Companies' creation and growth are a fervently debated topic in the literature and economic policies, at least for the fact that they are related to maintaining a critical number of active companies, an essential aspect of the functioning of the economy and society. Growth is associated with overcoming the stage of survival and ensures the development and consolidation of existing companies, meanwhile the establishment of the new ones means the replacement of those that disappear from the economic landscape. The launch and expansion of young companies could lead to a positive balance in terms of employment, income, incentive of demand to other sectors and regions, boosting their development. New firms are often associated with innovation and technological change, competitiveness and competition on the market. The survival, growth and consolidation of companies occurs not only as a result of quantitative accumulations, but also as a result of the incorporation of new technologies, an open attitude towards innovation, whether it is technical, managerial or commercial. Growth is therefore a normal phenomenon in the life of a company, which must be encouraged and supported by public measures as part of a smart and forward-looking economic policy. Growth may be local, but it usually takes place at national, regional and international levels. In the first part of this article we have presented and discussed the theoretical background as it results of previous researches and official studies and reports, internationalization opportunities and some features and trends of internationalization of companies in the EU, and Romania, respectively. We now present our investigation to determine whether, and to what extent, internationalisation is relevant to start-ups, if there is a possible correlation between the 6 selected indicators of internationalisation as revealed by World Bank Data on one hand, and the number of start-ups in Romania on the other hand.


Although the defensive style is competitive in modern table tennis, statistical analyses of it have been limited. The purpose of this study was to clarify the influence of playing style on the occurrence of missed shots, i.e. shots that resulted in a score for the opponent in table tennis. This study found that the defensive style decreases the incidence of missed shots, particularly after the fourth shot, although those of the second and the following shots also decrease. In matches played by a defensive player, missed shots were 6 to 8% less likely to occur than in matches between two offensive players. In addition, the defensive style reduces the likelihood of missed shots in a rally served by an offensive player, and the amount of reduction is about the same as in a rally served by a defensive player. By gender, male defensive players were less defensive than female. We also found it difficult to identify defensive players by the occurrence of missed shots because there might be players not categorised as having defensive style who were as defensive as defensive players.


This thesis presents a large scale numerical investigation of heterogeneous terrestrial optical communications systems and the upgrade of fourth generation terrestrial core to metro legacy interconnects to fifth generation transmission system technologies. Retrofitting (without changing infrastructure) is considered for commercial applications. ROADM are crucial enabling components for future core network developments however their re-routing ability means signals can be switched mid-link onto sub-optimally configured paths which raises new challenges in network management. System performance is determined by a trade-off between nonlinear impairments and noise, where the nonlinear signal distortions depend critically on deployed dispersion maps. This thesis presents a comprehensive numerical investigation into the implementation of phase modulated signals in transparent reconfigurable wavelength division multiplexed fibre optic communication terrestrial heterogeneous networks. A key issue during system upgrades is whether differential phase encoded modulation formats are compatible with the cost optimised dispersion schemes employed in current 10 Gb/s systems. We explore how robust transmission is to inevitable variations in the dispersion mapping and how large the margins are when suboptimal dispersion management is applied. We show that a DPSK transmission system is not drastically affected by reconfiguration from periodic dispersion management to lumped dispersion mapping. A novel DPSK dispersion map optimisation methodology which reduces drastically the optimisation parameter space and the many ways to deploy dispersion maps is also presented. This alleviates strenuous computing requirements in optimisation calculations. This thesis provides a very efficient and robust way to identify high performing lumped dispersion compensating schemes for use in heterogeneous RZ-DPSK terrestrial meshed networks with ROADMs. A modified search algorithm which further reduces this number of configuration combinations is also presented. The results of an investigation of the feasibility of detouring signals locally in multi-path heterogeneous ring networks is also presented.


Purpose of review Lipids are bioactive molecules that can affect several biological functions. Technological developments allowing identification of novel lipid species and the study of their function have led to a significant advance in our understanding of lipid biology and their involvement in various diseases. This is particularly relevant for diseases associated with obesity in which lipid accumulation could be involved in pathogenesis. Here, we focus on osteoarthritis, a chronic joint disease aggravated by obesity, and will present the latest findings regarding the involvement of lipids in disease development and progression. Recent findings Recent studies indicate a possible involvement of n-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acid and their anti-inflammatory and proresolving derivatives in osteoarthritis. These lipids were identified in the osteoarthritis joint, were found to have beneficial effects on cartilage in vitro and reduced pain in humans and animal models. Moreover, increased levels of cholesterol transport molecules, such as LDL particles, were recently associated with a higher risk of developing hand osteoarthritis in women and with more severe inflammation and osteophyte formation in osteoarthritis animal models. Summary Together, these findings indicate that lipids are a promising target for future therapeutic intervention in osteoarthritis and open exciting possibilities for future research.


The objective of the present study was to evaluate the season influence on the seminal plasma proteins in Tabapua breed bulls raised on field. The study was conducted from June to August (winter) 2006 and from December to February (summer) 2007 in a farm in the country of Presidente Prudente, SP, Brazil. Eleven bulls were submitted to six semen collects throught eletroejaculation in each season at 14 days intervals. Samples of semen were centrifuged at 1500 g/15 min and conditioned in criotubes and stored at -20oC until further processing. The Proteins were extracted (Laemilli, 1970) and quantified (Bradford, 1976) and the electrophoresis was performed; the gels were fixed, and stained in the same solution with 2% of Coomassie Blue R250. In five bulls, the absence high molecular weight (HMW 55 KDa, 66 KDa and 80 KDa) proteins was verified in the summer and other one which is supposed to be of low fertility (LF 44 KDa), verified in two bulls in winter. Seven bulls showed presence of HMW (55KDa) in the winter. In three bulls HMW (55 KDa) and in one animal HMW (66 KDa and 80 KDa) proteins were present with a satisfactory semen condition. Eight bulls showed presence of HMW proteins (125 KDa) in winter and summer. In conclusion, the winter period presented an improvement in the qualitative aspects of the semen. A seasonal effect between the presence of the specific proteins and the increase of the semen quality was observed.


This paper measures the effects on the primary U.S. mortgage market of the large-scale asset purchase (LSAP) program in which the Federal Reserve bought $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities in 2009 and 2010. We use an event-study approach and measure the movements in both prices and quantities around the initial announcement of the LSAP and subsequent changes to the program. We use a new dataset to document the changes in the menu of rates and points offered to borrowers and show that there was wide dispersion in the rate changes generated by the announcement of the LSAP program, with some borrowers seeing immediate rate reductions of up to 40 basis points and other borrowers confronting rate increases. We show that the LSAP program led to a substantial boost in market activity, with discontinuous increases in searches, applications and originations for refinance mortgages, but not purchase mortgages. Finally, we show that more creditworthy borrowers were significantly more likely to benefit from the improved credit availability.


The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) launched a next-generation geostationary meteorological satellite (GMS), Himawari-8, on October 7, 2014, which began its operation on July 7, 2015. The Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) onboard Himawari-8 has 16 observational bands that enable the retrieval of full-disk maps of aerosol optical properties (AOPs), including aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and the Ångström exponent (AE), with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. In this study, we combined an aerosol transport model with the Himawari-8 AOT using the data assimilation method and performed aerosol assimilation and forecasting experiments on smoke from an intensive wildfire that occurred over Siberia between May 15 and 18, 2016. To effectively utilize the high observational frequency of Himawari-8, we assimilated 1-h merged AOTs generated through the combination of six AOT snapshots taken over 10-min intervals, three times per day. The heavy smoke originating from the wildfire was transported eastward behind a low-pressure trough and covered northern Japan from May 19 to 20. The southern part of the smoke plume then traveled westward, in a clockwise flow associated with high pressure. The forecast without assimilation reproduced the transport of the smoke to northern Japan; however, it underestimated AOT and the extinction coefficient compared with observed values mainly because of errors in the emission inventory. Data assimilation with the Himawari-8 AOT compensated for the underestimation and successfully forecasted the unique C-shaped distribution of the smoke. In particular, the assimilation of the Himawari-8 AOT in May 18 greatly improved the forecast of the southern part of the smoke flow. Our results indicate that the inheritance of assimilation cycles and the assimilation of more recent observations led to better forecasting in this case of a continental smoke outflow. ©The Author(s) 2018. This is an open access article published by the Meteorological Society of Japan under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (http://creativecommons.org/license/by/4.0). Corresponding author: Keiya Yumimoto, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, 6-1 Kasugakoen, Kasuga-city, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan E-mail: email@example.com J-stage Advance Published Date: 8 April 2018 Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, Vol. 96B, pp. 133−149, DOI:10.2151/jmsj.2018-035, 2018 Special Issue on Meteorology and Climate Change Studies by Using the Geostationary Meteorological Satellite Himawari-8 Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan Vol. 96B 134


