ 8). The method used for integrating the equations numerically is outlined (§ 9).


WEO 2016 SR: Contribution to the IEA's 2016 World Energy
Outlook Special Report on Energy and Air Pollution (IIASA Contract No. 16-106)

- Around 6.5 million premature deaths each year can be attributed to air pollution
- Energy production and use are by far the largest man-made sources of air pollutants
- Technologies to tackle air pollution are well known

Clean air is vital for good health. Yet despite growing recognition of this imperative, the problem of air pollution is far from solved in many countries, and the global health impacts risk intensifying in the decades to come.

The scale of the public health crisis caused by air pollution and the importance of the energy sector to its resolution are the reasons why the IEA is focusing on this critical topic for the first time.

Based on new data for pollutant emissions in 2015 and projections to 2040, this special report, the latest in the World Energy Outlook series, provides a global outlook for energy and air pollution as well as detailed profiles of key countries and regions: the United States, Mexico, the European Union, China, India, Southeast Asia and Africa.

In a Clean Air Scenario, the report proposes a pragmatic and attainable strategy to reconcile the world's energy requirements with its need for cleaner air. Alongside the multiple benefits to human health, this strategy shows that resolving the world's air pollution problem can go hand-in-hand with progress towards other environmental and development goals.


Chlorophyta microalgae is a autotrophic microalgae which can use (NH2)2CO dan NH3-N
as nitrogen source and carbon dioxide as carbon source. It contains oil until 77%, so it's
very useful to be biodiesel as alternative energy source. The goals of this researsch are to
get optimal activated microalgae process for the waste of urea fertilizer factory which
resists to high ammonia and to know optimal condition of degradation rate of (NH2)2CO
and NH3-N on the concentration of microalgae, N:P ratio, and dwell time. The design of
this research is regulating NH3's concentration (60, 80, 100, 200,300 ppm). The
parameters are reduction of OD value, NH3 concentration, and MLSS value which show the
maximum line of microalgae growth. Based on the research, the average microalgae
growth gets the stationary phaseon the sixth day, the highest biomass is 1,5 gram/liter on
the fifth day from 300 ppm variable, the highest NH3 reduction is 98,24% from 80 ppm
variable, and the highest specificgrowth rate of microalgae is 0,028 h-1of cultivated
microlage in 300 ppm nutrient.


Abstract It is widely believed that laminitis poses a threat to the health and welfare of all Equidae; however, there is a paucity of evidence-based research on fundamental aspects of the disease, including how commonly it occurs, its clinical presentation and those animals at greatest risk. Following generous funding from World Horse Welfare, we have produced a programme of work over the last eight years to improve the evidence base regarding the epidemiology of laminitis. This began with systematic reviews regarding the frequency of [1], and risk factors for [2], naturally-occurring laminitis which informed the planning and conduct of prospective veterinary practice-level cohort and nested case-control studies of veterinary-diagnosed laminitis in British horses. Laminitis research tools, disease frequency estimates [3], potential novel modifiable risk factors [4] and guidelines for the differential diagnosis of laminitis [5] have all resulted from these now published, peer-reviewed studies. Ongoing work gathers further information on owner-reported laminitis cases by means of a prospective individual animal-level cohort study design, implemented through the use of web-based data collection (www.careaboutlaminitis.org.uk). Each step of the generation of this evidence-based data has demanded high levels of collaborative effort between charitable bodies, epidemiologists, information technology consultants, public relation officers, laminitis researchers, veterinary practitioners and horse owners. This talk will outline the methods we used to gather evidence-based data in the equine field, highlight the challenges and lessons we have learnt, and emphasise the crucial role the veterinary practitioner can play in both providing and using such evidence-based data.


