Surveying recently arrived immigrants in countries lacking a population register poses many challenges. We describe our adaptation of Respondent Driven Sampling, a chain-referral technique, to sample migrants from Pakistan and Poland who had arrived in the UK within the previous 18 months. Specifically, we discuss issues around connectedness, privacy, clustering, and motivation, central to the implementation of RDS. We outline techniques adopted and evaluate their success. We conclude that RDS is unlikely to be suitable for accessing newly arrived migrants. However, in the absence of registers which can capture populations at point of entry there are no obvious alternatives.


The voltage-conductance kinetic equation for integrate and fire neurons has been used in neurosciences since a decade and describes the probability density of neurons in a network. It is used when slow conductance receptors are activated and noticeable applications to the visual cortex have been worked-out. In the simplest case, the derivation also uses the assumption of fully excitatory and moderately all-to-all coupled networks; this is the situation we consider here. We study properties of solutions of the kinetic equation for steady states and time evolution and we prove several global a priori bounds both on the probability density and the firing rate of the network. The main difficulties are related to the degeneracy of the diffusion resulting from noise and to the quadratic aspect of the nonlinearity. This result constitutes a paradox; the solutions of the kinetic model, of partially hyperbolic nature, are globally bounded but it has been proved that the fully parabolic integrate and fire equation (some kind of diffusion limit of the former) blows-up in finite time.


Introducing heterostructures to graphitic carbon nitrides (g-C3N4) can improve the activity of visible-light-driven catalysts for the efficient treatment of multiple toxic pollutants in water. Here, we report for the first time that a complex material can be constructed from oxygen-doped g-C3N4 and a MIL-53(Fe) metal-organic framework using facile hydrothermal synthesis and recycled polyethylene terephthalate from plastic waste. The novel multi-walled nanotube structure of the O-g-C3N4/MIL-53(Fe) composite, which enables the unique interfacial charge transfer at the heterojunction, showed an obvious enhancement in the separation efficiency of the photochemical electron-hole pairs. This resulted in a narrow bandgap energy (2.30 eV, compared to 2.55 eV in O-g-C3N4), high photocurrent intensity (0.17 mA cm-2, compared to 0.12 mA cm-2 and 0.09 mA cm-2 in MIL-53(Fe) and O-g-C3N4, respectively) and excellent catalytic performance in the photodegradation of anionic azo dyes (95% for RR 195 and 99% for RY 145 degraded after 4 h, and only a minor change in the efficiency observed after four consecutive tests). These results demonstrate the development of new catalysts made from waste feedstocks that show high stability, ease of fabrication and can operate in natural light for environmental remediation.


A group of small competitive permits traders facing an imperfectly competitive permit market may consider cooperation (merger) to act strategically in the permit market. It is a well-known result in the literature that the horizontal merger of Cournot players may be unprofitable because of the response of nonmerging agents (a negative strategic effect). We show that the strategic effect of a merger among competitive agents substantially differs from the strategic effect of a merger among Cournot players. Furthermore, we show how the profitability of a merger depends on whether the merged agents are on the same side of the market as the preexisting dominant agent(s). These results show how the expected competitive environment in the permit market may determine how potentially large traders such as the US, and group of small, competitive traders, such as the EU countries, organize their permit trade in any follow-up agreement to the Kyoto protocol.


Abstract We study the motion of a bubble driven by buoyancy and thermocapillarity in a tube with a non-uniformly heated walls, containing a so-called 'self-rewetting fluid'; the surface tension of the latter exhibits a parabolic dependence on temperature, with a well-defined minimum. In the Stokes flow limit, we derive the conditions under which a spherical bubble can come to rest in a self-rewetting fluid whose temperature varies linearly in the vertical direction, and demonstrate that this is possible for both positive and negative temperature gradients. This is in contrast to the case of simple fluids whose surface tension decreases linearly with temperature, for which bubble motion is arrested only for negative temperature gradients. In the case of self-rewetting fluids, we propose an analytical expression for the position of bubble arrestment as a function of other dimensionless numbers. We also perform direct numerical simulation of axisymmetric bubble motion in a fluid whose temperature increases linearly with vertical distance from the bottom of the tube; this is done for a range of Bond and Galileo numbers, as well as for various parameters that govern the functional dependence of surface tension on temperature. We demonstrate that bubble motion can be reversed and then arrested only in self-rewetting fluids, and not in linear fluids, for sufficiently small Bond numbers. We also demonstrate that considerable bubble elongation is possible under significant wall confinement, and for strongly self-rewetting fluids and large Bond numbers. The mechanisms underlying the phenomena observed are elucidated by considering how the surface tension dependence on temperature affects the thermocapillary stresses in the flow.


Allergic disease decreases the daily quality of life of many people, and can increase the number of working days lost owing to sick leave. Associated symptoms with allergic disease depend on the origin of the disease, and can either be allergic, non-allergic and purulent, or can cause rhinitis as a result of a common cold. Treatment depends on the origin of the rhinitis. However, an antihistamine is indicated in most instances. Combination treatment includes sympathomimetic drugs (either local or systemic) and corticosteroid medication (when indicated, and in most instances, used locally). The article provides an overview of the nature and the management of allergic disease and the histamine 1 antihistamines.


