Slag, by itself, shows very little hydraulic activity. However, hydration is greatly accelerated by incorporation of the slag with Portland cement. This phenomenon is due to the activating role of calcium hydroxide released from the hydration of Portland cement. This study was aimed at finding other activators that will increase hydration in both synthetic and commercial slags. The effects of chemical composition and the aggregation state of the slag on the hydration process were also investigated. For the synthetic slags, the aggregation state was altered by different quenching techniques. The chemical composition was varied by synthesizing a series of slags. The degree of hydration was studied by developing a thermogravimetric analysis technique and the glass content was determined using microscopy. Minerals were determined using powder x-ray diffraction analysis.


The economic downturn faced by the Asian countries in 1997 highlighted the
importance of good corporate governance practices. Entailed from that crisis,
measures undertaken towards improving the standard of corporate governance
within the Malaysian corporate sector have been extensive. The Malaysian Code
on Corporate Governance were introduced by the Malaysian Institute of
Corporate Governance. The Kuala Lurnpur Stock Exchange Listing
Requirements were revamped. Other rules and legislation which were already in
existence were viewed afresh. But they are all subject to ambiguities which may
affect a conflict-free relationship between directors and shareholders and
consequently affect the standard of corporate governance.
This thesis intends to emphasize the fault lines or conflicts which hinder a better
relationship between directors and shareholders who are the most important
organs in a corporation.
The dichotomy between control and ownership which refers to directors who hold
the control and shareholders who hold the ownership, has contributed to the
existence of the fault lines. These fault lines are discussed in several areas of
company law for instance, power to manage, refusal to register transfer of shares,
winding up and general meeting. The research methodology adopted for this
thesis involves judicial and legislative interpretation combined with comparative
analysis from other jurisdictions with positive developments. Analysis of case
law has shown the approach taken by the courts in solving conflicts between
directors and shareholders. This study proposes some recommendations, for
instance, amending the ambiguous provisions concerning the power to manage
and to wind up corporation and expanding the concept of fiduciary duty beyond
its traditional scope to apply to the shareholders in exceptional circumstances.
These proposals aim at providing a balance of power between these two organs.
Although corporate governance covers a wider scope than merely focusing on the
directors and shareholders relationship, improving this relationship will
consequently improve the standard of corporate governance. Both directors and
shareholders have their own role in achieving that purpose. In the final analysis,
assisted by relevant rules and regulations and their conscious conduct in
improving their relationship, a better standard of corporate governance can be
attained which will implicitly affect the corporate economic condition.


MUSEUM MOVIES: THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART AND THE BIRTH OF ART CINEMA Haidee Wesson Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005, 314 pp. Museum Movies helped explain a little puzzle for me. Haidee Wasson's confidently composed book would probably help anyone in film studies with a thing or two. Her history of the Museum of Modern Art's Film Library is, in a sense, the story of where film studies came from; as the subtitle says: The Birth of An Cinema. My own problem was a special film show in Chicago in 1926, "Old-Time Movie Week," which included a selection of Griffith, Sennett, and other shorts from the early 1910s. Also included was a clip of McKinley's 1901 inauguration, which allowed the entire show to be incorrectly bannered, "the movies of 25 years ago... the films of our childhood." For its time, this chance to see old movies again was unique, and the advertising supposes nostalgia is the only reason to go. I knew it was exceptional, but only after reading Museum Movies did I understand why. The book explains that habits, discourses, networks, and even postures of watching films as art, specifically watching old movies for aesthetic purposes, were institutionalized in the 1930s, most concretely as a result of the founding of MoMA's Film Library in 1935. More generally (and this is why the book is really about the origins of film studies itself), Wasson argues that art cinema is socially constructed, but she avoids the pitfalls of now-routine "invention of" books by leaving this conclusion largely implicit. Rather than offering an overstated genealogy of film studies, the book shows how film appreciation owes a great deal to specific people, like Iris Barry and John Abbott at MoMA, and its Film Library, which came about because of a few well-connected people, changes in the technology of film, and the cultural purpose of the museum. Wasson's introductory chapter, "Making Cinema a Modern Art," lays out the argument that cinema could be widely understood as an art form only when the conditions to facilitate that sensibility had been developed. In other words, she offers a material sociology of cinephilia, a social history of texts, spaces, manners, technologies, and economies that came together to make the Film Library "a novel, hybrid, and quintessentially modern institution, one that resonated with other institutional projects to make film respectable or institutionally useful." The remaining chapters are organized loosely around those other institutional conditions and contexts: technology, the museum, the film industry, distribution circuits, and the audiences themselves. Perhaps surprisingly, but with great rewards, the Film Library itself does not become a central character until the halfway mark. The first half of the book, instead, lays out the contexts that allowed the very idea of the Film Library and mass film appreciation to flourish. A chapter on the possibilities of mobile theaters explains how the technological and industrial conditions of an "amateur" 16mm gauge of film stock and portable projectors facilitated new types of film viewing. Eastman Kodak, Bell & Howell, and Victor Animatograph coordinated the adoption of 16mm in 1923. Amateur, educational, and industrial filmmaking flourished, almost all of it nonprofit. An unintended outgrowth of the new standard of 16mm, Wasson argues, was the ability to more easily view movies, even mainstream ones, for aesthetic appreciation. The educational, non-profit aspects of the Film Library were largely inherited from existing industrial networks set up around 16mm exhibition. The next chapter looks at MoMA and modern museum practices more generally, especially in relation to film. If many modern artists wanted to create art for the masses, places like MoMA gave shape to a "mass museology." Design and architecture were included alongside the traditional fine arts, expanding the conventional boundaries of objects worthy of art appreciation. …


The concentration of essential metals such as Fe, Cu, Mg, Co and Zn and toxic metals such as Pb, Cd, Cr, As and Ni were determined in a number of animal meats, organ meats, meat products, and eggs by using UV-visible and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The essential metal estimation in the investigated samples indicated the following range of concentration: Fe: 11 - 623 mg kg -1 , Cu: 1 - 165 mg kg -1 , Mg: 16 - 1372 mg kg -1 , Co: 0.01 - 48 mg kg -1 , Zn: 15 - 295 mg kg -1 . These concentrations of essential metals are in the range of human necessities.  The concentrations of toxic metals in the same samples were: Pb: 0.03 - 43 mg kg -1 , Cd: 0.01- 8 mg kg -1 , Cr: 0.02 - 5 mg kg -1 , As: 0.004 - 3 mg kg -1 and Ni: 0.03 - 41 mg kg -1 . The concentration of arsenic in all samples was found negligible and this indicates that the investigated samples are safe from arsenic toxicity. The concentrations of other four toxic metals being very negligible in most of the samples indicate that these foodstuffs are reasonably safe from metal toxicity. However a few samples which exhibited higher concentrations of these metals above their tolerance limits are alarming for the public health and demand regular examination of these items before coming to the markets. The information obtained from the present investigation is expected to be useful to the general people of this region in selecting meats as their diets. Keywords: Meats; Organ meats; meat products; eggs; AAS; Heavy metals concentrations. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbcs.v24i2.9705 Journal of Bangladesh Chemical Society , Vol. 24(2), 165-172, 2011


Biometric-based person recognition poses a challenging problem because of large variability in biometric sample quality encountered during testing and a restricted number of enrollment samples for training. Solutions in the form of adaptive biometrics have been introduced to address this issue. These adaptive biometric systems aim to adapt enrolled templates to variations in samples observed during operations. However, despite numerous advantages, few commercial vendors have adopted auto-update procedures in their products. This is due in part to the limited understanding and limitations associated with existing adaptation schemes. In view of that the topic of adaptive biometrics has not been systematically investigated, this study works towards filling this gap by surveying the topic from a growing body of the recent literature and by providing a coherent view (critical analysis) of the limitations of the existing systems. In addition, the authors have also identified novel research directions and proposed a novel framework. The overall aim is to advance the state-of-the-art and improve the quality of discourse in this field.


The importance of the turbulence closure to the modeling accuracy of the partially-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (PANS) is investigated in prediction of the flow around a circular cylinder at Reynolds number of 3900. A series of PANS calculations at various degrees of physical resolution is conducted using three Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS)-based closures: the standard, shear-stress transport (SST), and turbulent/nonturbulent (TNT) k–ω models. The latter is proposed in this work. The results illustrate the dependence of PANS on the closure. At coarse physical resolutions, a narrower range of scales is resolved so that the influence of the closure on the simulations accuracy increases significantly. Among all closures, PANS–TNT achieves the lowest comparison errors. The reduced sensitivity of this closure to freestream turbulence quantities and the absence of auxiliary functions from its governing equations are certainly contributing to this result. It is demonstrated that the use of partial turbulence quantities in such auxiliary functions calibrated for total turbulent (RANS) quantities affects their behavior. On the other hand, the successive increase of physical resolution reduces the relevance of the closure, causing the convergence of the three models toward the same solution. This outcome is achieved once the physical resolution and closure guarantee the precise replication of the spatial development of the key coherent structures of the flow.