 Abstract — Objectives: In recent years, the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Hong Kong have extended the implementation of 3D electronic models (e-models) into problem-based learning (PBL) of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) curriculum, aiming at mutual enhancement of PBL teaching quality and the students' skills in using e-models. This study focuses on the effectiveness of e-models serving as a tool to enhance the students' skills and competences in PBL. Methods: The questionnaire surveys are conducted to measure 50 fourth-year BDS students' attitude change between beginning and end of blended PBL tutorials. The response rate of this survey is 100%. Results: The results of this study show the students' agreement on enhancement of their learning experience after e-model implementation and their expectation to have more blended PBL courses in the future. The potential of e-models in cultivating students' self-learning skills reduces their dependence on others, while improving their communication skills to argue about pros and cons of different treatment options. The students' independent thinking ability and problem solving skills are promoted by e-model implementation, resulting in better decision making in treatment planning. Conclusion: It is important for future dental education curriculum planning to cope with the students' needs, and offer support in the form of software, hardware and facilitators' assistance for better e-model


The marketisation of higher education is a growing worldwide trend. Increasingly, market steering is replacing or supplementing government steering. Tuition fees are being introduced or increased, usually at the expense of state grants to institutions. Grants for student support are being replaced or supplemented by loans. Commercial rankings and league tables to guide student choice are proliferating with institutions devoting increasing resources to marketing, branding and customer service. The UK is a particularly good example of this, not only because it is a country where marketisation has arguably proceeded furthest, but also because of the variations that exist as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland increasingly diverge from England. In Everything for Sale, Roger Brown argues that the competitive regime that is now applicable to our Higher Education system was the logical, and possibly inevitable, outcome of a process that began with the introduction of full cost fees for overseas students in 1980. Through chapters including: Markets and Non-Markets The Institutional Pattern of Provision The Funding of Research The Funding of Student Education Quality Assurance The Impact of Marketisation: Efficiency, diversity and equity; He shows how the evaluation and funding of research, the funding of student education, quality assurance, and the structure of the system have increasingly been organised on market or quasi-market lines. As well as helping to explain the evolution of British higher education over the past thirty years, the book contains some important messages about the consequences of introducing or extending market competition in universities' core activities of teaching and research. This timely and comprehensive book is essential reading for all academics at University level and anyone involved in Higher Education policy.


In this paper we present a novel concept of a tethered-drones system. The system includes an arbitrary number of drones connected serially to an active ground station. The considered drones are of quadrotor type. Utilizing a unique pulley-gimbal mechanism, each drone can freely move along the tether and its position is measured with respect to the ground station without the use of standard onboard inertial sensors. The proposed system can be thought of as a robotic arm where each tether section acts as a variable-length link and each drone is a joint actuator. We model the coupled behavior of the ground station and the string, taking into account an arbitrary number of drones. Then, a controller that combines tools from geometric-control and linear-control is suggested. Finally, the concept is demonstrated using numerical simulations, which also illustrate its potential effectiveness.


Sliding-window aggregation is a widely-used approach for extracting insights from the most recent portion of a data stream. The aggregations of interest can usually be cast as binary operators that are associative, but they are not necessarily commutative nor invertible. Non-invertible operators, however, are difficult to support efficiently. The best published algorithms require O(log n) aggregation steps per window operation, where n is the sliding-window size at that point. For a FIFO window, this can be improved to O(1) on average by using two aggregation stacks. This paper presents DABA, a novel algorithm for aggregating FIFO sliding windows that significantly improves upon these time bounds. DABA requires only O(1) aggregation steps per operation in the worst case (not just on average). As such, DABA asymptotically improves the performance of sliding-window aggregation without restricting the operator to be invertible. Our experimental results demonstrate that these theoretical improvements hold in practice. DABA is a substantial improvement over the state of the art in terms of both latency and throughput.


Context: Cloud Computing is a very fascinating concept these days, it is attracting so many organiza-tions to move their utilities and applications into a dedicated data centers, and so it can be accessed from the Internet. This allows the users to focus solely on their businesses while Cloud Computing providers handle the technology. Choosing a best provider is a challenge for organizations that are willing to step into the Cloud Computing world. A single cloud center generally could not deliver large scale of resources for the cloud tenants; therefore, multiple cloud centers need to collaborate to achieve some business goals and to provide the best possible services at lowest possible costs. How-ever a number of aspects, legal issues, challenges, and policies should be taken into consideration when moving our service into the Cloud environment. Objectives: The aim of this research is to identify and elaborate the major technical and strategy differences between the cloud-computing providers in order to enable the organizations managements, system designers and decision makers to have better insight into the strategies of the different Cloud Computing providers. It is also to understand the risks and challenges due to implementing Cloud Computing, and "how" those issues can be moderated. This study will try to define Multi-Cloud Computing by studying the pros and cons of this new domain. It is also aiming to study the concept of load balancing in the cloud in order to examine the performance over multiple cloud environments. Methods: In this master thesis a number of research methods are used, including the systematic litera-ture review, contacting experts from the relevant field (Interviews) and performing a quantitative methodology (Experiment). Results: Based on the findings of the Literature Review, Interviews and Experiment, we got out the results for the research questions as, 1) A comprehensive study for identifying and comparing the major Cloud Computing providers, 2) Addressing a list of impacts of Cloud Computing (legal aspects, trust and privacy). 3) Creating a definition for Multi-Cloud Computing and identifying the benefits and drawbacks, 4) Finding the performance results on the cloud environment by performing an expe-riment on a load balancing solution. Conclusions: Cloud Computing becomes a central interest for many organizations nowadays. More and more companies start to step into the Cloud Computing service technologies, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, SalesForce, and Rackspace are the top five major providers in the market today. However, there is no Cloud that is perfect for all services. The legal framework is very important for the protection of the user's private data; it is an important key factor for the safety of the user's personal and sensitive information. The privacy threats vary according to the nature of the cloud scenario, since some clouds and services might face a very low privacy threats compare to the others, the public cloud that is accessed through the Internet is one of the most means when it comes the increasing threats of the privacy concerns. Lack of visibility of the provider supply chain will lead to suspicion and ultimately distrust. The evolution of Cloud Computing shows that it is likely, in a near future, the so-called Cloud will be in fact a Multi-cloud environment composed of a mixture of private and public Clouds to form an adaptive environment. Load balancing in the Cloud Computing environment is different from the typical load balancing. The architecture of cloud load balancing is using a number of commodity servers to perform the load balancing. The performance of the cloud differs depending on the cloud's location even for the same provider. HAProxy load balancer is showing positive effect on the cloud's performance at high amount of load, the effect is unnoticed at lower amounts of load. These effects can vary depending on the location of the cloud.


The strategic goal of the project "National Contact Point Open Access OA2020-DE" is to create the conditions for a large-scale open-access transformation in accordance with the Alliance of German Science Organizations. In close collaboration with the publisher transcript, we developed a business model that strengthens the transformation process for e-books in the humanities and social sciences. It largely addresses the drawbacks of existing models. Moreover, it is manageable, sustainable, transparent, and scalable for both publishers and libraries. This case report describes the setup of the model, its successful implementation for the branch "political science" of transcript in 2019, and provides a Strengths–Weaknesses–Opportunities–Threats (SWOT) analysis. We believe that it has the potential to become one of the major open-access business models for research monographs and anthologies in the humanities and social sciences, especially for non-English e-books.


The lower rates of participation in higher education of people from remote areas, together with the under-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in higher education, make it less likely that students from remote Indigenous communities will aspire to attend university. Educators and community must develop working relationships and act early to raise students' aspirations through an awareness of wider possibilities within and beyond their own community. One initiative taken to accomplish these aims is the UniCamps program run by the University of South Australia's (UniSA) Centre for Regional Engagement (CRE) in partnership with Mimili Anangu School. (Anangu is the name that Indigenous people from that region use for themselves.) By showing learning pathways through the tertiary sector, leading to a range of careers, either within their community or through pursuing their own interests, this program seeks to capture and maintain Anangu students' interest in diverse educational opportunities. Beginning in 2010, groups of Mimili secondary students have been visiting Whyalla, living in student accommodation and experiencing university study and life in a large regional centre. While raising aspirations and developing tertiary experience are priorities, students also develop skills to assist them with living away from home and their remote community, acquire and refine communication skills, and learn to build relationships with unfamiliar non-Anangu people – a supportive environment is important.
The planning and initiation of the first UniCamp required full commitment from all involved – school leaders, family and community members, the students themselves and university staff – to provide optimal learning experiences and opportunities for the young people. For successful transition from secondary schooling in a remote community to a tertiary environment, students need significant literacy and numeracy skills, along with confidence to seek assistance in an unfamiliar setting. At times, the young people immersed themselves in the experience, supporting each other. On subsequent visits, through a widening range of activities – academic sessions, living skills, recreational activities, and engaging in the wider community – the students have grown more familiar with the campus and regional city environment. Students who before the program did not aspire to tertiary study now see this, including university, as one possibility for their future.
Relationship-building – between communities, educational institutions and within the university – takes time, but is a crucial foundation for implementing such a program. Support from the CRE Director and wider UniSA connections have contributed to making the program a reality. Collaboration with different areas of the University and community allows for an enriched educational experience. UniCamps is an opportunity for students to engage in career-related experiences which may be unfamiliar to them. As such, participation and learning opportunities should be targeted to achieve this goal. As the students' first language is not English, program content must be delivered in an appropriately scaffolded way, while still challenging and extending the students. What has been learned from the Mimili–UniSA partnership will guide current plans to extend UniCamps opportunities to other rural and remote students.