Courage is an important moral virtue for both Aristotle and Aquinas. For Aristotle, courage is a virtue that belongs to warriors who are ready for a noble death on the battlefield. As a Christian theologian as well as an Aristotelian expert, Aquinas aims to give this Aristotelian moral virtue a fully theological expression. This paper analyzes the differences between Aquinas's conception of courage and Aristotle's, as well as explores Aquinas's transformation of Aristotelian courage through a three part process. Firstly, based on Aristotle's paradigm of courageous warriors in battle, Aquinas extends the scope of "battle" from the military sense to a broader one. By doing so, Aquinas expands the range of application of courage. Secondly, Aquinas explicitly defines endurance as the chief act of courage based on the reason that endurance is more difficult than aggression, thereby shifting our attention from the attack aspect of courage to the endurance aspect. Finally, Aquinas defines the principal act of perfect courage as martyrdom thereby pointing to Christ, who was the perfect martyr, as the paradigm of a courageous person. The result of this transformation is a successful theological virtue of courage.


The relatively low level of sustainability of major public projects has been subject to criticism by the community, increasing the pressure to incorporate the concept throughout the project lifecycle and the importance of understanding the perceptions of affected groups. The study undertook this task by compiling a list from the literature of the sustainability concerns that are associated with major public projects from their economic–social–environmental implications, identifying the relevant stakeholder groups in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area and their levels of influence by interviews, and evaluating various sustainability objectives from a multi-stakeholder perspective via a questionnaire survey. The results were validated through a series of interviews with purposively selected experts. The study findings indicate the need for more consideration of social concerns in Guangdong province, the proper levels of public participation in Hong Kong in order to avoid excessive interruptions to the pace of project procurement, and that Macao may have to experience a relatively slow development of construction in order to balance the social/environmental requirements that are involved. These findings contribute to both the government and construction industry at large in delivering economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable major public projects in the Bay Area and China as a whole.


Recent studies find that many workers do not return to the labor force after their applications for Disability Insurance (DI) are denied. It is, therefore, important to understand how this group funds their consumption. This paper uses the Survey of Income and Program Participation linked to administrative data to examine the social support participation behavior of rejected applicants. By following cohorts of individuals from 10 years before to 10 years after filing for DI, this paper shows that rejected DI applicants are at most 10 percent more likely to depend on social support programs than healthy workers. More general models show that at the time of application rejected applicants are 25 percent more likely to depend on social support programs than healthy workers. These effects decrease across time, but up to 10 years after filing, rejected DI applicants are still up to 12 percent more likely to depend on social support programs. These are the same levels of social support participation exhibited by DI beneficiaries. While rejecting more DI applicants may reduce DI outlays, these results suggest that rejected applicants are more likely to depend on other federally funded assistance programs to fund their (very) early retirement.


Objectives: Abacavir and nevirapine drug hypersensitivity reactions are common causes for early discontinuation of both drugs in patients initiating antiretroviral therapy. Rapid and severe reactions on rechallenge and associations with HLA alleles support the involvement of immunogenetic mechanisms for both these syndromes. The ELISpot assay detects antigen-induced IFN-g responses within 24-48 hours after blood collection. Our study investigated the use of the ELISpot assay to detect abacavir- and nevirapine- induced IFN-g responses in HIV-infected patients who had previously experienced a clinically diagnosed hypersensitivity reaction.

Methods: Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells isolated from six HIV-infected patients with a previous abacavir hypersensitivity reaction (6/6 HLA-B*5701), ten patients with a previous nevirapine hypersensitivity reaction (8/10 HLA-DR*01) characterized by fever, rash or hepatitis within 8 weeks of initiating the drug, healthy controls and drug tolerant patients were also included in the IFN-g ELISpot assay (n=10).

Results: Anti-CD3-induced IFN-g responses were detected in samples from all HIV-infected patients. Abacavir-induced IFN-g responses were detected in two patients with abacavir hypersensitivity (105 and 490 spot forming units/million cells respectively) and three sequential samples from a patient with nevirapine hypersensitivity (245, 195 and 710 spot forming units/million cells). Two of three patients with positive drug-induced IFN-g responses had samples collected within two months of experiencing their hypersensitivity reaction. No drug-induced IFN-g responses were detected in samples from tolerant patients or healthy controls.

Conclusions: The ELISpot assay is a novel technique for exploring the immunopathogenesis of abacavir and nevirapine associated hypersensitivity. While numerous pharmacological and immunological explanations exist for negative responses, longitudinal follow up of positive responses and CD4+ and CD8+ T cell depletion studies will give further insight into the mechanism of abacavir and nevirapine immune mediated hypersensitivity.


Background and Problem Discussion:Since last two decades the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) is progressing very well and has made international recognition in stock trading business. This progress is the result of reformation applied by the Security Commission of Pakistan, with help of the Government of Pakistan. But still in comparison with developed stock exchanges of the world, KSE is far behind in terms of infrastructure available for trading and technology using for trade. KSE needs to improve a lot to reach at the level of developed stock markets of the world. Purposes: The main purpose of study is to highlight the shortcomings present in following three aspects of KSE and provide the suggestions to accelerate the development process of it. Organizational structure of KSE Trading and Trading instruments of KSE Settlement process of KSE Secondary purpose of this research is to provide the basic information about the importance and functions of stock market, trading process and player which are involved in trading process and other information with reference to financial literacy. Conclusion: Currently, demutualization and incorporation should be the first priority of the KSE. As demutualization and incorporation is taking time so KSE should start stepping towards internationalization by developing business relations with other regional and international exchanges and try to attract the regional and international companies for cross border listing on its indices. Remaining three suggestions: separate markets for different capital companies, improvement in the derivative market and upgrading in trading, clearing and settlement process can be applied with the growth of KSE but these all are also necessary to achieve the world class standard of stock markets.


"This bilingual monographic publication presents the Guerrilla Girls retrospective exhibition shown at the Galerie de l'UQAM in December 2009 as part of the Commemorative Events on the 20th anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal massacre. On that day, a man who claimed to be fighting feminism opened fire on twenty-eight people, killing fourteen women. In conjunction with the Commemorative Events, the Guerrilla Girls have created Troubler le repos / Disturbing the Peace, a new poster on the theme of violence against women and misogyny in society. The catalogue shows in colourful pages that new poster commissioned for the Event and more than twenty virulent posters realized since the mid eighties by the collective. This book is the fourth in a series of small, affordable publications produced by the Galerie de l'UQAM. " -- Publisher's website.


