of the and those of IZA. series views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. aims answers to the global labor market of our time. Our key objective to build between academic research, policymakers and ABSTRACT Teachers affect a wide range of students' educational and social outcomes, but how they contribute to students' involvement in school discipline is less understood. We estimate the impact of teacher demographics and other observed qualifications on students' likelihood of receiving a disciplinary referral. Using data that track all disciplinary referrals and the identity of both the referred and referring individuals from a large and diverse urban school district in California, we find students are about 0.2 to 0.5 percentage points (7% to 18%) less likely to receive a disciplinary referral from teachers of the same race or gender than from teachers of different demographic backgrounds. Students are also less likely to be referred by more experienced teachers and by teachers who hold either an English language learners or special education credential. These results are mostly driven by referrals for defiance and violence infractions, Black and Hispanic male students, and middle school students. While it is unclear whether these findings are due to variation in teachers' effects on actual student behavior, variation in teachers' proclivities to make disciplinary referrals, or a combination of the two, these results nonetheless suggest that teachers play a central role in the prevalence of, and inequities in, office referrals and subsequent student discipline.


Abstract Development of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (CINP) compromises the use of chemotherapy and greatly impacts thousands of lives. Unfortunately, there are no Food and Drug Administration–approved drugs to prevent or treat CINP. Neuropathological changes within CNS, including neuroinflammation and increased neuronal excitability, are driven by alterations in neuro-glia communication; but, the molecular signaling pathways remain largely unexplored. Adenosine is a potent neuroprotective purine nucleoside released to counteract the consequences of these neuropathological changes. Adenosine signaling at its adenosine receptors (ARs) is dictated by adenosine kinase (ADK) in astrocytes, which provides a cellular sink for the removal of extracellular adenosine. We now demonstrate that chemotherapy (oxaliplatin) in rodents caused ADK overexpression in reactive astrocytes and reduced adenosine signaling at the A3AR subtype (A3AR) within the spinal cord. Dysregulation of ADK and A3AR signaling was associated with increased proinflammatory and neuroexcitatory interleukin-1&bgr; expression and activation of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 inflammasome, but not putative oxaliplatin-associated GSK3&bgr; transcriptional regulation. Intrathecal administration of the highly selective A3AR agonist MRS5698 attenuated IL-1&bgr; production and increased the expression of potent anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective IL-10. The effects of MRS5698 were blocked by attenuating IL-10 signaling in rats with intrathecal neutralizing IL-10 antibody and in IL-10−/− knockout mice. These findings provide new molecular insights implicating astrocyte-based ADK-adenosine axis and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 in the development of CINP and IL-10 in the mechanism of action of A3AR agonists. These findings strengthen the pharmacological rationale for clinical evaluation of A3AR agonists already in advanced clinical trials as anticancer agents as an adjunct to chemotherapy.


The biologically important problem of DNA braiding was studied in the past by means of dual-DNA magnetic tweezer experiments. In such experiments, two DNA molecules are braided about each other using an externally imposed force and torque. Here we develop a theoretical model of molecular braiding that includes interactions between molecules, thermal fluctuations, and the elastic response of molecules, all in a consistent manner. This is useful to study the chiral effects of helix-dependent electrostatic interactions on the braid's equilibrium geometrical and mechanical properties. When helix-dependent forces are weak, our model yields a reasonably accurate reproduction of previously measured extension–rotation curves, where only very slight chirality has been observed. On the other hand, when helix-specific electrostatic forces are strong, the model predicts several new features of the extension–rotation curves. These are: (a) a distinct asymmetry between left-handed and right-handed DNA braiding; (b) the emergence, under a critical pulling force, of coexistence regions of tightly and loosely wound DNA; (c) spontaneous formation of left-handed DNA braids at zero external torque (zero bead rotations). Strong chiral forces are expected for braiding experiments conducted in solutions in which there are counter-ions that bind specifically in the DNA grooves.


Objectives Adolescents may use condoms inconsistently or incorrectly, or may over-report condom use. This study used a semen exposure biomarker to evaluate the accuracy of female adolescents' reports of condom use and predict subsequent pregnancy. Methods The sample comprised 715 sexually active African-American female adolescents, ages 15–21 years. At baseline, 6 months and 12 months, participants completed a 40-min interview and were tested for semen Y-chromosome with PCR from a self-administered vaginal swab. We predicted pregnancy from semen exposure under-report using multivariate regression controlling for oral contraception, reported condom use and coital frequency. Results At the 3 surveys, 30%, 20% and 15% of adolescents who reported always using condoms tested positive for semen exposure. At 6 month follow-up, 20.4% and 16.2% of the adolescents who under-reported semen exposure reported pregnancy, a higher pregnancy rate than accurate reporters of semen exposure, even accurate reporters who reported never using condoms (14.2% and 11.8%). Under-reporters of semen exposure were 3.23 (95% CI (1.61, 6.45)) times as likely to become pregnant at 6-month follow-up and 2.21 (0.94, 5.20) times as likely to become pregnant at 12-month follow-up as accurate reporters who reported not using contraception, adjusting for self-reported coital frequency. Conclusions Adolescents who under-report semen exposure may be at uniquely high risk for unplanned pregnancy and STIs, and may also under-report coital frequency. Condom efficacy trials that rely on self-report may yield inaccurate results. Adapted to a clinical setting, the Y-chromosome PCR could alert women to incorrect or inconsistent condom use.


For centuries our interest in the future has spurred more and less spectacular ideas of potential relationships between bodies, minds and media. Today, we are, perhaps more than ever, surrounded by imaginary media technologies. Through advertising and popular culture our desires for — and fears of — the media of the future are enticed. This paper explores how imaginary media technologies are used to conceive of a relationship between failure and solution and how this relation can be interpreted critically. Theoretically, the paper calls on the notion of performative prototypes and premediation to stress how imagined designs may influence actual technology development, use and imagined interaction. Further, based on the notion that technologies can be interpreted as policies frozen in silicon the paper applies a form of policy analysis which analyses the performative prototypes as so-called problem representations ( i.e. , as the relations between envisioned problems and imagined resolutions). Three specific cases of fictitious media futures are then used to propose an analytical dimension of speculative solutions. As a general conclusion, the paper points to how imagined technologies calls for a more rigorous discussion of the intentionality and morality of (designed and imagined) machinery; the emergence of cyborg subjectivity; and the normativity perpetuated by designs that potentially limit our imaginable future.


The recruitment of an annelid community was examined on 2 tidal elevations in 2 kinds of sediments along an inclined intertidal mud flat in an estuary in northern Taiwan. Recruitment onto defaunated and ambient intact sediments (control) in both low and high tidal zones was followed weekly from 3 April to 1 May 1996. The overall density of recruits in the defaunated sediments reached the level of the control sediments within 3 wk in the low tidal zone, whereas in the high tidal zone the density of recruits did not reach the control level during the study period. Two polychaete species and 1 oligochaete species were the major recruits, and each exhibited a different recruitment mode and rate. The spionid Prionospio japonica and the oligochaete Doliodrilus tener were among the most rapid recruits. P. japonica simultaneously exhibited 2 recruitment modes, larval settlement and postlarval transportation, and its recruit density in the defaunated sediments in the low tidal zone reached the level of the control within 1 wk. D. tener recruited predominately by means of juvenile migration. In general, recruitment by settling larvae occurred at discrete intervals, whereas that by postlarvae or juveniles appeared to be continuous. The densities of P. japonica and of D. tener exhibited a zonation pattern wherein density increased along a down-shore gradient. The sedimentary characteristics also exhibited a similar zonation pattern, wherein the sediment particles became smaller and silt/clay content increased in the low tidal zone. This coupled phenomenon suggests that tidal action has a strong influence on the recruitment of P. japonica and D. tener. These recruits are passively entrapped in the low tidal zone due to the depositional conditions created by slow flows. However, the tidal zonation of the capitellid Capitella sp. showed an opposite trend, with greater recruitment in the high tidal zone, indicating that the recruitment of Capitella sp. possessed an active component. D. tener recruited mostly into the low tidal zone, but a small, significant proportion of the recruitment occurred in the high tidal zone. Capitella sp. and D. tener are subsurface burrowers, and thus, to some extent, their recruitment is less controlled by tidal action. Overall, the recruitment of this annelid community is influenced by both physical and biological controls.


On 18 December 1867 a disastrous earthquake struck off northern Taiwan and generated a tsunami that caused hundreds of deaths. At that time, with little information available, people could not be expected to identify the mechanism of the1867 Keelung earthquake or the subsequent tsunami. To reconstruct the earthquake and tsunami available historical documents and references were reviewed and verified. The data were then evaluated for its' credibility. The historical place names were correlated with the present locations and GIS tools were used to reconstruct the earthquake and tsunami and identify the distribution of the resulting damage. Excluding the damage recorded in the Keelung area, there is evidence that shows that the 1867 Keelung earthquake and tsunami killed more than 580 people. The coastal area from Jinshan to Keelung Harbor was the main affected area. With a recorded tsunami wave height of 6 m occurring in Huanggang and Shueiwei, the run-up height in Jinbaoli Old Street and the Badouzi area is estimated to have been 15 m high. The tsunami wave height was observed to be 205 cm at Keelung Harbor Bay. The attenuation law was adopted to simulate the earthquake intensity distribution. The source parameters reasonableness and validity were considered by comparing the earthquake intensity distribution and the resulting damage. Our results show that the 1867 Keelung earthquake was highly correlated with the offshore Shanchiao Fault extension. The length the fault is about 40 km, with the epicenter located at 25.34°N, 121.91°E and focal depth of 10 km. The moment magnitude was 7.0.