cDNA sequence analysis of the X-linked glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) gene has shown a base difference between two subspecies of the kangaroo, Macropus robustus robustus (wallaroo) and M. r. erubescens (euro). A thymine residue in the wallaroo at position 358 in exon 5 has been replaced by a cytosine residue in the euro, which accounts for the previously reported electrophoretic difference between the two subspecies. This base difference allowed use of the Single Nucleotide Primer Extension (SNuPE) technique to study allele-specific expression of G6PD at the transcriptional level. We began by examining G6PD expression in somatic cells and observed complete paternal X inactivation in all somatic tissues of adult female heterozygotes, whereas we found partial paternal allele activity in cultured fibroblasts, thus confirming previous allozyme electrophoresis studies. In late dictyate oocytes from an adult heterozygote, the assay also detected expression of both the maternal and paternal alleles at the G6PD locus, with the maternal allele showing preferential expression. Thus reactivation of the inactive paternally derived X chromosome occurs during oogenesis in M. robustus, although the exact timing of reactivation remains to be determined.


BACKGROUND
Energy drinks have become more and more popular since the late nineties. The manufactures claim that these drinks improve physical endurance, reaction speed and concentration. The main ingredients of energy drinks are caffeine, sugar, taurine and glucuronolactone. According to the manufacturers, the stimulating effects of these drinks are due to interaction between the various ingredients.

AIM
To investigate whether energy drinks do indeed improve cognitive performance and to find out which ingredients are responsible for this effect and other benefits.

METHOD
We searched the literature for the period from 1997 to 2006 on the basis of Medline, by using the search term 'energy drink or energy drinks' and restricting the search to 'humans'. results Not only did focused and sustained attention improve significantly but so did reaction speed in all sorts of reaction-time tasks. Memory improved too, but not to the same degree.

CONCLUSION
The findings suggest that most of the effects of energy drinks on cognitive performance are related mainly to the presence of caffeine. Further investigation is needed into the effects of the lesser known ingredients of energy drinks (taurine, glucuronolactone) if we are to obtain a better understanding of the possible interactions.


Appearance is often given as a justification for decisions, including government decisions, but the logic of appearance arguments is not well theorized. This Article develops a framework for understanding and evaluating appearance-based justifications for government decisions. First, working definitions are offered to distinguish appearance from reality. Next, certain relationships between appearance and reality are singled out for attention. Sometimes reality is insulated from appearance, sometimes appearance helps drive reality over time, and sometimes appearance and reality collapse from the outset. Finally, sets of normative questions are suggested based on the supposed relationship between appearance and reality for a given situation. These normative questions include aesthetics, transparency concerns, and the likelihood of a self-fulfilling prophecy. A final section applies these ideas to prominent debates over campaign finance regulation and broken windows policing. Leading empirical studies are examined and, throughout, the Article draws from scholarship in philosophy, sociology, psychology, economics, and political science.


Many Networks-on-Chip (NoC) applications exhibit one or more critical traffic flows that require hard Quality of Service (QoS). Guaranteeing bandwidth and latency for such real time flows is crucial. In this paper, we present novel methods to efficiently calculate worst-case bandwidth and latency bounds and thereby provide hard QoS guarantees. Importantly, the proposed methods apply even to best-effort NoC architectures, with no extra hardware dedicated to QoS support. By applying our methods to several realistic NoC designs, we show substantial improvements (on average, more than 30% in bandwidth and 50% in latency) in bound tightness with respect to existing approaches.


Abstract This article tested the relationship between mental toughness (MT) and dispositional flow. A sample of 135 athletes (M age=20.81 years, SD=2.76), derived from University sports teams and local sports clubs, gave informed consent before completing questionnaires to assess MT and dispositional flow. Pearson correlations revealed a significant and positive relationship between total MT and global flow scores (r=0.65, p <0.001). Correlations between total MT and dispositional flow subscales were all found to be significant and positive, ranging from 0.26 to 0.68. Correlations between global flow and MT subscales were also all significant and positive, ranging between 0.43 and 0.65. Linear regression analyses found MT subscales to account for 45% of the variance in disposition flow, and flow subscales to account for 50% of the variance in MT. These results suggest a reciprocal relationship between MT and flow.


