Our first knowledge of differential geometry usually comes from the study of the curves and surfaces in $I!!R^3$ that arise in calculus. Here we learn about line and surface integrals, divergence and curl, and the various forms of Stokes' Theorem. If we are fortunate, we may encounter curvature and such things as the Serret-Frenet formulas. With just the basic tools from multivariable calculus, plus a little knowledge of linear algebra, it is possible to begin a much richer and rewarding study of differential geometry, which is what is presented in this book. It starts with an introduction to the classical differential geometry of curves and surfaces in Euclidean space, then leads to an introduction to the Riemannian geometry of more general manifolds, including a look at Einstein spaces. An important bridge from the low-dimensional theory to the general case is provided by a chapter on the intrinsic geometry of surfaces. The first half of the book, covering the geometry of curves and surfaces, would be suitable for a onesemester undergraduate course. The local and global theories of curves and surfaces are presented, including detailed discussions of surfaces of rotation, ruled surfaces, and minimal surfaces. The second half of the book, which could be used for a more advanced course, begins with an introduction to differentiable manifolds, Riemannian structures, and the curvature tensor. Two special topics are treated in detail: spaces of constant curvature and Einstein spaces. The main goal of the book is to get started in a fairly elementary way, then to guide the reader toward more sophisticated concepts and more advanced topics. There are many examples and exercises to help along the way. Numerous figures help the reader visualize key concepts and examples, especially in lower dimensions. For the second edition, a number of errors were corrected and some text and a number of figures have been added.


This article outlines some issues in incorporating the study of religions, together with non-religious world views, into the curricula of publicly funded schools in Western democratic states. Attention is given to examples from work on this topic conducted within the Council of Europe since 2002, with a particular focus on Signposts: Policy and Practice for Teaching about Religions and Nonreligious World Views in Intercultural Education, a text published by the Council of Europe in 2014. Signposts is designed to assist policy makers and practitioners in interpreting and applying ideas from the 2008 Recommendation from the Committee of Ministers (the Foreign Ministers of the 47 member states) dealing with education about religions and non-religious convictions. Various issues raised by the Signposts document are considered. Towards the end of the article, recent UK and Council of Europe policies which emphasise the study of religions and beliefs as a means to counter extremism, and which have appeared since the publication of Signposts, are summarised and discussed critically. Attention is drawn to the dangers of certain policies, and also to the plurality of aims which studies of religions and non-religious world views need to have in providing a balanced educational programme.


In June, the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) published its position paper on biosimilar medicines outlining the Association's views on the role of the hospital pharmacist, naming of biosimilar medicines, extrapolation of indications, information about biosimilar medicines as well as interchangeability, switching and substitution of biosimilar medicines.

Biological medicines have become indispensable in the treatment of patients with serious diseases such as cancer and inflammatory diseases. An increasing number of biological medicines are biosimilar medicines. These are developed to be similar to already existing biological medicines. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is the body responsible for their approval in the European Union.

The position paper of EAHP closely follows the line of EMA on matters concerning naming of biosimilar medicines and extrapolation of indications. The evidence acquired over 10 years of clinical experience has shown that biosimilar medicines approved through EMA can be used as safely and effectively in all their approved indications as other biological medicines. Thus, EAHP has expressed confidence in EMAs regulatory pathway for biological reference products and biosimilar medicines.

Hospital pharmacists are stewards of appropriate selection, procurement, logistics and use of medicines as well as key players in pharmacovigilance. Consequently, they are uniquely positioned and capable to promote the appropriate utilisation of biosimilar medicines. Their knowledge is therefore particularly relevant with regard to switching and providing the evidence on patient safety and treatment quality.

In terms of interchangeability, switching and substitution of biosimilar medicines, EAHP supports the view that a reference product and its biosimilar(s) are interchangeable and therefore can be switched. EAHP holds the same view for biosimilars to the same reference product. These views are based on evidence presented in the position paper. Nevertheless, due to patient-specific issues, EAHP acknowledges that there are instances where it is not appropriate to make a switch. …


Written for trainees who are preparing to take the Anesthesia Oral Board exam, Rapid Review Anesthesiology Oral Boards is focused on the most commonly tested topics on the ABA oral board exam. Presented in a question-and-answer format, the book covers 39 different clinical scenarios encountered in the exam, including the Parkland formula to calculate fluid resuscitation in burn patients, ICP monitoring in craniotomy and hemodynamic goals in patients with cardiac disease. Questions follow the normal course of a case, from pre-operative assessment to intra-operative management and post-operative care. The answers to the questions are carefully structured to not only help the reader understand the medicine of anesthesia but also to provide the correct terminology needed to successfully pass the exam. This book is essential reading for trainees preparing for one of the toughest exams of their careers.


Enterocele represents the protrusion of the small intestine into the upper wall of the vagina. Pelvic organ prolapse has a prevalence of 3-6%. Most women have stage I (43.3%) or stage II prolapse (47.7%). The main causes for the occurrence of pelvic organs prolapse are: pregnancy, vaginal birth, menopause (ageing, hypoestrogenism), chronic raised intraabdominal pressure (chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, constipation, obesity), pelvic wall trauma, genetic factors (race, connective tissue disorder), spina bifida. In this article, we present a rare case of isolated enterocele without the association of the rectocele.


Abstract. Texture, plastic deformation, and phase transformation
mechanisms in perovskite and post-perovskite are of general interest for our
understanding of the Earth's mantle. Here, the perovskite analogue
NaCoF3 is deformed in a resistive-heated diamond anvil cell (DAC) up to 30 GPa and 1013 K. The in situ state of the
sample, including crystal structure, stress, and texture, is
monitored using X-ray diffraction. A phase transformation from a perovskite
to a post-perovskite structure is observed between
20.1 and 26.1 GPa. Normalized stress drops by a factor of 3 during
transformation as a result of transient weakening during the transformation.
The perovskite phase initially develops a texture with a maximum at 100 and
a strong 010 minimum in the inverse pole figure of the compression
direction. Additionally, a secondary weaker 001 maximum is observed later
during compression. Texture simulations indicate that the initial deformation of
perovskite requires slip along (100) planes with significant contributions
of {110} twins. Following the phase transition
to post-perovskite, we observe a 010 maximum, which
later evolves with compression. The transformation follows orientation
relationships previously suggested where the c axis is preserved between
phases and hh0 vectors in reciprocal space of post-perovskite are parallel to
[010] in perovskite, which indicates a martensitic-like transition
mechanism. A comparison between past experiments on bridgmanite and current
results indicates that NaCoF3 is a good analogue to understand the
development of microstructures within the Earth's mantle.


This study aims to provide a complete reference and guidance for future research on the topic of altruism by exploring its challenges, outcomes, and practices. The systematic literature review is applied to integrate the study in an organized, transparent and reproducible form. It is known that the construct of altruism has been defined to be better in the context of both organizational behavior and organizational development. Research findings referring to altruism concepts and theories have been published by several authors which provides a reference for the development of altruism concepts and theories in the context of marketing communication. For now, the study shows that altruism emerges as a management paradigm that is significant and has various outcomes and implications for individual and organizational contexts.


ABSTRACT Background: Child-protection workers are at elevated risk for secondary traumatization. However, research in the area of secondary traumatization has been hampered by two major obstacles: the use of measures that have unclear or inadequate psychometric properties and equivocal findings on the degree of associated functional impairment. Objective: To assess the relationship between secondary traumatization and burnout using exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) and to assess the relationship between secondary traumatization and functional impairment. Methods: A survey of Danish child-protection workers was conducted through the Danish Children Centres (N = 667). Secondary traumatization was measured using the Professional Quality of Life-5 (ProQoL-5) and burnout using the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. Results: A three-factor ESEM model provided the best fit to the data, reflecting factors consistent with the structure of secondary traumatization and burnout. The factors were differentially related to trauma-related and organizational variables in ways consistent with existing evidence. All factors were significantly related to functional impairment. Conclusion: The findings supported the discriminant validity of secondary traumatization and burnout while highlighting methodological issues around the current use of sum-score approaches to investigating secondary traumatization. The current study supported the clinical relevance of secondary traumatization by linking it explicitly to social and cognitive functional impairment.


This study examines the incremental information in loss firms' non‐GAAP earnings disclosures relative to GAAP earnings. Using a large sample obtained through textual analysis and hand‐collection, we posit and find that loss firms' non‐GAAP earnings exclusions offset the low informativeness of GAAP losses for forecasting and valuation. Loss firms' non‐GAAP earnings are highly predictive of future performance and are valued by investors, while the expenses excluded from GAAP earnings are not. Additional tests suggest that loss firms disclosing non‐GAAP profits have significantly better future performance than GAAP‐only loss firms and are not overvalued by investors. Comparing non‐GAAP earnings of profitable firms to those of loss firms, we find that loss firms' non‐GAAP metrics are significantly more predictive and less strategic. We conclude that non‐GAAP earnings disclosures are particularly informative about loss firms and help investors disaggregate losses into components that have differential implications for forecasting and valuation.