We propose a robust and accurate method to extract the centerlines and scale of tubular structures in 2D images and 3D volumes. Existing techniques rely either on filters designed to respond to ideal cylindrical structures, which lose accuracy when the linear structures become very irregular, or on classification, which is inaccurate because locations on centerlines and locations immediately next to them are extremely difficult to distinguish. We solve this problem by reformulating centerline detection in terms of a regression problem. We first train regressors to return the distances to the closest centerline in scale-space, and we apply them to the input images or volumes. The centerlines and the corresponding scale then correspond to the regressors local maxima, which can be easily identified. We show that our method outperforms state-of-the-art techniques for various 2D and 3D datasets.


The use of laser diffraction is now common practice for the determination of an in situ particle size distribution in the marine environment. However, various imaging techniques have shown that particles vary greatly in shape, leading to uncertainty in the response of laser diffraction instruments when subjected to this diverse range of complex particles. Here we present a novel integrated system which combines both digital in-line holography and a LISST-100 type C, to simultaneously record in-focus images of artificial and natural particles with their small-angle forward scattering signature. The system will allow for further development of a reliable alternative to Mie Theory when using laser diffraction for the in situ measurement of complex suspended particles. A more detailed knowledge of the performance of laser diffraction when subjected to the wide variety of complex particles found in the marine environment will then be possible.


Capsicum annuum is the most widely cultivated species of peppers (chilies) in the world. For culinary purposes, its fruits are used for pungency (capsaicin) and also color (capsanthin). Capsaicin is also used for medicinal purposes particularly in anti-inflammatory formulations. Genetic divergence among 38 accessions collected from diverse locations in India (28 from Uttar Pradesh, 5 from Assam, 3 from Maharashtra and 2 from Uttaranchal), was estimated from the data pooled over 3 consecutive years for 15 morphological, growth and chemotypic characters that included days to first and second flowering, fruit onset, plant height, primary, secondary and tertiary branches, leaf surface area, fruit length and diameter, fruit surface area, fresh and dry fruit weight, capsaicin and capsanthin content. Based on this characterization the plants could be grouped into 7 clusters wherein substantial diversity among accessions was indicated by the wide range of D2 values (752.901 - 1918683.00). Accessions with distinct identity were marked, which are likely to be quite suitable for breeding through hybridization combining desirable traits. The accessions labeled number 38, 27, 26, 14 and 24 to high capsaicin content (%); 35, 23, 3, 16, 29 and 11 for high capsanthin content (%) and 26 and 27 for dual purpose had characteristics desirable. Above accessions could be utilized in hybridization programme for C. annuum crop improvement.


This article explains a travel demand generator developed within the SUMOPy framework which aims at providing person-based plans for the SUMO micro-simulator. The plan generation has four principal steps: 1.) a population needs to be generated, with specific attributes for each person; 2.) activities and their associated locations need to be identified, 3.) travel plans need to be generated, with the aim to connect the various activities in an efficient manner. 4.) A microsimulator determines the effective travel times for each plan which persons can use to modify or change their plan. In a first part, this article briefly describes other software packages which allow activity based demand models. It is further explained that the use of SUMO as microsimulator is particularly suited to evaluate multi-modal travel plans. The article then focuses on SUMOPy's activity based demand model and in particular on the population synthesizer, plan generation and plan selection step. SUMOPy's activity based demand framework has two distinguishing features: 1.) the time travel budget can be controlled during the population synthesizing process; 2.) The concept of abstract mobility strategies – each person may have different feasible plans, following different mobility strategies. The SUMO micro-simulator is used to evaluate the effective travel time of plans for the entire population. Regarding the plan selection method, a method is described if and how persons change plans based on the the effective travel times experienced after each simulation run. It is shown by means of a synthetic network and a realistic city network that the proposed algorithm is converging and total travel times are decreasing after each simulation run until an equilibrium is reached. Some preliminary attempts were undertaken to improve the speed of convergence. For both of the analyzed networks an equilibrium has been reached after approximately 10 simulation runs.


The use of lasers within the scope of endodontic practice and research has increased significantly in the past few years. Lasers are generally classified according to their physical constructions and special wavelengths, which have impacts on their enhanced clinical usage. Lasers according to their physical constructions are divided into three groups. The first type is the solid state laser, so named because the medium, undergoing lasing, is in a solid form. Ruby laser is the prototype of all solid state lasers. By forming crystalline materials that are doped with rare earth elements a wide range of solid state lasers can be produced. Some of the most common types of solid state lasers use the YAG (Yttrium Aluminium Garnet) crystal (Holmium:YAG, Thulium:YAG Neodymium:YAG and Erbium:YAG) and the YSGG (Yttrium Scandium Gallium Garnet) crystal (Er,Cr:YSGG) as their base. The second major family of lasers are the gas lasers. In this group the lasing material that is ionized can be Argon gas, Carbon dioxide gas, Nitrogen gas or a Helium-Neon (He:Ne) gas mixture. The third family of lasers are the Diode lasers, which produce wavelengths in the visible spectrum. The most frequently used lasers in endodontics are: Neodymium:YAG (Nd:YAG), Diode Laser, Erbium:YAG (Er:YAG), Erbium Chromium:YSGG (Er,Cr:YSGG) and He:Ne laser. This paper reviews the most common applications of lasers in endodontics that include Laser Doppler Flowmetry (LDF), treatment of dentinal hypersensitivity, pulpotomy and pulp capping and root canal disinfection through laser activated irrigation and photo-activated root canal disinfection (PAD).


Easy-to-follow demonstrations show you how to use colored pencils to paint trees, flowers, animals, people and other popular subjects. The colored pencil is an easy-to-use, inexpensive and incredibly expressive medium. And nobody is more skilled with the pencil than Bet Borgeson. Using many visual examples to illustrate her points, Bet will teach you how to use layering, burnishing, lifting color and other basic colored pencil techniques to create an exciting range of effects-from highly detailed realism to loose, luscious color. She also offers advice on choosing the right materials, conveying textures, layering in backgrounds, and combining colored pencil with other mediums.


Denmark has been one of the leading European Countries in using Biogas for Combined Heat and Power (CHP), since the 1980s. However, in the last two decades, the increase has been limited. A new energy policy aimed at increasing the profitability of biogas was introduced in the spring of 2012. The analysis here shows that the new agreement will improve the profitability of biogas plants and increase the biogas production although the political ambition of an increase from 4 PJ to 17 PJ by 2020 seems unlikely. The analysis shows that biogas plants can be profitable even if the input is a mix of manure and solid fractions/ farm yard manure given the present level of support. The overall production costs are around J0.63 per m3 methane produced, but they can vary from 0.47–0.78 per m4 methane produced3. The profit in the CASE 2012 analysis is J420,000 per year or 0.0.8 J per m3 methane. The analysis shows that the profit from upgrading biogas is only to be preferred if the sales price of heat or the amount sold are relatively low. The socioeconomic analyses show that the costs of biogas as a measure to reduce CO2 emissions are around J151 per tonne CO2 (J85–266 per ton) and that using maize is an expensive way to reduce emissions of CO2. In an analysis comparing the Danish and German support system, it has been found that the German socioeconomic costs seem to be five times higher than the Danish, based on the same calculation method. In order to improve profitability and reduce the cost of reducing CO2 emissions, the input to the biogas plant has to be based more on farm yard manure and deep bedding, although the cost of using these inputs might be higher than was included in the analysis.


-This paper presents a comparison between two different approaches towards fault location detection with and without applying transmission line parameters. Firstly, an impedance based parameter dependent algorithm, derived by using the modal transformation theory and Fast Fourier Transform is presented. The methodology has the ability to locate the fault whether it is on the overhead line or on the underground power cable. The second algorithm is an improved parameterfree fault location method that uses time synchronization. The unknown fault location will be determined from voltage and current phasors, synchronously measured at both line terminals. This approach of fault detection renders the prior knowledge of line parameters as obsolete, since they are sometimes difficult to assess. The paper presents the results of the algorithms tested through the use of ATPDraw simulations and MATLAB. Some results are validated with laboratory experiments. The results of the line parameter-independent model will be compared by those provided by the parameter-dependent model. Both algorithms are tested for single line to ground faults.


The demand for housing and affordable housing specifically will always become challenges for the government of the day. The solutions at the moment between conventional construction and IBS facing quality and costing problems respectively. In this article, it proposes the introduction of circular economy in a flexible housing project. To support the industrial revolution 4.0, this study is suggesting an alternative approach towards manufacturing the house as a commodity for the users. The idea of a circular economy is to reduce the price consumption by extending the lifespan of the housing unit. Towards the end, this article reports a design workshop conducted with the architects to produce a proof-of-concept of an affordable flexible house using CE (circular economy) principles. The flexible affordable house offers a solution to the lack of affordable housing and proposes alternative solutions to the problems. The study will benefit the government and Malaysians who opt for alternative housing in the future.