In recent decades, concerns have arisen that corporate leaders focus too much on quarterly earnings while neglecting value creation for the long term. In search of the antecedents of such behavior, scholars have concentrated on macro-level factors. In recent years, also individual-level aspects are increasingly analyzed. Yet, relatively limited attention has been paid to the role of organizational-level antecedents. This PhD thesis contributes to filling this gap in the literature. Specifically, Chapter 3 argues that the combination of institutional ownership and managerial entrenchment pushes managers' temporal orientation to the short term. A content analysis of over 18,000 earnings conference calls from more than 1,000 publicly-listed U.S. companies over the period 2007–2014 supports this idea. Chapter 4 argues that organizational structures that increase managers' cognitive distance from operations shorten managers' temporal orientation, which is supported by the results from a survey conducted among more than 3,200 managers of non-listed companies from the Netherlands in 2014. Finally, Chapter 5 analyzes the effects of employee participation in corporate decision-making on firm value among a sample of over 700 firms from 17 European countries in the period 2006–2008. The results suggest that employee participation increase the salience of long-term corporate objectives over short-term goals. Jointly, the empirical analyses within this thesis indicate that in addition to macro-level and individual factors, managers' temporal orientation is also shaped by organizational antecedents. Besides having implications for management practice and future research, this opens up possibilities for policymakers who are concerned about managerial short-termism.


The diverse brachiopod fauna of the lowest part of the Solvik Forrnation (Lower Llandovery) in the Asker area of the Oslo Region is a well- organised association overwhelmingly dominated by relict genera more typical of the Ordovician. These taxa appear to have survived the extinction events of the late Ordovician in deep water facies in or adjacent to the central Oslo Region. The gradual disap pearance of Ordovician elements through the sequence is considered to have resulted from un successful competition with immigrant stocks of Silurian aspect that may have originated around the shelves of archipelagos created during the late Ordovician regression. Thus competition is suggested to account for the final pulse of fauna) extinction above the Ordovician-Silur ian boundary.


Author(s): Gates, Gary J | Abstract: Based on data from Census 2010, there are 6,614 same-sex couples living in Puerto Rico. The majority of same-sex couples are female (70%). In Puerto Rico, 97% of individuals in same-sex couples are Latino/a, compared to 98.8% of individuals in different-sex married couples. Fifteen percent of same-sex couples in the territory (17%) are raising children under age 18 in their homes. More than 710 same-sex-couple households in the territory are raising more than 1,250 children. Same-sex couples with children are nearly 9 times more likely to be fostering a child than different-sex married couples with children in Puerto Rico. The median annual household income of same-sex couples with children under age 18 in the home is 8% less than the median annual household income of different-sex married couples ($33,337 versus $36,367).


After 25 years of EU water legislation the European Union has just thoroughly restructured its water policy. The European Parliament and the Council, following a tough conciliation procedure between the two legislators, have in summer 2000 agreed a proposal by the European Commission for a Water Framework Directive. This legislation will have the following main objectives: integrated river basin management across borders, with coordinated programmes of measures protection of all waters, surface waters and groundwater, in quality and quantity with a proper ecological dimension emissions and discharges controlled by a "combined approach" of emission limit values and quality standards, plus the phasing out of particularly hazardous substances introducing water pricing policies strengthening public participation This new Water Framework Directive adopted in September 2000 will complement existing EU water legislation on nutrients reduction--the 1991 Directive on nitrates pollution from agricultural sources and the 1991 Directive on urban waste water treatment. These Directives will remain main pillars of EU water policy whilst at the same time being integrated into the river basin management in a coherent way.


Many language learners never acquire truly native-sounding prosody. Previous work has suggested that this involves skill deficits in the dialog-related uses of prosody, and may be attributable to weaknesses with specific prosodic constructions. Using semi-automated methods, we identified 32 of the most common prosodic constructions in English dialog. Examining 90 minutes of six advanced native-Spanish learners conversing in English, there were differences, notably regarding swift turn-taking, alignment, and empathy, but overall their uses of prosodic constructions were largely similar to those of native speakers.


Regional sea surface temperature (SST) gradients were examined for a 6-year (2003–2008) period using data from the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Aqua and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on two NOAA satellite platforms. Two regions, one in the California Current System and the other in the Gulf Stream, representing an eastern boundary upwelling region and strong western boundary current, respectively, were chosen to investigate the seasonal variability, statistical differences and similarities, and correlations with respect to the two sets of SST gradients. Results indicated higher gradient magnitudes using MODIS SST in relative comparison to those derived from AVHRR that are attributed to instrument and algorithm differences. These observed differences are important for any studies that employ SST gradients, such as fisheries investigations that have traditionally relied on AVHRR SST gradients only.


This introductory text: discusses the development of social pedagogy as an academic discipline; explores its influence on UK debates about welfare practice. It provides the theoretical structure for understanding: the potential of social pedagogy in UK welfare practice; how key ideas from within social pedagogy can be linked to ideas of inclusion, creativity and personalisation; the impact of power relations on the social pedagogic relationship; the importance of creativity in building inclusive practice. Focusing on practice situations within which social pedagogy can be seen to be effective, it: provides a background to the introduction of social pedagogy in the UK; investigates how European and UK services could benefit from a better mutual understanding of what each other does; discusses how social pedagogy can contribute to other areas of practice including youth work, adult social care and community development; suggests ways in which social pedagogy can be adopted to a wider field of practice than those in which it is currently considered in the UK.


The Scandinavian wolf population is jointly monitored by Norwegian and Swedish authorities. Monitoring is made annually. Wolves are classified in different categories. Family groups (>= 3 animals sharing a territory), territorial pairs, other stationary wolves, and vagrants. Also number of reproductions are determined each year, and has the highest priority as national management goals for the wolf population in both countries are expressed as number of reproducing units. Three methods are used in combination. Tracking on snow is the basic method. Around 100 field workers are employed full time or part time to find and follow tracks of wolves during the monitoring season Oct. 1 - Feb 28. The second method is DNA-analysis, mainly based on wolf scats collected during tracking. DNA-analysis help verifying reproductions, identifying newly established pairs, differentiating between neighboring territories and for identifying new immigrants from the Finnish/Russian population. The third method is radio telemetry. 10-20 wolves are equipped with GPS-collars each year, and used for determining of territory extents and differentiating between neighboring territories. All monitoring data are recorded in national databases, and compiled each year in an annual monitoring reports. Annual budget for large carnivore monitoring in the two countries combined in 2011 was approximately 5.8 million Euro, of which approximately 1.5 million was spent on wolves.


The subject of this monograph is the fluid dynamics of liquid turbomachines, particularly pumps. Rather than attempt a general treatise on turbomachines, we shall focus attention on those special problems and design issues associated with the flow of liquid through a rotating machine. There are two characteristics of a liquid that lead to these special problems, and cause a significantly different set of concerns than would occur in, say, a gas turbine. These are the potential for cavitation and the high density of liquids that enhances the possibility of damaging unsteady flows and forces.


The original designers of the 1.6 million sq ft Fillmore Center in San Francisco (its largest mixed-use development project in 20 years) had specified a large amount of steel reinforcement in the walls, slabs, girders and foundations. The number of reinforcing bars created enough congestion to greatly increase the time required for construction. Some areas of the project were almost impossible to construct because the volume of concrete was too small to secure the reinforcement. Because of many delays and extra costs, construction nearly came to a halt. The contractor told the owner that construction costs were running nearly twice the initial budget. The owner brought in The Watry Design Group, Belmont, Calif. to redesign the remaining portion of the project to bring costs under control. The original structural design had been created mostly with manual structural calculations. Using the latest computerized structural analysis tools, the company refined the structural design of the remaining project, reducing needed reinforcing steel requirements by about 35% and formwork and concrete by 10%. These changes, through reduced labor and material costs have cut remaining project costs by $15 million.


This essay interprets the expressive figural sculptures of Rodin in terms of emerging medical models of the brain and body in the late nineteenth century. Based in the science of neurology, localization theory posited that the brain was composed of individual sites responsible for discrete functions of the body and that specific neurological channels were tied to these areas. In localization theory, the activities of the brain were compartmentalized, a concept encouraged by the discovery that the two sides of the brain were not identical. In accordance with these new medical theories, Rodin's figures respond to a multiplicity of internal stimuli, as though a variety of not entirely integrated sensations, responses, and movements were occurring at the same time. Neurology also supported the renewal of the idea of the mad genius (artist/poet), and Rodin's Thinker (artist/poet) assumes the iconic posture of melancholy, long associated with both genius and pathology. Localization theory and neurology supported Jean-Martin Charcot's explorations of hysterio-epileptic women. A number of figures of damned women, located just behind The Thinker on Rodin's Gates of Hell are in postures associated with this disorder.


Objective For patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), symptoms assessed by emergency medical services (EMS) providers have a critical role in prehospital treatment decisions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of EMS provider-assessed cardiac symptoms of AMI. Methods Patients transported by EMS to 4 study hospitals from 2008 to 2012 were included. Using EMS and administrative emergency department databases, patients were stratified according to the presence of EMS-assessed cardiac symptoms and emergency department diagnosis of AMI. Cardiac symptoms were defined as chest pain, dyspnea, palpitations, and syncope. Disproportionate stratified sampling was used, and medical records of sampled patients were reviewed to identify an actual diagnosis of AMI. Using inverse probability weighting, verification bias-corrected diagnostic performance was estimated. Results Overall, 92,353 patients were enrolled in the study. Of these, 13,971 (15.1%) complained of cardiac symptoms to EMS providers. A total of 775 patients were sampled for hospital record review. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of EMS provider-assessed cardiac symptoms for the final diagnosis of AMI was 73.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 70.8 to 75.7), 85.3% (95% CI, 85.3 to 85.4), 3.9% (95% CI, 3.6 to 4.2), and 99.7% (95% CI, 99.7 to 99.8), respectively. Conclusion We found that EMS provider-assessed cardiac symptoms had moderate sensitivity and high specificity for diagnosis of AMI. EMS policymakers can use these data to evaluate the pertinence of specific prehospital treatment of AMI.