Level-of-service has been widely used to measure the operational efficiency of existing highway systems categorically, based on certain ranges of traffic speeds. However, this existing method is generic for investigating urban traffic characteristics. Hence, there is a crucial knowledge gap in capturing the unique traffic speed conditions during a certain temporal duration, in a common spatial area that includes different land use clusters. This study fills this gap by modeling the link between traffic speeds and land use clusters during certain time periods, along with the given level-of-service criteria. As a case study, this study adopted the central business district in Los Angeles in the United States. A total of 1780 traffic sensor speed data on Interstate 10 East adjacent to the central business district of Los Angeles was collected and clustered by the land use designated by the zoning regulations of the city of Los Angeles. The proposed traffic time–speed curve model that integrates different land uses in a large urban core was then developed and validated statistically, using historical real-world traffic data. Finally, an illustrative example was presented to demonstrate how the proposed model can be implemented to measure critical time periods and corresponding speeds per land-use cluster, responding to the designated level-of-service criteria. This study focused on making recommendations for government transportation agencies to employ an appropriate method that can estimate critical time periods affecting the existing operational status of a highway segment in different land-use clusters within a common spatial area, while promoting an effective application of a set of traffic sensor speed data.


In Xenopus laevis, dorsal cells that arise at the future dorsal side of an early cleaving embryo have already acquired the ability to cause axis formation. Since the distribution of cytoplasmic components is markedly heterogeneous in an egg and embryo, it has been supposed that the dorsal cells are endowed with the activity to form axial structures by inheriting a unique cytoplasmic component or components localized in the dorsal region of an egg or embryo. However, there has been no direct evidence for this. To examine the activity of the cytoplasm of dorsal cells, we injected cytoplasm (dorsal cytoplasm) from dorsal vegetal cells of a Xenopus 16-cell embryo into ventral vegetal cells of a simultaneous recipient. The cytoplasm caused secondary axis formation in 42% of recipients. Histological examination revealed that well-developed secondary axes included notochord, as well as a neural tube and somites. However, injection of cytoplasm of ventral vegetal cells never caused secondary axis and most recipients became normal tailbud embryos. Furthermore, about two-thirds of ventral isolated halves injected with dorsal cytoplasm formed axial structures. These results show that dorsal, but not ventral, cytoplasm contains the component or components responsible for axis formation. This can be the first step towards identifying the molecular basis of dorsal axis formation.


In a previous work, we showed that the glottal source can be estimated from speech signals by computing the Zeros of the ZTransform (ZZT). Decomposition was achieved by separating the roots inside (causal contribution) and outside (anticausal contribution) the unit circle. In order to guarantee a correct deconvolution, time alignment on the Glottal Closure Instants (GCIs) was shown to be essential. This paper extends the formalism of ZZT by evaluating the Z-transform on a contour possibly different from the unit circle. A method is proposed for determining automatically this contour by inspecting the root distribution. The derived Zeros of the Chirp Z-Transform (ZCZT)-based technique turns out to be much more robust to GCI location errors.


We provide an analysis of a tunnel opening cut in a tunnel face. In particular, we focus on the effect of a "burn cut," which is a typical parallel hole cut. As the evolution of the opening consists of an increase in the volume of the cut prism and the consequent reduction of confinement of the holes along the initiation sequence, we analyze such an evolution using photographic documentation, as well as evaluating the reduction of confinement by measuring the energy transferred from the explosive charge to the rock mass. The energy was estimated by monitoring and analyzing the vibrations induced by the blasting at three different points. We adopted low-cost shock sensors for monitoring the effect of the detonation times at short distance from the blast (about 10 m). The results show an evident reduction of the shock transfer to the rock mass (i.e., a reduction of confinement) with the increase of the cavity opening. Nevertheless, when only the response of the piezometric sensors was considered, a disparity in behavior among the sensors was noted. On the other hand, when the sensor response was integrated over time, the behavior of all sensors normalized, showing the need to focus both on the oscillation and the duration to properly address the shock effect.


Abstract I used the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Rotter Scale Questionnaire (RSQ) to measure the academic motivation and locus of control of developmental education students, regularly-admitted students, and honors students. High-performing developmental education students had significantly higher scores than low-performing developmental education students on MSLQ items that measured learner beliefs, self-efficacy, and effort regulation, but not on items that measured self-regulation and time management. Overall, developmental education students scored lower than honors and regularly-admitted students on MSLQ items that measured learner beliefs, self-efficacy, time management, and effort regulation. There were no significant differences in the overall scores on the RSQ among either (a) honors, regularly-admitted, and developmental education students, or (b) lowand high-performing developmental education students. These results indicate that the MSLQ, and not the RSQ, can be used to identify developmental education students who may benefit from academic interventions. More than one-third of the students at two- and four-year public and private institutions in the United States take at least one year of remedial courses (for comparison, 28% spent that much time in remedial courses in 1995; Cavanagh, 2003a, 2003b; Remedial education, 2003). Many of these students do not know that they are under-prepared for college. For example, (a) although today's entering freshmen have studied less in high school than any previous class, their poor studyhabits have been rewarded with the highest grades ever (Marklein, 2003; Sax, Lindholm, Astin, Korn, & Mahoney, 2002), (b) almost half of college freshmen had an A average in high school, but only one-third of these students studied more than six hours per week (Marklein, 2003; Sax, Lindholm, Astin, Korn, & Mahoney, 2002), and (c) most students in elementary through high school study less than an hour on most nights (Toppo, 2003). When these students get to college, they are often surprised to learn that graduation from high school does not necessarily mean that they are prepared for college. Indeed, in many states more than one-third of students who have earned academic scholarships must take remedial courses when they start college (Schouten, 2003). The academic success of regularly-admitted college students is associated with a variety of factors, including personality and aptitude (Baird, 1984), stress and social class (Barney, Fredericks, & Fredericks, 1984), self-esteem and critical thinking (Bassarear, 1991; Berenson, Best, Stiff, & Waskik, 1990), academic motivation (Thomas & Higbee, 2000), and scores on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT (Arbona & Novy, 1990; Harackiewicz, Barron, Tauer, & Elliot, 2002; Moore, Jensen, Hsu, & Hatch, 2002; Neal, Schaer, & Ley, 1990; Young & Sowa, 1992). But what about developmental education students, who are often underprepared for college? For these students, traditional aptitude-based measures such as ACT scores are often poor predictors of academic success (Britton & Tesser, 1991; Higbee & Thomas, 1999; Langley, Wambach, Brothen, & Madyun, 2004; Meeker, Fox, & Whitley, 1994; Moore, 2003a, 2003b, 2004a, 2004b; Ray, Garavalia, & Murdock, 2003; Wolfe & Johnson, 1995). Motivation-based behaviors such as class attendance and course engagement, which often do predict the academic success of developmental education students (Cote & Levine, 2000; Bandura, 1986; Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990; ; Ley & Young, 1998; Lindner & Harris, 1998; VanZile-Tamsen & Livingston, 1999), cannot be measured until well after classes begin, at which time the problems are often difficult to remedy. Developmental educators could help students if they could preemptively identify students who will benefit from academic interventions instead of offer afterthe-fact explanations. …


Abstract. The mass balance of ice sheets is an intensively studied topic in the context of global change and sea-level rise. However – particularly in Antarctica – obtaining mass balance estimates remains difficult due to various logistical problems. In the framework of the TASTE-IDEA (Trans-Antarctic Scientific Traverses Expeditions – Ice Divide of East Antarctica) program, an International Polar Year project, continuous ground penetrating radar (GPR) measurements were carried out during a traverse in Adelie Land (East Antarctica) during the 2008–2009 austral summer between the Italian–French Dome C (DC) polar plateau site and French Dumont D'Urville (DdU) coastal station. The aim of this study was to process and interpret GPR data in terms of snow accumulation, to analyse its spatial and temporal variability and compare it with historical data and modelling. The focus was on the last 300 yr, from the pre-industrial period to recent times. Beta-radioactivity counting and gamma spectrometry were applied to cores at the LGGE laboratory, providing a depth–age calibration for radar measurements. Over the 600 km of usable GPR data, depth and snow accumulation were determined with the help of three distinct layers visible on the radargrams (≈ 1730, 1799 and 1941 AD). Preliminary results reveal a gradual increase in accumulation towards the coast (from ≈ 3 cm w.e. a−1 at Dome C to ≈ 17 cm w.e. a−1 at the end of the transect) and previously undocumented undulating structures between 300 and 600 km from DC. Results agree fairly well with data from previous studies and modelling. Drawing final conclusions on temporal variations is difficult because of the margin of error introduced by density estimation. This study should have various applications, including model validation.


This paper presents a new model outlining the subjective experience of courage. Various positive psychological states and traits are proposed to reduce the level of fear experienced when facing risk, that join with an individual's core values and beliefs to create a courageous mindset which, bolstered by affirming normative and informational social forces, promotes courageous action. Finally, intrapersonal attribution processes are proposed to influence self-perceptions of courageousness and that, through self-reflection, reinforce the courageous mindset, perpetuating future courageous action.


We develop a tractable and flexible stochastic volatility multifactor model of the term structure of interest rates. It features unspanned stochastic volatility factors, correlation between innovations to forward rates and their volatilities, quasi-analytical prices of zero-coupon bond options, and dynamics of the forward rate curve, under both the actual and risk-neutral measures, in terms of a finite-dimensional affine state vector. The model has a very good fit to an extensive panel dataset of interest rates, swaptions, and caps. In particular, the model matches the implied cap skews and the dynamics of implied volatilities. The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: firstname.lastname@example.com, Oxford University Press.