Large-scale kinetic models of metabolism are essential for understanding and predicting the behavior of cellular systems when subject to perturbations. Despite the advances in experimental measurement technologies, the numerous parameters that are required to build kinetic models remain scarce and involve uncertainty. Even after incorporating the partially available experimental data, models still have many degrees of freedom. Due to this parametric uncertainty, some reactions are able to operate in forward and reverse directions. An operational configuration consists of reactions that operate in a unique direction. This flexibility results in the existence of alternative operational configurations representing the same physiology, with very distinct regulatory properties. In this study, we focus on one operational configuration and we investigate how the underlying uncertainty in the kinetic parameters affects the robustness of the model predictions and regulatory capabilities. To study this question, we used a large-scale non-linear kinetic model built using integrated fluxomics and metabolomics data describing the physiology for aerobically grown E. coli. Because of the under-determined nature of the system, there are multiple kinetic parameters that can render the model feasible within the selected operational configuration. To account for the variability of the kinetic parameters within the designated operational configuration, we selected a reference vector of fluxes and concentrations close to their nominal values. Then, we used the ORACLE (optimization and risk analysis of complex living entities) framework to build populations of kinetic models that are consistent with the given physiology, while satisfying the stoichiometric and thermodynamic constraints. From these, we built non-linear models to test how the system's response to perturbations changed with respect to the chosen kinetic parameters. This allowed us to quantify the effect of the uncertainty in the kinetic parameters on the robustness of the regulatory properties of the system.


We present a newly, fully automated, data pipeline, Solvepol, designed to reduce and analyze polarimetric data. It has been optimized for imaging data from the Instituto de Astronomía, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas (IAG) of the University of São Paulo (USP), calcite Savart prism plate-based IAGPOL polarimeter. Solvepol is also the basis of a reduction pipeline for the wide-field optical polarimeter that will execute SOUTH POL, a survey of the polarized southern sky. Solvepol was written using the Interactive data language (IDL) and is based on the Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF) task PCCDPACK, developed by our polarimetry group. We present and discuss reduced data from standard stars and other fields and compare these results with those obtained in the IRAF environment. Our analysis shows that Solvepol, in addition to being a fully automated pipeline, produces results consistent with those reduced by PCCDPACK and reported in the literature.


Objectives We evaluated whether maintenance therapy with atazanavir/ritonavir plus lamivudine (ATV/r + 3TC) was non-inferior to ATV/r plus two nucleosides (ATV/r + 2NUCs) at 96 weeks of follow-up. Methods SALT is a multicentre, open-label, non-inferiority clinical trial in HIV-1-infected virologically suppressed patients. Hepatitis B virus surface antigen-negative subjects with no previous treatment failure/resistance mutations and HIV-1-RNA <50 copies/mL for ≥6 months were randomized (1 : 1) to ATV/r + 3TC or ATV/r + 2NUCs. The primary endpoint was HIV-1-RNA <50 copies/mL in the PP population. Non-inferiority was demonstrated if the lower bound of the 95% CI for the difference was not below −12%. Results Some 286 patients were analysed. At week 96, 74.4% had HIV-1-RNA <50 copies/mL in the ATV/r + 3TC arm versus 73.9% in the ATV/r + 2NUCs arm (95% CI for the difference, −9.9%–11.0%). In both groups, similar values were observed for patients with confirmed virological failure in ATV/r + 3TC versus ATV/r + 2NUCs (9 versus 5), death (1 versus 0), discontinuation due to ART-related toxicity (7 versus 11), withdrawal from the study (7 versus 9) and loss to follow-up (6 versus 6). One patient taking ATV/r + 2NUCs developed resistance mutations (M184V and L63P). Similar values were obtained for change in mean CD4 count [19 versus 18 cells/mm3 (95% CI for the difference, −49.3–50.7), grade 3–4 adverse events (70.7% versus 70.2%) and changes in the global deficit score, −0.3 (95% CI, −0.5 to −0.1) for ATV/r + 3TC, versus −0.2 (95% CI, −0.4 to −0.1) for ATV/r + 2NUCs]. Conclusions The long-term results of switching to ATV/r + 3TC show that this strategy is effective, safe and non-inferior to ATV + 2NUCs in virologically suppressed HIV-infected patients.


One of the major problems facing the development of capillary electrophoresis (CE) is the relatively high limits of detection when compared to traditional high‐performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods. While the use of an alternative detector can offer better sensitivity, a more universal approach is sample preconcentration. Numerous on‐line methods have been developed to improve the sensitivity of CE, and are based on electrophoretic principles, chromatographic principles, or a combination of both. This review will discuss all forms of on‐line preconcentration methods for CE, with emphasis given to those that have shown particular merit when applied to inorganic and small organic anions.


On April 2, 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) implemented the Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting (LMPR) law. LMPR was passed as part of USDA's FY2000 appropriations law (P.L. 106-78), to address the concerns of some livestock producers about low prices, increasing industry concentration, and the availability of price information. Under the previous, voluntary system, USDA reported data provided on a voluntary basis by meat packers and processors on the prices they pay for animals. The new law requires large packers to report not only negotiated sales, but also forward contract and formula arrangement transactions. Since implementation, LMPR has provided new information and further disclosure on pricing, but the system has experienced problems. On May 14, USDA announced an error in the computer program, which incorrectly calculated published prices. Since then, USDA has announced corrections. On August 3, USDA announced a new confidentiality rule, to go in effect on August 20. (This report will be updated as needed.)


The Soldier Meadow Tuff of late Miocene age was erupted from a linear vent area in northwestern Nevada. Numerous ash flows representing about 50 cu km of magma were erupted, followed by less energetic eruption of a small volume of air-fall tuff, which is welded near the vents. The vents then served as feeders for lava flows unquestionably comagmatic with the tuffs. Flow foliation in the lava flows defines four vents aligned in a north-south direction, and part of the internal structure of one of the vents has been exposed by faulting and erosion. The distribution pattern of the ash-flow sheet, the distribution and size variation of xenoliths, and the absence of a cooling break between tuff and lava all support this interpretation. The tuff and lava consist of peralkaline rhyolite (comendite) and are virtually identical in mineralogy and chemistry. Neither caldera collapse nor local subsidence occurred after eruption of the Soldier Meadow Tuff. The arrangement of vents parallel to a range-front fault trend implies control of alignment by extensional Basin-Range faults. The tuff of Trough Mountain, an earlier unit of phenocryst-poor, comendite ash-flow tuff of more limited volume and extent, appears to have erupted from a vent area which is elongate northward and nearly coincident with that of the Soldier Meadow Tuff, as indicated by thickness, areal distribution, welding of air-fall tuff, and distribution of xenoliths.


Abstract The vertical structure of meridional eddy heat transport (EHT) of the North Pacific was investigated by analyzing the results from an eddy-resolving ocean general circulation model (OGCM) with a horizontal resolution of , while comparing with previous simulation results and observation data. In particular, the spatial and temporal variation of the effective depth of EHT He was investigated, which is defined by the depth integrated EHT (D-EHT) divided by EHT at the surface. It was found that the annual mean value of He is proportional to the eddy kinetic energy (EKE) level at the surface in general. However, its seasonal variation is controlled by the mixed layer depth (MLD) in the extratropical ocean (>20°N). Examination of the simulated eddy structures reveals that the temperature associated with mesoscale eddies is radically modified by the surface forcing in the mixed layer, while the velocity field is not, and the consequent enhanced misalignment of temperature and velocity anomalies leads to...


Parasitic filarial nematodes are often tolerated in their human hosts for decades, with little evidence of pathology, due to parasite-induced immune modulation. The consensus of opinion, to date, is that such parasites achieve prolonged survival as a result of their active modulation of the host's immune system by secreted immunomodulatory molecules. Consistent with this, the excretory-secretory protein of Acanthocheilonema vitae, ES-62, has been shown to exhibit immunomodulatory activities that are broadly Th2/anti-inflammatory in nature.

Dendritic cells are specialised antigen (Ag)-presenting cells critical for initiating and regulating immune responses. They stimulate T cells and produce cytokines that have important immuneregulatory functions. To date, more than 6 different DC subtypes have been identified that arise from at least two different cell lineages. These subtypes are not only phenotypically distinct but they are also thought to perform different functions and be restricted to certain lymphoid organs. Thus, it was proposed that ES-62 might differentially affect individual DC subtypes and thereby polarise the immune response towards a Th2/anti-inflammatory phenotype.

Consistent with this hypothesis, when splenic cDCs were exposed to ES-62, slightly different cytokine profiles were produced by the individual DC subtypes. However, when such cDC subtypes were used to prime Ag-specific T cells, although minor differences could be detected, the overall T cell response displayed a Th2/Treg phenotype. The ability of prior exposure to ES-62 to prevent LPS-matured DC subtypes from inducing Th1 polarisation was also investigated. Although such DCs showed reduced development of a Th1/pro-inflammatory phenotype, only weak Th2 effector responses could be seen suggesting that whilst ES-62 induced a Th2/anti-inflammatory-promoting phenotype with all cDC subsets tested, this maturation could be at least partially reversed/overcome by a subsequent strong pro-inflammatory signal.

In addition, the effect of ES-62 on maturation of the pDC phenotype, and consequent ability to induce Th2/anti-inflammatory responses, was investigated. Similarly, the effects of CpG, which is known to activate pDCs, and LPS, a TLR4 ligand which is reported to have no effect on such pDCs, and the ability of such differentially activated pDC phenotypes to prime Ag-specific T cells were studied. Whilst only low levels of cytokines were produced by pDC upon stimulation with any of these molecules, ES-62-exposed pDCs were able to induce Th2-like responses, whereas both CpG- and LPS-matured pDCs induced pro-inflammatory phenotypes. Therefore to investigate the ability of ES-62 to inhibit such responses, pDCs were pre-exposed to ES-62 and subsequently matured with either CpG or LPS. Interestingly, while ES-62+LPS-matured pDCs could promote a Th2 phenotype, pre-exposure to ES-62 could only partially inhibit the pro-inflammatory phenotype induced by GpG.