Carbonate acidization is the process of creating wormholes by injecting acid to increase reservoir permeability and oil production. Nevertheless, some reservoir oils are problematic with low asphaltene stability, which affects the wormholing process. The interactions between acid, rock, and asphaltene lead to acid-asphaltene sludge formation, which reduces oil productivity and acid injectivity. Neglecting this sludge formation leads to over predicting the depth of the wormhole penetration. Therefore, a numerical model was developed in this study to provide a better understanding of acid-asphaltene sludge formation effect on wormhole creation and propagation in carbonates. A one-dimensional radial model was developed by coupling fluid flow equations in porous media with asphaltene deposition and acid-asphaltene reactions. Then, the developed model was validated and utilized to investigate the effects of different parameters on wormholing including asphaltene presence, acid injection volume and concentration, formation temperature and porosity, and asphaltene concentration. Results showed that acid injection in carbonates with asphaltenic oils reduce wormhole penetration from 40% to total pore blockage as opposed to reservoirs without asphaltene deposition. The findings also highlighted that shallow wormhole penetration is more pronounced with a high volume of acid injection, high porous formations, less diluted acid, and a high concentration of asphaltene. In addition, there is an optimum acid injection volume at which wormhole penetration is high and its infiltration is deep into the formation. This is the first work to discuss modeling of acid-asphaltene sludge formation and subsequent wormhole development in carbonates, which is particularly important for problematic crude oils.


This paper presents findings from research into expectations of government, based on focus group discussion sessions with over 100 poor and very poor people in rural and urban Bangladesh. The research was designed to help improve our understanding of the political constraints shaping public policy with respect to poverty. In particular it aimed to understand the following: if, as is commonly asserted, the interests of the poorest do not make it onto the public policy agenda, why do the poor appear to tolerate this relative neglect? What is the least a government must do for the poorest in order to retain the level of cooperation and legitimacy necessary for it to function? In brief, what do the poor and the very poor expect from their government?


Here is an engaging alternative to the more solemn introductions to Sren Kierkegaard that are currently available: The Laughter Is on My Side entices us into Kierkegaard's way of looking at the world. Skillfully clearing a path to the heart of Kierkegaard's writings for those who may be unfamiliar with the great Danish thinker, Roger Poole and Henrik Stangerup rearrange some of his most pleasurable and most readable passages to form an entertaining "text-narrative"--not a selection in the ordinary sense but an innovative presentation that tells a new story. The book replaces the inaccessible Kierkegaard of philosophical legend with an ironic, witty, shrewdly observant writer, writing for the amusement of writing, and not for the grimmer satisfactions of instructing or upbraiding. Above all, the Kierkegaard revealed by Poole and Stangerup becomes, in the deepest sense, our contemporary. Taking its title from the young Kierkegaard's nickname, "The Fork," the first section of the work is full of urbane and erotic materials and has much to say about his famous broken engagement to Regine Olsen. A section called "Women" will be of special interest to feminists, particularly the three discourses from the Symposium section of Stages on Life's Way. "The Midnight Hour" presents Kierkegaard's most anguished and existential passages: "Do you not know there comes a midnight hour when everyone has to throw off his mask? Do you think you can slip away a little before midnight in order to avoid this?" Lastly, "1848: 1984" presents Kierkegaard as an incisive and relevant political thinker in a way that has never been attempted before.


Interest in gender as an analytical category in the study of engineering has grown rapidly through continuing concerns about the low numbers of women in the profession. What would a gender-informed engineering ethics look like? In exploring this question, my aim is to think about how these concerns translate into engineering ethics and thereby to demonstrate that certain constructs may not serve men and women equally well. Hence, exploring such tensions and making novel connections between engineering ethics and feminist ethics can offer the beginnings of a gender-aware and ultimately more inclusive ethics for engineering. To achieve this, I examine one aspect of contemporary thinking in engineering ethics in terms of the "moral hero". The moral hero tends to be not only strongly masculine but also very individualistic. However, as recent writings on feminist ethics argue against hegemonic masculinity and the inherent individualism it often entails, I offer two alternatives. The first is a consideration of the possibilities inherent in care ethics for a more collective and less overtly masculine theme for engineering and technology ethics. The second is a classical concept, in terms of the "Sibyl", the ancient prophetess or oracle, which may be particularly useful in understanding the historical exclusion of women from technical disciplines, and which also may inspire alternative moral decision heuristics, although she is not a symbol that emphasizes collectivity in ethics.


This paper presents a technique for exploiting input statistics for energy and performance optimization of embedded software. The proposed technique is based on the fact that the computational complexities of programs or subprograms are often highly dependent on the values assumed by input and intermediate program variables during execution. This observation is exploited in the proposed software synthesis technique by augmenting the program with optimized versions of one or more subprograms that are specialized to, and executed under, specific input subspaces. We propose a methodology for input space-adaptive software synthesis that consists of the following steps: 1) control and value profiling of the input program; 2) application of compiler transformations in a preprocessing step; 3) identification of subprograms and corresponding input subspaces that hold the highest potential for optimization; and 4) an iterative application of known compiler transformations to realize performance and energy savings. We propose novel metrics based on the entropies of program variables to characterize subprograms and input subspaces that hold significant potential for optimization. The chosen subprograms are optimized by translating the input subspaces into value constraints on their variables, and iteratively applying known compiler transformations (that were not applicable in the context of the original program). We have evaluated input space-adaptive software synthesis by compiling the resulting optimized programs to two commercial embedded systems: an embedded system based on the Fujitsu SPARClite processor, and the Compaq iPAQ personal digital assistant (PDA) [64 MB memory, 206 MHz Intel StrongARM central processing unit (CPU)]. The energy and execution-time savings were calculated using energy-aware instruction-level simulators, as well as through direct-current measurement on the iPAQ. Our results demonstrate that the proposed technique can reduce energy by up to 54.5% (average of 30.6% and 25.6% for the SPARClite-based system and the iPAQ, respectively) while simultaneously improving performance by up to 59.6% (average of 31.3% and 31.5% for the SPARClite-based system and the iPAQ, respectively). In effect, improvements in the energy-delay product of up to 81.1% (average of 51.0% and 47.7% for the SPARClite-based system and the iPAQ, respectively) were observed. The energy savings resulting from our technique are fairly processor independent, and complementary to conventional compiler optimizations.


ABSTRACT This article explores the 'myth of friendship' between the Welsh and indigenous communities of Patagonia in the mid to late nineteenth century. Drawing on extensive archival research, it unpacks the purpose of this myth which is to demonstrate the moral superiority of the Welsh nation. The proof of Welsh righteousness derives not only from their peaceful, loving approach to colonisation in Patagonia but from stories which recount that the 'Indians' loved them back. This technique of elevation works because it is framed by the international politics of colonial expansion, thus the Welsh settlers compare themselves favourably to the violent and oppressive actions of the British Empire and Argentine state. This assertion of moral superiority is not only a way to raise the position of the Welsh nation on the global stage, it targets those who enforce Welsh political and linguistic subordination, both in Wales (the English elite) and as settlers (the Argentine government). In this way, their claim to high status and national dignity based on 'righteousness' is an act of resistance, as well as elevation. I conclude that this new interpretation of Y Wladfa (the colony) offers fresh insight to understandings of Welsh internationalism. Moreover, its reflections on the use of moral capital as a tool of resistance might find wider parallels. Certainly, I argue, the persistence of the 'myth of friendship' continues to conceal the brutal reality of indigenous dispossession.


Standard statistical models of language fail to capture one of the most striking properties of natural languages: the power-law distribution in the frequencies of word tokens. We present a framework for developing statistical models that can generically produce power laws, breaking generative models into two stages. The first stage, the generator, can be any standard probabilistic model, while the second stage, the adaptor, transforms the word frequencies of this model to provide a closer match to natural language. We show that two commonly used Bayesian models, the Dirichlet-multinomial model and the Dirichlet process, can be viewed as special cases of our framework. We discuss two stochastic processes---the Chinese restaurant process and its two-parameter generalization based on the Pitman-Yor process---that can be used as adaptors in our framework to produce power-law distributions over word frequencies. We show that these adaptors justify common estimation procedures based on logarithmic or inverse-power transformations of empirical frequencies. In addition, taking the Pitman-Yor Chinese restaurant process as an adaptor justifies the appearance of type frequencies in formal analyses of natural language and improves the performance of a model for unsupervised learning of morphology.