As more and more students fail in course studies, higher education is now facing challenges regarding increasingly lower course completion rates as well as overall graduation rates. However, failures in course studies is a comprehensive result of various factors, which is characterized by uncertainty. To deal with this issue, fuzzy sets theory and fuzzy logic are advantageous compared with traditional methods. In this study, based on dynamic student study process data, a fuzzy synthetic evaluation method for dynamic early warning student study failure risk is provided. For each student, three specific early warning factors: 1) student course participation, 2) assignment earned points, and 3) student attendance record, are selected as risk indicators, and the overall risk level is determined by a fuzzy synthetic evaluation approach, which can dynamically give the situation of risk as the evaluation time point changes. Finally, our obtained results show that the employed method is good for identifying at-risk students and exploring the risk reasons by showing the degrees of each early warning factors to the overall risk level. It is of significance for educators to timely apply corresponding strategic pedagogical interventions to help at-risk students avoid academic failure.


How do house price changes affect the cost of living? The retail price index in the UK does not directly incorporate house price changes. Instead it uses mortgage interest to capture the cost of owning a home. This is a useful method from many perspectives. However, from a consumer welfare perspective, while mortgage interest does capture the cost of a particular service, it does not capture the cost of housing services. The shadow price of housing captures the welfare cost to a household of changes in housing prices. In this paper we create a new shadow price index using RPI data and the shadow price of housing and investigate how replacing the mortgage interest with the shadow price of housing affects measures of the cost of living.


How are we to explain the fragmentation of evangelical faith today and the current turmoil in the churches? According to David Wells, the answer lies in seeing how modernity is reshaping the whole of Western culture, including that part of it which is religious. This book provides a compelling critique of the modern world and the state of evangelical theology. Wells's sweeping analysis explores the collapse of theology in the church, the academy, and modern culture. The new environment in which we live, with its huge cities, triumphant capitalism, invasive technology, and incessant amusements, is homogenizing daily experience, bringing about a world cliche culture. While the modern world has produced astonishing abundance, it has also taken a dreadful toll on the human spirit, emptying it of meaning, depth, and morality. Seeking respite from the acids of modernity, people today have increasingly turned to religions and therapies centered on the self. And, whether consciously or not, evangelicals have taken the same path, refashioning their faith into a religion of the self. Because the modern churchgoer is so often a consumer, pastors are redefining their roles in terms of their own marketability. Evangelicals, argues Wells, have largely lost the truth that God also stands outside all human experience, that he still summons sinners to repentance and belief regardless of their self-image, and that he calls his church to stand fast in his truth against the blandishments of the modern world. Written expressly to encourage renewal in evangelical theology, No Place for Truth explores the interface between Christian faith and the modern world in entirely new ways and with uncommon rigor. Itraises profound questions about the future of conservative Protestant faith. Here is provocative reading for scholars, ministers, Christian leaders, seminary students, and all theologically concerned people.


Goal recognition in digital games involves inferring players' goals from observed sequences of low-level player actions. Goal recognition models support player-adaptive digital games, which dynamically augment game events in response to player choices for a range of applications, including entertainment, training, and education. However, digital games pose significant challenges for goal recognition, such as exploratory actions and ill-defined goals. This paper presents a goal recognition framework based on Markov logic networks (MLNs). The model's parameters are directly learned from a corpus that was collected from player interactions with a non-linear educational game. An empirical evaluation demonstrates that the MLN goal recognition framework accurately predicts players' goals in a game environment with exploratory actions and ill-defined goals.


How do different components of the tax and transfer systems affect disposable income inequality? This article explores the redistributive effects of different tax benefit instruments in the enlarged European Union (EU) based on two approaches. Inequality analysis based on the sequential accounting approach suggests that benefits are the most important factor reducing inequality in the majority of countries. The factor source decomposition approach, however, suggests that benefits play a negligible role and sometimes even contribute slightly positively to inequality. On the contrary, here taxes and social contributions are by far the most important contributors to income inequality reduction. The authors explain these partly contradictory results with the different normative focus of the two approaches and show that benefits have other aims than redistribution.


We have carried out a randomised trial comparing brief behavioural counselling with nutritional education counselling to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and associated biomarkers in adults from a low-income neighbourhood. The objective of the present analysis was to assess the impact of interventions on quality of life and health status, and associations between changes in fruit and vegetable consumption, plasma vitamins C and E, and quality of life. Behavioural counselling and nutritional education counselling were carried out in 271 adults in two 15 min sessions in a primary-care setting. Physical and mental health status (medical outcome study short form 36) and self-rated health were assessed at baseline, 8 weeks and 12 months, and analysed on an intention-to-treat basis. Both groups reported increased fruit and vegetable consumption; plasma vitamin E and beta-carotene also increased, with significantly greater changes in consumption and plasma beta-carotene in the behavioural counselling condition. Physical and mental health status, and the proportion of participants in good self-rated health, increased in both groups to a similar extent. Individual differences in improvements in physical health status and self-rated health were correlated with increases in fruit and vegetable intake and in plasma vitamins C and E, independently of age, gender, ethnicity, financial status, smoking, BMI and use of vitamin supplements. We conclude that participation in the present study was associated with improved health-related quality of life. Increases in fruit and vegetable intake and plasma vitamin levels may stimulate beneficial changes in physical health status in socio-economically deprived adults.


In the seventh chapter of Pantagruel, written in 1532, François Rabelais seized on the relationship between titles and books to pose a serious linguistic challenge to the stability of the book and its tenuous role in supporting an architectonic system of knowledge. The chapter consists primarily of a disordered catalog of invented titles, and the author assures us elsewhere that if we wish to grasp his deeper meaning we should examine these titles closely. A first look shows us that he is mocking particular authors and titling conventions, while further exploration reveals the catalog as a whole to serve as a macro-critique of scholastic attempts to order and regiment knowledge. But his critique also operates on the micro-level of the title as a function of naming. A close examination of the titles suggests a disturbing continuum between instable names and stable things, and impugns the integrity of the system's basic unit: the book. Attempts to make sense of Rabelais' book-less titles impose the recognition that these titles only "parse" if we make conjectures about the alleged books. Books and titles are co-texts. Reflecting his partiality for linguistic views found in Plato's Cratylus, Rabelais deploys his titles as models of the regressively self-referential nature of language. In the context of this chapter, focused on an ancient Parisian library, the inference is clear: books are not solid, static monuments, but porous and contingent entities subject to the vagaries of language.


Over the last decades, the integration of digital technology in the automotive industry has caused important transformations for interaction design in regards with secondary controls, but much less in regards with primary controls. However, not only primary controls remain the dominant artefact to interact with in the driving experience, but also distracted drivers (i.e., interacting with secondary controls or other artefacts while driving) are a major reason of accidents. In this paper, we introduce a design project on the steering wheel, taken from a kansei design perspective. Based on a kansei design framework, structured by three stages (Expression, Gesture, Affect), we observed the way drivers interact with various forms of steering wheel in order to create design propositions for greater and safer driving experiences in the context of novel driving conditions, i.e., with novel technologies and recent driving techniques. This overall project aims at revisiting fully the driving experience, while inquiring further the framing of a direct kansei design approach.


We simultaneously studied microbial-mediated carbon fluxes at 2 contrasting sites within the coastal upwelling system off Galicia, near A Coruna and Vigo, Spain, over an annual cycle in order to compare the fraction of primary production released as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the degree of coupling between bacteria and phytoplankton. A significant fraction of primary production was released as DOC at both sites, averaging ~30%. DOC release ac counted for, on average, 30% of the total bacterial carbon demand, which is indicative of a moderate trophic dependence of bacteria on phytoplankton in these coastal ecosystems. Nevertheless, dif- ferences in hydrographic conditions associated with stronger upwelling pulses off Vigo, and deeper upper mixed layers during the downwelling period off A Coruna, led to significant differ- ences in phytoplankton dynamics and the subsequent direct coupling with heterotrophic bacteria. Strong direct coupling between phytoplankton extracellular release and bacterial production (BP) was found off Vigo, which could be related to the quality of the DOC produced by actively grow- ing phytoplankton. By contrast, DOC release and BP rates were decoupled off A Coruna, likely due to unaccounted DOC associated with indirect trophic processes or to the low availability of freshly produced exudates associated with overflow or photoinhibition mechanisms.


Model calibration is essential for hydrologic mod-eling of large watersheds in a heterogeneous mountain environment. Little guidance is available for model calibration protocols for distributed models that aim at capturing the spatial variability of hydrologic processes. This study used the physically-based distributed hydrologic model, MIKE SHE, to contrast a lumped calibration protocol that used stream-flow measured at one single watershed outlet to a multi-site calibration method which employed streamflow measurements at three stations within the large Chaohe River basin in northern China. Simulation results showed that the single-site calibrated model was able to sufficiently simulate the hydrographs for two of the three stations (Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of 0.65–0.75, and correlation coefficient 0.81–0.87 during the testing period), but the model performed poorly for the third station (Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient only 0.44). Sensitivity analysis suggested that streamflow of upstream area of the watershed was dominated by slow groundwater , whilst streamflow of middle-and downstream areas by relatively quick interflow. Therefore, a multi-site calibration protocol was deemed necessary. Due to the potential errors and uncertainties with respect to the representation of spatial variability, performance measures from the multi-site calibration protocol slightly decreased for two of the three stations , whereas it was improved greatly for the third station. We concluded that multi-site calibration protocol reached a compromise in term of model performance for the three stations , reasonably representing the hydrographs of all three stations with Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient ranging from 0.59– 072. The multi-site calibration protocol applied in the analysis generally has advantages to the single site calibration protocol.