DCs are the main Ag-presenting cells in the body. They express a variety of receptors, including pattern recognition receptors, such as Toll–like receptors (TLRs), C-type lectin receptors (CLRs) and also receptors belonging to the Mannose Receptor group. Furthermore, DCs also express the platelet activating factor receptor (PAF receptor). ES-62 has previously been shown to depend on the presence of TLR4 for exhibiting its effects on bmDC and macrophages, although it has been determined that the receptor does not need to be functional. Thus, it was believed that ES-62 might signal through a different co-receptor or might even be able to utilize a different receptor in cells, such as pDCs, which naturally lack expression of TLR4. Thus, in addition to further investigating the role of TLR4-signalling in the transduction of ES-62-mediated immunomodulation, signalling through two other receptors, namely the mannose receptor (MR) and the PAF receptor, were also investigated. In these studies, it was shown that, in cells expressing TLR4, ES-62 depends on the presence of this receptor, and its downstream adaptor molecule MyD88, to activate DCs and to subsequently induce T cell priming. Whilst no loss of function, in terms of cytokine secretion, could be detected in DCs deficient for the MR or the PAF receptor, ES-62-matured DCs from PAF receptor KO mice appeared to prime slightly stronger Th2/anti-inflammatory responses. Furthermore, whilst LPS treatment of such PAF receptor KO-DCs induced cytokine production similar to that seen with WT DCs, they were unable to prime T cells. Thus, these results indicated that LPS-driven Th1-polarisation is at least partially dependent on signalling through the PAF receptor and that this receptor might be a possible target for ES-62 mediated inhibition of pro-inflammatory signalling.

Finally the potential therapeutic role of ES-62 in two murine models of disease, namely collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and asthma was investigated. In the CIA model, both prophylactic and therapeutic application of the parasite product in vivo has been shown to be beneficial, resulting in delayed onset and reduced severity of disease or a reduction in the severity of existing inflammation, respectively. Thus, it was decided to further investigate the mechanisms underlying such immunomodulation by studying the effects of ES-62 on individual DC subtypes from mice in this disease model. One of the most interesting findings during these experiments was the apparent lack of double negative (DN) DCs recovered from spleens from CIA model mice. However, investigations of the effects of ES-62 on the maturation of the individual subtypes did not reveal any significant differences between individual DC subtypes. Furthermore, when these cells were cultured with T cells from CIA model mice, no significant Th1 or Th2 cytokine production could be found, and collectively the cytokine profile looked very similar to that of disease-associated DCs cultured on their own.

By contrast, investigation of the effect of ES-62-treatment in asthma model mice showed that ES-62 was able to drive two different responses. In the lung, draining lymph nodes and the spleen, ES-62 inhibited inflammation and Th2 development, by reducing Th2 cytokines, whereas it promoted Th2 development in peripheral lymph nodes. Interestingly although clinical improvement has been associated with an increase in lung levels of IL10, a Treg-associated cytokine, and increased levels were found in spleen cell cultures following ES-62 treatment of "asthma" model mice, no increase in natural Tregs could be found. Thus to further dissect the mechanisms by which ES-62 mediates its anti-inflammatory action in this disease model, bone-marrow derived DCs from "asthma" model mice treated with ES-62 or PBS in vivo were analysed for cytokine production and for their ability to prime Th cells, either in an immature or LPS-matured state. The results of this study showed that whilst "asthma" group bmDCs did not induce production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, they were able to prime T cells towards a Th2 phenotype. Interestingly, this Th2-like response was reduced if bmDCs had been treated with ES-62 in vivo. By contrast LPS maturation of such "asthma" group bmDCs, and, to a much lesser extent, ES-62 treated "asthma" bmDCs, resulted in increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore while these "asthma" group DCs induced a slightly reduced Th2 response, the reverse was true for bmDCs from "asthma" mice exposed to ES-62 in vivo. Collectively, the data obtained from the asthma model showed that ES-62 is capable of driving differential immune responses at distinct sites within an animal.

In summary, the results presented in this thesis provide novel information about the mechanisms underlying the modulation of T cell responses by ES-62-exposed DC subtypes, and may have identified a putative pathway by which ES-62 might inhibit pro-inflammatory signalling. Furthermore, these studies provide a better understanding of the therapeutic potential of this parasite molecule in inflammatory diseases such as CIA and asthma and collectively, they have demonstrated the potent immunomodulatory effects of ES-62.


This paper focuses on early childhood teachers' professional development in China. It reports a study which aims to elicit twelve in-service early childhood teachers' perspectives of the values and issues of professional development policies and the learning opportunities they experienced. Two themes arising from the study are addressed, namely the teachers' positive responses to the government aspirations for enhancing teaching in early childhood education, and the complexities of the organizational and role structures of the early childhood community in ChangChun where the study took place. An important aspect of the teachers' perspectives of their professional development, which connects up to the early childhood environment in ChangChun, is the view that professional development was oriented to their own employment continuity. Teachers' learning was perceived as a useful means to offset the insecurity of their careers, but not closely related to children's learning.


George Town is the capital of Penang Island, a town of rich and diverse history
which reflect the cultures brought by the trade-winds since the 18th century.
Many of the heritage buildings and the businesses or activities, that took place
within them still survive until today, many of which involve skills passed down
through the generations, making George Town a town with a 'living' heritage.
The objectives of this study were to estimate the value of Penang Island
households' willingness to pay for the conservation of a living heritage in George
Town, and to identify the determinants of the willingness-to-pay. This study
aimed to add to the scarce literature of this type of research, and reduce the
dependence on benefit transfers for cultural heritage goods, which are often sitespecific,
and therefore unsuitable.The Stated Preference (SP) method of Contingent Valuation (CV) was applied in
this study, concentrating on the living heritage existing within inner George
Town, covering about 3,700 pre-colonial shophouses. A total of 320 in-person
interviews of citizens of Penang Island were conducted in the first-quarter of
2006, out of which 283 questionnaire responses were usable.
The results showed that the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) can be
successfully applied to value a living cultural heritage in Penang Island, where
the mean willingness-to-pay for the conservation of inner George Town's living
heritage is about RM94.50 as a once-off contribution amount. The results showed
that attitudinal aspects like interest and concern for the condition of the 'living'
heritage play an important factor in the probability that respondents would be
willing-to-pay for its conservation, together with the respondents' level of
income. Behavioural aspects like knowledge regarding the heritage, frequency of
visits, and emotional regard for the heritage are not significant to the probability
that the respondents would be willing to contribute towards the heritage
conservation.
The results of this research can be used by policy-makers and NGOs to rank the
importance of conserving the 'living' heritage relative to competing projects, and
help improve the management of heritage conservation and resource allocation.


Abstract The Skiddaw Group comprises a marine sedimentary sequence deposited on the northern margin of eastern Avalonia in Tremadoc to Llanvirn times. It is unconformably overlain by subduction-related volcanic rocks (the Eycott and Borrowdale Volcanic groups) of mid-Ordovician age, and foreland basin marine strata of late Ordovician and Silurian age. The Skiddaw Group has a complex deformation history. Syn-depositional deformation produced soft sediment folds and an olistostrome. Volcanism was preceded (in late Llanvirn to Llandeilo times) by regional uplift and tilting of the Skiddaw Group, probably caused by the generation of melts through subduction-related processes. The Acadian (late Caledonian) deformation event produced a northeast- to east-trending regional cleavage, axial planar to large scale folds, and a later set of southward-directed thrusts with associated minor folds and crenulation cleavages. This event affected the northern Lake District probably in the late Silurian and early Devonian. The Skiddaw Group structures contrast strongly with those formed during the same event in the younger rocks of the Lake District inlier. The contrasts are attributed to differing rheological responses to varying and possibly diachronous stresses, and to possible impedence of thrusting by the combined mass of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group and the Lake District batholith.


Interview with Bill Graham, a Marine during World War II. He begins by discussing joining the Navy and becoming a corpsman, then being transferred to the 2nd Marine Division after the Pearl Harbor attack. He also talks being in the first wave on Guadalcanal and various things that happened during the six months there, as well as contracting a severe strain of malaria, getting shipped back to the States and stationed near his home in Fort Worth, then returning to training in Virginia to prepare for an invasion of Japan.


When Japan opened to the West in 1854, the prints known as ukiyo-e, or "images of the floating world," fascinated and delighted European audiences, especially in France, where the term japonisme was coined to describe the influence of this art form. Yet this familiar narrative emphasizes the impact of one artistic culture upon another, ignoring the fact that both Japan and France had flourishing traditions of color printmaking before the opening of Japan. "Awash in Color", an exhibition organized by the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, presents a new perspective on color printmaking and print technologies in both cultures, beginning well before 1854. In this exhibit catalog, the authors put forth an ambitious parallel history with more than one hundred exquisite color prints and woodblock-printed books that trace the evolution of color printing technologies from the early eighteenth century through the explosion of color print techniques in the mid- to late nineteenth century, and finally to the twentieth-century resurgence of woodblock printing as seen in aesthetic movements such as art deco and the original print movement. Distinguished contributors span a wide range of fields and provide insight and context for the work within Japanese and French art history, as well as the study of printmaking. A beautiful companion to an important exhibit, "Awash in Color" is essential reading - and viewing - not only for scholars of Japanese and European art, but also design enthusiasts everywhere.