• In its Digital Single Market strategy, the European Commission has rightly noted the importance of reducing the price paid for basic cross-border parcel delivery by consumers and by small and medium size retail senders. • The payment flows for cross-border parcel delivery are strikingly similar to those for telecommunications. Comparisons with roaming can be instructive. As with roaming, it is clear that the links between wholesale payments between the national postal operators and retail prices need to be properly understood in order to craft good policy. Another useful lesson is that national postal regulatory authorities are unlikely to address cross-border problems because of limitations in their respective mandates and because they have no incentive to take measures to benefit residents of other countries. • There are also significant differences between roaming and parcel delivery. While high wholesale charges were a major driver of high retail prices for international mobile roaming, the wholesale payments for cross-border parcel delivery appear to be below cost. This implies that it is the 'spread' between retail price and the wholesale payment that is inflated, at least for small retail senders and for consumers. • Comprehensive statistics gathering, coordinated at European level, is indispensable.


We show theoretically that for a two-photon photosensitivity process a channel waveguide can be self-written in a planar slab of photosensitive germanosilicate glass. We further analyze features of this process using both numerical and analytical techniques and compare waveguides formed by this two-photon process to those formed by a one-photon process.


Rapid diagnosis and choice of appropriate antibiotic treatment might be life-saving in serious infectious diseases. Still the available markers that can evaluate and monitor the diagnosis and treatment are few. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) has been studied as a potent regenerative factor produced and released during injuries such as infectious diseases. Monitoring of HGF levels might predict therapy results better than C-reactive protein (CRP) within the first day of treatment in pneumonia. For further investigation of previous observations we aimed to study HGF as a first-day marker in over-representing infectious diseases in comparison to procalcitonin (PCT), CRP and body temperature. Fifty-one patients with community acquired infectious diseases were included consequently at admittance and the serum samples were collected before and within 18 - 24 hours of treatment. HGF levels decreased significantly in case of efficient antibiotic therapy and HGF was shown to be better than PCT, CRP and body temperature to evaluate treatment. In patients with pneumonia, monitoring of HGF was most reasonable. HGF might be used as a therapeutic marker within the first day of empiric antibiotic treatment during infection.


Compared to the knowledge base for ordinary portland cement concrete (OPCC), relatively little information exists for calcium aluminate cement concrete (CACC), despite its existence for over 100 years. There is particularly a lack of knowledge related to early-age behavior of CACC, specifically volume change and cracking potential. To assess these early-age properties, two unique pieces of equipment were developed and employed: a rigid cracking frame and free deformation frame which enabled quantification of restrained stress generation and unrestrained autogenous deformation, respectively. These two pieces of equipment employed active temperature control and allowed a wide range of isothermal and realistic temperature conditions to be imposed upon hydrating cementitious samples. Match-cured samples (i.e. identical temperature curing to that in the frames) enabled the quantification of mechanical property development. Samples cured at discrete isothermal temperatures up to 30 °C developed tensile forces in the rigid cracking frame and exhibited shrinkage phenomena in the free deformation frame. At temperatures above 30 °C, the converse was true and significant compressive forces developed in restrained testing and expansion was observed in unrestrained testing. It was found that this was a direct result of microstructural development related to the formation of metastable phases (associated with shrinkage) and stable phases (expansion as a result of conversion from metastable to stable phases). Proper use of this material must take into account behavior associated with both types of hydrate assemblages, metastable and stable. Realistic time-temperature histories were also investigated based on field-scale concrete cast as part of this research project. It was found that volume change at earlyage was dominantly controlled by thermal history. Furthermore, it was not simply the maximum temperature reached, but the rate of temperature rise during hydration and the resulting duration of time spent at high temperature that profoundly influenced volume change and property development. The research described in this dissertation represents a significant advancement of the state-of-knowledge of this unique material and has further elucidated the role of temperature during hydration of CACC.


Despite the numerous static and dynamic program analysis techniques in the literature, data races remain one of the most common bugs in modern concurrent software. Further, the techniques that do exist either have limited detection capability or are unsound, meaning that they report false positives. We present a sound race detection technique that achieves a provably higher detection capability than existing sound techniques. A key insight of our technique is the inclusion of abstracted control flow information into the execution model, which increases the space of the causal model permitted by classical happens-before or causally-precedes based detectors. By encoding the control flow and a minimal set of feasibility constraints as a group of first-order logic formulae, we formulate race detection as a constraint solving problem. Moreover, we formally prove that our formulation achieves the maximal possible detection capability for any sound dynamic race detector with respect to the same input trace under the sequential consistency memory model. We demonstrate via extensive experimentation that our technique detects more races than the other state-of-the-art sound race detection techniques, and that it is scalable to executions of real world concurrent applications with tens of millions of critical events. These experiments also revealed several previously unknown races in real systems (e.g., Eclipse) that have been confirmed or fixed by the developers. Our tool is also adopted by Eclipse developers.


Causal quantum theory is an umbrella term for ordinary quantum theory modified by two hypotheses: state vector reduction is a well-defined process, and strict local causality applies. The first of these holds in some versions of Copenhagen quantum theory and need not necessarily imply practically testable deviations from ordinary quantum theory. The second implies that measurement events which are spacelike separated have no non-local correlations. To test this prediction, which sharply differs from standard quantum theory, requires a precise definition of state vector reduction. Formally speaking, any precise version of causal quantum theory defines a local hidden variable theory. However, causal quantum theory is most naturally seen as a variant of standard quantum theory. For that reason it seems a more serious rival to standard quantum theory than local hidden variable models relying on the locality or detector efficiency loopholes. Some plausible versions of causal quantum theory are not refuted by any Bell experiments to date, nor is it evident that they are inconsistent with other experiments. They evade refutation via a neglected loophole in Bell experiments — the collapse locality loophole — which exists because of the possible time lag between a particle entering a measurement device and a collapse taking place. Fairly definitive tests of causal versus standard quantum theory could be made by observing entangled particles separated by ≈ 0.1 light seconds.


MOTIVATION
ChIP-chip and ChIP-seq technologies provide genome-wide measurements of various types of chromatin marks at an unprecedented resolution. With ChIP samples collected from different tissue types and/or individuals, we can now begin to characterize stochastic or systematic changes in epigenetic patterns during development (intra-individual) or at the population level (inter-individual). This requires statistical methods that permit a simultaneous comparison of multiple ChIP samples on a global as well as locus-specific scale. Current analytical approaches are mainly geared toward single sample investigations, and therefore have limited applicability in this comparative setting. This shortcoming presents a bottleneck in biological interpretations of multiple sample data.

RESULTS
To address this limitation, we introduce a parametric classification approach for the simultaneous analysis of two (or more) ChIP samples. We consider several competing models that reflect alternative biological assumptions about the global distribution of the data. Inferences about locus-specific and genome-wide chromatin differences are reached through the estimation of multivariate mixtures. Parameter estimates are obtained using an incremental version of the Expectation-Maximization algorithm (IEM). We demonstrate efficient scalability and application to three very diverse ChIP-chip and ChIP-seq experiments. The proposed approach is evaluated against several published ChIP-chip and ChIP-seq software packages. We recommend its use as a first-pass algorithm to identify candidate regions in the epigenome, possibly followed by some type of second-pass algorithm to fine-tune detected peaks in accordance with biological or technological criteria.

AVAILABILITY
R source code is available at http://gbic.biol.rug.nl/supplementary/2009/ChromatinProfiles/. Access to Chip-seq data: GEO repository GSE17937.


We present a model of a financially distressed firm with outstanding bank debt and public debt. Coordination problems among public debtholders introduce investment inefficiencies in the workout process. In most cases, these inefficiencies are not mitigated by the ability of firms to buy back their public debt with cash and other securities--the only feasible way that firms can restructure their public debt. We show that Chapter 11 reorganization law increases investment and we characterize the types of corporate financial structures for which this increased investment enhances efficiency.