The preamble to Plato's Laches is an integral part of the whole dialogue. It puts forward the fundamental beliefs of Socrates' interlocutors in an intelligent way, while highlighting the ideological confusion caused by their uncritical acceptance of traditional beliefs. Thus, Socrates' interlocutors are brought to an insoluble impasse. Plato offers a way out of this impasse by introducing the figure of Socrates, who emerges as the literary instrument of Plato's criticism of Athens' educational system. Socrates' elenchus shows that the only way to achieve the real benefit, the benefit to the soul, is to lead a life of philosophical activity in pursuit of the truth.


Purpose: To investigate the accuracy of an independent monitor unit (MU) verification program for small fields used in dynamically modulated highdefinition multileaf‐collimator (HDMLC)‐based stereotatic radiosurgery (SRS). Methods: HDMLC‐SRS patient‐treatment plans were calculated using the BrainLab‐pencil beam dose‐calculation algorithm implemented in the BrainLab‐iPlan treatment planning system (TPS) (v.4.1.2) for the Novalis‐TX 6X‐SRS beam. Percent depth doses, beam profiles and output tables from this clinical beam were utilized to commission the RadCalc software (v.6.2) for independent MU verification. The MU difference between the MU calculation of the treatment planning system and the independent MU verification program for 187 dynamic arcs and 44 intensity modulated beams corresponding to 41 intracranial lesions from 35 patients was calculated. Field sizes of the arcs and beams studied ranged from 15 to 34 mm in their longest extension. Results: The average difference in the MUs with one standard deviation was −0.1% +/− 1.0% for the dynamic arcs and −0.0%+/− 2.7% for the intensity‐modulated beams. The intensity modulated beams verifications showed a much higher spread in the difference compared to the non‐modulated dynamic arcs; however, the average results can be considered clinically acceptable. The MU difference correlated inversely with the lesion size, indicating the limitation of the TPS algorithm with smaller field sizes. Conclusion: Use of the RadCalc software as an independent monitor unit verification system for both modulated and non‐modulated small fields based on high‐definition multileaf collimation is adequate to independently validate the point dose calculation accuracy. The system can be utilized as a part of the SRS quality assurance program.


Greater attention is being focused on the willingness and motivations of potential subjects who are recruited for research protocols. Given the importance of subjects' abilities to choose freely and reason through their decisions about entering psychiatric research, empirical researchers have been developing assessment and education tools that address the potential vulnerabilities of research subjects. In this study subjects' responses and reasons for or against participation were elicited as part of an assessment of their research decision making. Fifty-two persons diagnosed with a thought disorder were asked to consider a hypothetical research study using the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research (MacCAT-CR). Their responses were documented, coded for content, and correlated with demographic characteristics and scores on scales rating psychosis, cognition, and health-related quality of life. Subjects expressed common considerations that have been identified by other psychiatric investigators, as well as by those studying nonpsychiatric protocols. In general, reasons were both appropriate to the study being considered and appropriately linked to common considerations that flowed logically from the study. However, elements of the therapeutic misconception were evident as well. Willingness to participate was correlated with higher MacCAT-CR scores on certain scales, better education, and lower levels of psychosis and cognitive impairment. These findings highlight both the strengths and weaknesses of the decision making of research subjects with thought disorder. Research protections and assessments may consequently be appropriately targeted to specific vulnerabilities. Because of differences in severity of illness, cognition, and reasoning among subjects who decline to participate in research, greater attention to this population appears warranted.


This journal reports an analysis of symptoms and quality of life (QOL) of patients enrolled in the Scottish COmputed Tomography of the HEART (SCOT-HEART).1

Last year the results of the two major trials on cardiovascular imaging strategies for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) were published (ie, PROMISE/PROspective Multicenter Imaging Study for Evaluation of chest pain—performed in North America and SCOT-HEART—performed in Scotland).2–4 They were structured to analyse the impact of cardiac CT (CCT) on current standards of care.

The PROMISE trial ultimately showed a diagnostic and prognostic equivalence of anatomical strategy versus the North American standard of care; although more patients in the CCT group underwent cardiac catheterisation within 3 months after randomisation, the secondary end point of the frequency of catheterisation showing no obstructive CAD was significantly lower in the CCT group.

The SCOT-HEART investigated the incremental value of CCT on top of a European standard of care. The end point was certainty of the diagnosis of angina secondary to coronary heart disease at 6 weeks, while long-term outcomes were major adverse cardiovascular events. Most patients underwent stress ECG (85%) and a third underwent other stress imaging tests. CCT improved diagnosis, treatment and outcome of symptomatic stable patients with suspected CAD. The improvement was associated with better selection of patients for invasive coronary angiography, more appropriate changes in therapy, and a halving in the rates of fatal and …


This study combines remote sensing data from groundand satellite-based radar to calculate 3D displacement vectors for the Jettan rockslide, Troms, northern Norway. Using 3D displacement vectors, aspect data and strain rates in conjunction with structure (foliation, faults, fractures), geomorphological elements (ridges, scarps, terraces, depressions), topography and borehole data, we identify zones undergoing displacement, e.g., extension and compression, displacement intoor out-of-the-slope and/or various degrees of tilting. Our results show variable 3D displacement velocities, from north to south, that segment the rockslide into distinct domains. Displacement patterns are structurally controlled, as spatial variation in azimuth and plunge of 3D displacement vectors can be related to variation in attitudes of the host-rock foliation, faults and fractures. In the north, a complex graben system surrounded by orthogonal NW–SE and NE–SW-trending geomorphological elements, shows a repeated stepping 3D displacement pattern. This may indicate a complex fault geometry at depth, including stepped and discontinuous slide surfaces. We interpret 3D displacement into-the-slope in the upper part, and out-of-the-slope in the lower part, to be back-rotation of antithetic blocks with planar fractures becoming curved/listric gliding surfaces with depth. Downslope reduction in velocity indicates compression and stacking of blocks. In the southern area, N–S-trending geomorphological elements are arranged parallel to the hillslope. 3D displacement vectors show a more homogenous displacement pattern indicating movement along planar, hillslope-parallel, fracture sets at depth. We propose a structuralcontrolled slope displacement model including alternate planarand wedge-failure, in addition to displacement along planar and listric fractures merging into foliation at depth. Using the Jettan rockslide as a case study, we show how remote sensing data may aid examination of structural and topographic controls on rockslide kinematics, thus giving new insights into subsurface geometry


Relative fitness modeling is a new approach for predicting the performance and resource utilization of a workload when running on a particular storage device. In contrast with conventional device models, which expect deviceindependent workload characteristics as input, a relative fitness model makes predictions based on characteristics measured on a specific other device. As such, relative fitness models explicitly account for the workload changes that almost always result from moving a workload across storage devices—for example, higher I/O performance usually leads to faster application execution which results in higher I/O rates. Further, relative fitness models allow service observations (e.g., performance and resource utilizations) from the measured device to be used in making predictions on the modeled device—such observations often provide more predictability than basic workload characteristics. Overall, we find that relative fitness models reduce prediction error by over 60% on average when compared to conventional modeling techniques.


Knowing to what extent applicant reactions are related to stable individual differences and not only to characteristics of a selection procedure is important for the design and administration of the selection procedure and for dealing with applicants. The aim of this study was to explore relationships between individual differences (Big Five, core self-evaluations, trait affectivity, and general mental ability) and applicants' perceptions of an operational assessment center (AC). Data from 294 applicants revealed that individual difference variables explained significant variance in their perceptions of the AC, even after controlling for selfrated and actual performance. Based on these results, the nature of the applicant pool should be considered for designing selection procedures, dealing with applicants, and for research purposes.


The role of foreign aid in promoting economic growth is a debatable issue and remains unsettled at both theoretical and empirical levels. Pakistan has received a substantial amount of foreign aid since its Independence in 1947 but little improvement has been observed in its socio-economic development. This study considers the question as to whether foreign aid is a blessing or a curse for Pakistan. The empirical analysis is based on the ARDL cointegration approach. We examine the aid-growth link at the aggregate and disaggregate levels for the period 1972 2006. The results show negative and insignificant effects of foreign aid on the growth at the aggregate as well at the disaggregate level. The findings further suggest that domestic investment, export growth, and inflows of foreign direct investment are important contributors in enhancing economic growth in Pakistan.


With the aim of identifying different perspectives for the future of territory – starting from the dimension of production in the context of urban sprawl – this PhD research intends opening a critical reflections on the dynamics of territorial polarization, specialization and marginalization underway in Europe. According to the last European Competitiveness Report drawn up by the European Commission, production is still to be considered as an engine of prosperity linked to the real economy and to the development of the territory; thus the need for a new re-industrialization program for Europe. In recent decades production has been one of the territorial elements exposed to more extensive changes in Europe, while at the same time it has become one of the elements least subject to reflection in terms of spatial construction and rationalisation of the territory. Production is today becoming incompatible with the common idea of European traditional city. In order to avoid the risk of a dualistic model of development, that opposes urban areas to productive and secondary territories, this article claims the need to include production in the debate on the structural specificity and potentialities of the European city-territory as one of its constituent elements.