This nutshell offers a general introduction to comparative law that includes both an overview of the methods of comparative law as well as of the two most widespread legal traditions in the world: civil (or Romano-Germanic) law and common law. For both legal traditions, this expert discussion covers their history; legal structures, including constitutional systems, courts, and judicial review; the roles of central legal actors, including lawyers, judges, and scholars; an overview of civil and criminal procedure; the principal sources of law and divisions of substantive law; and the judicial process. Throughout, the discussion also includes references to the place and the importance of supranational law and institutions and their impact on the civil law and common law traditions in Europe.


The purpose of this article is that to explain the impact of the landmark decision Schrems c. Data Protection Commissioner [Ireland] - delivered on 7 October 2015 (Case C-362/2014 EU) by the Court of Justice - on the European scenario. Starting from a brief analysis of the major outcomes originated from the pronunciation of the Court of Justice, then it tries to study the level of criticality that the Safe Harbor Agreement and the subsequently adequacy Commission decision 2000/520/EC – that has been invalidated with Schrems judgment – have provoked before this pronunciation on the matter of safeguarding personal privacy of european citizens when their personal data are transferred outside the European Union, in particular the reference is at the US context. Moreover it focuses on the most important aspects of the new EU-US agreement called Privacy Shield: it can be really considered the safer solution for data sharing in the light of the closer implementation of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679, which will take the place of the Directive 95 /46/CE on the EU data protection law?


Latinx people have now surpassed African Americans as the largest minority in the United States and immigration from Latin America is a prominent political issue. In this paper, I explore the positionality of Latinx folks within the United States. I start from the philosophical literature, focusing on the position of Latinx individuals and conceptions of race and immigration. I then use this to ground a novel psychological experiment to test how dehumanizing language affects perceptions of Latinx targets. From the philosophical perspective, I begin with Foucault then move through Mills, Yancy, Harris, and Martinez to get at the racial division of a nonwhite subgroup that has placed Latinx Americans on the border of white and American identity. A discussion of language and its uses in regard to Latinx immigrants leads to a psychological experiment that explores the effects of dehumanizing metaphors. The experiment's results demonstrate that insect dehumanizing metaphors towards Latinx targets produce colder feelings of Latinx people. My conclusion raises questions about how this dehumanization may affect tolerances of violence that has been seen in other studies and previous historical moments.


This is a special issue of Concept which considers the changed and changing landscape of youth work in the UK.  It includes contributions which take a backward look in order to locate present day developments, articles which reflect on contemporary themes, issues and practices, and interviews with current youth workers who are striving to manage the contradictions of politics and policy for young people, on the ground.
Editors: Mel Aitken & Mae Shaw
Youth Work: A 2020 Vision- Editorial Introduction: Ian Fyfe
'Open' Youth Work in 2019: A backward look: Bernard Davies
Youth Work: Converging and diverging responses in Scotland: Annette Coburn and Sinead Gormally
The decline of the Local Authority Youth Service in England: Reflections of an actor in its demise: Tony Taylor
'That was another moment where people were like wow! These young people have really done something!': Christina McMellon
Relocating place in the life of neo-liberal youth: Alan Mackie
On the Ground!: Sabrina Tickle, Karen Anderson & Gemma Burns
Cover image: Special thanks to Caitlyn McFarlane.  Her art can be followed on Instagram under the name c8s_art.


Young men have emerged as an important topic of inquiry in the past few decades in understanding masculinities. As Anoop Nayak and Mary Jane Kehily (2008) argue, exploring young men's gender identities and performances "can be seen as a site of fissure with the past while simultaneously holding onto many issues of continuity" (p. 37). Young men, hence young masculinities, are characterized as "in crisis" or "in transition" from old masculinities to new, modern masculinities and gender identities. Young men, therefore, offer an extraordinary area of inquiry in understanding this crisis of masculinity. This special issue focuses exclusively on young men and explores their masculinities, particularly in conjunction with spirituality. This is a truly interdisciplinary collection, bringing together scholars from a wide range of social sciences including sociology, political science, history and anthropology. Scholars from around the world, working on men and masculinities share their unique perspectives, theories and methods of studying young men. Overview of the articles The papers in this special issue all focus on young men, their masculine identities and spirituality. While the topics they focus on, the literature they borrow from and the theorists they build on show similarities, their approaches and tools differ inordinately. They all focus on young men, masculinity and spirituality, however the ways they define these terms differ greatly. Especially in defining spirituality, while some focus on the role of religions in shaping these masculine identities, others focus on the performative and ritual aspects of spirituality. Similarly, they employ a wide range of methods, both qualitative and quantitative, in studying young men. However, all papers in this special issue express interdisciplinary, comparative sensibilities in varying degrees in understanding young men. The first paper, "Changing the Subject: Abortion and Symbolic Masculinities among Young Evangelicals" approaches the question of young men's masculinities from a quantitative perspective. Daniel R. Cassino looks at the political views of young evangelical Christian men, particularly towards abortion. R. W. Connell shows that when hegemonic masculinity is threatened by rigorous attempts to achieve gender equality, it often results in a crisis of masculinity. Borrowing from R. W. Connell, Cassino argues that for evangelical Christian men, this crisis of masculinity is reflected in the area of politics. He argues that young men employ symbolic tropes in challenging hegemonic masculinities, particularly political ones, in recapturing their masculine identities. He focuses, particularly, on their attitudes towards abortion, in reconstructing their threatened masculine identities. The second article focuses on an important part of young men's lives--male initiation rituals--in understanding young men and masculinities. …


The present pilot-study was undertaken under the assumption that the acquisition of Dutch by migrant workers is governed by a complex set of social and individual factors including:- degree and kind of contact with Dutch people;- internalized norms governing the level of Dutch that migrants of different nationalities should reach;- individual integrative motivations.To determine which factors affect acquisition most, 20 Moroccans in Amsterdam, all of whom had been there for at least two years, were in-terviewed in depth.Topics discussed in the interview included facets of their life in the Netherlands, their work situation, contacts with other Moroccans and with Dutch people, motivation to learn Dutch, preceived threats to ethnic and religious identity, experience of discrimination, etc.A number of measures were calculated on the basis of the interview:- syntactic index (based on MLU, agreement, article use, copula deletion);- rating index (based on judgements of the Moroccans' taped speech by 48 subjects);- social index (based on age, education, civil state, contacts, occupation, living situation, etc.);- attitude index (including instrumental and integrative motivation, ethnic identity, sense of isolation);- self-rating index (based on the informants' rating of their own linguistic level in comparison with taped voices The following correlations were found between these measures: rating social attitude self-ratingsyntactic .82 .74 .64 .08social .59Further analysis of the informants' reactions to taped voices re-vealed: (a) a large gap between passive and active knowledge of Dutch; (b) stereotypes relating to a rather rigid stratification of ethnic groups in terms of their level in Dutch. Further research will have to reveal to what extent these stereotypes are normative for acquisition behavior.


Abstract Lake sediments are natural archives that record the response of a lake to both in-lake processes and catchment disturbance (over a range of timescales). The response (or lack of) of a lake to external forcing is a function of the severity of the disturbance (and its areal extent) but is also strongly mediated by catchment characteristics, such as slope and hydrological connectivity. Many studies of recent lake disturbance have focussed on anthropogenic disruption of geochemical cycles, e.g. acidification and eutrophication, which because of their "ecological" power appear to over-ride catchment filters. Lake sediments also record the variability of natural disturbance regimes themselves (fire, volcanic ash falls, species invasions, and climate) and the consequent lake response but this aspect has received much less attention. The possibility of using lake sediments to address long-term (102 – 103 yr) interactions between e.g., climate, catchment ontogeny and disturbance events (and their synergies) has not been fully explored, largely because of an over-riding emphasis on climate as a direct driver of ecological change. Traditionally, limnology has also focussed on a few key sites (sentinels) but in response to the development of landscape ecology has progressively embraced a regional approach to understanding how lakes respond to external forcing (climate) and disturbance ("lakes in the landscape"). Although the interaction of a lake with its catchment is implicit, i.e. via hydrological and nutrient loading, palaeolimnologists rarely take an explicitly spatial view of this interaction nor have they considered spatial location (i.e. response of a number of lakes within a lake district). Arguably, the inherent spatial variability of terrestrial disturbance has been ignored by palaeolimnologists, largely as a result of focussing on one core from a single lake. This paper reviews the impact of terrestrial disturbance on lakes but also argues for explicit consideration of space and location in determining the resultant temporal variability of the ecological response. The importance of within-lake spatial heterogeneity is also high-lighted (i.e. the major contribution of the littoral zone to both diversity and production). However, any attempt to determine spatially replicated (i.e. at a regional scale), holistic (i.e. whole lake) responses to disturbance will encounter considerable problems associated with dating, loss of temporal resolution and among site comparison. Despite this, it is clear that recent methodological developments in the area of biomarkers, compound specific stable isotopes coupled with progress in dating (age-models), ecological modelling and statistical analysis offer the possibility of undertaking regionally-replicated studies of lake response to natural disturbance, thereby contributing and expanding our understanding of ecosystem dynamics at a range of spatial and temporal scales.