The Netherlands is among the few countries that have put specific net neutrality standards in place. It was the first country to do so in the European Union. Contrary to the original European Union approach, which lacks a material implementation of net neutrality principles, the Dutch parliament decided to take a firmer position and introduced a quite detailed regimen on net neutrality. Providers of public electronic communications networks via which Internet access services are delivered and providers of Internet access services shall not hinder or slow down applications or services on the Internet. There is a limited group of exceptions to this rule. Hindering and slowing down Internet traffic is allowed a) to minimise the effects of congestion, whereby equal types of traffic must be treated equally, b) to preserve the integrity and security of the network and service of the provider in question or the end-user's terminal, c) to restrict the transmission of unsolicited communication (spam) to end-users, provided that the end-users have given their prior consent for this to be done, and d) to implement a legislative provision or court order. Another very important net neutrality principle was based on incidents of blocked applications such as Skype and WhatsApp on the announcement by mobile operators that they would start charging for applications. The Dutch net neutrality article also forbids providers of Internet access services to charge for Internet access services dependent on the services and applications which are offered or used via these services. The newly proposed European rules on net neutrality (as part of the new regulatory package) have borrowed heavily from the Dutch example. However, are the Dutch rules a success? The no-blocking/no-charging restriction had an immediate effect on the market, in particular on the mobile one. Originally, the mobile providers intended to block or to charge for specific services (Skype, WhatsApp), but they had to abandon the idea due to the new net neutrality rules. This led to a new subscription structure, with a substantially increased emphasis on data traffic. Data bundles are priced more specifically, and existing packages with unlimited data access have been replaced by packages with a specific size (data caps) and specific speeds. In fact, voice is no longer a dominant factor in the pricing models. But how did these changes affect the consumer? The no-blocking/no-charging rule more or less killed traditional texting (SMS), but it is too early to tell whether net neutrality has had an effect on the overall costs for mobile broadband. There are some indications that the overall price levels and options in the Dutch market are (still) in line with the prices in other European countries. The new neutrality rules had no effect on the fixed market. Internet service providers on cabled networks have no history of blocking traffic. Only one incident with the slow-down of traffic was reported but turned out to be a 'misunderstanding'. One should keep in mind that the Dutch fixed broadband market is very competitive with the incumbent operator offering high-speed DSL or fibre and the cable television network operators offering high-speed broadband via their coaxial networks. The Netherlands belongs to the top broadband countries in the world. The regulator in charge – the Authority for Consumers and Markets – took a first decision on applying the new rules in a case where Internet access in trains was blocked for congestion reasons. In another case, a service similar to WhatsApp was inaccessible via wireless networks. In two cases, the Authority investigated the bundling of data packages with free services (i.e. a mobile subscription with 'free' access to Spotify). To deal with these cases, a new guideline has been drafted by the ministry involved. The consultation process on the guideline has recently ended. The conclusion of the paper is that putting net neutrality into more material regulation is much more complicated than defining it in a more abstract sense. Putting the rules into practice is even more challenging. In our view, the Dutch example shows that if regulation is too detailed, the development of services might be hampered and might to some extent ridicule the true objectives of net neutrality. The focus should be on a dynamic and evolutionary approach, offering the opportunity to adapt interventions quickly, depending on the specifics of the case. In order to establish such a more flexible framework, the present provision needs to be amended.


The introduction of quality of life (QOL) assessment has shifted clinical focus away from symptom measurement towards assessment of functional areas important to the patient. Most QOL instruments were conceptualized and developed primarily in Western society, and have not been validated against non-Western indigenous beliefs of what it means to have quality of life. As a result QOL assessment has cultural limitations. Only by awareness of these limitations can one validly interpret QOL findings from non-Western cultural groups. This article highlights the main areas for attention: concept and construct of QOL, peoples' baseline and expectations of QOL, coping mechanisms and communication of QOL. A literature review from 1966 to present of QOL in non-Western cultures revealed that many studies comparing cross-cultural QOL scores do not consider such cultural limitations. In addition the most popular QOL cross-cultural assessment tool, the WHOQOL, does not consider all factors. We conclude that only through true appreciation and understanding of the cultural limitations of QOL can one validly interpret results from non-Western QOL assessments.