In this article, the efficiency and applicability of several power reduction techniques applied on a modern 65nm FPGA is described. For image erosion and dilation algorithms, two major solutions were tested and compared with respect to power and energy consumption. Firstly the algorithm was run on a general purpose processor (gpp) NIOS and then hardware architecture of an Intellectual Property (IP) was designed. Furthermore IPs design was improved by applying a number of power optimization techniques. They involved RTL level clock gating, power driven synthesis with fitting and appropriate coding style. Results show that hardware implementation is much more energy efficient than a general purpose processor and power optimization schemes can reduce the overall power consumption on an FPGA.


Meeting the challenges of high-performance HRUntil 1760 ships routinely disappeared, ran aground, or sank because seafarers could not measure longitude. The cost in life and property was immense. Today, business faces a similar challenge, as the failure to measure human resources performance is just as costly and deadly to modern organizations.Senior executives once considered HR a "soft," unavoidable cost of doing business, responsible for compensation, employee transactions, company functions, workforce problems, and legal issues. Three factors changed this perception: the significant impact of high-performance HR, the implications of poorly performing HR, and soaring HR operating expenses. These factors have led to an increased demand and focus on HR metrics.Ultimate Performance approaches this challenge by providing clear, proven measurement solutions that will optimize the performance of people and businesses.


Abstract RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) is a widely used approach for accessing the transcriptome in biomedical research. Studies frequently include multiple samples taken from the same individual at various time points or under different conditions, correct assignment of those samples to each particular participant is evidently of great importance. Here, we propose taking advantage of typing the highly polymorphic genes from the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex in order to verify the correct allocation of RNA-seq samples to individuals. We introduce RNA2HLA, a novel quality control (QC) tool for performing study-wide HLA-typing for RNA-seq data and thereby identifying the samples from the common source. RNA2HLA allows precise allocation and grouping of RNA samples based on their HLA types. Strikingly, RNA2HLA revealed wrongly assigned samples from publicly available datasets and thereby demonstrated the importance of this tool for the quality control of RNA-seq studies. In addition, our tool successfully extracts HLA alleles in four-digital resolution and can be used to perform massive HLA-typing from RNA-seq based studies, which will serve multiple research purposes beyond sample QC.


A self-organized thin film of a cyanine dye is fabricated by the spin-coating technique and is characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, small-angle X-ray diffraction, ellipsometer, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The nonlinear optical properties of the thin films are investigated by degenerate four wave mixing (DFWM) technique. The cyanine dye thin film sample exhibits high optical nonlinearities ('chi(3)=2.55*10^(-12) esu), and the mechanism is analyzed by the exciton coupling theory.


In biomechanics laboratories the ground reaction force time histories of the footfall of persons are usually measured using a force plate. The accelerations of the floor, in which the force plate is embedded, have to be limited, as they may influence the accuracy of the force measurements. For the numerical simulation of vibrations induced by humans in biomechanical laboratories, loading scenarios are defined. They include continuous motions of persons (walking, running) as well as jumps, typical for biomechanical investigations on athletes. The modeling of floors has to take into account the influence of floor screed in case of portable force plates. Criteria for the assessment of the measuring error provoked by floor vibrations are given. As an example a floor designed to accommodate a force platform in a biomechanical laboratory of the University Hospital in Tübingen, Germany, has been investigated for footfall induced vibrations. The numerical simulation by a finite element analysis has been validated by field measurements. As a result, the measuring error of the force plate installed in the laboratory is obtained for diverse scenarios. Horst Werkle, Wolfgang Francke and Andrei Firus