Speculation about robot morality is almost as old as the concept of a robot itself. Asimov's three laws of robotics provide an early and well-discussed example of moral rules robots should observe. Despite the widespread influence of the three laws of robotics and their role in shaping visions of future robo-dense worlds, these laws have been neglected as futuristic by hands-on roboticists who have been busy with addressing less abstract questions about robots' behaviour concerning space locomotion, obstacles avoidance, automatic learning, among others. Between morality and function lies a vast gap. When robots enter our everyday lives they will have to observe social and legal norms. For example, social robots in the hospitals are expected to observe social rules (they should not interrupt a mourning family) and robotic dust cleaners scouring the streets for waste as well as automated cars will have to observe traffic regulation. In this article we elaborate on the various ways in which robotic behaviour is regulated. We distinguish between imposing regulations on robots, imposing regulation by robots, and imposing regulation in robots. In doing this, we distinguish regulation that aims at influencing human behaviour and regulation whose scope is robots' behaviour. We claim that the artificial agency of robots requires designers and regulators to look at the question of how to regulate robots' behaviour in a way that renders it compliant with legal norms. Regulation by design offers a means for this. We further explore this idea through the example of automated cars.


We explore the effects of a temporary cut in VAT, identifying three possible effects: an income effect as people benefit from a lower cost of living during the period of the reduction, a substitution effect as people bring their consumption forward and an arbitrage effect as people buy non-perishable goods before the end of the period of low VAT for consumption after the VAT rate as been raised. International evidence suggests a clear overall impact on consumption, although the nature of the pattern depends on the way in which the data are analysed. However, the key policy issue is the impact of the VAT change on output and to examine that a simulation model of the whole economy is needed. Evidence from the National Institute's Global Economic Model suggests that the impact of the recent VAT reduction is likely to build up during the course of 2009. The reduction in VAT from 17 1⁄2% to 15% is likely to result in consumption being augmented by less than 1 per cent by the fourth quarter of 2009. However GDP is likely to be raised raised by less than half a per cent relative to what would have happened without the VAT increase. After the temporary reduction is over both consumption and GDP are depressed as a result of the policy. JEL Codes: E620, E650, H310


Abstract Whether China will abandon its long-standing nuclear strategy of assured retaliation for a first-use posture will be a critical factor in future U.S.-China strategic stability. In the past decade, advances in U.S. strategic capabilities, especially missile defenses and enhanced long-range conventional strike capacity, could undermine China's nuclear retaliatory capability, which is based on a relatively small force and second-strike posture. An exhaustive review of Chinese writings on military affairs indicates, however, that China is unlikely to abandon its current nuclear strategy of assured retaliation. Instead, China will modestly expand its arsenal, increase the sophistication of its forces, and allow limited ambiguity regarding its pledge not to use nuclear weapons first. This limited ambiguity allows China to use the threat of nuclear retaliation to deter a conventional attack on its nuclear arsenal, without significantly increasing the size of its nuclear forces and triggering a costly arms race. Nevertheless, China's effort to maintain its strategy of assured retaliation while avoiding an arms race could backfire. Those efforts increase the risk that nuclear weapons could be used in a crisis between the United States and China, even though China views this possibility as much less likely than the United States does.


NOTE: Before purchasing, check with your instructor to ensure you select the correct ISBN. Several versions of Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products exist for each title, and registrations are not transferable. To register for and use Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products, you may also need a Course ID, which your instructor will provide. Used books, rentals, and purchases made outside of Pearson If purchasing or renting from companies other than Pearson, the access codes for Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products may not be included, may be incorrect, or may be previously redeemed. Check with the seller before completing your purchase. For courses in computer programming in Java This package includes MyProgrammingLab Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through Objects provides a brief yet detailed introduction to programming in the Java language. Starting out with the fundamentals of data types and other basic elements, readers quickly progress to more advanced programming topics and skills. By moving from control structures to objects, readers gain a comprehensive understanding of the Java language and its applications. As with all Gaddis texts, the Sixth Edition is clear, easy to read, and friendly in tone. The text teaches by example throughout, giving readers a chance to apply their learnings by beginning to code with Java. Personalize Learning with MyProgrammingLab MyProgrammingLab is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program designed to work with this text to engage students and improve results. Within its structured environment, students practice what they learn, test their understanding, and pursue a personalized study plan that helps them better absorb course material and understand difficult concepts. MyProgrammingLab allows you to engage your students in the course material before, during, and after class with a variety of activities and assessments. 0134059875 / 9780134059877 Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through Objects plus MyProgrammingLab with Pearson eText -- Access Card Package, 6/e Package consists of: 0133957055 / 9780133957051 Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through Objects, 6/e 0133885569 / 9780133885569 0133957608 / 9780133957600 MyProgrammingLab with Pearson eText -- Access Card -- for Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through Objects, 6/e


Changes in extreme weather and climate events are among the most serious challenges to society in coping with a changing climate. Occurrence of extreme rainfall events with higher intensity accomplishing flash floods is becoming a common phenomenon. It is timely important, identifying spatial and temporal characteristics of intensity of extreme rainfall events by countries. Maximum 5 day rainfall (Rx-5day) is an effective index which leads to identify intensity of rainfall extreme events, recommended by World Meteorological Organization. This considers the highest total rainfall within a consecutive 5 day period. This study focuses on spatial and temporal characteristics of Rx-5day in Sri Lanka from 1981 to 2010. Daily rainfall data collected from Meteorological Department, Sri Lanka is used in the study and extremes are calculated using RClimDex 1.0 package, designed by Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI). IDW interpolation technique in GIS, non-parametric Mann Kendall test is used to analyze the significance of trends. Average maximum 5-day rainfall values ranges between 100mm-400mm. Among the severest extremes, Colombo is accounted by the highest value in 2010. Spatially, Rathnapura, Rathmalana, Colombo are highly affected by these extremes. Temporally there is an emergent increase of this index after 2002. Annual maximum consecutive five day rainfall predicates significant increasing trends in Batticaloa, Colombo, Hambanthota, Rathmalana and Trincomalee. Variation of Monsoonal regimes seems rely on variations of this index. These detections of trends of spatial and temporal patterns of rainfall extremes thus facilitate in decision making and planning related to disaster management and development in Sri Lanka.


Null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is the most common statistical framework used by scientists, including archaeologists. Owing to increasing dissatisfaction, however, Bayesian inference has become an alternative to these methods. In this article, we review the application of Bayesian statistics to archaeology. We begin with a simple example to demonstrate the differences in applying NHST and Bayesian inference to an archaeological problem. Next, we formally define NHST and Bayesian inference, provide a brief historical overview of their development, and discuss the advantages and limitations of each method. A review of Bayesian inference and archaeology follows, highlighting the applications of Bayesian methods to chronological, bioarchaeological, zooarchaeological, ceramic, lithic, and spatial analyses. We close by considering the future applications of Bayesian statistics to archaeological research.


H2O2 inhibits protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) activity in vitro because of the oxidation of a critical cysteine residue in the catalytic domain. However, it has not been clear whether this is a physiologically relevant regulatory mechanism. Meng et al. now show that when Rat-1 cells were exposed to H2O2, several PTPs were oxidized and inactivated in vivo. These were quickly reduced once exogenous H2O2 was removed. Treatment of cells with platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), a mitogen that stimulates intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, also caused PTP oxidation, including SHP-2. Recruitment of cytoplasmic SHP-2 to activated PDGF receptors was required for SHP-2 oxidation. Receptor association may induce a conformational change in SHP-2 that facilitates oxidation of the cysteine residue and inactivates the enzyme. This would allow recruitment of downstream signaling to phosphorylated receptors. Blanchetot et al. also show that receptor-type PTPs (RPTPs) are inhibited by oxidative stress. Most RPTPs contain two intracellular enzymatic domains (D1 and D2). By expressing various deletion mutants of RPTPα in cultured cells, the authors show that a region in the cytoplasmic domain containing D2 is in a closed conformation and is unable to bind to RPTPα monomers. However, treatment of cells with H2O2 induced a conformational change in the cytoplasmic region in vivo that was dependent on a cysteine residue in D2. The conformational change correlated with increased RPTPα dimerization and inactivation of phosphatase activity. Inactivation by oxidation and subsequent dimer stabilization may be a general regulatory mechanism for RPTP activity. C. Blanchetot, L. G. J. Tertoolen, J. den Hertog, Regulation of receptor protein-tyrosine phosphatase a by oxidative stress. EMBO J. 21, 493-503 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text] T.-C. Meng, T. Fukuda, N. K. Tonks, Reversible oxidation and inactivation of protein tyrosine phosphatases in vivo. Molec. Cell 9, 387-399 (2002). [Online Journal]