Abstract. While public participation in scientific achievements has a long history, the last decades have seen more attention and an impressive increase in the number of involved people. Citizen science, the term used for denoting such an attitude, is a very diverse practice, encompassing various forms, depths, and aims of collaboration between scientists and citizen researchers and a broad range of scientific disciplines. Different classifications of citizen science projects exist based on the degrees of influence and contributions of citizens. Haklay, Mazumdar, and Wardlaw (2018) distinguish the citizen science projects in three different classes: Long-running citizen science, which are the traditional ones, the projects similar to those run in the past (Koboriet al., 2016; Bonney et al., 2009) Citizen cyberscience, strictly connected with the use of technologies (Grey, 2009) and which can be subclassified in:volunteer computing, where citizens offer the unused computing resources of their computers;volunteer thinking, where citizens offer their cognitive abilities for performing tasks difficult for machines;passive sensing, where citizens use the sensors integrated into mobile computing devices to carry outautomatic sensing tasks. Community science, involving a more significant commitment of citizens also in designing and planning theproject activities in a more egalitarian (if not bottom-up) approach between scientists and citizen scientists(Jepson & Ladle, 2015; Nascimento, Guimarães Pereira, & Ghezzi, 2014; Breen, Dosemagen, Warren, &Lippincott, 2015), which can be divided into:participatory sensing, where citizens use the sensors integrated into mobile computing devices to carry outsensing tasks;Do It Yourself (DIY) science, which implies participants create their scientific tools and methodology to carry out their researches; civic science, "which is explicitly linked to community goals and questions the state of things" (Haklay et al., 2018). The work presented here is of interest of community scientists which voluntarily offer their time for the development of scientific projects. Many software tools have been developed in order to simplify the insertion of data into structured forms and the aggregation and analysis of the obtained data. In recent years, the growing availability of feature-rich and low-cost smartphones have boosted the development of innovative solutions for data collection using portable devices. In this field, ODK (OpenDataKit) is widely known. It is an open-source suite of tools focused on simplicity of use, which includes an Android application for data collection. We used ODK for the first applications we developed.One of the applications we developed using ODK is Via Regina (http://www.viaregina.eu/app). The application aims to support slow tourism in Via Regina, which is a road that overlooks the west coast of Lake Como in Northern Italy. Over the centuries, Via Regina has been a critical trade and pilgrim route in Europe. Moreover, from this road, a compact system of slow mobility paths departs, which span the mountainous region at the border between Italy and Switzerland. This region is rich in culture, regarding history, art, architecture, cuisine and people's lifestyle. Considering collecting data on Via Regina and the paths around it would enable to rediscover and promote its culture while enjoying the territory, an Interreg project named "The Paths of Regina" started. The application developed within this project allows collecting data in predefined types: historical and cultural, morphological, touristic, and critical. Moreover, while reporting a point of interest (POI), the application asks the name, the position (through GPS or an interactive map), a picture, and optionally a video and an audio record of it (Antonovic et al., 2015).However, since ODK application can be used only on Android devices, we developed a cross-platform application to collect similar data for the same purpose. It is available on Android, iOS, and web (http://viaregina3.como.polimi.it/app/). The application is developed using Apache Cordova, which is a mobile application development framework that enables running the application in multiple platforms. Leaflet library is used for web mapping. The data is stored in NoSQL PouchDB and CouchDB database, which enables both online and offline data collection. While reporting a POI, the application asks for its type, the user's rating, a comment, and a picture of it either uploaded from device's storage or taken using the camera of the mobile device. In addition to being cross-platform, it has the advantage of displaying and enabling the query of POIs reported, compared to the ODK-based version (Brovelli, Kilsedar, & Zamboni, 2016). Regarding citizen science, besides the citizens using these two applications, Iubilantes, a voluntary cultural organization, has been involved in the project as community scientists. Iubilantes created slow mobility paths to walk in and around Via Regina, using their experience gained through studying ancient paths while protecting and enhancing their assets since 1996.Mobile data collection can also be used to compensate for the lack of reference data available for land cover validation. We developed the Land Cover Collector (https://github.com/kilsedar/land-cover-collector) application for this purpose, which collects data using the nomenclature of GlobeLand30. GlobeLand30 is the first global land cover map at 30-meter resolution, provided by National Geomatics Center of China, available for 2000 and 2010 (Chen et al., 2015). There are ten land cover classes in the GlobeLand30 dataset, which are: artificial surface, bare land, cultivated land, forest, grassland, permanent snow and ice, shrubland, tundra, water body, and wetland. The collected data will be used for validating GlobeLand30 (Kilsedar, Bratic, Molinari, Minghini, & Brovelli, 2018). The data is licensed under the Open Database License (ODbL) v1.0 and can be downloaded within the application in JSON format. The application is currently available in eight languages: English, Italian, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, French and Spanish. The technologies used are the same as the cross-platform Via Regina application. As a result, it is available on Android, iOS, and web (https://landcover.como.polimi.it/collector/); and it supports display and query of the collected data. While reporting a POI, the application asks the land cover class of it, the user's degree of certainty on the correctness of the stated class, photos in north, east, south and west directions, and the user's comment. Three hands-on workshops were given to teach this application and various ways to validate GlobeLand30: the first on September 1, 2018 at the World Bank in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (in conjunction with the FOSS4G 2018 conference); the second on September 3, 2018 at the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) in Nairobi, Kenya; and the third on October 1, 2018 at the Delft University of Technology in Delft, Netherlands. The workshops, run by representatives of the project's principal investigators – Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and the National Geomatics Center of China (China) – were attended by a total of 100 people with a background in GIS and remote sensing. (Brovelli et al., 2018).Nonetheless, there are no widely adopted cross-platform open-source solutions or systems for on-site surveys that address the problem of information silos: isolated databases, where the information is not adequately shared but rather remains sequestered within each system, which is an obstacle to using data mining to make productive use of data of multiple systems. PSAB (Participatory Sensing App Builder) is a platform that provides an open-source and easy to use cross-platform solution for the creation of custom smartphone applications as well as web applications and catalog service for publishing the data and make them available to everyone. It takes advantage of established standards (like XLSForm for defining the structure of the form and DublinCore for exposing metadata) as well as less known yet effective solutions, like WQ (https://wq.io), a framework developed for building reusable software platforms for citizen science. These technologies have been merged, together with other software like Django, PyCSW, PostgreSQL, in a single solution, in order to assist the user during the entire process, from the definition of the form structure, to the creation of an ad-hoc application and the publication of the collected data, inside a flexible and open-source platform. Users registered to PSAB are allowed to create a new application by filling a web form where they can upload their XLSForm files and submit the metadata describing the data to be collected. A new application for collecting data on the field is generated and accessible via web and Android (while iOS requires a particular setup), ready to be used online and offline. The creator of each application is also the administrator of it, which means he/she is allowed to add or ban users and modify or remove existing data. Data is automatically synchronized between all the users participating in the project. In the presentation we will show the applications we developed, starting from the ODK-based ones and coming to the PSAB application builder, and our experience related to their usage.