The mechanism that induces an antitumor immune response from 5-fluorouracil and gemcitabine also initiates protumorigenic inflammation. Whereas acute inflammation induced by chemotherapeutics aids in the antitumor response, chronic inflammation is protumorigenic. Gemcitabine (Gem) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) disrupt DNA replication to inhibit rapidly dividing cells, which can disrupt tumor growth and also enhance the activation of tumor-specific CD8+ T cells by selectively depleting myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), but these drugs do not prevent tumor relapse. Bruchard et al. showed that Gem and 5-FU stimulated the release of protumorigenic interleukins from MDSCs before their depletion and that this was a mechanism that limited their antitumor efficacy. In MSC-2 cells, established cultures of MDSCs, Gem, or 5-FU activated the NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain–containing-3 protein (NLRP3)–dependent "inflammasome" complex—which activates caspase-1 to stimulate interleukin-1β (IL-1β) secretion—by inducing a cytosolic influx of cathepsin B, which is normally contained in lysosomes. Addition of a cathepsin B inhibitor or bafilomycin A, a lysosomal acidification inhibitor, to MSC-2 cells reduced 5-FU- or Gem-induced caspase-1 activation. In tumor-bearing mice and colon cancer patients treated with either Gem or 5-FU, NLRP3 activation and IL-1β secretion occurred exclusively with MDSCs. Genetic inactivation of either NLRP3 or caspase-1 to prevent IL-1β secretion restricted tumor growth and prolonged survival of 5-FU–treated mice bearing EL4 (lymphoblast), 4T1 (mammary), B16F10 (melanoma), or LLC (Lewis lung) carcinomas. Similarly, genetic inactivation of the IL-1 receptor (IL-1R) or treatment with an IL-1R antagonist (IL-1Ra) also enhanced the antiproliferative effect of 5-FU on EL4 tumor cells but did not affect tumor cell viability, indicating that the effects of IL-1β were on mouse host, not the xenografted tumor cells. MDSC-secreted IL-1β enhanced the secretion of a second cytokine, IL-17, from proinflammatory CD4+ T cells, the population of which increased in the tumor-draining lymph nodes of mice treated with 5-FU or Gem. IL-17 is implicated in angiogenesis, a critical process for tumor progression. The expression of proangiogenic genes (Eng and Pecam1) and T helper 17 cell–related genes (Il17a and Rorc), which are all regulated by IL-17, in the tissue surrounding the tumor was increased in vivo. IL-1Ra treatment combined with 5-FU blocked the induction of IL-17–regulated genes. Similar to Nlrp3–/– or Il-1R–/– cells, 5-FU was more effective at restricting tumor growth in Il17a–/– than in wild-type mice. MDSC depletion was critical to the antitumor effect of 5-FU, but depletion with 5-FU alone was not achievable without caspase-1 activation. The findings indicate that an improved chemotherapeutic strategy may be to combine IL-1 inhibition and 5-FU treatment. M. Bruchard, G. Mignot, V. Derangère, F. Chalmin, A. Chevriaux, F. Végran, W. Boireau, B. Simon, B. Ryffel, J. L. Connat, J. Kanellopoulos, F. Martin, C. Rébé, L. Apetoh, F. Ghiringhelli, Chemotherapy-triggered cathepsin B release in myeloid-derived suppressor cells activates the Nlrp3 inflammasome and promotes tumor growth. Nat. Med. 19, 57–64 (2013). [PubMed]


Cognitive task analysis (CTA) captures unobservable cognitive processes, decisions and judgments of expert performance. Over 100 different CTA methods are identified in prior literature. However, existing classifications typically sort techniques by process rather than outcome, application or causal mechanism. Therefore, techniques can be misapplied and comparative analysis of methods made difficult. Based on the frequency distribution of CTA methods in 1065 studies, a subsample representing 60% of the most frequently published methods was coded based on elicitation and analysis techniques. Consistency of resulting applications was assessed. Inconsistent matching of CTA methods and subsequent applications indicate CTA is currently more craft than technology. Therefore, there is no robust basis for selecting one method over another for research or practice. Specific challenges include comparing the reliability and validity of individual methods and optimising selection of techniques for intended applications. Developing a causal taxonomy may facilitate such advancements.


Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation of kinematic variables with quality of trunk control in poststroke patients. Methods. This cross-sectional study included stroke subjects with mild to moderate motor deficit corresponding to Brunnstrom stages 3-4. Trunk functional performance was measured using bed mobility monitor system. All tasks were repeated ten times for both directions in each subject. Outcome measurements included the movement time and displacement of center of pressure (CoP) from supine to side lying and returning. Results. The results revealed that a significant longer turning time was observed when turning from the paretic side toward the nonparetic side compared to the other direction, with an estimated mean difference of 0.427 sec (P = 0.005). We found a significant difference in the time of rolling back to supine position between two directions. The displacement of CoP in rolling back from side lying on the nonparetic side was smaller than that from the paretic side with an estimated mean difference of −0.797 cm (P = 0.023). Conclusions. The impaired trunk mobility was associated with increased movement time and decreased displacement of CoP in poststroke patients. Trunk rolling performance has potential in assessment of stroke patients.


The 2x2 optical switch is a crucial component to the future of optical communications and integrated optics. Optical switches on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform have shown advantages in terms of device footprint and switching speed. However, due to the intrinsic properties of SOI rib waveguides, these devices suffer from a strong wavelength and polarization dependent response. Our work presents an SOI based Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) switch which is both polarization and wavelength insensitive over a large bandwidth of 1260-1360 nm. We have completed detailed analyses on the polarization and wavelength performance of the MZI, and obtained optimized parameters in a novel design to reduce the crosstalk f or transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes over the wavelength range 1260-1360 nm. Our simulations suggest that we successfully obtained a polarization and wavelength insensitive MZI. A crosstalk level below -18 dB is achieved for both the TE and TM modes in the on-state and the off-state, across the 100 nm bandwidth. Such a polarization and wavelength insensitive switch has a variety of applications in wavelength division multiplexing and other communication systems.


Background and Purpose: The use of dietary supplements is on the rise in Canada. This raises questions about the safety of the supplements when taken in the recommended dosage. One ingredient of concern in dietary supplements is caffeine, which can cause adverse health effects when consumed in great enough quantities. Given the lack of research into the caffeine content of dietary supplements, along with few regulations that exist regarding labelling or limits on caffeine content within Canada, a major concern is whether or not these supplements pose a risk to the public. The purpose of this study is to compare the caffeine content of various types of dietary supplements, and to determine if the caffeine content warrants a risk to the public. Methods: Supplement stores within the Vancouver Metropolitan Area were visited online and in person, and supplements were categorized as an energy drink, pre-workout supplement, energy bar, fat-loss supplement, or caffeine pill or capsule. The caffeine content per recommended dosage of each supplement was recorded from the label. Results: It was found that the caffeine content did vary between supplement categories (Kruskall-Wallis one way ANOVA test had a p-value < 0.000), and that fat-loss supplements and pre-workout supplements had the highest caffeine content with a mean 221.19mg per serving and 249.68mg per serving respectively. Caffeine pills had a mean of 186.90mg per serving, energy drinks had a mean of 166.84mg per serving, and energy bars had a mean of 85.06mg per serving. Discussion: Health Canada recommends that healthy adults not exceed 400mg of caffeine per day. Exceeding this limit can lead to adverse health reactions, such as anxiety, insomnia, heart palpitations or more serious symptoms such as convulsions or death. It was found in this study that 5% of the samples exceeded 400mg, and can be considered hazardous. Taking multiple doses of supplements, or consuming additional caffeine from alternative sources, such as coffee, also puts consumers at a greater risk of exceeding the recommended limits. Currently there are no regulations in Canada regarding how much caffeine is permitted within these products, or any labeling requirements for caffeine in dietary supplements. Conclusion: Given the increase in popularity of dietary supplements in Canada, along with the limited regulations on labelling requirements, caffeine-containing supplements could potentially pose a risk to consumers. This study shows that the caffeine content differs between types of dietary supplements, and that some supplements exceed the Health Canada guidelines of 400mg. More regulations and guidelines on labeling requirements for these supplements may be necessary to protect the public.


The booming development of protein detection requires simple, sensitive, and reliable biosensor systems. Water-soluble conjugated polymers have been widely used for protein sensing due to their distinct optical response in the presence of different analytes. This review summarizes the recent developments in water-soluble conjugated polymer-based protein sensors. Based on the different optical responses of conjugated polymers to proteins, these assays are categorized into three groups. The conformational change of cationic poly(thiophene)s is used to generate unique colorimetric or fluorescent transduction upon interaction with target proteins. Super-quenching of water-soluble poly(phenylene vinylene)s and poly(phenylene ethynylene)s has been developed into fluorescence turn-on and turn-off proteinassays. Energy transfer between poly(fluorene-co-phenylene) derivatives and acceptor dyes is also utilized to develop fluorescence turn-on proteinassays with amplified signal output. The fine-tuning of conjugated polymer structures will benefit the design of versatile optical probes to satisfy the sophisticated requirements for protein sensors.


Leak detection and location remain a common problem in NASA and industry, where gas leaks can create hazardous conditions if not quickly detected and corrected. In order to help rectify this problem, this design equips an infrared (IR) camera with the means to make gas leaks of IR-absorbing gases more visible for leak detection and location. By comparing the output of two IR cameras (or two pictures from the same camera under essentially identical conditions and very closely spaced in time) on a pixel-by-pixel basis, one can cancel out all but the desired variations that correspond to the IR absorption of the gas of interest. This can be simply done by absorbing the IR lines that correspond to the gas of interest from the radiation received by one of the cameras by the intervention of a filter that removes the particular wavelength of interest from the "reference" picture. This can be done most sensitively with a gas filter (filled with the gas of interest) placed in front of the IR detector array, or (less sensitively) by use of a suitable line filter in the same location. This arrangement would then be balanced against the unfiltered "measurement" picture, which will have variations from IR absorption from the gas of interest. By suitable processing of the signals from each pixel in the two IR pictures, the user can display only the differences in the signals. Either a difference or a ratio output of the two signals is feasible. From a gas concentration viewpoint, the ratio could be processed to show the column depth of the gas leak. If a variation in the background IR light intensity is present in the field of view, then large changes in the difference signal will occur for the same gas column concentration between the background and the camera. By ratioing the outputs, the same signal ratio is obtained for both high- and low-background signals, even though the low-signal areas may have greater noise content due to their smaller signal strength. Thus, one embodiment would use a ratioed output signal to better represent the gas column concentration. An alternative approach uses a simpler multiplication of the filtered signal to make the filtered signal equal to the unfiltered signal at most locations, followed by a subtraction to remove all but the wavelength-specific absorption in the unfiltered sample. This signal processing can also reveal the net difference signal representing the leaking gas absorption, and allow rapid leak location, but signal intensity would not relate solely to gas absorption, as raw signal intensity would also affect the displayed signal. A second design choice is whether to use one camera with two images closely spaced in time, or two cameras with essentially the same view and time. The figure shows the two-camera version. This choice involves many tradeoffs that are not apparent until some detailed testing is done. In short, the tradeoffs involve the temporal changes in the field picture versus the pixel sensitivity curves and frame alignment differences with two cameras, and which system would lead to the smaller variations from the uncontrolled variables.