Detrital white micas from a sandstone unit within the Old Red Sandstone of southwest Wales have been analyzed with 40Ar/39Ar ultraviolet and infrared laser microprobes (UVLAMP, IRLAMP) to determine their source region. Single-grain fusion ages determined by the IRLAMP range from 430 ± 2 to 587 ± 3 Ma, and intragrain ages determined by the high-spatial-resolution UVLAMP range from 435 ± 9 to 875 ± 5 Ma. The UVLAMP technique reveals strong 40Ar/39Ar age zonation preserved within all the analyzed grains, and thus the single-grain fusion 40Ar/39Ar ages determined by the IRLAMP are artifacts of this zonation and represent an average of the old and young ages within each grain. Comparing the observed UVLAMP ages with calculated diffusion profiles for various thermal histories suggests that these detrital micas had a complex polymetamorphic evolution. A thermal event ca. 870 Ma was partly reset by a subsequent thermal event ca. 470 Ma, which is also complicated by Ar loss via a mechanism other than volume diffusion. Such detail as this from detritus allows for a fairly narrowed interpretation of the possible source region, which in this case is the Laurentian Northern and Central Highlands of Scotland. The UVLAMP technique also offers valuable insight into the complexities of dating detrital mineral grains and into the potential for misidentifying source regions and constructing misleading sedimentary systems, because the ages produced by 40Ar/39Ar dating techniques using either bulk-mineral separates or single-grain fusion will result in average ages from strongly zoned mineral grains. These data represent the first application of the 40Ar/39Ar UVLAMP to detrital minerals and provide insight into the potential for such a technique to investigate the thermal histories of now-eroded mountain belts.


When the Justice Department finally released the report of its Office of Professional Responsibility on the "torture memos," recommending that the initial torture memo's authors, John Yoo and Jay Bybee, be referred for bar discipline, John Yoo declared victory in op-eds in the Wall Street Journal and Philadelphia Inquirer. The report itself concluded that Yoo and Bybee had acted unethically, and quoted many of Yoo's successors in office as condemning the memos as, among other things "slovenly," "riddled with error," and "insane." But Yoo claimed victory because Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis vetoed its recommendation that he be referred for discipline; he, too, condemned Yoo, but considered it more a matter of poor judgment than unethical behavior. This essay critically reviews the OPR Report and Margolis's report, and maintains that both the report and Margolis committed two fundamental errors. First, neither considered the ultimate illegality of what the memos authorized – torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of human beings within United States custody and control. They focused merely on method, not end result; but of course, it is the end result that makes what Yoo and Bybee did so unethical. Second, and relatedly, both reports spared Yoo and Bybee's successors from the analysis afforded to Yoo and Bybee. Yoo and Bybee's successors were very quick to condemn the initial report, but what is perhaps most damning about the entire story is that these same successors consistently reached the same bottom line as Yoo and Bybee, and authorized the same criminal behavior. In many ways, the actions of Yoo and Bybee's successors are more deeply disturbing, moreover, as they persisted in giving a green light to the CIA in secret even as the law in public grew ever explicit in underscoring that what they were authorizing was illegal. Moreover, these later memos, written by Jack Goldsmith, Daniel Levin, and Steven Bradbury – all of whom harshly criticized Yoo's work after the fact – were drafted not in the heat of the moment, but many years after 9/11, after seeing the public condemnation of the initial Yoo-Bybee memo, and after the CIA's Inspector General had reported that there was no evidence that the CIA's "enhanced" interrogation tactics were obtaining evidence not obtainable through noncoercive tactics. The OPR and Margolis were unwilling to address the ultimate legal wrong committed by Yoo and Bybee, I argue, precisely doing so would necessarily have implicated too many in the Justice Department (and beyond). Thus, the focus on John Yoo was a convenient ploy to avoid confronting the full extent of systemic illegality perpetrated by a whole series of Justice Department lawyers and high-level officials in the Bush administration, up to and including President Bush himself, over a six-year period.


Employing the spiral model, this research analyses how anti-human trafficking legislation was promulgated during the Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Yingjiu) presidency. This research found that the government of Taiwan was just as accountable for the violation of migrants' human rights as the exploitive placement agencies and abusive employers. This research argues that, given its reliance on the United States for political and security support, Taiwan has made great efforts to improve its human rights records and meet US standards for protecting human rights. The reform was a result of multilevel inputs, including US pressure and collaboration between transnational and domestic advocacy groups. A major contribution of this research is to challenge the belief that human rights protection is intrinsic to democracy. In the same light, this research also cautions against Taiwan's subscription to US norms since the reform was achieved at the cost of stereotyping trafficking victimhood, legitimising state surveillance, and further marginalising sex workers.


Many ion species commonly used for laser-cooled ion trapping studies have a low-lying metastable 2D3/2 state that can become populated due to spontaneous emission from the 2P1/2 excited state. This requires a repumper laser to maintain the ion in the Doppler cooling cycle. Typically the 2D3/2 state, or some of its hyperfine components if the ion has nuclear spin, has a higher multiplicity than the upper state of the repumping transition. This can lead to dark states, which have to be destabilized by an external magnetic field or by modulating the polarization of the repumper laser. We propose using unpolarized, incoherent amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) to drive the repumping transition. An ASE source offers several advantages compared to a laser. It prevents the buildup of dark states without external polarization modulation even in zero magnetic field, it can drive multiple hyperfine transitions simultaneously, and it requires no frequency stabilization. These features make it very compact and robust, which is essential for the development of practical, transportable optical ion clocks. We construct a theoretical model for the ASE radiation, including the possibility of the source being partially polarized. Using 88Sr+ as an example, the performance of the ASE source compared to a single-mode laser is analyzed by numerically solving the eight-level density matrix equations for the involved energy levels. Finally a reduced three-level system is derived, yielding a simple formula for the excited state population and scattering rate, which can be used to optimize the experimental parameters. The required ASE power spectral density can be obtained with current technology.


Lighting is a critical element of theater. A lighting designer is responsible for drawing the audience's attention to a specific part of the stage, setting time of day, creating a mood, and conveying emotions. Designers often begin the lighting design process by collecting reference visual imagery that captures different aspects of their artistic intent. Then, they experiment with various lighting options to determine which ideas work best on stage. However, modern stages contain tens to hundreds of lights, and setting each light source's parameters individually to realize an idea is both tedious and requires expert skill. In this paper, we describe an exploratory lighting design tool based on feedback from professional designers. The system extracts abstract visual objectives from reference imagery and applies them to target regions of the stage. Our system can rapidly generate plausible design candidates that embody the visual objectives through a Gibbs sampling method, and present them as a design gallery for rapid exploration and iterative refinement. We demonstrate that the resulting system allows lighting designers of all skill levels to quickly create and communicate complex designs, even for scenes containing many color‐changing lights.


Diversity, relatedness, and ecological interactions of toxigenic Vibrio cholerae O1 populations in two distinctive habitats, the human intestine and the aquatic environment, were analyzed. Twenty environmental isolates and 42 clinical isolates were selected for study by matching serotype, geographic location of isolation in Bangladesh, and season of isolation. Genetic profiling was done by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence–PCR, optimized for profiling by using the fully sequenced V. cholerae El Tor N16961 genome. Five significant clonal clusters of haplotypes were found from 57 electrophoretic types. Isolates from different areas or habitats intermingled in two of the five significant clusters. Frequencies of haplotypes differed significantly only between the environmental populations (exact test; P < 0.05). Analysis of molecular variance yielded a population genetic structure reflecting the differentiating effects of geographic area, habitat, and sampling time. Although a parameter confounding the latter differences explained 9% of the total molecular variance in the entire population (P < 0.01), the net effect of habitat and time could not be separated because of the small number of environmental isolates included in the study. Five subpopulations from a single area were determined, and from these we were able to estimate a relative differentiating effect of habitat, which was small compared with the effect of temporal change. In conclusion, the resulting population structure supports the hypothesis that spatial and temporal fluctuations in the composition of toxigenic V. cholerae populations in the aquatic environment can cause shifts in the dynamics of the disease.


Divorce and family dissolution are global issues linked to various socioeconomic, demographic, and spatial variables. In the last decade, the divorce rate has increased dramatically across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia). Rapid economic development, social transformation, and modernization have directly led to deep cultural changes in marriage and marital instability. Although the geographic perspectives of family formation and divorce risks have received considerable global attention, the spatial variations of divorce rates have not been examined across Arab countries or GCC communities. This study uses univariate and bivariate local indicators of spatial association (LISA) as well as Moran's I and spatial econometric regression models (spatial lag and spatial error) to examine the geographic distribution of divorce rates in Oman at a subnational level. Data sets from the 2010 census were used for the modeling and geospatial analysis and a range of statistical variables, including women's employment, female educational levels, urban residence, economically inactive females, and polygamous marriage, was examined. Spatial autocorrelation patterns and clusters of divorce rate associations were calculated and causal influences of sociodemographic characteristics on divorce were modeled. The findings revealed that the effects of sociodemographic variables on divorce and family instability across Omani subnational boundaries vary spatially. Hence, urban, suburban, and rural differences are significant predictors explaining the outcomes of family dissolution. There were high divorce rates, particularly in the northwest and northeast areas. Females' educational level was a negative predictor of divorce, whereas other variables were positively correlated with divorce rates. Although many global nonspatial studies have investigated divorce rates, there is a lack of research on family formation and dissolution in the Arab world and GCC states. This study fills the gap in the literature by contributing to the understanding of the role that the spatial structure of various sociodemographic variables plays in affecting divorce rates within local Omani communities.