Efficient recycling of an internalized G protein–coupled receptor involves the C terminus of c-Cbl. As a family, G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) are involved in transducing signals relating to biological processes ranging from development to chemokine signaling to neurotransmission. Appropriate trafficking of such receptors after internalization, whether the receptors are degraded or recycled to the plasma membrane, is an important aspect of the spatial and temporal control of GPCR signaling. Baldys and Raymond showed that the recycling of the serotonin (5-HT) 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) involved the C terminus of c-Cbl, an E3 ubiquitin ligase known for its role in the endocytosis and downstream trafficking of receptor tyrosine kinases. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments with lysates from human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK293) cells transiently transfected with v5 epitope–tagged 5-HT2AR (5-HT2AR-v5) revealed an interaction between endogenous c-Cbl and 5-HT2AR-v5. In contrast, coimmunoprecipitation of 5-HT2AR-v5 and c-Cbl was reduced in HEK293 cells cotransfected with 5-HT2AR-v5 and green fluorescent protein (GFP)–tagged c-Cbl C-terminal truncation mutants that either had or lacked ubiquitin ligase activity, suggesting that the role of c-Cbl in trafficking of this receptor was independent from its ubiquitin ligase activity. An internalization assay with HEK293 cells transiently transfected with 5-HT2AR-v5 and treated with serotonin indicated that the internalized receptor localized to early and recycling endosomes but not lysosomes. Small-interfering RNA (siRNA)–mediated knockdown of c-Cbl reduced the recycling of 5-HT2AR-v5 to the plasma membrane and caused the accumulation of the receptor in endosomes, in comparison to HEK293 cells transiently transfected with control siRNA. Similarly, cells cotransfected with 5-HT2AR-v5 and either of the two C-terminal c-Cbl mutants exhibited reduced recycling of 5-HT2AR-v5, as well as a reduction in serotonin-mediated Ca2+ mobilization—a measurement of 5-HT2AR resensitization. Thus, c-Cbl, through a ubiquitin ligase-independent activity, appears to mediate efficient endosomal recycling and resensitization of 5-HT2AR. It will be interesting to determine whether this pathway functions in the trafficking and resensitization of other classes of GPCRs. A. Baldys, J. R. Raymond, Role of c-Cbl carboxyl terminus in serotonin 5-HT2A receptor recycling and resensitization. J. Biol. Chem. 286, 24656–24665 (2011). [PubMed]


Author(s): Harris, JE | Abstract: © 2018 by Jasmine E. Harris. Our nation is engaged in deep debate over sexual consent. But to date the discussion has overlooked sexual consent's implications for a key demographic: people with mental disabilities, for whom the reported incidence of sexual violence is three times that of the nondisabled population. Even as popular debate overlooks the question of sexual consent for those with disabilities, contemporary legal scholars critique governmental overregulation of this area, arguing that it diminishes the agency and dignity of people with disabilities. Yet in defending their position, these scholars rely on empirical data from over twenty years ago, when disability and sexual assault laws and social norms looked quite different than those of today. Current scholarly discussions about sexual consent and mental disability suffer from an outdated empirical baseline that masks critical information about the profile and experience of sexual violence. This Article creates a new empirical baseline for modern scholarship on sexual assault and disability. Based on an original survey of all fifty states and jurisprudence from the past twenty years of state sexual assault and rape appeals where the victim has a mental disability, this Article updates and critiques four major claims about sexual consent and disability in the current literature. First, through a review of statutes across the country, it complicates the traditional notion that statutes are unduly vague in their definition of disability, and as a result, either over- or under-emphasize disability. The author advances a new organizing taxonomy for sexual assault statutes addressing consent for people with mental disabilities. Second, this dataset upends the prevailing claim by legal scholars that courts overemphasize standardized evidence such as intelligence quotient (IQ) or mental age when judging a person's functional capacity to consent to sex. Instead, this Article shows that courts frequently look at adaptive abilities to augment standardized evidence but, in doing so, overvalue certain kinds of adaptive evidence that have low probative value, to the detriment of persons with mental disabilities. Third, legislators and legal scholars focus on people in large institutional settings in their critiques of overregulation, but this new data shows that people in community-based settings are more often the complainants in rape and sexual assault cases. This raises important questions about the types of relationships the state regulates (formal versus informal care relationships), the location of these relationships (community versus institutional settings), and issues of class that intersect with disability and sexual regulation. By not addressing the right issues and contexts, current law leaves people with mental disabilities simultaneously more susceptible to sexual violence and less empowered to exercise sexual agency. Finally, the Article more deeply examines the traditional assumption that people with disabilities rarely have access to testify by considering a rarely-mentioned risk: whether testimony by people with disabilities skews capacity determinations because factfinders cannot see beyond the existence of the disability—a phenomenon which the author terms "the aesthetics of disability." This Article calls upon scholars, courts, and policymakers to consider difficult questions of regulating sexual consent in ways that are consistent with the current profile and experience of sexual violence for people with mental disabilities reflected in this study.