Plant immunity relies on two immune pathways: Recognition of so-called microbial-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) and pathogen-derived effectors leads to MAMP-triggered immunity (MTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI), respectively. MTI and ETI both activate the release of systemic signals from the local challenged sites, and thereby enhance immunity in distal unchallenged cells, termed systemic acquired resistance (SAR). MTI and ETI activation entails extensive transcriptional reprogramming of a large set of defense-related genes in an appropriate timing and amplitude in local and systemic tissue. Following this, defense priming is conditioned via a process that appears to be under epigenetic control, where target defense-related genes are poised for a greater and/or faster activation upon second stimulation at lower fitness costs for the plant.
The results presented in this thesis indicate that systemic priming is greater in amplitude after ETI than after MTI. In correlation with previous studies, it was shown that the priming response further exhibits a somatic memory that is transferrable to newly emerged leaves. A RNA-Seq analysis of MTI-, ETI- and non-primed systemic leaves provides an inventory of SAR and systemic priming target genes, which can be classified into 12 clusters based on their expression patterns. Of note, MTI and ETI seem to influence partially different gene sets during systemic immunity. The MTI-ETI differences in the target genes become more prominent in the systemic priming response, which thus seems to represent a distinct phase of plant immunity. Salicylic acid (SA) as a central signaling component of SAR is inalienable, in both local and systemic leaves, for the establishment of SAR and mutants exhibiting a SAR-deficient phenotype are often defective in SA signaling. In this respect, this study could indicate that SA-dependence of systemic immune activation and priming response can be circumvented after ETI, but not after MTI. Interestingly, the transcriptional co-activator NPR1 as key-player of SA and SAR signaling seems to be indispensable for MTI- and ETI-induced systemic immunity and priming response.
Additionally, I provide genetic evidence that a subset of the Arabidopsis histone modifiers, ATX1 and CLF, that act as part of the trithorax group (trxG) and Polycomb group (PcG) protein complexes, respectively, contribute to the systemic priming response and systemic pathogen resistance. ATX1 and CLF are associated with trimethylation of lysine 4 or 27 of histone H3 (H3K4me3, H3K27me3), respectively. Interestingly, they are dispensable for local defense activation, pointing to a role for H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 in systemic immunity and priming. The greater systemic immunity and priming response upon ETI is associated with an increase in H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 levels compared to MTI, at least on the locus for PR1, a SAR and priming target gene. In correlation with previous studies, it can be assumed that H3K4me3 serves as epigenetic memory for the ETI-specific priming response, whereas H3K27me3 is required for the full development of the associated priming response. On the other hand, MTI-induced systemic priming seems to be SA-dependent and is not correlated with significant H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 enrichment on PR1 associated with a lower gene expression and immunity level of MTI signaling compared to ETI.
In sum, the data presented in this work uncover novel mechanisms and differences in the regulation of systemic immunity and priming response, which involve specific histone modifications such as H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 and their corresponding histone methyltransferases ATX1 and CLF.


Large carnivores can be a key factor in shaping their ungulate prey's behavior, which may affect lower trophic levels. While most studies on trade-offs between food acquisition and risk avoidance by ungulate prey species have been conducted in areas with limited human impact, carnivores are now increasingly returning to highly anthropogenic landscapes. Many of these landscapes are dominated by forestry, and ungulate-forestry conflicts are an increasing issue. The aim of this study was to test if the indirect effects of a re-colonizing large predator, the wolf Canis lupus, results in a change in browsing intensity by moose Alces alces in young forest plantations in a boreal forest in Sweden. We selected 24 different forest plantations, with 12 located in low-wolf and 12 in high-wolf utilization areas. In each plantation, we measured browsing intensity, tree height, tree density, distance to the closest forest edge and we counted the number of moose pellet groups. In contrast to our predictions, wolf utilization was not the main driver of moose browsing patterns. Instead, moose browsing intensity declined with tree density and height. Separate analyses on the main tree species showed that wolf utilization had an influence, but browsing intensity was in fact higher in the high-wolf utilization areas for three out of five tree species. This pattern seemed to be driven by a strong confounding relationship between wolf utilization, tree density and height, which were both lower in the high-wolf utilization areas. We argue that this confounding effect is due to wolves being pushed towards the less productive parts of the landscape away from human activity centers. Therefore, we concluded that in order to better understand carnivore driven risk-mediated effects on herbivore behavior in anthropogenic landscapes we need to better understand the complexity of human-carnivore-prey-ecosystem interactions. Ecography