The death penalty puts special focus on a figure that has always lurked in the shadow of all criminal law. This is the psychopath (also sometimes called the sociopath), the person who while perfectly sane and cognitively competent, simply inherently lacks any empathy for the suffering of others. In Tison v. Arizona, 481 U.S. 187 (1987), the Supreme Court indicated that the minimum mens rea needed for death-eligibility is "reckless indifference to human life," a standard that is the legal equivalent of psychopathy. Moreover, even though most capital defendants exhibit the more egregious mental state of intent, the notion of reckless indifference captures the kind of immoral or amoral character that capital juries impute to those they condemn. This focus on the psychopathic capital defendant implicates deep dilemmas in both psychology and philosophy. The so-called Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is part of the cluster of conditions that psychology and psychiatry call personality disorders, and its controversial status as a mental disorder illustrates the more general and fundamental problem with thus cluster. Although they are listed as diagnoses in the medical manual (the DSM), personality disorders are arguably just verbal summaries of their alleged symptoms, not useful diagnostic categories or illnesses for which there is treatment. They are simply ways that certain people are constituted, or descriptions of the typical behavior of certain people. (Ironically, the psychopath or the ASPD is the one example in the criminal law of a supposedly medical diagnosis is offered in aggravation by the prosecutor -- whereas "medicalizing" defendants otherwise is always done as mitigation by the defense.) But the psychopath troubles moral philosophy as well, because he raises the question whether under assumptions of free will, a person can be held responsible for his innate incapacity to empathize. In this regard, the figure of the homicidal psychopath invokes and illustrates the modern fascination of philosophers with the notion of "moral luck," a problem that has led to interesting conceptual solutions and rationalizations. Thus, the identification of the prototypical death-deserving defendants strikes at key dilemmas across these fields.


This thesis explores the impact that legislative changes have had on African Caribbeans competing in Birmingham's market situations. It also assesses the extent to which educational and labour market success or failure might have influenced their contemporary spatial locations. A mixed methods approach is utilised to examine how the social class position, and spatial patterns, of the city's African Caribbean population have changed since the early 1980s. The research provides a contemporary update of aspects of Rex and Tomlinson's (1979) survey, and also Ratcliffe's (1981) work, which was conducted in 1970s
Handsworth.

Despite successive anti-discrimination legislation, passed between 1965 and 2010, racist practices in the education, employment and housing markets have persisted. African Caribbean social and spatial mobility are examined in the context of social, political and ideological changes influencing the equality agenda, particularly where racial inequality is concerned. Shifts in the educational and labour market status of Black Caribbeans are articulated using Marxian, Weberian and Bourdieusian notions of social classes: as position, as situation and as disposition, respectively. Social mobility is measured according to the progress African Caribbeans have made in their efforts to obtain higher educational capital, and the extent to which they have exchanged them for occupations in the upper tiers of the labour market.

African Caribbean spatial mobility is mapped between 1991 and 2011 and the movement of Birmingham's Black population, from high to low deprivation urban spaces, is examined. Changes from renting to homeownership, are also analysed as indicators of improvement in Black Caribbean housing tenure. The critical race perspective, of interest convergence, is used to argue that the free market can be appropriated to ameliorate racism. However, it is also acknowledged that African Caribbean community organisations, and those sharing the same focal concerns, must pool their resources to achieve the aim of racial equity.


Article history: Received January 2, 2017 Received in revised form March 1, 2017 Accepted March 21, 2017 Available online March 21, 2017 A simple one-step procedure for synthesis of new derivatives of phenolic acids was developed. As the starting materials salicylic acid, vanillic acid and alkyl haloalkanoates were applied. The reactions were carried out in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) in the presence of anhydrous potassium carbonate. Conditions for regioselective synthesis of target compounds were established. The esters 3a-h were obtained in great yields and were characterized by MS, 1H and 13C NMR spectra. Their photoprotective activity was evaluated in vitro by spectrophotometric method. The study revealed that the tested compounds are moderate UVB absorbers, but could be used to augment the effect of other photoprotective agents. Their SPF values were in the range from 3.63 to 4.26 for salicylates 3a-d and from 3.03 to 3.51 for vanillates. © 2017 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


Bivium is a simplified version of Trivium, a hardware profile finalist of the eSTREAM project. Bivium has an internal state size of 177 bits and a key length of 80 bits. In this paper, a guess and determine attack on this cipher is introduced. In the proposed method, the best linear approximations for the updating functions are first defined. Then by using these calculated approximations, a system of linear equations is built. By guessing 30 bits of internal state, the system is solved and all the other 147 remaining bits are determined. The complexity of the attack is O (2 30 ), which is an improvement to the previous guess and determine attack with a complexity of order O(2 52.3 ).


Significance Electric lighting has fundamentally altered how the human circadian clock synchronizes to the day/night cycle. Exposure to light after dusk is pervasive in the modern world. We examined group-level sensitivity of the circadian system to evening light and the degree to which sensitivity varies between individuals. We found that, on average, humans are highly sensitive to evening light. Specifically, 50% suppression of melatonin occurred at <30 lux, which is comparable to or lower than typical indoor lighting used at night, as well as light produced by electronic devices. Significantly, there was a >50-fold difference in sensitivity to evening light across individuals. Interindividual differences in light sensitivity may explain differential vulnerability to circadian disruption and subsequent impact on human health. Before the invention of electric lighting, humans were primarily exposed to intense (>300 lux) or dim (<30 lux) environmental light—stimuli at extreme ends of the circadian system's dose–response curve to light. Today, humans spend hours per day exposed to intermediate light intensities (30–300 lux), particularly in the evening. Interindividual differences in sensitivity to evening light in this intensity range could therefore represent a source of vulnerability to circadian disruption by modern lighting. We characterized individual-level dose–response curves to light-induced melatonin suppression using a within-subjects protocol. Fifty-five participants (aged 18–30) were exposed to a dim control (<1 lux) and a range of experimental light levels (10–2,000 lux for 5 h) in the evening. Melatonin suppression was determined for each light level, and the effective dose for 50% suppression (ED50) was computed at individual and group levels. The group-level fitted ED50 was 24.60 lux, indicating that the circadian system is highly sensitive to evening light at typical indoor levels. Light intensities of 10, 30, and 50 lux resulted in later apparent melatonin onsets by 22, 77, and 109 min, respectively. Individual-level ED50 values ranged by over an order of magnitude (6 lux in the most sensitive individual, 350 lux in the least sensitive individual), with a 26% coefficient of variation. These findings demonstrate that the same evening-light environment is registered by the circadian system very differently between individuals. This interindividual variability may be an important factor for determining the circadian clock's role in human health and disease.


Abstract:The impacts of current and future changes in climate have been investigated for Irish vegetation. Warming has been observed over the last two decades, with impacts that are also strongly influenced by natural oscillations of the surrounding ocean, seen as fluctuations in the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Satellite observations show that vegetation greenness increases in warmer years, a feature mirrored by increases in net ecosystem production observed for a grassland and a plantation forest. An ensemble of general circulation model simulations of future climates indicate temperature rises over the twenty-first century ranging from 1°C to 7°C, depending on future scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions. Net primary production is simulated to increase under all scenarios, due to the positive impacts of rising temperature, a modest rise of precipitation and rising carbon dioxide concentrations. In an optimistic scenario of reducing future emissions, CO2 concentration is simulated to flatten from about 2070, although temperatures continue to increase. Under this scenario Ireland could become a source of carbon, whereas under all other emission scenarios Ireland is a sink for carbon that may increase by up to three-fold over the twenty-first century. A likely and unavoidable impact of changing climate is the arrival of alien plant species, which may disrupt ecosystems and exert negative impacts on native biodiversity. Alien species arrive continually, with about 250 dated arrivals in the twentieth century. A simulation model indicates that this rate of alien arrival may increase by anything between two and ten times, dependent on the future climatic scenario, by 2050. Which alien species may become severely disruptive is, however, not known.


We tested the hypothesis that children are more attentive to a robot if the robot appears to be interested in the children. In addition, we investigated if and how the quality and quantity of a child's attentive behaviour varies with the distance to the robot, reflecting the notion of "social spaces". Hereto, 16 groups of up to 10 children each were engaged in a play scenario in which they had to move closer to a robot over 6 successive rounds. The robot was endowed with a "camera eye" and an arm and hand. The camera could either be nonmoving ("static") or actively "searching" ("active searching"), giving the impression it was trying to select a child to focus on. Likewise, the arm and hand could either be fixed in a permanent pointing position ("permanent pointing") or actively rise to point selectively at a particular child when it stopped facing it ("selective pointing"). The results showed that: 1) the mean frequency of overall attentive behaviour by the children (including attention towards other children) was significantly higher when the robot was not selectively pointing at the children and independent of the state of the camera; 2) "looking at" was the most frequently scored attentive activity for the children and was mainly targeted to the robot, but not correlated with any of their other attentive activities; 3) there was an interaction effect between the state of the camera and of the pointer: looking at the robot by the children occurred significantly more often when the camera and the arm were consistent in signaling apparent interest (i.e. camera "active searching" and hand "selectively pointing" or camera "static" and hand "permanently pointing"); and 4) there was no demonstrable effect of distance to the robot on the overall attentive behaviour of the children.


Oscar Wilde's stories are much-loved classics and make a fantastic story collection. They are timeless. moving and very readable. Complemented by atmospheric and evocative artwork from a leading illustrator. Titles included are: The Selfish Giant The Nightingale and the Rose The Devoted Friend The Happy Prince The Remarkable Rocket The Young King