The pro-apoptotic Bcl-2-family protein Bad heterodimerizes with Bcl-2 and Bcl-x(L) in the outer mitochondrial membranes, nullifying their anti-apoptotic activities and promoting cell death. We report that interleukin-3 (IL-3) stimulation induces Bad phosphorylation and triggers its translocation from mitochondria to cytoplasm in cells expressing Bcl-x(L) but not Bcl-2. Overexpression of Bad sensitized Bcl-x(L)-expressing FL5.12 cells to apoptosis induced by IL-3 deprivation, but had no effect on the viability of cells expressing Bcl-2. IL-3 stimulation induced Bad phosphorylation at Ser-112, impairing its binding to Bcl-x(L) and resulting in its association with 14-3-3 proteins in the cytosol. However, Ser-112 phosphorylation could not trigger Bad dissociation from mitochondria in FL5.12 cells expressing Bcl-2. In 293T cells expressing Bcl-x(L), Bad was phosphorylated at three serines, 112, 136 and 155, and was largely localized in the cytosolic fraction. In contrast, overexpression of Bcl-2 prevented phosphorylation of Bad at Ser-136 and Ser-155, sequestering this protein in the mitochondrial membranes. When the N-terminal regions of Bcl-2 and Bcl-x(L) were swapped with each other, the Bcl-x(L)(N)-Bcl-2 chimaeric protein (containing the N-terminal region of Bcl-x(L)) failed to prevent Bad phosphorylation in cells and was unable to block the cytosolic distribution of this pro-apoptotic protein. Additional experiments with the Bcl-2(N)-Bcl-x(L) chimaeric protein (containing the N-terminal region of Bcl-2) indicated that, although the N-terminal region of Bcl-2 is necessary, it is not sufficient for sequestering Bad in the mitochondrial membranes. These observations suggest that growth-factor-mediated phosphorylation of Bad contributes to the cytoprotective function of Bcl-x(L) but not Bcl-2.


Large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides applied annually to agricultural soils improve the physical and chemical properties of soil but, when they are applied without control they can cause serious environmental problems. The farms of Tizayuca in Hidalgo State produce about 30000 tons of manure per day, which are applied indiscriminately in the same region for agricultural use. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of cow manure application in soil chemical properties. Soil samples were collected in two cultivated sites with a history of six and seven years of manure application in uncultivated plot for ten years (control) and they were analyzed according to Mexican Official Standard 021 which sets the specifications of soil fertility. The results showed in the sites with manure application, organic matter content increased significantly compared to the control plot (1.24 and 1.43%), the addition of manure for several years contributed to lower soil pH. The decreased conductivity (0.66 and 0.72 dS∙m -1 ). The inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations were significantly higher than the values in the plot with seven years of manure application; there was a process of leaching of these, which may affect the groundwater contamination.


The education and professional development of pre-service mathematics teachers occur across different contexts. Key contexts of mathematics learning and learning to teach are school, university undergraduate mathematics and mathematics teaching-related learning in teacher education courses. International literature suggests that each of these contexts legitimises different views of mathematics teaching and learning. For pre-service teachers traversing these contexts, moves between sites can be experienced in more continuous or more dissonant ways. The disjunctures associated with dissonant experiences lead to openings for value judgments related to the distinctions that are drawn, opening possibilities for a wider range of pedagogic decisions. In this paper, we explore, through interviews with four pre-service teachers in one post-graduate certificate of education (PGCE) course, perceptions of continuity and dissonance across sites related to mathematics and mathematics education, and teaching and learning. Our findings point largely to experiences of continuity between the high school and undergraduate contexts, with the PGCE course recognised as different from these contexts.


Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) is the process of resolving the meaning of a word unambiguously in a given natural language context. Within the scope of this thesis, it is the process of marking text with explicit sense labels.
What constitutes a sense is a subject of great debate. An appealing perspective, aims to define senses in terms of their multilingual correspondences, an idea explored by several researchers, Dyvik (1998), Ide (1999), Resnik & Yarowsky (1999), and Chugur, Gonzalo & Verdejo (2002) but to date it has not been given any practical demonstration. This thesis is an empirical validation of these ideas of characterizing word meaning using cross-linguistic correspondences. The idea is that word meaning or word sense is quantifiable as much as it is uniquely translated in some language or set of languages.
Consequently, we address the problem of WSD from a multilingual perspective; we expand the notion of context to encompass multilingual evidence. We devise a new approach to resolve word sense ambiguity in natural language, using a source of information that was never exploited on a large scale for WSD before.
The core of the work presented builds on exploiting word correspondences across languages for sense distinction. In essence, it is a practical and functional implementation of a basic idea common to research interest in defining word meanings in cross-linguistic terms.
We devise an algorithm, SALAAM for Sense Assignment Leveraging Alignment And Multilinguality, that empirically investigates the feasibility and the validity of utilizing translations for WSD. SALAAM is an unsupervised approach for word sense tagging of large amounts of text given a parallel corpus—texts in translation—and a sense inventory for one of the languages in the corpus. Using SALAAM, we obtain large amounts of sense annotated data in both languages of the parallel corpus, simultaneously. The quality of the tagging is rigorously evaluated for both languages of the corpora.
The automatic unsupervised tagged data produced by SALAAM is further utilized to bootstrap a supervised learning WSD system, in essence, combining supervised and unsupervised approaches in an intelligent way to alleviate the resources acquisition bottleneck for supervised methods. Essentially, SALAAM is extended as an unsupervised approach for WSD within a learning framework; in many of the cases of the words disambiguated, SALAAM coupled with the machine learning system rivals the performance of a canonical supervised WSD system that relies on human tagged data for training.
Realizing the fundamental role of similarity for SALAAM, we investigate different dimensions of semantic similarity as it applies to verbs since they are relatively more complex than nouns, which are the focus of the previous evaluations. We design a human judgment experiment to obtain human ratings on verbs' semantic similarity. The obtained human ratings are cast as a reference point for comparing different automated similarity measures that crucially rely on various sources of information. Finally, a cognitively salient model integrating human judgments in SALAAM is proposed as a means of improving its performance on sense disambiguation for verbs in particular and other word types in general.


Meaningful and equitable progress on reducing maternal mortality and meeting Millennium Development Goal 5 calls for the adoption of a human rights-based approach which emphasizes 'accountability.' This article focuses specifically on how to promote accountability for fulfilling the right to maternal health if we seek to transform the discourse of rights into practical health policy and programming tools that can affect development practice - and in turn to transform health systems to better meet women's maternal health needs. After briefly discussing the concept and purpose of accountability in the context of fulfilling women's rights to maternal health, the article then sets out a circle of accountability at the national level that includes: development and implementation of a national plan of action; budgetary analysis; monitoring and evaluation of programs based on appropriate indicators; and mechanisms for redress, as well as facility-level initiatives. In the final section the article addresses donor accountability.


Discussion of "A statistical analysis of multiple temperature proxies: Are reconstructions of surface temperatures over the last 1000 years reliable?" by B.B. McShane and A.J. Wyner [arXiv:1104.4002]


Freshwater species on tropical islands face localized extinction and the loss of genetic diversity. Their habitats can be ephemeral due to variability in freshwater run‐off and erosion. Even worse, anthropogenic effects on these ecosystems are intense. Most of these species are amphidromous or catadromous (i.e. their life cycle includes a marine larval phase), which buffers them against many of these effects. A long pelagic larval duration (PLD) was thought to be critical to ensure the colonization and persistence in tropical islands, but recent findings indicated that several species with short PLDs are successful in those ecosystems. To test the potential of a short PLD in maintaining genetic connectivity and forestalling extirpation, we studied Kuhlia rupestris, a catadromous fish species with an extensive distribution in the western Pacific and Indian Oceans. Using a combination of molecular genetic markers (13 microsatellite loci and two gene regions from mtDNA) and modelling of larval dispersal, we show that a short PLD constrains genetic connectivity over a wide geographical range. Molecular markers showed that the short PLD did not prevent genetic divergence through evolutionary time and speciation has occurred or is occurring. Modelling of larvae dispersal suggested limited recent connectivity between genetically homogeneous populations across the Coral Sea. However, a short PLD can maintain connectivity on a subocean basin scale. Conservation and management of tropical diadromous species needs to take into account that population connectivity may be more limited than previously suspected in those species.


number LB744 entitled, "Anti-Fibrotic Effect of Ajulemic Acid in Bleomycin-Induced Lung Fibrosis," will be presented during today's Late-Breaking Abstracts poster session focused on respiratory physiology from 12:30-2:15 p.m. EDT in Hall B at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts. The Abstract will be presented by Monica Lucattelli, Ph.D., Researcher at the University of Siena, Siena, Italy. Resunab, a proprietary ultrapure version of ajulemic acid with CB2 selectivity, is a novel synthetic oral drug with unique activity that resolves inflammation and progressive fibrosis. The data from the study conducted in animals with lung fibrosis induced by bleomycin demonstrated that oral treatment with Resunab at dose levels comparable to those safely administered to human subjects in Phase I trials significantly decreased fibrotic responses. Additionally, there was a marked decrease by Resunab of TGF-β and CTGF expression, a significant reduction of α-SMA positive myofibroblasts and a significant increase of PPAR-γ expression observed in the Resunab treated animals. The study also concluded that Resunab exerted potent anti-fibrotic effects in bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis when administered at the initiation and during the ongoing fibrogenic phase. "This animal study in this well validated model of pulmonary fibrosis adds to our growing body of data and provides additional pre-clinical confirmation of Resunab's potency in resolving inflammation and fibrosis," said Mark A. Tepper, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Corbus Pharmaceuticals. "The fact that anti-fibrotic effects were observed during early and later development stage of fibrosis in this model serves to validate Resunab's potential for the treatment of ongoing fibrotic diseases." The abstract has been published online in The FASEB Journal, The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, (April 2015 vol. 29:LB744, no. 1 Supplement). This study was conducted by Corbus Pharmaceuticals' collaborators M. Lucattelli, E. Selvi and G. Lungarella at the Life Sciences University of Siena, Italy; S. Fineschi, E. Garcia Gonzales, E. Balistrieri, S. Lorenzini, and M. Galeazzi at the Medicine and Immunological Sciences University of Siena, Siena Italy; and J.H.W. Distler at the Internal Medicine University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen Germany. About ResunabTM ResunabTM is a novel synthetic oral drug with unique activity that resolves inflammation and pro-fibrotic processes. Pre-clinical and Phase 1 clinical studies have shown Resunab to have a favorable safety profile coupled with promising potency in pre-clinical models of inflammation and fibrosis. Resunab binds to the CB2 receptor on immune cells and triggers resolution of inflammation and a reduction of pro-inflammatory pathways, in effect turning chronic inflammation "off," without causing immunosuppression. About Corbus Pharmaceuticals Corbus Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat rare life-threatening inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. Our lead product candidate ResunabTM is a novel oral drug that resolves chronic inflammation and pro-fibrotic processes. Resunab is scheduled to commence Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of cystic fibrosis and diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) in 2015. For more information, please visit www.CorbusPharma.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, as amended, including those relating to the Company's product development, clinical and regulatory timelines, market opportunity, competitive position, possible or assumed future results of operations, business strategies, potential growth opportunities and other statement that are predictive in nature. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the industry and markets in which we operate and management's current beliefs and assumptions. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking expressions, including, but not limited to, "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "estimate," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. These statements relate to future events or our financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investor Contact Jenene Thomas Investor Relations and Corporate Communications Advisor Jenene Thomas Communications, LLC Phone: +1 (908) 938-1475 Email: Email Contact Source: Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc.