Flavonols and anthocyanins are plant secondary metabolites with an increasing interest due to their beneficial effects on human health. They are present in all plants, participat ‐ ing in plant protection against biotic and abiotic stresses. However, only some plant spe ‐ cies accumulate them in relevant amounts, as is the case for berries. Among the health benefits reported is prevention of metabolic syndrome, s, including prevention of insulin resistance associated to type 2 diabetes. Therefore, there is a big interest to improve contents on plant foods to benefit health through the diet, as well as to obtain them for functional ingredients for food supplements. In fulfillment of this objective, a deep study about their biosynthetic pathway has been carried out in model plants, where the genome is available. However, not all species that accumulate them in high amounts have their genome sequenced, as is the case for blackberry. Transcriptomic approaches have been undertaken to gain knowledge of its specific biosynthetic pathway and regulatory ele ‐ ments, aiming to improve bioactive contents in the edible parts. Furthermore, determin ‐ ing the regulatory pathways will help to improve yields and in vitro production. For this purpose, a review on elicitors used to trigger this pathway is presented. their regulation for further application in metabolic engineering and cell cultures.


Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language spoken mainly in the western islands of Scotland, has two patterns of relativization on prepositional complements: a pied-piping pattern and a stranding one. The pied-piping pattern involves the relative complementizer an. An forces fronting of the preposition, which then appears with definite inflection. The stranding pattern involves the main relative complementizer a, which requires the preposition to remain in situ with 3MSG inflection. This paper analyzes the pied-piping pattern, assuming Adger and Ramchand (2005)'s static Agree analysis for the stranding one. I propose that the pied-piping pattern involves a relative operator and movement. The relative operator is not null, but identical with the definite article (following Arregi 2000 for Spanish) with the exception of a [REL] feature which triggers movement to spec,CP. I term this combination of features the Definite Operator. Under this account, Scottish Gaelic is not so different from other Indo-European languages like Spanish and German in its use of the definite article in forming relative clauses. Unlike Spanish and German, Scottish Gaelic requires deletion of the definite operator, with the result that it is detectable only in the definite inflection on the pied-piped preposition.


A general theory of second-harmonic generation, including all the effects of group-velocity dispersion, is given for coherent ultrashort pulses with arbitrary shapes and carrier chirps. Ultrashort-pulse second-harmonic generation is analyzed for transform-limited fundamental pulses. The effects of intrapulse group-velocity dispersion (IGVD) on the second-harmonic (SH) pulse shape are investigated for parameters representative of popular phase-matchable crystals and wavelength, including Ti:sapphire lasers. In phase-matched structures IGVD at the SH cannot be neglected for pulses approaching 10 fs. It results in a spectral quadratic phase on the SH and in some cases can shorten the pulse. External dispersive shaping of the SH pulses distorted by group-velocity mismatch (GVM) is examined, and some pulse shortening is found possible. It is shown that the effect of IGVD at the SH wavelength on the pulse is similar to that of the spectral quadratic phase provided by an external pulse shaper. Group-velocity-matched configurations are also investigated. IGVD at both the fundamental and the SH wavelengths is found to limit the optimum thickness of the nonlinear medium. A measure of the interaction length in which the pulse width of the fundamental pulse is preserved in the SH is introduced. It is defined in terms of the GVM and the pulse bandwidth for phase-matched structures and in terms of the IGVD and pulse bandwidths for group-velocity-matched configurations.


Cells are the basic unit of living organisms and consist of a cytoplasm, which is enclosed by a membrane. As building blocks of life with a plethora of functions, cells have to be equipped with a high degree of mechanical resistance, durability, and variability. In eukaryotic cells three filamentous protein types – actin filaments, microtubules, and intermediate filaments (IFs) – form the so-called cytoskeleton, a network that is known to play a key role for the mechanical properties of cells. Among the three filament systems, IFs are special in terms of, for example, their hierarchical architecture, and their cell-type specific expression.
In this thesis, vimentin, an IF mostly found in mesenchymal cells, is studied as a model system to learn more about the mechanical properties of IFs, and the underlying mechanisms that determine their robustness, stiffness, and flexibility. Using a combination of optical trapping and atomic force microcopy experiments and stochastic and numerical modelling, vimentin is found to possess impressive physical properties, such as an extendibility of about 3.6 times its initial length and a tensile memory that can be directly linked to the molecular architecture of the protein and the hierarchical construction of the filament.
The experimental results show a clear loading-rate- and strain-dependent behavior of single vimentin IFs supporting the hypothesis that vimentin acts as a "safety belt" for cells, protecting them especially at large and fast deformations. The potential to dissipate a large amount of energy that is attributed to distinct non-equilibrium unfolding and refolding of the α-helices, which are the main structural feature of the vimentin monomer, enables vimentin to act as a shock absorber when exposed to large deformations. In case of cyclic deformations, such as in the cardiovascular system, the observed tensile memory could potentially help cells to be compliant with the repeated strain.
In conclusion, vimentin is found to display highly interesting and diverse mechanical properties depending on the applied stress that could be linked to the molecular architecture of the filaments and enable vimentin to determine the mechanical properties of cells to a large extend.


The design of a multi-agent system for integrated management of greenhouse production is described. The model supports the integrated greenhouse production, with targets set to quality and quantity of produce with the minimum possible cost in resources and environmental consequences. In this paper, we propose a real time and robust system for monitoring and control of the greenhouse condition which can automatically control of greenhouse temperature, lights, humidity, CO2 concentration, sunshine, pH, salinity, water available, soil temperature and soil nutrient for efficient production. We will propose a multi-agent methodology for integrated management systems in greenhouses. In this regards wireless sensor networks play a vital role to monitor greenhouse and environment parameters. Each control process of the greenhouse environment is modeled as an autonomous agent with its own inputs, outputs and its own interactions with the other agents. Each agent acts autonomously, as it knows a priori the desired environmental setpoints. Many researchers have been making attempts to develop the greenhouse environment management system. The existing environment management systems are bulky, very costly and difficult to maintain. In the last years, Multi Agent Systems and Wireless Sensor Networks are becoming important solutions to this problem. This paper describes the implementation and configuration of the wireless sensor network to monitor and control various parameter of greenhouse. The developed system is simple, cost effective, and easily installable.


ABSTRACTSince 2001 when Jim O'Neill coined the acronym BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries and his firm Goldman Sachs put forth a report that argued that based on their economic potential they could become the world's most dominant economies by 2050 they have searched for their place on the world geopolitical scene. Over the past 10 years a great deal has been written about them, their economic potential, and their continuing lack of relevancy in the world for various reasons. In what some call a move to fill a major gap in the group South Africa has now joined the group to form the BRICS. The paper will look at whether or not this addition finally makes the BRICS relevant and more capable of living up to the potential that Goldman Sachs projected in 2001.INTRODUCTIONBeginning in 2001 when Goldman Sachs executive Jim O'Neill coined the acronym BRIC countries for a group consisting of Brazil, Russia, India and China, predictions, projections and estimates have been written about their prodigious economic power. The group itself has begun to believe in the projections and in 2009 started to hold its own summits to counter the G8 and G20 meetings, of which they are members. What they seem to be missing is relevance or to put it another way "Why won't anyone listen to us?"HISTORYBRIC was an acronym coined by Jim O'Neil in a 2001 Goldman Sachs's Global Economic Paper No: 66, "Building Better Global Economic Brics". He predicted, soberly, that "over the next 10 years, the weight of the Brics and especially China in the world GDP will grow" - and warned, perhaps a little less soberly, that "in line with these prospects, world policymaking forums should be reorganized" to give more power to the group he had now dubbed Brics (Tett, 2010)The term caught on not only with Goldman Sachs clients, but with others as well and Briclife as it is known inside Goldman Sachs began. In his initial paper O'Neill and his team projected that based on current statistical evidence "That the BRICs and especially China in the world GDP will grow, raising important issues about the global economic impact of fiscal and monetary policy in the BRlCs."(Goldman Sachs, 2001)It was not until October, 2003 that O'Neill and his Goldman Sachs team in their Global Economic Paper No: 99, "Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050" came out with their now often quoted projection about results in 2050. In this paper they point out that over the next 50 years, Brazil, Russia, India and China - the BRIC economies - could become a much larger force in the world economy Goldman Sachs, 2003).In Global Economic Paper No: 99 Jim O'Neill clearly stated that while the world has changed a lot over the last 50 years the changes over the next 50 years could be just as dramatic. Using a reasonably conservative model he makes some projections which now, ten years later, we can verify or cast aside. We have more historical data now to guide us as we try to decide if the newly expanded BRIC group of nations is becoming more relevant or remaining just an easily remembered acronym.To establish a historical perspective for the BRIC group we have the following facts. At the end of 2000, GDP in US$ on a PPP basis in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) was about 23.3% of world GDP Goldman Sachs, 2001).With the addition of South Africa to the group in 201 1 they now represent 40% of the world's population and 25% of the world's GDP Globalization, 201 1). This remarkable growth in slightly more than 10 supports the Goldman Sachs projections and reinforces the O'Neill idea that these countries continue to be poised for their predicted long-term growth.PROJECTIONS/PREDICTIONSFrom Jim O'Neill and his team in 2003 came the following projections:* In less than 40 years the BRICs' economies together could be larger than the G6 in US dollar terms. By 2025 they could account for over half the size of the G6. …


In a platform-mediated network, users rely on a common platform, provided by one or more intermediaries, that encompasses infrastructure and rules required by users to transact with each other. A fundamental design decision for firms that aspire to develop platform-mediated networks is whether to preserve proprietary control or share their platform with rivals. A proprietary platform has a single provider that solely controls its technology, for example, Federal Express, Apple Macintosh, or Google. With a shared platform, such as Visa, DVD, or Linux, multiple firms collaborate in developing the platform's technology then compete in offering users different but compatible versions of the platform. This article examines factors that favor proprietary versus shared models when designing new platforms then explains how management challenges differ for proprietary and shared platform during subsequent life-cycle stages: network mobilization and platform maturity.