This paper analyzes the new role rural Senegalese women play as moneylenders in their agrarian communities. The shifting terrain of local credit institutions parallels contemporary trends in rural development: state-led agricultural cooperatives which were introduced in 1960 formerly bolstered the position of elite farmers who lent out cash and grain to poor farmers during the dry-season months of scarcity. Agricultural cooperatives were abolished in the mid-1980s as a result of structural adjustment and elite farmers have now shifted to market-based activities no longer offering credit to neighbors and kin. During the same period nongovernmental organizations adopting a neoliberalist ideology created a number of village banks that target women as the principal recipients of cash loans to be invested in income-generating activities. A significant number of these women choose not to invest this money in trade activities but to recycle the cash as high-interest loans to other farmers-- emulating in new guise the earlier credit strategies of elite farmers. This paper examines the institutional changes unraveling in rural Senegal that contribute to the rise of a new class of female moneylenders during the contemporary epoch of neoliberal reform and offers ethnographic descriptions of womens money lending practices. (authors)


The purpose of this paper is to propose a new system, with both high efficiency and accuracy for fault diagnosis of rolling bearing. After pretreatment and choosing sensitive features of different working conditions of bearing from both time and frequency domain, principal component analysis(PCA) is conducted to compress the data dimension and eliminate the correlation among different statistical features. The first several principal components are sent to the classifier for recognition. However, recognition method with a single classifier usually has only a limited classification capability that is insufficient for real applications. An ongoing strategy is the decision fusion techniques. The system proposed in this paper develops a decision fusion algorithm for fault diagnosis, which integrates decisions of multiple classifiers. First, the front four principle components are chosen as input of individual classifier. A selection process of the classifiers is then operated on the basis of correlation measure for the purpose of finding an optimal sequence of them. Finally, classifier fusion algorithm based on Bayesian belief method is applied to generate the final decision. The result of experiments show that this new bearing fault diagnosis system recognize different working conditions of bearing more accurately and more stably than a single classifier does, which demonstrates the high efficiency of the proposed system.


Speckled leaf blotch (SLB), a foliar disease of winter wheat, caused by Septoria tritici (teleomorph Mycosphaerella graminicola) can cause significant yield losses. Wheat crops are at greatest risk during stem extension, when the final three leaves emerge in close proximity to infected leaves lower in the canopy. Winter wheat cv. Consort was sown in May 2002, to test a model that links development of SLB in the field to weather events, and to compare disease severity between plots treated with fungicide applied at three different crop growth stages. Generally quite low disease levels were experienced, associated with a small number of likely infection events. This meant that the top three leaves were infected after they were fully emerged, and SLB severity was low, as there was little time for secondary cycles to occur before the leaves senesced. Despite low disease severity, there was a significant yield response to applied fungicide, increasing with the number of applications. The model requires some improvement.


This paper demonstrates that small manufacturing firms in postwar Tokyo were exceptionally successful. Not only were they more productive than their national peers, they were also remarkably competitive vis-à-vis large factories in Tokyo. The existing explanations for this double outperformance do not take full account of the urban setting in which this process took place. Small factories compensated for higher labor costs by being more efficient users of urban space. They thrived thanks to Tokyo's particular urban form, which included a preference for mixed use and often blurred the boundaries between living and workplace. Small factories also benefited from being embedded in the relatively egalitarian structure of postwar Tokyo, as the city avoided spatial stratification despite megacity growth. Although Tokyo's small factories remain important, their competitive edge has eroded from the 1970s onward.


Design-based estimators of totals, means or proportions in finite populations generally are functions of weighted sums. If each element selected into the sample is also observed, then for the calculation of the pi-estimator these weights are just the inverse inclusion probabilities of the elements. However, if e.g. nonresponse or attrition over time occurs, calculation of these weights also includes modeling of nonresponse and/or attrition mechanisms. Since models of these mechanisms are disputable, 'pure' design weights can be the basis for calculating alternative weights by a different modeling e.g. of nonresponse and/or attrition mechanisms. In the case of complex sampling schemes, however, it is often not possible to derive the exact inclusion probabilities. In that case, weights may be derived based on approximations and/or simplifying assumptions. In this paper, after describing the selection schemes of the subsamples A, B, C, D and E of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), approximate design weights are derived which enable users of the SOEP to calculate their own weights if desired.


This study addresses the issues that challenge the implementation of the public private partnership projects in Nairobi City County. Like all projects, implementation stage is always faced with challenges that have to be overcome to realize the desired outcome-in this case Nairobi City County has to be able to face the challenging situations which have to be dealt with in order to realize its development plan. This study has identified those challenges. The general objective was to find out the challenges that face the implementation of Public Private Partnership Projects in Nairobi City County. The specific objectives were: the examination of policy framework; institutional framework; legal framework; project planning; and project cost sharing among partners in a PPP at Nairobi City County. The problem being lack of effective policy, institutional and legal frameworks or poor planning of PPP projects. The Primary data was collected using interview guide and use of questionnaires while secondary data was collected through desk research. Through stratified sampling, Finance and Economic Sector was selected to participate in the study. This is the sector that deals with PPP project implementation. The study used primary data, which was gathered from respondents using a structured questionnaire, which was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Staffs of departments whose functions use the PPP strategy were given questionnaires that they filled and responded accordingly. The study found out that despite PPP Projects being under the Finance and Economic Sector most of the staff were not actively involved in PPP Project selection, the PPP Policy, Institutional and Legal frameworks are not adequate enough to permit effective implementation of PPP Projects. Equally the level of involvement of staff in project planning is also on a very low scale. In terms of Cost sharing respondents felt that it does not play a major role in PPP project implementation. The study also studied the contract agreements, minutes of council and/or county resolutions and quarterly reports to get secondary data. Content analysis was used to analyze the data collected. The study concluded that the main challenges facing the implementation of PPP Projects at Nairobi City County are ineffective policy, institutional and legal framework. The study recommends that staff in the relevant sector dealing with PPP be fully involved in project implementation from the policy formulation stage through planning to project completion stage. The staff also needs to be trained on Project Management.
Key words; Projects; Public private partnerships; cost sharing; legal; institutional and policy frameworks


Diarrhea, an illness of both the developed and developing world, involves the burdensome characteristics of frequent bowel movements, loose stools, and abdominal discomfort. Diarrhea is a long-standing challenge in palliative care and can have a myriad of causes, making symptomatic treatment pertinent when illness evaluation is ongoing, when there is no definitive treatment approach, or when effective treatment cannot be attained. Symptomatic therapy is a common approach in palliative care settings. Bismuth is a suitable agent for symptomatic therapy and can be effectively employed for management of chronic diarrhea. The objective of this narrative review is to examine the role of bismuth in management of diarrheal symptoms. To explore this, PubMed (including Medline) and Embase were used to search the existing literature on bismuth and diarrhea published from 1980 to 2019. It was found that bismuth has potential utility for diarrheal relief in multiple settings, including microscopic colitis, traveler's diarrhea, gastrointestinal infection, cancer, and chemotherapy. It also has great potential for use in palliative care patients, due to its minimal side effects. Overall, the antisecretory, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties of bismuth make it a suitable therapy for symptomatic treatment of diarrhea. The limited range of adverse side effects makes it an appealing option for patients with numerous comorbidities. Healthcare providers can explore bismuth as an adjunct therapy for diarrhea management in an array of conditions, especially in the palliative care setting.


Local councils in Cameroon, since 2004 find themselves assigned a new task as actors in public policy implementation alongside the deconcentrated ministerial departments with their intervention cutting through education and health.Our study, (1) investigates the role played by local councils in the implementation of education and health policies at local levels (2) assesses the impact that devolution of powers to local councils have on implementation of national education and health policies at local levels in the Northwest Region of Cameroon; and (3) identifies some impediments to a successful public policy implementation at local level within the context of decentralization. Unlike before 2004, the role that the local councils play goes a long way to assist the deconcentrated ministerial departments by facilitating implementation tasks for them. Drawing from bottom-up theories of policy implementation, the results of our study takes a projective dimension to reaffirm that effective decentralization is positively associated to public policy implementation at local levels. This means as the decentralization process in Cameroon is rendered more and more effective; we expect the implementation of national education and health policies at the local levels in Cameroon to be greatly enhanced. We observed that impediments to a successful public policy implementation within the context of decentralization include: Administrative Constraints such as the fact that decentralization in Cameroon is still an ongoing process, Limited cooperation between the deconcentrated ministerial departments and other stake holders as well as lack of effective collaboration between actors (local councils, regional and divisional delegations etc) in charge of policy implementation, lack of enforcement resources and inadequate finances, unqualified people in charge of policy operations. Political constraints on their part have to do with local political conflicts, political favouritism, political inclination of actors in charge of policy implementation, Influence from political elites. Lastly we have cultural constraints which include lack of community support for the policy, tribal inclinations, cultural inclinations (market days and "country Sundays"), and traditional believes. Based on our findings, we recommend the Government of Cameroon to put in additional efforts in seeing that the devolution of power and resources to regional and local authorities is fully implemented and efforts should be made to ensure an effective collaboration between deconcentrated ministerial departments and local councils.