Animated transitions are an integral part of modern interaction frameworks. With the increasing number of animation scenarios, they have grown in range of animatable features. Yet not all transitions can be smoothed: programming systems limit the flexibility of frameworks for animating new things, and force them to expose low-level details to programmers. We present an ongoing work to provide system-wide animation of objects, by introducing a delay operator. This operator turns setter function calls into animations. It offers a coherent way to express animations across frameworks, and facilitates the animation of new properties.


Inhibiting the GTPase ARF6 chokes the diverse output of mutant Gαq proteins in uveal melanoma. Uveal melanoma is a rare but aggressive cancer of the eye for which there are limited treatment options for the primary tumor and none for the metastatic form. Uveal melanomas frequently have activating mutations in GNAQ and GNA11, which encode Gαq and Gα11, respectively, two Gq members of the α subunit family of G protein–coupled receptor proteins. These Gαq proteins stimulate proliferative pathways mediated by diverse effectors, such as phospholipase C (PLC), the guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) Rho, and the transcription factors β-catenin and YAP. These effectors can be pharmacologically targeted, but blocking one pathway still leaves the others intact. Yoo et al. found that activation of any of these pathways downstream of oncogenic GNAQ depended on a protein more proximal to Gαq proteins, which could also be targeted pharmacologically. Gαq proteins can activate or signal through the small GTPase ADP-ribosylation factor 6 (ARF6). The abundance of ARF6 was greater in human uveal melanomas that carried activating mutations in either GNAQ or GNA11 than in normal human choroid melanocytes. Knocking down GNAQ in GNAQ-mutant uveal melanoma cell lines reduced the activation (GTP-bound form) of ARF6. Knocking down ARF6 or GNAQ in either cell line caused similar reductions in cell proliferation and anchorage-independent colony growth, decreased the nuclear translocation of β-catenin, and decreased the activation of PLC, Rho, and downstream mediators and transcriptional effectors, including YAP. Expressing constitutively active ARF6 in GNAQ-deficient cells partially rescued cell proliferation, colony growth, and downstream pathway activity. Two guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs), GEP100 and ARNO, mediate the GDP-GTP exchange (and hence activation) of ARF6. Knocking down GEP100 but not ARNO mimicked the cellular and molecular effects of GNAQ or ARF6 knockdown. Immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that GEP100 might form a complex with mutant GNAQ. Blocking ARF6 with the small-molecule inhibitor NAV-2729 reduced the proliferation of GNAQ-mutant uveal melanoma cells in culture and the growth of orthotopic xenograft tumors in mice. These findings identify a therapeutic target for uveal melanoma and potentially various other diseases that have activating mutations in Gα proteins. J. H. Yoo, D. S. Shi, A. H. Grossmann, L. K. Sorensen, Z. Tong, T. M. Mleynek, A. Rogers, W. Zhu, J. R. Richards, J. M. Winter, J. Zhu, C. Dunn, A. Bajji, M. Shenderovich, A. L. Mueller, S. E. Woodman, J. W. Harbour, K. R. Thomas, S. J. Odelberg, K. Ostanin, D. Y. Li, ARF6 is an actionable node that orchestrates oncogenic GNAQ signaling in uveal melanoma. Cancer Cell 29, 889–904 (2016). [PubMed]


O6-Alkylguanine, a DNA adduct formed by nitrosoureas, becomes the site of a point mutation during DNA synthesis by preferentially base mispairing with thymine rather than correctly base pairing with cytosine. To repair this adduct, cells contain a limited amount of O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (alkyltransferase), a protein which removes the alkyl group in a stoichiometric reaction. To prevent mutations, repair must occur before DNA replication takes place. Consequently, formation of point mutations is related inversely to the number of alkyltransferase molecules and directly to the rate of DNA synthesis. Bone marrow hematopoietic precursors, the target for nitrosourea-induced leukemia, are deficient in alkyltransferase activity. We questioned whether regenerating bone marrow is more susceptible to nitrosoureas than other organs due to persistently low levels of alkyltransferase activity during periods of increased cell proliferation and DNA synthesis. Following syngeneic bone marrow transplantation, murine hematopoietic cells underwent rapid cell proliferation but alkyltransferase activity remained well below the activity in liver. After N-nitrosomethylurea exposure, [3H]thymidine incorporation in rat bone marrow increased 3-fold and stem cell proliferation over 10-fold within 2 days of exposure, but alkyltransferase activity remained low. The relative susceptibility of bone marrow to mutagenic damage from O6-alkylguanine adducts was determined by comparing the ratio of alkyltransferase activity to [3H]thymidine incorporation in marrow, kidney, and liver. In untreated animals, the ratio was lowest in bone marrow and decreased further 48 h after N-nitrosomethylurea exposure to only 21% that of kidney and 1% that of liver. Thus, proliferating hematopoietic precursors appear more likely to form point mutations following nitrosourea exposure than other rodent tissues because they undergo rapid proliferation soon after DNA damage and before O6-alkylguanine adducts can be repaired. The combination of rapid cell proliferation and low DNA repair capacity may be the mechanism of nitrosourea induced leukemic transformation of the bone marrow.


The wide adoption of machine learning in the critical domains such as medical diagnosis, law, education had propelled the need for interpretable techniques due to the need for end users to understand the reasoning behind decisions due to learning systems. The computational intractability of interpretable learning led practitioners to design heuristic techniques, which fail to provide sound handles to tradeoff accuracy and interpretability. Motivated by the success of MaxSAT solvers over the past decade, recently MaxSAT-based approach, called MLIC, was proposed that seeks to reduce the problem of learning interpretable rules expressed in Conjunctive Normal Form (CNF) to a MaxSAT query. While MLIC was shown to achieve accuracy similar to that of other state of the art black-box classifiers while generating small interpretable CNF formulas, the runtime performance of MLIC is significantly lagging and renders approach unusable in practice. In this context, authors raised the question: Is it possible to achieve the best of both worlds, i.e., a sound framework for interpretable learning that can take advantage of MaxSAT solvers while scaling to real-world instances? In this paper, we take a step towards answering the above question in affirmation. We propose IMLI: an incremental approach to MaxSAT based framework that achieves scalable runtime performance via partition-based training methodology. Extensive experiments on benchmarks arising from UCI repository demonstrate that IMLI achieves up to three orders of magnitude runtime improvement without loss of accuracy and interpretability.


In the past decade, quantitative phase imaging gave a new dimension to optical microscopy, and the recent extension of digital holography techniques to nonlinear microscopy appears very promising, for the phase of nonlinear signal provides additional information, inaccessible to incoherent imaging schemes. In this work, we show that the position of second harmonic generation (SHG) emitters can be determined from their respective phase, at the nanometer scale, with single-shot off-axis digital holography, making possible real-time nanometric 3D-tracking of SHG emitters such as nanoparticles.


Management scholars have devoted much energy to understanding how the CEO and other members of the managerial upper echelon might influence a firm's strategy. However, there is a growing recognition that extant management models overlook the critical role played by a firm's middle management in influencing strategic change in the firm. In light of this recognition, a so-called "middle management" perspective is now beginning to emerge as a complement to the upper echelon perspective that has dominated earlier research. Drawing on both the upper echelon and middle management perspectives, recent studies have sought to take the literature forward by way of multi-level research which recognises that both the firm's most senior executives and its middle managers matter when it comes to strategic change. Senior executives and middle managers must interact and jointly create an alignment between the organisation and its environment.

Prior scholarship has typically portrayed the executives who constitute the top management team (TMT) as change agents whose role is to give others within the organisation a sense of what the firm is seeking to achieve via its strategy. In contrast, middle managers have been viewed as sense-makers, charged with executing the plans formulated by the TMT. However, a study by Bas Koene, explored in this issue of RSM Discovery magazine, breaks new ground by acknowledging that when seeking to effect strategic change, middle managers can play a far more sophisticated role than has previously been understood.