Icap1 alpha is a 200-amino acid protein that binds to the COOH-terminal 13 amino acids ((786)AVTTVVNPKYEGK(798)) of the integrin beta(1) subunit. Alanine scanning mutagenesis of this region revealed that Val(787), Val(790), and (792)NPKY(795) are critical for Icap1 alpha binding. The NPXY motif is a known binding substrate for phosphotyrosine binding (PTB) domain proteins. The sequences of Icap1 alpha, residues 58--200, and the beta(1) integrin, residues 786-797, were aligned to the available PTB-peptide structures to generate a high quality structural model. Site-directed mutagenesis showed that Leu(135), Ile(138), and Ile(139) of Icap1 alpha, residues predicted by the model to be in close proximity to (792)NPKY(795), and Leu(82) and Tyr(144), residues expected to form a hydrophobic pocket near Val(787), are required for the Icap1 alpha-beta(1) integrin interaction. These findings indicate that Icap1 alpha is a PTB domain protein, which recognizes the NPXY motif of beta(1) integrin. Furthermore, our date suggest that an interaction between Val(787) and the hydrophobic pocket created by Leu(82) and Tyr(144) of Icap1 alpha forms the basis for the specificity of Icap1 alpha for the beta(1) integrin subunit.


Language and gender studies show that men use interruptions as a dominance strategy towards women in cross- sex conversations. It has often been concluded that these patterns appear as a result of male- domination and female- subordination in society. Interruptions have been associated with power relations in society among men and women, therefore, the main focus of this area of research has mostly been adult speakers. Research has suggested that children adopt adult behaviours in terms of using interruptions as a dominance strategy around the age of fifteen. This study deals with children aged six- years- old because children are aware of their own gender identities around the age of five and since they are sensitive to the environmental conditions they are surrounded by it should be likely that they adhere to adult structures before the age of fifteen. The aim of this paper was to investigate six-year-old pre-school children's use of interruptions in same- and mixed- sex conversations in order to answer the following research questions: which sex interrupts the most, which sex is mostly interrupted and what seems to be the function of the interruptions. The results of this study are that the girls initiated most of the interruptions that took place and the interruptions were mostly directed to other girls. A large proportion of the interruptions in these sessions were negative and illegitimate acts but not all. For a long time, interruptions have been considered to be negative actions when performed in interaction. The results of this study show that there is a need to re-evaluate interruptions because they can be positive and legitimate acts as well. Moreover, researchers should also consider control of topic when investigating dominance in interaction since the children who were dominant during these sessions controlled the topic and thus, controlled the conversation.


Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a photochemical modality approved for cancer treatment. PDT has demonstrated efficacy in early stage lung cancer and esophageal cancer. The accumulation of photosensitizers in cancer cells is necessary to enhance the therapeutic benefits of PDT; however, photosensitizers have low uptake efficiency. To overcome this limitation, a drug delivery system, such as the hemagglutinating virus of Japan envelope (HVJ-E) vector, is required. In this study, the combination of PDT and HVJ-E was investigated for enhancing the efficacy of PDT. The photosensitizers that were evaluated included 5-aminolaevulinic acid (5-ALA), protoporphyrin IX (PPIX), and HVJ-PPIX. The uptake of the photosensitizers as increased twenty-fold with the addition of HVJ-E. The cytotoxicity of conventional 5-ALA was enhanced by the addition of HVJ-E vector. In conclusion, HVJ-E vector improved the uptake of photosensitizers and the PDT effect.


We have now entered the Anthropocene era, where for the first time, humans are changing the earth in which we live. Our emissions of carbon dioxide are driving up global temperatures, our exploitation of the environment is destroying biodiversity, our reckless use of chemicals threatens the insects on which we depend to pollinate crops, and our irresponsible use of antibiotics is fueling the rise of antimicrobial resistance. In this session we ask people from different backgrounds how we can work together to tackle what is rapidly becoming a threat to the survival of humans and the creatures with whom we share this planet.


One of the purposes of higher education institutions is to educate specialists that will cover the needs of labour market. In order to fulfil this mission the university-business cooperation is necessary as this is the only way how graduates could fit in the requirements of the employers. In the times of knowledge economy and global economic crisis this cooperation should be even more intensive. The university-business cooperation is also important in research as both can benefit from the results. That is why we concentrated on this topic in the article and investigated the current situation in university-business cooperation in Slovakia and Europe. We present the results of our survey on this topic and compare it with the results of the surveys conveyed by other institutions. On the basis of the survey results and opinions of specialists on university-business cooperation we proposed the solutions to form strategic partnership of businesses and universities.


A technique for the frequency multiplication of microwave signals based on the combination of two optical nonlinear phenomena in a single nonlinear fiber is investigated. Multiple four-wave mixing is used to generate harmonics on an externally modulated optical carrier while polarization pulling through stimulated Brillouin scattering is used to filter the desired harmonics. Microwave signals in the 60 GHz region are generated showing harmonic frequency multiplication factors of up to 25 with a suppression of undesired harmonics better than 20 dB.


A Fabry-Perot-type interferometer is described that permits the concurrent measurement of the coefficient of thermal expansion (alpha) and the thermooptic coefficient (dn/dT) of transparent materials. Measurements of the a and the dn/dT of vitreous silica and a heavy-metal fluoride glass show that the technique is accurate, reproducible, and easily performed. In addition, the technique is used to show that the dn/dT of heavy-metal fluoride glasses is negative and temperature dependent. The magnitude of dn/dT is found to increase with increasing temperature.


Acritarch assemblages are reported for the first time from the Cambrian of Comley, Shropshire, England, a historically important area for British Cambrian biostratigraphy. Three assemblages are described from the Furongian Shoot Rough Road Shales. Horizons within the Shoot Rough Road Shales have in the past yielded Parabolina spinulosa and Orusia lenticularis indicative of the Parabolina spinulosa trilobite Zone. Two distinct microfloras are identified, one is characterized by the common occurrence of Trunculumarium revinium and diacrodian taxa, the other, by an absence of T. revinium and a general paucity of diacrodians but with a significant presence of Scalenadiacrodium comleyense gen. et sp. nov. The microfloras are compared with trilobite-controlled Furongian sequences in eastern Newfoundland and the Nuneaton area, England and are found to support the P. spinulosa Zone assignment for the Shoot Rough Road Shales. The microfloras are also compared with those from localities lacking direct P. spinulosa Zone trilobite control, principally the Ardennes and the East European Platform. Acritarch based recognition of the two trilobite subzones of the P. spinulosa Zone remains problematic, but independent subdivision of the zonal interval based on acritarchs is supported. A new acritarch genus Scalenadiacrodium gen. nov. and a new species S. comleyense sp. nov. are described.