The workbook you need to test your understanding of financial statement analysis, from the seasoned experts at the CFA Institute
In a global, highly interconnected investment landscape, financial analysts must have a thorough, working knowledge of international financial statement analysis. This companion Workbook to International Financial Statement Analysis, Second Edition accompanies the second edition of International Financial Statement Analysis, the essential guide to this important field, written by top experts at the CFA Institute.
Designed to help busy professionals understand and apply the concepts and methodologies essential to accurate financial analysis, this workbook enables readers to test their knowledge and comprehension of the tools and techniques described in the main text before putting them to use in real world situations. This informative study guide contains carefully constructed problems with detailed solutions, as well as concise learning outcome statements and summary chapter overviews.

The must-have companion to International Financial Statement Analysis, Second Edition
Filled with pedagogical tools for applying key concepts
Chapter overviews include coverage of: the differences and similarities in income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements around the world; the impact of foreign exchange rates on the financial statements of a multinational corporation; the difficulty in measuring the value of employee compensation; the importance of income tax accounting and reporting, and much more

To acquire a practical mastery of international financial statement analysis, you need to be able to practice putting theory into action, and International Financial Statement Analysis Workbook, Second Edition provides the review resources you need to succeed.


This article examines the speculative re-organisation of political space presented in two recent works by British writers, Matter by Iain M. Banks and The City and the City by China Miéville, and how they engage in distinct but related ways with the new technological remapping of the West Bank explored in Israeli architect and theorist Eyal Weizman's Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation. The discussion analyses the hollow earth topos and shows how these novels draw upon and extend a literary tradition that has served as the inspiration and touchstone for 'experimental' philosophical and technical approaches to the projection of sovereignty into three dimensions and the re-imagining of the nature and function of geopolitical borders. It reveals Banks and Miéville's significant contribution to the repeated and sometimes surprising intellectual cross-fertilisation between the fictional, theoretical, and actual practice of dividing political space in three dimensions.


This essay argues that Thomas Hardy9s Tess of the d9Urbervilles (1891), long read as a novel concerned with the industrial demolition of agrarian England, internalizes the problem of mechanization at the level of both story and narrative form. The narrative "defects" of which critics typically complain——"mechanical" plot devices, "two-dimensional" characterization, and obtrusions of tone and style——are, this essay argues, intentional distortions of realism designed to draw attention to the consequences of industrialization. In a crucial scene, Tess Durbeyfield is enslaved to a monster machine, a diabolical steam thresher. Dramatizing the onset of mechanization, this scene aligns the fate of the novel9s heroine with the fate of the preindustrial world she inhabits and, introducing a subtle distortion of realism in the mythic rendering of the monster, connects the narrative9s apparent defects to a critique of the industrial order. The "mechanical" plot of the novel, linked to the operation of actual machines, draws attention to the inexorable brutality of the historical forces that drive it; the "two-dimensional" villain, a double for the diabolical machine, dramatizes——in the functional reduction of his humanity——the personal consequences of mechanization; and the narrative9s tonal inconsistencies, apparently satirizing the calamities it itself engineers, demonstrate its implication in a mechanical system it cannot both escape and expose. Enacting the ravages of industrialization, the novel in a sense becomes the mechanical monster it represents; yet in doing so, it renders a powerful, formal indictment of mechanization.


Gari and foofoo (fermented cassava foods) were purchased in the Freetown markets of Sierra Leone and analysed for factors associated with quality. Sellers were generally knowledgable about the source of the products which all originated from the country areas outside Freetown. The mean cyanide contents were higher (8.6 mg kg−1 DM for gari and 28.2 mg kg−1 DM for foofoo) than the amounts suggested by the Codex specification and, because of the distribution of the values around the mean, some samples necessarily contained unacceptable amounts of cyanide. Cyanogens were present as the cyanohydrin or as free cyanide; no glucoside was detected. Microbiological analysis of the samples showed high counts for total organisms, fungi and Enterobacteriaceae (106–107 g−1). The mean water content of gari was 119 g kg−1 which falls within the recommended limit of 120 g kg−1 but again, due to the distribution of values around the mean, some samples had considerably higher water contents than that limit. Titratable acidity and pH were measured and the mean pH values were 4.18 for foofoo and 4.55 for gari. The particle size and swelling power of gari samples were also measured as these relate to consumer acceptance. The data show the quality of current cassava foods marketed in a major urban centre in Sierra Leone. As centralised processing develops, improvements can be made to those quality parameters which have been identified as important.


The federal crime of gratuities prohibits people from giving gifts to federal public officials if the gift is tied to an official act. Both the donor and the donee are liable. The gratuities crime is dysfunctional in two main ways. It is overinclusive in that it covers conduct indistinguishable from bribery. It is underinclusive in that it does not cover conduct that is clearly dangerous: gifts to public officials because of their positions that are not tied to a particular official act. This Article argues that Congress should extend the crime of gratuities to cover gifts because of an official's position rather than leaving the crime to cover only gifts because of particular official acts. The danger to bias-free government because of gifting based on official positions is demonstrated in recent research on influence and reciprocity. The rule for reciprocity is powerful and hard to fight because participants are generally unaware it is operating on them. Gifting officials based on their positions is not adequately controlled by mandated disclosure or ethics prohibitions. This Article urges Congress to amend the gratuities crime to expand it and avoid the dangers of overcriminalization by inserting mens rea terms into the crime. The appropriate mens rea terms are knowledge of the facts for donees and knowledge of the facts and law for donors. Congress should also address the overbreadth of the crime by taking one situation, when donors transfer value to donees because of future official acts, out of the gratuities crime because it is indistinguishable from the crime of bribery. This Article proposes amendments to implement these changes in terms familiar to the federal criminal law.


Legal scholars frequently look to other disciplines for theoretical perspectives and frameworks, and interdisciplinary legal scholarship is widely accepted in the academy. Yet, in legal research instruction, students are rarely exposed to interdisciplinary research methods or perspectives that will help them consider the more profound and complex aspects of legal information sources. Exposing students to a deeper analysis, structured by critical information theory, can help students fully comprehend the legal structure being researched. This chapter uses regulatory research as an exemplar, and illustrates how the use of critical information theory can be a pathway to the consideration of regulatory transparency, agency action, and other complex questions implicated in regulatory work. Ultimately, this pathway can help students construct new arguments, deal with information overload, and understand the complexities inherent in our legal and regulatory systems. Using critical information theory as framework for teaching regulatory research is one attempt to "construct the bridge between the pedagogical theories...and the many and varied methods employed to teach" research. When mindful of regulatory transparency, agency action, and complex administrative practice concerns, regulatory research instruction embodies the Boulder Statements on Legal Research Education which recommends that students "experience a cognitive apprenticeship...[so as to] synthesize information about legal systems and resources" as well as "identify the "ethical responsibilities, the avoidance of plagiarism, and the fulfillment of the ethical duty to conduct adequate and thorough research." Incorporating critical information theory additionally supports the Boulder Statements' focus on the development of the theoretical foundation of a signature pedagogy for legal research education." Finally, regulatory research skills framed by critical information theory "teach[es] an intellectual process for the application of methods for legal research by...[s]howing the relationship of legal structure to legal tools and evaluating the appropriate use of those tools."