To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Howl and Other Poems, with nearly one million copies in print, City Lights presents the story of editing, publishing, and defending Allen Ginsberg's landmark poem within a broader context of obscenity issues and censorship of literary works. This collection begins with an introduction by publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who shares his memories of hearing "Howl" first read at the 6 Gallery, of his arrest, and the subsequent legal defense of Howl's publication. Never-before--published correspondence of Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Kerouac, Gregory Corso, John Hollander, Richard Eberhart, and others provides an in-depth commentary on the poem's ethi-cal intent and its social significance to the author and his contemporaries. A section on the public reaction to the trial includes newspaper reportage, op-ed pieces by Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti, and letters to the editor from the public, which provide fascinating background material on the cultural climate of the mid-1950s. A timeline of literary censorship in the United States places this battle for free expression in a historical context. Also included are photographs, transcripts of relevant trial testimony, Judge Clayton Horn's decision and its ramifications, and a long essay by Albert Bendich, the ACLU attorney who defended Howl on constitutional grounds. Editor Bill Morgan discusses more recent challenges to Howl in the late 1980s and how the fight against censorship continues today in new guises.


Abstract In this Article, we explore a subset of the urban-rural divide and propose a mechanism for reducing its economic and political effects within that limited realm. Specifically, we focus on the subset of rural areas that lie within what the Office of Management and Budget defines as micropolitan areas. Micropolitan areas are characterized by an urban area with a population between 10,000 and 50,000, and adjacent rural counties. Data suggest that rural areas within micropolitan regions do better economically than rural areas unconnected to urban areas, though not as well as the principal city within the micropolitan area. If the objective is to reduce the economic, and perhaps also the political, divide between urban and rural areas, then micropolitan areas may represent low-hanging fruit for redress. This Article argues that micropolitan areas are an important window into understanding the relationship between urban and rural economies, explores the characteristics of those areas that are likely to generate economic success, and recommends policies that would capture those benefits. Additionally, we speculate that increased opportunities for economic interaction between the urban and rural parts of micropolitan areas could also address the political aspects of the urban-rural divide. Recognizing the complexity of the relationship between urban and rural economies, we identify various obstacles to realizing the kinds of interlocal cooperation that we believe are necessary to reduce the economic and political divide within micropolitan areas. We conclude with suggestions for a research agenda to remedy the underdeveloped study of micropolitan areas.


Product development and product manufacturing are entering a new era, namely an era where engineering tasks are executed under collaboration of all involved parties. Engineers and potential customers work together mainly in a virtual world for the design and realization of the product. We address this so called "crowdsourcing" trend in the automotive industry that lowers cost and accelerates production of new car. Current practice and prior studies fail to handle data management and collaboration aspects in sufficient detail. We propose a PLM based crowdsourcing platform that applies best practices to the established approach and adapt it with new methods for handling specific requirements. Our work provides a basis for establishing an improved collaboration platform to support a Gig Economy in the automotive industry.


OBJECTIVE
To study the relationship between overall productivity and the rates at which primary care physicians, in a fee-for-service setting, deliver or prescribe preventive services to adult patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The charts of 452 adult patients treated by 8 family practitioners and 5 internists in a fee-for-service practice setting were randomly selected and abstracted for provision of 10 preventive services over a 27-month period. The percentage of eligible patients screened for each service was correlated with the production of each physician measured in relative value units (RVUs).

RESULTS
The correlation coefficient between RVUs and the aggregate of the 10 services was 0.23 (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.36 to 0.70). The individual correlation coefficients between RVUs and 9 of the 10 preventive services ranged from -0.05 to 0.43. For cervical cancer screening, however, the correlation coefficient was -0.72 (95% CI, -0.91 to -0.24).

CONCLUSION
With the exception of screening for cervical cancer, the data presented in this study do little to support physicians' common belief that lack of time is the reason they are unable to incorporate prevention strategies into their clinical practice.


Peer Instruction (PI) is a student-centric pedagogy in which students move from the role of passive listeners to active participants in the classroom. Over the past five years, there have been a number of research articles regarding the value of PI in computer science. The present work adds to this body of knowledge by examining outcomes from seven introductory programming instructors: three novices to PI and four with a range of PI experience. Through common measurements of student perceptions, we provide evidence that introductory computing instructors can successfully implement PI in their classrooms. We find encouraging minimum (74%) and average (92%) levels of success as measured through student valuation of PI for their learning. This work also documents and hypothesizes reasons for comparatively poor survey results in one course, highlighting the importance of the choice of grading policy (participation vs. correctness) for new PI adopters.


The paper summarizes the main results achieved during the three-year European FP7 ARROWS project (ARchaeological RObot systems for the Worlds Seas). ARROWS concluded at the end of August 2015 and proposed to adapt and develop low-cost Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) technologies to reduce the operational cost of typical underwater archaeological campaigns. The methodology used by ARROWS researchers identified archaeologists requirements for all the phases of a campaign. These were based on guidelines issued by the project Archaeology Advisory Group (AAG), which comprised of many European archaeologists belonging to the consortium. One of the main goals of the ARROWS project was the development of a heterogeneous team of cooperating AUVs; these comprised of prototypes developed in the project and commercially available vehicles. Three different AUVs have been built and tested at sea: MARTA, characterized by flexible hardware modularity for easy adaption of payload and propulsion systems, U-CAT, a turtle inspired bio-mimetic robot devoted to shipwreck penetration and A-Size AUV, a small light weight vehicle which is easily deployable by a single person. The project also included the development of a cleaning tool for well-known artefacts and maintenance operations. Results from the official final demonstrations of the project, held in Sicily and in Estonia during Summer 2015, are presented in the paper as an experimental proof of the validity of the developed robotic tools.


Know Your Enemy Fire ants accidentally introduced to North America from their native range in Argentina have been hugely invasive and difficult to eradicate and caused both environmental and economic damage. Recently, another accidentally introduced Argentine ant, the tawny crazy ant, appears to be displacing the fire ants. How? LeBrun et al. (p. 1014, published online 13 February; see the Perspective by Kaspari and Weiser) show that tawny crazy ants have a chemical and behavioral response to the toxic bite of fire ants that vastly reduces their mortality during confrontations and that allows the tawny crazy ants to outcompete their rivals. After fire ants invade, they can be invaded in turn by tawny crazy ants. [Also see Perspective by Kaspari and Weiser] As tawny crazy ants (Nylanderia fulva) invade the southern United States, they often displace imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta). After exposure to S. invicta venom, N. fulva applies abdominal exocrine gland secretions to its cuticle. Bioassays reveal that these secretions detoxify S. invicta venom. Further, formic acid from N. fulva venom is the detoxifying agent. N. fulva exhibits this detoxification behavior after conflict with a variety of ant species; however, it expresses it most intensely after interactions with S. invicta. This behavior may have evolved in their shared South American native range. The capacity to detoxify a major competitor's venom probably contributes substantially to its ability to displace S. invicta populations, making this behavior a causative agent in the ecological transformation of regional arthropod assemblages.


Abstract The crystal structure of gianellaite, [(NHg2)2](SO4)(H2O)x, cubic, F4̄3m, a = 9.521(6) Å V = 863.1(1.6) Å3, Z = 4, was solved by direct methods and refined to an R1 index of 2.1% based on 167 unique observed reflections collected on a three-circle rotating-anode (MoKα X-radiation) diffractometer equipped with multilayer optics and an APEX-II detector. In the structure of gianellaite, nitrogen-centred (NHg4)5+ tetrahedra share all corners to form a framework of tetrahedra with an ordered arrangement of interstitial (SO4)2- tetrahedra that show strong orientational disorder. Infrared spectroscopy in the principal O-H stretching region shows peaks at ~3300 and 1600 cm-1, indicating the presence of (H2O), the position(s) of which could not be discerned in difference-Fourier maps.


This paper focuses on the discussion of the digital literacy skills that are considered necessary for effective and mindful learning in the emerging digital environments. To date, the discourse on this important subject has been practice-oriented, and lacks a sound integrative framework and theoretical foundation. This grave lacuna in the current discourse on learning in general, and on learning in the digital culture in particular, calls for a clear and theoretically-grounded view of the basic literacies required for effective learning in digital environments. Accordingly, this paper reviews an integrative framework for digital literacy recently suggested by Eshet-Alkalai (2004; 2005) as a starting point for the much-needed theorization. Two basic strategies – the conservative and the skeptical – are considered for this purpose. The first strategy relies on the basic assumption of the current discourse that "digital skills" are indeed nothing but skills. The second strategy, based on doubts concerning this assumption, leads to two different skeptical hypotheses. The first contends that the skill-oriented discourse can be reduced to the older discourses on learning styles and multiple intelligences; the second attempts to reduce it to the much more fundamental discourse on the clash between the modern book-based and the post modern digital cultures.