Shareholder surveys consistently demonstrate users' perceptions of the importance of annual report disclosures in the decision-making process and their readership of the Chairman's narrative. - Yet existing empirical evidence casts doubt on the informational content of any part of the annual report. This study offers a partial explanation of this anomaly by demonstrating the decision usefulness of annual report disclosures, focusing on improvements made possible by a more detailed analysis of the content and its presentation. The Chairman's narrative provides a voluntary disclosure acting as a vehicle for signalling the intentions of the executive, but also as an opportunity to convey information incremental to the financial statements. The absence of a shared meaning for accounting terms between the users and preparers of the, accounts provides a further opportunity for miscommunication. and misinformation. Such differences may be attributable to either the complexity of content or the complexity of presentation. Both are addressed in this study. With regard to content, the study examines the environmental predictability of the semantic content by constructing explanatory models of the financial performance of the enterprise. With regard to presentation, both the readability and cognisability of the
narrative are evaluated with reference to the size and financial performance of the enterprise. The study concludes with an examination of alternative methods for the presentation of financial information, focusing on the use of schematic faces as a potentially unique format with specific portrayal advantages. The facial format is shown to be an efficient method of processing, producing decisions of comparable quality to those with financial statement information, and in a much shorter time. An approach is adopted which rectifies the deficiencies of earlier studies by incorporating the full force of the existing psychological evidence and by generating an optimum feature assignment experimentally.


This presentation was given as part of the Expert Seminar on Indigenous Cultures and Languages in collaboration with the UN by Dr Damien Short from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. The seminar, hosted at Brunel University, took place on the 8th and 9th March 2012 and was organised by Brunel Law School's Human Rights Research Centre. The initiative, fronted by Dr Alexandra Xanthaki of Brunel Law School, represents a positive example of how academia, the civil society and the international community can come together with vulnerable groups to help the regain their rights.


The use of knowledge between organisations in alliance networks has been the critical source of collectively creating and sustaining core competences. The awareness of the possible dynamic factors that influence, support, and outline the sharing of knowledge between organisations is necessary for the management of knowledge. This study explores the issues of the dynamics in alliance knowledge management. The investigation is focused on the areas that alliance partners can learn, the ways they learn, and the ways the learning happens in order to understand the characteristics of the dynamics, their roles in alliance knowledge systems and relationships between them. Relating to the research aim, the primary research investigates the case of knowledge sharing within airline alliance networks in Thailand. The investigation, which is based on the concept of social constructionism, employs muti-method research strategies. It is divided into three stages (qualitative, quantitative, and qualitative phases). From the three phases of the investigation, the empirical research has been done with participants from aviation related government organisations, the operational international airlines in Thailand, and the airline alliance networks in Thailand. The main findings of the study highlight the critical values to the alliance, the utilised leadership styles and the structure of alliance knowledge flow as the distinct characteristics of learning within alliances. The developed framework of the alliance learning system explains the existences of the dynamics and their possible roles. Moreover, the elaborations from the respondents enable the author to configure the structures of airline alliance knowledge flow in Thailand. In terms of roles and relationships of the dynamics, the outcomes indicate the critical dynamics frame and direct the knowledge interactions in alliance networks. These dynamics influence, screen and support other knowledge sharing factors such as individuals, the production of knowledge materials, and knowledge sharing channels. They are also challenged by other factors such as knowledge sharing reasons and stability, as well as the compatibility of the communication infrastructures between alliance partners. Besides, to synthesise the empirical evidence with Stonehouse and Pemberton (1999)' organisational learning framework, it shows that the natures of the critical dynamics are the main differences between intra and inter-organisational learning. Nevertheless, the results also suggest the similarities between intra and inter-organisational learning in terms of learning input and output factors, the formats of knowledge conversions in the learning process, and some characteristics of knowledge creation.


There are new proposals for prices indexes that attempt to correct for what they consider bias in standard indexes from changes in consumer preferences. But these proposals have a fundamental problem that changes in preferences between two periods cannot be identi(cid:133)ed by data on prices and quantities with only a normalization. This paper shows that the required normalization is not free, so that an arbitrary choice of normalization can yield any desired index result. In fact, a normalization using the Sato-Vartia weights yields a Sato-Vartia index, implying exactly zero bias.


Model checking techniques applied to large industrial circuits suffer from the state space explosion problem. A major technique to address this problem is abstraction. The most commonly used abstraction technique for hardware verification is localization reduction, which removes latches that are not relevant to the property. However, localization reduction fails to reduce the size of the model if the property actually depends on most of the latches. This paper proposed the use of predicate abstraction for verifying RTL Verilog, a technique successfully used for software verification. The main challenge when using predicate abstraction is the discovery of suitable predicates. The authors proposed the use of weakest preconditions of Verilog statements in order to obtain new predicates during abstraction refinement. This technique has not been applied to circuits before. On benchmarks taken from an industrial microprocessor, safety properties with more than 32,000 latches in the cone of influence were successfully verified. The performance of the technique was compared with a modern model checker that implements localization reduction.