Current authentication systems suffer from many weaknesses. Textual passwords are commonly used; however, users do not follow their requirements. Users tend to choose meaningful words from dictionaries, which make textual passwords easy to break and vulnerable to dictionary or brute force attacks. Many available graphical passwords have a password space that is less than or equal to the textual password space. Smart cards or tokens can be stolen. Many biometric authentications have been proposed; however, users tend to resist using biometrics because of their intrusiveness and the effect on their privacy. Moreover, biometrics cannot be revoked. In this paper, we present and evaluate our contribution, i.e., the 3-D password. The 3-D password is a multifactor authentication scheme. To be authenticated, we present a 3-D virtual environment where the user navigates and interacts with various objects. The sequence of actions and interactions toward the objects inside the 3-D environment constructs the user's 3-D password. The 3-D password can combine most existing authentication schemes such as textual passwords, graphical passwords, and various types of biometrics into a 3-D virtual environment. The design of the 3-D virtual environment and the type of objects selected determine the 3-D password key space. Keywords3-D password, authentication, biometric, virtual


Decision-theoretic systems, such as Markov Decision Processes (MDPs), are used for sequential decision-making under uncertainty. MDPs provide a generic framework that can be applied in various domains to compute optimal policies. This thesis presents techniques that offer explanations of optimal policies for MDPs and then refine decision theoretic models (Bayesian networks and MDPs) based on feedback from experts. Explaining policies for sequential decision-making problems is difficult due to the presence of stochastic effects, multiple possibly competing objectives and long-range effects of actions. However, explanations are needed to assist experts in validating that the policy is correct and to help users in developing trust in the choices recommended by the policy. A set of domain-independent templates to justify a policy recommendation is presented along with a process to identify the minimum possible number of templates that need to be populated to completely justify the policy. The rejection of an explanation by a domain expert indicates a deficiency in the model which led to the generation of the rejected policy. Techniques to refine the model parameters such that the optimal policy calculated using the refined parameters would conform with the expert feedback are presented in this thesis. The expert feedback is translated into constraints on the model parameters that are used during refinement. These constraints are non-convex for both Bayesian networks and MDPs. For Bayesian networks, the refinement approach is based on Gibbs sampling and stochastic hill climbing, and it learns a model that obeys expert constraints. For MDPs, the parameter space is partitioned such that alternating linear optimization can be applied to learn model parameters that lead to a policy in accordance with expert feedback. In practice, the state space of MDPs can often be very large, which can be an issue for real-world problems. Factored MDPs are often used to deal with this issue. In Factored MDPs, state variables represent the state space and dynamic Bayesian networks model the transition functions. This helps to avoid the exponential growth in the state space associated with large and complex problems. The approaches for explanation and refinement presented in this thesis are also extended for the factored case to demonstrate their use in real-world applications. The domains of course advising to undergraduate students, assisted hand-washing for people with dementia and diagnostics for manufacturing are used to present empirical evaluations.


The great promise of American law is Equal Protection: everyone is equal before the law. Colorado's Ethnic Intimidation statute runs contrary to this promise, by creating preferred classes of victims. Proposed "hate crimes" laws would make the problem even worse. Different groups should not be contending for special status in our criminal law. Identity politics strikes at the heart of the American motto of e pluribus unum, and encourages people to think of themselves as members of particular groups -- rather than as, most of all, Americans first. Laws based on identity politics lead to skewed prioritization of law enforcement resources, and impinge on values of free speech, which includes the freedom to hold and express the most odious ideas. Until Colorado's statute is repealed, it should be improved by stronger penalties for the creation of hoaxes.


The requirements concerning reliability in power supply are high. This paper treats the issue of system adequacy, i.e., there should be enough installed capacity to meet the load with an acceptable reliability. The challenge in a liberalized market is that the utilization time of rarely used peak units is so low that they require extremely high prices in order to be profitable. This has led to different methods, including the creation of capacity markets. The aim of this paper is to analyze the connection between peak prices, system reliability, required amount of subsidized capacity, i.e., the volume of the capacity market. In the studied market setup, only some selected units, so-called "reserve plants", receive a capacity payment. The paper also provides an example concerning change of capacity market volume in presence of wind power.


The Western Balkans have historically been a poor area of Europe. The total population of the Western Balkans is 24.7 million. Ethnic differences of long standing have led to conflicts and to political and economic instability. Poverty and instability have combined to produce a vicious circle of institutional backwardness. Recent conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo have aggravated an already adverse economic situation. GDP in 1999 was substantially lower than that in 1989. The EU plans to enter into contractual relationships with all the Western Balkans in the form of Stabilization and Association Agreements (SAAs). The pacts are aimed at helping to establish economic and political stability, to implement institutional reforms, to practice regional free trade and cooperation and to privatize the economies of Western Balkans. These are also the presumed goals of the Western Balkans. This study focuses on a review of the progress made by the Western Balkans toward meeting the above stated challenges. A main conclusion is that the attainment of these goals has been asymmetrical for economic, political and institutional reasons.


It has become cliche to observe that new information technologies endanger privacy. Typically, the threat is viewed as coming from Big Brother (the government) or Company Man (the firm). But for a nascent data practice we call "self-surveillance," the threat may actually come from ourselves. Using various existing and emerging technologies, such as GPS-enabled smartphones, we are beginning to measure ourselves in granular detail - how long we sleep, where we drive, what we breathe, what we eat, how we spend our time. And we are storing these data casually, perhaps promiscuously, somewhere in the "cloud," and giving third-parties broad access. This data practice of self-surveillance will decrease information privacy in troubling ways. To counter this trend, we recommend the creation of the Privacy Data Guardian, a new profession that manages Privacy Data Vaults, which are repositories for self-surveillance data. In Part I, we describe the emerging data practice of self-surveillance, which has been enabled by various new measurement and communication technologies. We explain how self-surveillance can produce substantial benefits to both the individual and society, in both intrinsic and instrumental terms. Unfortunately, such benefits may never be achieved without substantial privacy costs. Part II makes threshold clarifications about those privacy costs. It proffers two different metrics by which privacy might be measured and explains why the rise of self-surveillance will entail the net loss of privacy under either metric. We also point out that the problem of self-surveillance (our surveilling us) is, fortunately, more tractable than related privacy problems, such as third-party surveillance of us and our surveillance of third-parties. Having cleared this brush, we turn to our central proposal - the creation of the Personal Data Guardian, a professional whose job it is to maintain a client's self-surveillance data in a Personal Data Vault. In addition to providing technical specifications of this approach, we outline the specific legal relations, which include a fiduciary relationship, between client and Guardian. In addition, we recommend the creation of an evidentiary privilege, similar to a trade secret privilege, that protects self-surveillance data held by a licensed Guardian. Finally, Part IV answers objections that our solution is implausible or useless. We conclude by pointing out that various legal, technological, and self-regulatory attempts at safeguarding privacy from new digital, interconnected technologies have not been particularly successful. Before self-surveillance becomes a widespread practice, some new innovation is needed. In our view, that innovation is a new "species," the Personal Data Guardian, created through a fusion of law and technology and released into the current information ecosystem.


Recent scholarship at the intersection of new materialism and environmental rhetoric advances our understanding of human/nonhuman rhetorics, but some of this work retreats from conservation efforts and environmental politics, driving a wedge between scholars of rhetoric and those laboring on conservation's front lines. This essay critiques and builds on Thomas Rickert's and Nathaniel A. Rivers's uses of the notion of "withdrawal" and on Rivers's concept of "deep ambivalence" to argue that rhetoricians should embrace forms of anthropocentrism and human control of the nonhuman. To illustrate how this viewpoint might interact with conservation efforts, this essay examines the work of mid-twentieth-century forester and wildlife researcher Aldo Leopold and further explores the current mission of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, a conservationist organization developing a pluralistic, productive land community. At stake in this essay is an environmental rhetoric that can be both theoretically invigorating and practically compatible with on-the-ground conservation.


The present paper aims to model the interactional operation of heckling, which has received little attention in impoliteness and interaction studies, despite the fact that studying this phenomenon has various advantages for the analyst. In order to fill this knowledge gap, I approach heckling by combining Turner's (1982) anthropological framework with my interaction-based relational ritual theory (e.g. Kadar 2012, 2013; Kadar and Bax 2013). Following Turner, I define heckling as a 'social drama', which is evaluated by its watchers as 'judges'. In accordance with my relational ritual framework I argue that heckling is a mimetic ritualistic mini-performance, which is inherently interactional as it operates in the adjacent action pair of the heckler's performance and the public speaker/performer's counter-performance. Adopting Turner's terminology, heckling is a ritualistic performance of 'anti-structure', i.e. it upsets the regular social — and consequently interactional — structure of a setting. Successful counter-performance is a ritual of 'structure', which restores the normal social structure of the event, as the public speaker/performer regains control over the interaction. Through the social actions of performance and counter-performance the heckled and the heckler aim to affiliate themselves with the audience, who are 'metaparticipants' of the ritualistic interaction, and with the watchers/listeners in the case of video/audio-recorded interactions, who can be defined as 'lay observers' (cf. Kadar and Haugh 2013). Approaching heckling as a theatrical type of relational ritual helps us capture various complexities of this phenomenon, such as its relationship with certain interactional settings and metaparticipant expectations/evaluations, and its interface with related phenomena such as impoliteness.


The influence of different levels of inulin on the quality of fat-free yogurt production was investigated. Inulin was added to milk containing 0.1% of milk fat to give inulin levels of 1, 2 and 3%. The experimental yogurts were compared with control yogurt produced from whole milk. The total solids content of milk was standardized to 14% by adding skim milk powder to the experimental yogurt. The chemical composition, pH, titratable acidity, whey separation, consistency, acetaldehyde and volatile fatty acidity contents were determined in the experimental yogurts after 1, 7 and 15 days. Sensory properties of the yogurts were evaluated during storage. The addition of inulin at more than 1% increased whey separation and consistency. Acetaldehyde, pH and titratable acidity were not influenced by addition of inulin. Tyrosine and volatile fatty acidity levels were negatively affected by inulin addition. With respect to the organoleptic quality of yogurt, inulin addition caused a decrease in organoleptic scores: the control yogurt had the highest score, and the lowest score was obtained in yogurt samples containing 3% of inulin. Overall, the yogurt containing 1% of inulin was similar in quality characteristics to control yogurt made with whole milk.