Also in this issue, you will find practical insights about how brain imaging technology is being used to reveal customers' advertising preferences; the challenges involved in improving humanitarian logistics; the perils of aggressive accounting; China's multi-tiered approach to environmental practices, and how periods of reflection can enhance decision-making in the face of unethical behaviour.

I am sure you will find these articles to not only be stimulating, but also to be of practical value to your own organisational and managerial scenarios.


The management of closed, displaced supracondylar fracture of humerus in children can be divided into 3 stages. In stage 1 closed reduction is achieved whose acceptability is confirmed, on table, in stage 2 using an image intensifier. This reduction is maintained in stage 3 by immobilization in slab/cast or by percutaneous Kirschner wire fixation. Although enough literature for proper technique in stage 1 and stage 3 are available, there are certain practical problems encountered in the equally important stage 2, which needs a closer look. Most of the C-arm compatible tables have their metallic base toward the head end of the table with metal bar on the sides for additional attachments. These interfere with the rotation of the image intensifier and also with the quality of the image obtained. As a result, to obtain lateral image many surgeons rotate the fractured upper limb instead of the C arm. This practice is unacceptable, as rotating the fractured limb cannot only add to the injury but it can also cause loss of reduction. Similarly, many surgeons strongly condemn using the image intensifier as an operating table. We are proposing a new surgeon and anesthetist friendly method of positioning the patient in which both anteroposterior and lateral views can be obtained without moving the fractured upper limb. In addition, if required the surgeon can proceed to open reduction without the need to reposition or re drape the patient.


Inspired by the Marxian conceptualization of 'estranged labour', this paper seeks to explore the phenomenon of 'sewing girls' of global garment factories in Sri Lanka leaving waged work after a relatively short span of time, drawing on this trend of thought. Even though issues surrounding female labour in the global garment industry are widely researched, there is little or no evidence of existing literature attempting to place the empirical issues within a Marxist conceptual framework. It is in this context that this paper, which takes on a methodological approach of ethnography from a feminist perspective attempts to narrate the 'stories' of 'sewing girls' of a postcolonial garment factory in Sri Lankan as they work as labourers on the global assembly line. Their 'stories' as told here shed light on the similarities between 'estranged labour' as described by Marx and the labour of 'sewing girls' spend on the global assembly lines. The multiply oppressive conditions under which they work and the inevitably of leaving waged work after short spans are also revealed through their stories, situated and read within the Marxian concept of 'estranged labour'.


This paper presents a methodology to study the effect of different resolution strategies on the value of the investment in a project-specific dispute resolution ladder (DRL) using option/real option theories from financial engineering, process centric modeling, and system dynamics methodology. Of particular interest in this paper is the integration of these research methodologies into a computer model to support the evaluation of the DRL investment in a particular construction project by taking into account the characteristics of: (1) the project, and (2) the different alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques chosen for the DRL implementation. Finally, an example is presented to illustrate the application of the computer model in a real construction project.


We report on the experiments on orientation of a migratory songbird, the garden warbler (Sylvia borin), during the autumn migration period on the Courish Spit, Eastern Baltics. Birds in experimental cages, deprived of visual information, showed the seasonally appropriate direction of intended flight with respect to the magnetic meridian. Weak radiofrequency (RF) magnetic field (190 nT at 1.4 MHz) disrupted this orientation ability. These results may be considered as an independent replication of earlier experiments, performed by the group of R. and W. Wiltschko with European robins (Erithacus rubecula). Confirmed outstanding sensitivity of the birds' magnetic compass to RF fields in the lower megahertz range demands for a revision of one of the mainstream theories of magnetoreception, the radical-pair model of birds' magnetic compass.


The considered converter‐fed permanent magnet motor could alternatively be operated in two basically different states—the vector control mode or alternatively the brushless dc, also known as electronically commutated mode. Several quality aspects concerning the system performance have been comparatively investigated in practical as well as theoretical manner. Focus is thereby given to the numerical analysis and previous evaluation of the well interaction between the novel axially un‐skewed higher harmonic air‐gap wave based permanent magnet motor design and both different control algorithms


Small mammals (Didelphimorphia and Rodentia) from southwestern Buenos Aires province, Argentina: Taxonomy and distribution. Species of small mammals from southwestern Buenos Aires province range within a wide variety of habitats, herbaceous (Pampean District), shrubs (Monte District), steppes, and xerophytic woodlands (Espinal District). Their natural history is still poorly known. In this paper we make a synthesis of the taxonomy and distribution of the marsupials (Marmosinae) and rodents (Sigmodontinae) of southwestern Buenos Aires province. Distributional records and taxonomical information were obtained from field survey, analyses of raptor pellets, revision of specimens housed in collections in Argentina, and literature. Between Sierra de la Ventana (38o S) and the rio Negro (41oS) occur two species of marmosines and 14 of sigmodontine rodents. Some of these species show a restricted distribution (e.g., Phyllotis xanthopygus, endemic for Sierra de la Ventana), and others are widespread (e.g. Akodon azarae or Calomys musculinus) across different phytogeographic units. A cluster analysis at local scale shows an ordination of small mammal assemblages with the topology (Sierra de la Ventana + Southern Atlantic Coast) (Espinal + Monte). The zoogeographic unicity of the Monte in the study area is evidenced by two sigmodontines, Akodon iniscatus and Oligoryzomys longicaudatus. The micromammal assemblage of Sierra de la Ventana may be characterized as pampasic. The wide distribution of A. azarae and C. musculinus may reflect the anthropic activities devel- oped during the last century. These activities on shrub steppe have certainly diluted the original zoogeographic boundaries and allowed the dispersion of opportunistic sigmodontine species.


A new azo-oxime ligand, 2-[(E)-(hydroxyimino)methyl]-4-[(E)- (4-nitrophenyl)diazenyl]phenol, (pxoxH2) (2), was prepared by condensation of hydroxylamminehydrochloride and 2-hydroxy5- [(4-nitrophenyl)diazenyl]benzaldehyde (1) with treatment of a solution of diazonium salt of p-nitroaniline and 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde in ethanol. The 6 coordination compounds, [Mn(pxoxH)2(H2O)2].H2O (3), [Co(pxoxH)2(H2O)2].4H2O (4), [Ni(pxoxH)2(H2O)2].2H2O (5), [Cu(pxoxH)2].H2O (6), [Zn(pxoxH)2].6H2O (7), and [Cd(pxoxH)2(H2O)2].H2O (8), were prepared by reacting Mn(II), Ni(II) Cu(II), Co(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) ions with the ligand. The structures of the compounds were elucidated from the elemental analysis data and spectroscopic studies. The azo-oxime metal complexes were also characterized by XRD, magnetic moment, molar conductivity, and thermal analyses. Elemental analyses of the chelates suggested that the metal to ligand ratio was 1:2. It was found that the ligand acts as a bidentate bending through the phenolic oxygen and nitrogen atom of the C=N-OH group similar to most oximes. Upon complexation with the ligand, the Cu(II) and Zn(II) ions formed square planar and tetrahedral structures, respectively, and the Mn(II), Ni(II), Co(II), and Cd(II) ions formed octahedral structures with 2 water molecules as axial ligands. Finally, the ligand and its complexes were assessed for their genotoxicity.


In this paper, we study the general problem of extracting information from spatially explicit genomic data to inform inference of ecologically and geographically realistic population models. We describe methods and apply them to simulations motivated by the demography of the Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). The tortoise is an example of a long-lived, threatened species for which we have an excellent understanding of range, habitat preference, and certain aspects of demography, but inadequate information on other life history components that are important for conservation management. We use an individual-based model on a discretized geographic landscape with overlapping generations and age and sex-specific dispersal, fecundity, and mortality to develop and test a method that uses genomic data to infer demographic parameters. We do this by seeking parameters that best match a set of spatial statistics of genomes, which we introduce and discuss. We find that for inferring only overall population density and mean migration distance, a simple statistical learning method performs well using simulated training data, inferring parameters to within 10% accuracy. In the process, we introduce spatial analogues of common population genetics statistics, and discuss how and why they are expected to contain signal about the geography of population dynamics that are key for ecological modeling generally and conservation of endangered taxa.


Miscellaneous Electric Loads (MELs) have proliferated in the last decade, and comprise an increasing share of building energy consumption. Because of the diversity of MELs and our lack of understanding about how people use them, large-scale data collection is needed to inform meaningful energy reduction strategies. Traditional methods of data collection, however, usually incur high labor and metering equipment expenses. As an alternative, this paper investigates the feasibility of crowdsourcing data collection to satisfy at least part of the data collection needs with acceptable accuracy. This study assessed the reliability and accuracy of crowdsourced data, by recruiting over 20 volunteers (from the 2012 Lawrence Berkeley Lab, Open House event) to test our crowdsourcing protocol. The protocol asked volunteers to perform the following tasks for three test products with increasing complexity - record power meter and product characteristics, identify all power settings available, and report the measured power. Based on our collected data and analysis, we concluded that volunteers performed reasonably well for devices with functionalities with which they are familiar, and might not produce highly accurate field measurements for complex devices. Accuracy will likely improve when participants are measuring the power used by devices in their home which they know how to operate, by providing more specific instructions including instructional videos. When integrated with existing programs such as the Home Energy Saver tool, crowdsourcing data collection from individual homeowners has the potential to generate a substantial amount of information about MELs energy use in homes.