Many applications of the Vostok ice core depend critically on the ability to make stratigraphic ties to marine records in the adjacent Southern Ocean. Here we present oxygen isotopic records from high accumulation rate sites in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, collected for the purpose of complementing the recently extended δD record from the Vostok ice core. The combination of several planktonic foraminiferal δ18O records from northern subantarctic piston cores demonstrates that all of the millennial‐scale oscillations expressed in the Vostok ice core over the last 60 ky are also present in marine records. The observations also support the assumption that the millennial‐scale oscillations common to both marine and ice archives are synchronous, thus providing a rationale for extending the marine‐ice core comparison through the last 400,000 years, making use of a marine drilled core (ODP Site 1089). By aligning the phase of these common abrupt events, we anchor the Vostok chronology to an orbitally tuned marine sediment chronology—a refinement that allows examination of a variety of paleoclimatological issues such as the relationship between deep ocean variability and Antarctic polar climate. For example, this exercise suggests that, over at least the 4 major deglaciation events, the primary (orbital scale) changes in the chemistry and, most likely, the temperature of the deep Southern ocean were synchronous with changes in atmospheric pCO2 and polar air temperatures. We also find that the deuterium excess in the ice core resembles marine (foraminiferal) δ13C records and that the deuterium excess is synchronous with an "anomalous" foraminiferal δ18O signal (the residual between normalized versions of Vostok δD and foraminiferal δ18O). These observations demand a tight link between the Vostok isotopic record and the air‐sea interaction of the subantarctic zone.


In this work we address the challenge for an IT service customer to select the cost-optimal service among different offers by external providers. We describe the customer's optimization problem by considering the negative monetary impact of potential service incidents on its business. First, we demonstrate that the information currently used in service level agreements may lead to suboptimal customer decisions. Second, we discuss how providers' private information about the behavior of service delivery environments could be leveraged by the customer when selecting service offers. Third, we propose a procurement auction as a mechanism to optimize total cost for the customer – choosing from different service offers by risk-neutral providers. In introducing this approach, we suggest that customers and providers collaborate to define service performance measures, which allow providers to better tailor service offers to customers' business requirements.


Impact diamonds were found in several impactites from the Ries crater, Germany including fallout and fallback (crater fill) suevites. a glass bomb, impact melt rock and shocked gneiss. These diamonds formed two distinct grain size populations: 50-300?m apographitic. platy aggregates with surface ornamentation and etching that were observed using optical and scanning electron microscopy and 5-20?m diamonds which displayed two different morphologies identified using transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. These 5-20?m grains comprised apographitic. platy grains with stacking faults, etching and graphite intergrowths together with elongate skeletal grains with preferred orientations to the individual crystallites. Thermal annealing of stacking faults and surface features was also detected.

Stepped combustion combined with static mass spectrometry to give carbon isotopic analysis of individual diamonds. graphite and acid-residues indicate that the primary carbon source is graphite. This graphite was found to be 13C depleted with respect to similar samples from the Popigai impact crater.

The admixture of presumably carbonate derived carbonaceous material is suggested to account for the 13C-enriched ?13C compositions encountered in whole-rock suevites known to include carbonate melts.

On the basis of morphology. mineralogical associations diamond/graphite ratios and carbon isotopic compositions three possible formation mechanisms for impact diamonds are suggested: fast. high temperature conversion of graphite following the passage of the shock wave, a vapour phase condensation or growth within substrate minerals or an orientated stress field and the incomplete transformation of a mixture of amorphous and crystalline graphite. Further more exotic mechanisms such as intermediary carbyne phases cannot be discounted.

Impact diamonds, 1-5?m in size. were also identified in suevite residues and a black matrix lithic breccia from the Gardnos impact crater. Norway. The carbon isotopic compositions are in agreement with previous measurements of whole rock samples with a small 13C-enriched component probably representing diamond.


Abstract The relationship of parents and infants is ruptured at birth in the context of urgent issues such as congenital heart defects. The infants referred to in 10 semi-structured interviews had undergone cardiac surgery in a children's hospital in Australia and were participating in a new programme known as Heart Beads instigated by the cardiac ward nurses. Within the biomedical context infants are often alienated from their parents and treated as isolated bodies. The paper discusses the social implications of an ill or deformed child and the role of narrative in addressing social demands and the problems faced by parents in infant intensive care contexts. It is argued that theorising the infant within a relational framework allows agency to be attributed to the infant and parents while also recognising the importance of the intimate social world and interactional context that it is expressed within. The paper draws on Nick Crossley's relational sociology to highlight the importance of the relational embodiment that encompasses infants within a social world preceding them and enveloping them. The narrative is developed by parents in order to facilitate the social expression and integration of their child and thus plays a particularly social role in the context of infant surgery, rather than serving to adjust the individual to new circumstances. Exploring the role of narrative in this social relational sense is important for bringing the mother and the family back into the context and survival of the infant both physically and socially.


The extent to which men's versus women's health affects household wealth and the mechanisms through which these effects occur have important implications for the welfare of older individuals living with a spouse, and in particular for women who are likely to outlive their husbands by several years. Intermediate mechanisms through which individual health shocks may affect household wealth are discussed. Four waves of HRS data on married couples are used to estimate the direct effect of onset of various health conditions on household wealth, with these effects allowed to differ for husbands and wives. Estimates using only wave 2 health shocks (controlling for baseline health) indicate that the impact of a health shock to the wife has a larger negative impact than a health shock to the husband, which is consistent with prior work. Estimates in which health shocks from waves 2-4 are allowed for produce conflicting results. Further research is required to ascertain the reason for this apparent conflict.


Late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century physicians and thinkers emphasised women's physical and moral sensitivity and their subsequent vulnerability to wasting illnesses such as chlorosis. Many heroines of the period, including Sophie in Johann Martin Miller's novel Siegwarl, eine Klostergeschichte (1776) and Mine in Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel's Lebenslaufe nach aufteigender Linie (177&81), grow pale and thin and finally die from what seems to be a form of chlorosis as a result of unrequited love, and thus appear to reinforce the contemporaiy stereotype of female fragility. Viewed in another light, however, a heroine's wasting death can be seen as a rejection of the maternal imperative, associated with bodiliness, which existed alongside the popular image of women's ethereality. In contrast to the widely held contemporary view of the femalf sex as permanently 'receptive' (Moreau, Novalis and others), self-starvation such as that of Ottilie in Goethe's Die Wahluerwundtschuften (1809) provides an image of closure and may be read as an act of self-assertion.


OBJECTIVE
To assess prevalence of speech disorders in schoolchildren and its associated factors.

METHODS
Cross-sectional study comprising a random sample of 1,810 schoolchildren attending the first grade in public schools in a city of Southern Brazil, in 2001. Schoolchildren aged between five and 11 years were evaluated using a previously validated speech screening test for phonetic and/or phonologic disorders. Data on school failure, gender, age and maternal and paternal schooling were collected to test associations. Associations between variables were analyzed using the Chi-square test.

RESULTS
The prevalence of speech disorders in the children studied was 24.6% and they were more prevalent in younger children aged five and six compared to children aged ten or more. Speech disorders prevalence around five years old was 57% and between eight and ten years old was 42%. Speech disorders frequency was similar in both sexes. The prevalence of disorders was associated to maternal and paternal schooling, 79.5% and 78.6%, respectively, when parents had less then one year of study.

CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of speech disorders among schoolchildren studied was higher than that described in the literature. Parental schooling was a major factor associated to these disorders.


[Excerpt] The International Personnel Management Association (IPMA) has undertaken a human resource benchmarking project with the National Association of State Personnel Executives (NASPE). IPMA is an organization representing over 1,700 organizations and 2,500 individuals involved in public sector human resource management. The Association's mission is to optimize organizational and individual performance in the public service by providing human resource leadership, professional development, information and services. IPMA has established an International Human Resource Advisory Board to facilitate the exchange of information on international human resource developments. The International Human Resource Advisory Board has 37 members from 35 countries and international organizations. Additional information about IPMA can be obtained at http://www.ipma-hr.org.


Background Dengue fever is Vector born viral infections endanger billions of people. About 50 million cases of dengue infection every year all-over the whole world has been estimated by World Health Organization (WHO). DF occurs primarily in tropical areas around the world affecting both children and adults. It is endemic in certain cities of Saudi Arabia, such as Jeddah and Makkah. Dengue fever has nonspecific symptoms and signs, so laboratory confirmation of dengue infection is mandatory. Objectives To assess hematological changes of patients with dengue fever in pediatric age group among Saudi children. Design Descriptive retrospective study. Patients and Methods All data were collected from the medical records of 90 children aged from 2 to 15 years who had diagnosed to have dengue fever in Jeddani Group Hospital. The presenting clinical features were collected and analyzed. The laboratory results analyzed were blood count including Hemoglobin level, hematocrit level, lecucocytic count and platelet count. Results All 90 patients included in the study had both fever and myalgia, 2.2% of children had bleeding (epistaxis, bleeding gum). Mean±SD of Hemoglobin level was 10.82 ± 1.2 g/dl. Thrombocytopenia (platelets <150000/UL) was found in 74.45% of cases, leucopenia (<4000/UL) was detected in 66% of cases. Conclusion Dengue fever is mosquito transmitted viral infection, it needs accurate physical examination and proper follows up of hematological changes, this will lead to decrease morbidity and mortality among children.