This research uses theories of flow, telepresence, positive emotions, and brand equity to examine the effect of using two-dimensional versus three-dimensional virtual world environments on telepresence, enjoyment, brand equity, and behavioral intention. The findings suggest that the 3D virtual world environment produces both positive and negative effects on brand equity when compared to the 2D environment. The positive effect of the 3D virtual world environment on brand equity occurs through telepresence, a specific aspect of flow, as well as enjoyment. The negative effect on brand equity can be explained using distraction-conflict theory in which attentional conflicts faced by users of a highly interactive and rich medium resulted in distractions from attending to the brand. Brand equity, in turn, has a positive effect on behavioral intention. The results suggest that although the 3D virtual world environment has the potential to increase brand equity by offering an immersive and enjoyable virtual product experience, the rich environment can also be a distraction. Therefore, developers of virtual world branding sites need to take into account limitations in the information processing capacity and attention span of users when designing their sites in order to avoid cognitive overload, which can lead to users being distracted from branding information. This paper not only provides a theoretical foundation for explaining users' experience with 2D versus 3D virtual world branding sites, but also provides insights to practitioners for designing 3D virtual world sites to enhance brand equity and intentions through user engagement.


Brdt is a testis-specific member of the distinctive BET sub-family of bromodomain motif-containing proteins, a motif that binds acetylated lysines and is implicated in chromatin remodeling. Its expression is restricted to the germ line, specifically to pachytene and diplotene spermatocytes and early spermatids. Targeted mutagenesis was used to generate mice carrying a mutant allele of Brdt, BrdtΔBD1, which lacks only the first of the two bromodomains that uniquely characterize BET proteins. Homozygous BrdtΔBD1/ΔBD1 mice were viable but males were sterile, producing fewer and morphologically abnormal sperm. Aberrant morphogenesis was first detected in step 9 elongating spermatids, and those elongated spermatids that were formed lacked the distinctive foci of heterochromatin at the peri-nuclear envelope. Quantitative reverse transcription (RT)-PCR showed threefold increased levels of histone H1t (Hist1h1t) in BrdtΔBD1/ΔBD1 testes and chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed that Brdt protein, but not BrdtΔBD1 protein, was associated with the promoter of H1t. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection suggested that the DNA in the BrdtΔBD1 mutant sperm could support early embryonic development and yield functional embryonic stem cells. This is the first demonstration that deletion of just one of the two bromodomains in members of the BET sub-family of bromodomain-containing proteins has profound effects on in vivo differentiation.


In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the federal government has advanced a constitutional theory of unchecked Presidential power to use military commissions to try and punish any person the executive branch deems to be an "enemy combatant," including citizens and resident aliens. This sweeping power is said to be inherent in the President's constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief, and also authorized by acts of Congress passed pursuant to its Article I "war powers," including the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Contrary to such an extravagant and dangerous assertion of unlimited military jurisdiction, the President's use of military tribunals is subject to judicially reviewable constitutional limitations designed to protect the Article III and Sixth Amendment rights of civilians to trial by jury in a civilian court.This Article demonstrates that military commissions convened in areas where Article III civilian courts are open and functioning have no jurisdiction to try a detainee unless the detainee has been properly classified as an "enemy combatant." Such a classification requires the government to show that the detainee has directly participated in hostilities against American armed forces on the battlefield or otherwise engaged in active hostilities outside the battlefield under the command of the enemy's armed forces. If such a showing cannot be made, the detainee is a "civilian" who must be tried for any criminal acts in the civilian courts according to the Constitution. The Article further demonstrates that whether a person detained by the United States is a "civilian" or an "enemy combatant" is a justiciable issue of constitutional law for the civilian courts. For historical context, the Article traces the origins of the Constitution's jury trial guarantees, provides a brief history of the use of military tribunals in England and America, and explores the traditional distinction in American constitutional law between the legal category of "civilian" and that of "enemy combatant."


Demographic transition over recent decades has led to population decline as well as changes in fertility and mortality rates and household structure in Serbia. Negative natural growth and large scale emigration were partly compensated by refugee flows from the former Yugoslav republics, but this large refugee inflow will not have significant impact on the future demographic changes of Serbia. In the light of the first results of the 2011 Census of population, households and dwellings in Serbia, this paper is focused on contemporary and past population trends and their implications. Along with depopulation, there has also been a decrease in number of households, whereas there has been an increase in the number of settlements with small number of population and the ones without inhabitants, with large regional demographic differences. Significant changes in population pose a number of economic and social challenges for the society and government in the field of public finances, pension fund, health insurance etc., but also in domain of spatial planning and regional development.


The evolution of dung beetles remains contentious with two hypotheses reflecting Cretaceous and Paleogene origins driven by different methods. We explore biogeographic evidence and phylogeographic origins against vicariance and dispersal scenarios that attribute to the four elements of the Australian fauna using a multi-gene approach. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses supported the Australasian clade, composed of almost all Australian, New Caledonian and New Zealand endemic genera (to the exclusion of Boletoscapter). Two Australian lineages with east-west splits and few lineages with restricted, non-overlapping distrbution were identified, and biogeography models provided evidence that vicariance and founder event speciation are important processes in the diversification of Australasian scarabaeines. Our phylogenetic results are largely congruent with a mid-Cretaceous origin of the Australasian clade, the tectonic history of Gondwanaland and climatic history of the Australian continent, and provide compelling evidence that Australian dung beetles are a relictual fauna whose history is linked to mesic zone fragmentation.


Retail inventory is a statistic that is closely watched by retailers as well as their investors, lenders, and suppliers. Retailers not only benefit from inventory, but also bear the cost of excess inventory. Investors, lenders, and suppliers interpret this statistic for signs of the retailer's health, future sales prospects, and impending costs. This article synthesizes the perspectives of investors, lenders, and suppliers on inventory. Moreover, the article shows that inventory turns, a commonly used metric to identify excess inventory, has important limitations that reduce its utility for all these stakeholders. It then presents a new metric, adjusted inventory turns, which can be effectively utilized by all stakeholders to assess whether a retailer is carrying too much or too little inventory.


Throughout much of the world, frog populations are declining, with the survival of many species under threat. In Australia, several species have become extinct in the past 35 years.
This second edition of Field Guide to the Frogs of Australia provides fully updated accounts of all the known frogs of Australia. There are 248 species within the five native frog families: Hylidae, Limnodynastidae, Microhylidae, Myobatrachidae and Ranidae. Also included are the introduced Cane Toad and nine 'stowaway' species that have arrived in Australia.
Each species account includes details of size, status, distribution, habitat, behaviour and advertisement call. Species are beautifully illustrated with full-colour paintings and distribution maps are also included. Closely related frogs are shown in identical poses so that comparisons can be made readily. The introductory section of the book covers frog biology and habitats and includes notes on families and genera.


Tsang, KKW and DiPasquale, AA. Improving the Q:H strength ratio in women using plyometric exercises. J Strength Cond Res 25(10): 2740–2745, 2011—Plyometric training programs have been implemented in anterior cruciate ligament injury prevention programs. Plyometric exercises are designed to aid in the improvement of muscle strength and neuromuscular control. Our purpose was to examine the effects of plyometric training on lower leg strength in women. Thirty (age = 20.3 ± 1.9 years) recreationally active women were divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group performed a plyometric training program for 6 weeks, 3 d·wk−1. All subjects attended 4 testing sessions: before the start of the training program and after weeks 2, 4, and 6. Concentric quadriceps and hamstring strength (dominant leg) was assessed using an isokinetic dynamometer at speeds of 60 and 120°·s−1. Peak torque, average peak torque, and average power (AvgPower) were measured. The results revealed a significant (p < 0.05) interaction between time and group for flexion PkTq and AvgPower at 120°·s−1. Post hoc analysis further revealed that PkTq at 120°·s−1 was greater in the plyometric group than in the control group at testing session 4 and that AvgPower was greater in the plyometric group than in the control group in testing sessions 2–4. Our results indicate that the plyometric training program increased hamstring strength while maintaining quadriceps strength, thereby improving the Q:H strength ratio.


A procedure is presented to design an aspheric corrective mirror to remove the effects of thermally induced optical aberrations in end-pumped solid-state lasers. The design is based on solving the inverse problem of bending a thin plate of variable thickness; i.e., given the plate deflection profile a thickness profile must be calculated by solving the differential equation for bending. The advantage of this type of aberration correction is the fact that it can be scaled to different pump powers during operation while still matching the aspheric profile in question. Guidelines for fabrication of the mirror are also presented.


Service research and marketing theory have found value co-creation to be a key element in the business-to-business (B2B) context. Value can also be co-destroyed by the same actors who interact to create it. However, very few studies have examined service provider-customer work practices when value co-destruction (VCD) occurs. In this qualitative study, we approach VCD by combining social interactions and resource integration practices with a notion of value that reveals its multiform nature. We adopt a value definition that enables us to show that the notion of co-creation and co-destruction should be viewed conceptually as representing a value variation space rather than as being dichotomous or mutually exclusive. Our research allows practitioners to recognize and contrast VCD, as it emerges and impacts their B2B relations.


This chapter discusses the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) and Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR). The LCR is designed to make sure that the bank has sufficient liquidity to survive short-term shocks; the NSFR is designed to make sure that the bank's balance sheet is not too excessively mismatched between long- and short-term funding. In essence, LCR is a requirement that the bank has sufficient liquid assets to get through a 30-day period of high stress, whilst NSFR is a requirement that the bank's long-term assets be substantially funded by long-term liabilities. Both of these tests require some heroic assumptions about access to funding, likely roll-off of liabilities, and so on.