Preventing unwanted pregnancy in teenagers has become a high priority for health care purchasers and providers. The publication of the White Paper ' Health of the Nation ' raised the profile of teenage pregnancy by selecting pregnancy in under-16s as a target area.1 Although the rate of pregnancy in teenagers had been falling recently in the United Kingdom, it has recently risen; we still have a higher teenage fertility rate than most other European Community countries.2 The UK government has recently announced the possibility of an initiative to target high risk girls (school under achievers) for specialist attention (by mentoring) in relation to sex education. There is no evidence that such programmes have been effective. While the overall aim of programmes is to prevent all unwanted pregnancies, even for wanted pregnancies babies born of teenagers are more likely to be premature, small for gestational age, or have a low birth weight.3 The proportion of adolescents who have first intercourse under the age of 16 has increased at least over the last half of this century.4 Non-users of contraception are unlikely to be in a steady relationship and tend to have more sexual partners.5 Once established, this pattern of behaviour appears to last into adulthood.4 Teenage pregnancy is more common in deprived areas, and in cities as opposed to rural areas. The outcome of pregnancy for teenagers in cities is more likely to be a maternity than an abortion.6 The outcome of the pregnancy is also associated with socioeconomic deprivation (in terms of educational attainment, social class, housing tenure, and access to cars), with girls from the less socioeconomically disadvantaged groups being more likely to opt for an abortion,7 8 possibly because of social or parental pressures. The stability of the relationship with …


Recent development in self-monitoring devices indicates that using quantified data in clinical practice supporting chronic diseases management holds a big potential. However, exploration of this design space also suggests that some unattended challenges still exist, such as a low adoption rate of self-monitoring tools in existing clinical practice. In this text, we therefore focus on the ways healthcare professionals use quantified data in their practice. We draw on empirical data from an ethnographic study of a cancer rehabilitation center. Our preliminary findings suggest that the self-monitoring tool supported the nurses' work because it became a functional complement to their work by allowing them to appropriate the device to their and the patients' needs.


Introduction Information technology is a linchpin to the operation of securities markets around the world. Fully computerized trading facilities are growing in importance in these markets, and automation of trading processes through information technology has radically changed the speed of securities trading. Several stock exchange floors, on which brokers manually matched orders using an open-cry system, have been replaced by or are being converted to electronic trading systems. In these markets, information technology is also being adopted to globalize trading and settlement activities, enabling investors to trade in different markets regardless of time and location. For market economies, this electronic linkage capability of information technology facilitates the daily flow of capital through markets, offering the potential of creating a thriving securities market (Levitt, 1989; Malone, Yates, & Benjamin, 1987). Amihud and Mendelson (1989) demonstrated in their study that market liquidity could be enhanced through the proper use of information technology. (Liquidity in securities market refers to the ability to quickly buy or sell a share without causing a significant movement in the price. Liquidity is one of the most important characteristics of a good market.) Automation of capital markets has also been found to have instilled or enhanced transparency in market activities to an extent, with respect to price and trade information (Brailsford, Frino, Hodgson, & West, 1999; Grunbichler, Longstaff, & Schwartz, 1994; Hamilton, 1978; Jassawalla, 1989; Nabi, 2004; Picot, Bortenlaenger, Roehrl, 1995). Brailsford et al. (1999) found that the automation of the stock market resulted in an increase of around 77% in contemporaneous public information transfer. With the entire bid-and-ask schedule and course of sales available on an almost real-time basis, and directly to all market participants, investors do not have to rely on brokers for this information. On the part of brokers, they do not have to undertake a physical search for the appropriate party to fulfill a sell or buy order raised by their clients in these markets. A fully automated trading system matches sell and buy orders, regardless of size of stock portfolios, and is considerably faster than physical floor trading, which can result in lower transaction costs for participants in the market. This paper looks at the adoption of information technology in the Chinese stock exchanges and for online securities trading in China. Because these stock exchanges do not have any major preexisting technology to consider when they automate their operations, they are able to adopt advanced technology. However, the potential and advantages offer by this technology cannot be fully harvested without fundamental structures and proper corporate governance mechanisms in place. IT plays a crucial role in market operations but a successful market infrastructure is a key resource. Chinese Stock Markets The first stock market was established in Shanghai in 1891 but was forced to shut down during the Japanese invasion in 1941. The Cultural Revolution and political disruptions kept this market shut until the end of the Mao era, at which point the new communist leader, Deng Xiaoping, opened its economy to trade. The stock market in China was revived with the re-establishment of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in December 1990. In July 1991, a second stock exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange, was opened for trading. Since the official re-establishment or opening of these exchanges, there has been an increase in stock market activities. Figure 1 shows the increases, on average, in market capitalization value, negotiable market capitalization value, and stock turnover in both Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges between 1992 and 2003. A majority of the listed companies are state-owned companies, which issued three types of shares: state-owned shares, legal person shares (shares cross-held by companies), and tradeable shares (shares owned by individuals). …


Purpose
Slums have existed as long as cities have and are a growing context in the developing world. The challenge is in their efficient, effective and inclusive management. The purpose of this paper is to frame slums in the broad aim of urban development and the pursuit of prosperity, as active players and positive contributors in every right – a slum-prosperity framework. First, however, they need to be comprehensively defined in a non-exclusive, structured, dynamic and heuristic way; a previous publication was set to resolve this challenge.

Design/methodology/approach
Guided by a synthesized operative model for prosperity, such a definition for slums is used to precisely relate their characters to the pursuit of prosperity through a mapping process, whereby these characters are linked to potentials for prosperity, improvement goals, resources and intervention plans.

Findings
Both slums and prosperity are fuzzy, complex and variable terms; the only possibility to deal with them both is to break them down into simple and manageable yet operative units and establish the most influential and effective links between them to organize intervention according to patterns of change in both slums and city.

Research limitations/implications
An intervention agenda like the one proposed here, that gives room for contextual and temporal urban complexities, has the potential to augment urban practice and help curb the slum phenomenon. A final paper (forthcoming) will illustrate the application of both the comprehensive definition of slum and the implementation of a pathway toward prosperity.

Originality/value
The proposal in this paper is derived as part of research conducted for the award of a PhD at the University of Strathclyde Glasgow. This was in general set to contribute to the proactive and inclusive improvement of slums and cities. The proposal is further derived from the authors' involvement and personal interest in developing regions and is designed on local experience and on wider expertise in urban renewal.


Efficient Alternating Gradient-type Algorithms for the Approximate Non-negative Matrix Factorization Problem by Edward F. Gonzalez The approximate non-negative matrix factorization problem (ANMF) seeks to interpret a given set of non-negative data vectors, where the non-negativity is physically meaningful, through the extraction of a sufficiently small set of non-negative "features". Each data vector is then approximated by a non-negative composition of the extracted features. Mathematically, this process is equivalent to approximating a non-negative matrix A by the product of two non-negative matrices, i.e. A « WE, where W e 9ft and H e W, and where p is typically chosen to be significantly smaller than m and n. A standard approach for solving the ANMF problem is to use a alternating gradient-type algorithm that keeps the iterates strictly positive. Lee and Seung have proposed what is arguably the most popular of these alternating gradient approaches. In this study we propose several variations of this particular Lee and Seung algorithm with notably improved performance. One of the proposed algorithms optimizes the step-length parameter to achieve greater reduction in the objective function, while another uses different weights derived from the first order necessary conditions of the ANMF problem. The latter has exhibited better empirical performance than the former, while both perform better in practice than the original Lee and Seung algorithm. Theoretical questions concerning the convergence of these feasible alternating gradienttype algorithms have remained unresolved. Hence, from an optimization point of view, these approaches may be seen as unsatisfactory. Our research has contributed to solving these theoretical questions by proving that a class of these algorithms will converge to a continuum, and in specific cases, to a KKT point. These convergence results are applicable to multiple variations of the popular Lee and Seung algorithm. A low-rank Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) of a given matrix A is an optimal approximation under the Frobenius norm whose fundamental subspaces are most relevant within the given measure. In this study we utilize these subspaces to produce a compact reformulation of the ANMF problem to a lower dimensional optimization problem. We introduce an alternating algorithmic approach for this reformulation that is extremely efficient and competitive when producing a low rank ANMF.


In this paper we demonstrate that individual personality attributes, particularly anxiety and confidence, have an impact on decision risk behavior, a topic that has rarely been explored within the risk literature despite its theoretical and practical importance. We also show that decision context moderates the relationship between individual personality attributes and risk taking. Confidence positively affects risk taking behavior in both non-competitive and competitive contexts, while anxiety negatively affects risk taking in a non-competitive context but positively affects risk taking behavior in a competitive context. The findings point to the importance of both individual and situational factors in affecting risk taking behavior.