The non-tradability of human capital is often cited for the failure of traditional asset pricing theory to explain agents' portfolio holdings. In this paper we argue that the opposite might be true --- traditional models might not be able to explain agent portfolio holdings because they do not explicitly account for the fact that human capital does trade (in the form of labor contracts). We derive wages endogenously as part of a dynamic equilibrium in a production economy. Risk is shared in labor markets because firms write bilateral labor contracts that insure workers, allowing agents to achieve a Pareto optimal allocation even when the span of asset markets is restricted to just stocks and bonds. Capital markets facilitate this risk sharing because it is there that firms offload the labor market risk they assumed from workers. In effect, by investing in capital markets investors provide insurance to wage earners who then optimally choose not to participate in capital markets. The model can produce some of the most important stylized facts in asset pricing: (1) limited asset market participation, (2) the seemingly high equity risk premium, (3) the very large disparity in the volatility of consumption and the volatility of asset prices, and (4) the time dependent correlation between consumption growth and asset returns.


We often take for granted that we have immediate access to our perception and experience of and through our bodies. But inward listening is a demanding activity and thus not easy to learn to perform or design for. With the Sarka mat we want to support the ability to direct attention by providing sound feedback linked to the weight distribution and motion intensity of different parts of the body, and to provide an exemplar for how such design may be conducted. The process of Sarka's creation is informed by Somaesthetic Appreciation Design. We discuss how a sonic feedback signal can influence listeners, followed by how we, in this design, worked to navigate the complex design space presented to us. We detail the design process involved, and the very particular set of limitations which this interactive sonification presented.


Objective To assess associations between different antidepressant treatments and rates of three cardiovascular outcomes (myocardial infarction, stroke or transient ischaemic attack, and arrhythmia) in people with depression. Design Cohort study. Setting UK general practices contributing to the QResearch primary care database. Participants 238 963 patients aged 20 to 64 years with a first diagnosis of depression between 1 January 2000 and 31 July 2011. Exposures Antidepressant class (tricyclic and related antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, other antidepressants), dose, duration of use, and commonly prescribed individual antidepressant drugs. Main outcome measures First diagnoses of myocardial infarction, stroke or transient ischaemic attack, and arrhythmia during five years' follow-up. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios, adjusting for potential confounding variables. Results During five years of follow-up, 772 patients had a myocardial infarction, 1106 had a stroke or transient ischaemic attack, and 1452 were diagnosed as having arrhythmia. No significant associations were found between antidepressant class and myocardial infarction over five years' follow-up. In the first year of follow-up, patients treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors had a significantly reduced risk of myocardial infarction (adjusted hazard ratio 0.58, 95% confidence interval 0.42 to 0.79) compared with no use of antidepressants; among individual drugs, fluoxetine was associated with a significantly reduced risk (0.44, 0.27 to 0.72) and lofepramine with a significantly increased risk (3.07, 1.50 to 6.26). No significant associations were found between antidepressant class or individual drugs and risk of stroke or transient ischaemic attack. Antidepressant class was not significantly associated with arrhythmia over five years' follow-up, although the risk was significantly increased during the first 28 days of treatment with tricyclic and related antidepressants (adjusted hazard ratio 1.99, 1.27 to 3.13). Fluoxetine was associated with a significantly reduced risk of arrhythmia (0.74, 0.59 to 0.92) over five years, but citalopram was not significantly associated with risk of arrhythmia even at high doses (1.11, 0.72 to 1.71 for doses ≥40 mg/day). Conclusions This study found no evidence that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are associated with an increased risk of arrhythmia or stroke/transient ischaemic attack in people diagnosed as having depression between the ages of 20 to 64 or that citalopram is associated with a significantly increased risk of arrhythmia. It found some indication of a reduced risk of myocardial infarction with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, particularly fluoxetine, and of an increased risk with lofepramine.


The removal or breakdown of org. compds. from wastewater is an important and integral part of any industrial chem. process. Described here is the electrochem. treatment (or pretreatment prior to biol. treatment) of industrial wastewater (BASF wastewater) contg. ter-butanol, a difficult biodegradable compd. Expts. were 1st carried out using model wastewater systems followed by industrial wastewater samples provided by a BASF Polymer Dispersion prodn. plant in Ludwigshafen. The main results can be summarized in the following points: (a) study of synthetic (or model) wastewater. The electrochem. oxidn. of ter-butanol at B doped diamond (BDD) electrode is mass transport controlled. It can be achieved with a 100% current efficiency (in the absence of mass transport limitations). Other orgs. compds. in the synthetic wastewater (e.g., acetone, methylacrylate, n-butanol) behave in a similar way. The current efficiency depends only on the COD and it is independent of the nature of org. components in wastewater. (b) Investigation of a BASF prodn. plant wastewater sample acetone and n-butanol are initially oxidized much faster than ter-butanol. However, when they reach the ter-butanol concn., all 3 components (acetone, n-butanol, ter-butanol) decay simultaneously with the same rate. It was found that by operating at the limiting current throughout the treatment process (monitoring the c.d.), the specific energy consumption for the electrochem. treatment can be strongly decreased to .apprx.22 KWh/Kg COD. During long-term electrolysis, electrode fouling by the formation of polymeric materials was obsd. [on SciFinder (R)]


Abstract Based on 15 years of observations of a badger (Meles meles) population at Wytham Woods in the central United Kingdom, we investigated which parameters governed demographic changes, using data recording the life histories of 868 individuals. We modeled the population in terms of a stage-classified matrix, giving an exponential population growth rate of r  =  0.063 (λ  =  1.065). Population elasticity values, derived from this matrix, produced a relative order of importance of regulatory parameters governing this population growth rate, of: adult survival (Pa) > fertility (F) > juvenile survival (Pj) > age at 1st reproduction (α) > age at last reproduction (ω). Thus, changes in Pa and F have the greatest potential to influence population growth rate. The population underwent a dramatic change in the last 5 years of the study, with a decline, then stabilization in population growth. However, this change was not related to any change in elasticity patterns between the 2 periods. Comparing the latter period to the preceding period of marked population growth revealed that fertility rate had little actual influence, whereas adult and juvenile survival rates were far more influential demographic variables. These findings prompted a 2nd, retrospective, analytical approach, a life-table response experiment (LTRE), revealing that the importance of Pj in the LTRE contrasted with its lesser prospective importance in the elasticity analysis. Change in fertility (ΔF) apparently had little environmental or genetic scope (according to the results of either technique) to influence regulation in this population. We also tested for delayed density dependence using the theta logistic model. Because territorial animals are expected to respond quickly to the effects of density dependence, corresponding to theta < 1, our rejection of this hypothesis indicated that the restrictions of territorial sociospatial regulation are relaxed in this badger population. These results are used to highlight population vulnerabilities.


Abuse of superior bargaining position has long been a controversial area of Japanese competition law. Even though it is by no means unique to Japan—Korea, Taiwan, France, and Germany among others also have similar regulation—Japan's abuse regulation has tended to attract more attention globally. One of the main sources of controversy for abuse regulation is whether it is consistent with competition law, and whether it serves any useful economic purpose. This article attempts to address this long-standing debate by examining whether abuse regulation is consistent with the various objectives of competition law and other economic rationales. Having determined that these objectives and rationales provide at best tenuous justifications for abuse regulation, or are inconsistent with the Japan Fair Trade Commission's current enforcement practices, it proceeds to argue that abuse regulation can be best justified as a supplement to deficient contract law enforcement, which many commentators have noted is particularly serious for smalland medium-sized enterprises in Japan.


Dense Associative Memories or modern Hopfield networks permit storage and reliable retrieval of an exponentially large (in the dimension of feature space) number of memories. At the same time, their naive implementation is non-biological, since it seemingly requires the existence of many-body synaptic junctions between the neurons. We show that these models are effective descriptions of a more microscopic (written in terms of biological degrees of freedom) theory that has additional (hidden) neurons and only requires two-body interactions between them. For this reason our proposed microscopic theory is a valid model of large associative memory with a degree of biological plausibility. The dynamics of our network and its reduced dimensional equivalent both minimize energy (Lyapunov) functions. When certain dynamical variables (hidden neurons) are integrated out from our microscopic theory, one can recover many of the models that were previously discussed in the literature, e.g. the model presented in ''Hopfield Networks is All You Need'' paper. We also provide an alternative derivation of the energy function and the update rule proposed in the aforementioned paper and clarify the relationships between various models of this class.


Virtualization and Forensics: A Digital Forensic Investigators Guide to Virtual Environments provides an introduction to virtualized environments and their implications on forensic investigations. It emphasizes the need for organizations using virtualization to be proactive rather than reactive. Being proactive means learning the methods in this book to train staff, so when an incident occurs, they can quickly perform the forensics and minimize the damage to their systems. The book is organized into three parts. Part I deals with the virtualization process and the different types of virtualized environments. It explains how virtualization happens along with the various methods of virtualization, hypervisors, and the main categories of virtualization. It discusses server virtualization, desktop virtualization, and the various portable virtualization programs, emulators, and appliances. Part II details how virtualization interacts with the basic forensic process. It describes the methods used to find virtualization artifacts in dead and live environments, and identifies the virtual activities that affect the examination process. Part III addresses advanced virtualization issues, such as the challenges of virtualized environments, cloud computing, and the future of virtualization.Named a 2011 Best Digital Forensics Book by InfoSec ReviewsGives you the end-to-end knowledge needed to identify server, desktop, and portable virtual environments, including: VMware, Parallels, Microsoft, and SunCovers technological advances in virtualization tools, methods, and issues in digital forensic investigationsExplores trends and emerging technologies surrounding virtualization technology