This book offers a completely new analysis of the syntax and semantics of transitive reflexive sentences in German, which is embedded in the major phenomenon of the middle voice in Indo-European languages. It integrates the interpretation of non-argument reflexives into a modified version of recent theories of binding. The ambiguity of the reflexive pronoun is derived at the interface between syntax and semantics and does not rely on additional lexical or syntactic rules of argument suppression and argument promotion. This shift towards the semantic interpretation of syntactic arguments enables the author to offer a unified analysis of the middle, the anticausative and the reflexive interpretations. Furthermore, the crucial distinction between structural and oblique case forms is discussed and it is illustrated how specific properties of middle constructions such as adverbial modification or subject responsibility can be related to the generic interpretation of middle constructions.


One of the fundamental goals of modern Astronomy is to estimate the physical parameters of galaxies from images in different spectral bands. We present a hierarchical Bayesian model for obtaining age maps from images in the Hα line (taken with Taurus Tunable Filter (TTF)), ultraviolet band (far UV or FUV, from GALEX) and infrared bands (24, 70 and 160 microns (μm), from Spitzer). As shown in [Sánchez-Gil et al. (2011)], we present the burst ages for young stellar populations in the nearby and nearly face on galaxy M74. As it is shown in the previous work, the Hα to FUV flux ratio gives a good relative indicator of very recent star formation history (SFH). As a nascent star-forming region evolves, the Hα line emission declines earlier than the UV continuum, leading to a decrease in the HαFUV ratio. Through a specific star-forming galaxy model (Starburst 99, SB99), we can obtain the corresponding theoretical ratio Hα / FUV to compare with our observed flux ratios, and thus to estimate the ages of the observed regions. Due to the nature of the problem, it is necessary to propose a model of high complexity to take into account the mean uncertainties, and the interrelationship between parameters when the Hα / FUV flux ratio mentioned above is obtained. To address the complexity of the model, we propose a Bayesian hierarchical model, where a joint probability distribution is defined to determine the parameters (age, metallicity, IMF), from the observed data, in this case the observed flux ratios Hα / FUV. The joint distribution of the parameters is described through an i.i.d. (independent and identically distributed random variables), generated through MCMC (Markov Chain Monte Carlo) techniques.


Abstract Context. Hollow-bearing trees are an important breeding and shelter resource for wildlife in Australian native forests and hollow availability can influence species abundance and diversity in forest ecosystems. A persistent problem for forest managers is the ability to locate and survey hollow-bearing trees with a high level of accuracy at low cost over large areas of forest. Aims. The aim of this study was to determine whether remote-sensing techniques could identify key variables useful in classifying the likelihood of a tree to contain hollows suitable for wildlife. Methods. The data were high-resolution, multispectral aerial imagery and light detection and ranging (Lidar). A ground-based survey of 194 trees, 96 Eucalyptus crebra and 98 E. chloroclada and E. blakelyi, were used to train and validate tree-senescence classification models. Key results. We found that trees in the youngest stage of tree senescence, which had a very low probability of hollow occurrence, could be distinguished using multispectral aerial imagery from trees in the later stages of tree senescence, which had a high probability of hollow occurrence. Independently, the canopy-height model used to estimate crown foliage density demonstrated the potential of Lidar-derived structural parameters as predictors of senescence and the hollow-bearing status of individual trees. Conclusions. This study demonstrated a 'proof of concept' that remotely sensed tree parameters are suitable predictor variables for the hollow-bearing status of an individual tree. Implications. Distinguishing early stage senescence trees from later-stage senescence trees using remote sensing offers potential as an efficient, repeatable and cost-effective way to map the distribution and abundance of hollow-bearing trees across the landscape. Further development is required to automate this process across the landscape, particularly the delineation of tree crowns. Further improvements may be obtained using a combination of these remote-sensing techniques. This information has important applications in commercial forest inventory and in biodiversity monitoring programs.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * THERE IS A CLEAR TREND TOWARD ADOPTING IFRS as the single body of internationally accepted financial reporting standards. In the next few years, thousands of companies will move to IFRS as a primary basis of financial reporting. * THE IFRS MANDATE WILL AFFECT U.S. COMPANIES. Some may be required to adopt IFRS to meet the reporting requirements of an international parent or investor company, while others may recognize the need to voluntarily supplement their current financial reporting with IFRS to allow for an accurate comparison with foreign competitors. * A U.S. COMPANY WILL HAVE TO REPORT UNDER IFRS if it is the subsidiary of a foreign company that must use IFRS; has a foreign subsidiary that must report according to IFRS; has operations in a foreign country where IFRS use is mandatory; or has a foreign investor that must report according to IFRS. * THE CONVERGENCE EFFORTS OF FASB AND THE IASB already have changed U.S. GAAP. As these efforts continue, their effects on U.S. GAAP will multiply. Both boards have issued exposure drafts relating to the near-term convergence of their goals, and the IASB has published several statements that narrow the differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS. Cross-border investors often find it difficult to understand financial statements that foreign companies prepare using their respective nations' accounting principles. But greater uniformity and efficiency are coming to the international investment community now that most public companies domiciled within the European Union (EU) will be required to use international financial reporting standards (IFRS) beginning in January 2005. This article will show CPAs how to assist their employers and clients in preparing for the impact of the EU requirements on their financial reporting. IFRS is a body of accounting and financial reporting standards developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) (see "Players and Roles," page 44). Every major nation is moving toward adopting them to one extent or another. The European Union requires their use, the United States and Canada are converging their versions of GAAP with IFRS and some companies in other countries are using them voluntarily. This trend may dramatically affect the financial reporting of U.S. companies that own, are subsidiaries of or have other relationships with foreign entities directly subject to an IFRS reporting requirement, such as that of the European Union. Many foreign companies registered with the SEC are headquartered in countries that require them to begin using IFRS in 2005; while these companies are subject to the U.S. regulatory environment, they also will have to adopt IFRS. And because U.S. regulators and rulemakers are actively supporting convergence, U.S. GAAP will evolve in tandem with IFRS and thus affect even U.S. companies with no overseas ties. CPAs' clients and employers will need help assessing the effects these requirements will have on them. This article therefore will help practitioners explain to companies' management how IFRS may affect their reporting obligations. INCREASING USE OF IFRS A growing number of jurisdictions require public companies to use IFRS for stock-exchange listing purposes, and in addition, banks, insurance companies and stock brokerages may use them for their statutorily required reports. So over the next few years, thousands of companies will adopt the international standards. Countries in many parts of the world already require companies to adopt IFRS or will do so soon. The European Commission (EC)--the European Union's legislative and regulatory arm--issued a rule that, with a few exceptions, requires all public companies domiciled within its borders to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS beginning January 1, 2005. This requirement will affect about 7,000 enterprises, including their subsidiaries, equity investees and joint venture partners. …


The overall assessment of an intensive green roof located in a sub-tropical region has been undertaken. The results showed a fairly good agreement between the published and measured solar radiation data and also confirmed July and January as the hottest and coldest periods, respectively, for the region. The soil was established as a silt type with good planting medium properties for green roofs. The overall thermal performance showed that the green roof provided an average temperature reduction of 3.3℃ (i.e. 50% temperature reduction) through the roof in July. Equally, its performance was remarkable during the coldest period of January. A maximum differential temperature of 15.5℃ was achieved with the soil contributing to 24% of the temperature difference through the roof. Further studies are, however, needed to cover a wider area of influence such as effects of different types of construction materials, plants, locations and soil. In view of the limitation of the theoretical model, it would also be useful to consider some of the factors which were either neglected or assumed to be constant in any future comparative studies.


Occurrence of anthropogenic (129)I in seawater has provided invaluable information about water circulation and exchange rates, but results on (129)I species (iodide and iodate) are limited and only available for surface water. We here present the first extensive results on (129)I and (127)I species in samples of seawater depth profiles, which were collected in August 2006 and April 2007 in the Skagerrak, Kattegat, and Baltic Proper. The results expose ≤10% annual reduction of iodate as (129)I is transported from the English Channel along the Dutch coast and German Bight into the Skagerrak and Kattegat. The results also suggest strong variability between surface and bottom seawater with respect to the predominant iodine species. Distribution of iodide and iodate of both (127)I and (129)I in the Kattegat mainly reflects water mixing process rather than speciation transformation. In water of the Baltic Proper, high (127)I(-)/(127)IO(3)(-) and (129)I(-)/(129)IO(3)(-) values suggest effective reduction of iodate with a maximum rate of 8 × 10(-7) ((127)IO(3)(-)) and 6 × 10(-14) ((129)IO(3)(-)) (g/m(3).day). The reduction process of iodate seems to be related to decomposition of organic matter and photochemically induced reactions.


Neural 3D implicit representations learn priors that are useful for diverse applications, such as single- or multiple-view 3D reconstruction. A major downside of existing approaches while rendering an image is that they require evaluating the network multiple times per camera ray so that the high computational time forms a bottleneck for downstream applications. We address this problem by introducing a novel neural scene representation that we call the directional distance function (DDF). To this end, we learn a signed distance function (SDF) along with our DDF model to represent a class of shapes. Specifically, our DDF is defined on the unit sphere and predicts the distance to the surface along any given direction. Therefore, our DDF allows rendering images with just a single network evaluation per camera ray. Based on our DDF, we present a novel fast algorithm (FIRe) to reconstruct 3D shapes given a posed depth map. We evaluate our proposed method on 3D reconstruction from single-view depth images, where we empirically show that our algorithm reconstructs 3D shapes more accurately and it is more than 15 times faster (per iteration) than competing methods.