Vocabulary forms the foundation for understanding scientific content and concepts. For students to be successful in science, they need to develop a working knowledge of the terminology. This requires the student to make the shift from simply reciting a word's definition or picking the definition from a group of phrases to using the terminology to express ideas and explain reasoning both verbally and in writing. In this study, a group of students collaboratively developed a website that was used as an instructional tool. This "wiki" allowed students to build their understanding of the science vocabulary and to develop their understanding of the science concepts as they created an online glossary and discussed content related questions online. The quantitative data did not clearly indicate that a wiki, as it was used in this study, was a consistently effective tool for increasing student understanding of science vocabulary and content. However, qualitative evidence indicated that using the current technologies available as part of science instruction engaged students and increased their interest level and enthusiasm for science.


In the Black Bluff region of Northwestern Tasmania, Cambrian sedimentary
and volcanic rocks are distributed in an arcuate belt around the northwest
margin of the Tyennan Geanticline, which is composed of Precambrian greenschistgrade
metaquartzites and metapelites. The volcanics, which are dominated by
heavily altered intermediate to acid pyroclastics, are concentrated in the
southern part of the belt which borders the margin of the geanticline. The
Cambrian rocks are unconformably overlain by Lower Ordovician quartzose
clastics and Middle Ordovician limestones. Movements responsible for the
angular discordance are inferred to have been dominantly vertical and responsible
for steep tilting of the Cambrian sequences and considerable uplift of the
Tyennan Geanticline, which became the source area for the sediments immediately
overlying the unconformity. The quartzose clastics were mainly deposited in
terrestrial alluvial fan environments, although marginal marine sedimentation
became progressively more important upwards in the sequence. Intertidal
sedimentary environments persisted during deposition of the limestone sequence,
but relief of the Precambrian source areas had by early Hiddle Or.dovician time
been reduced to such an extent that terrigenous influx was insignificant.
Hiddle Devonian deformation of the Palaeozoic rocks, at high crustal
levels, produced open, upright, horizontal to gently plunging folds of
variable trend. The Tyennan Geanticline behaved as a relatively rigid block
during this deformation, which has been correlated with the Tabberabberan
Orogeny, of regional importance in southeastern Australia. The structural
development now recognized involves a progressive sequence of regional folding
on axes which trend east (Dl), northeast (D2), north (D3) and northwest to
north-northwest (D4). The last three phases of folding were associated with
development of axial plane cleavage in the more ductile lithologies.
Localized folding on east-northeast axes and associated cleavage postdates
02, and may have occurred between D2 and D3. The relative timing of fold
and cleavage development on west-northwest trends in the limestone at
Loongana and Gunns Plains is uncertain. Previous conclusions regarding
dating of the Tabberabberan deformation may need reconsideration in view of
the newly proposed structural sequence.
Development of tectonite fabrics in the altered volcanics \


Observations suggest that the properties of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) may depend on environmental characteristics, such as the morphology, metallicity, and age of the host galaxies. The influence of these environmental properties on the resulting SNe Ia is studied in this Letter. First, it is shown that the carbon mass fraction X(C) in the C + O white dwarf SN Ia progenitors tends to be smaller for a lower metallicity environment and an older binary system. It is then suggested that the variation of X(C) causes the diversity in the brightness of SNe Ia: a smaller X(C) leads to a dimmer SN Ia. Further studies of the propagation of the turbulent flame are necessary to confirm this relation. Our model for the SN Ia progenitors then predicts that when the progenitors belong to an older population or to a low-metallicity environment, the number of bright SNe Ia is reduced, so that the variation in brightness among the SNe Ia is also smaller. Thus, our model can explain why the mean SN Ia brightness and its dispersion depend on the morphology of the host galaxies and on the distance of the SN from the center of the galaxy. It is further predicted that at higher redshift (z ≳ 1), both the mean brightness of SNe Ia and its variation should be smaller in spiral galaxies than in elliptical galaxies. These variations are within the range observed in nearby SNe Ia. Insofar as the variation in X(C) is the most important cause for the diversity among SNe Ia, the light-curve shape method that is currently used to determine the absolute magnitude of SNe Ia can also be applied to high-redshift SNe Ia.


The present study investigated the relationship between phonological awareness and reading ability in Down syndrome (DS). Thirty-three individuals with DS participated in the study. They all had begun to read and all showed clear signs of phonological recoding skills. Thirty-three normal children, matched with the individuals with DS for reading ability, served as controls. The results contradicted Cossu, Rossini and Marshall's (1993) claim that individuals with DS can learn to read in the absence of phonological awareness. Although the individuals with DS performed significantly worse than the normal children on the tasks that were used to assess phonological awareness, they performed quite well on a simple task of phoneme detection. In fact, analyses of the individual scores did not reveal a significant difference between the two groups on that task. In addition, analyses of the relationship between phonological awareness and reading ability yielded the same results for the two groups of subjects. For both groups, performance on a task that required the ability to explicitly manipulate phonemes correlated significantly with reading ability, even after individual differences for letter name knowledge and nonverbal intelligence were controlled.


Witness Tree
Selective Laser Sintering, nylon prime part
Meadow Arts commission, 2009
'Witness Tree' was made using the latest body scanning technology and 3D imaging software. The figures forming the trunk are exact images of the three artists.

In spite of its highly technological, digitized origin, the work is a direct response to the ancient trees found in the grounds of Croft Castle. The gnarled and fissured texture of the trees' bark and the elaborate forms of their trunks and branches prompt thoughts of mythical metamorphoses.

Like an unfamiliar tree species brought back from distant lands by avid botanists, the strange new specimen is being 'grown' in the controlled and protected environment of a very small glass house (akin to the Victorian Wardian Case) which is itself placed within the sheltered surroundings of Croft's walled garden.

Rooted and Established
Selective Laser Sintering, nylon prime part
Meadow Arts commission, 2009
The three miniature figures that compose 'Rooted and Established' stand gracefully on the shelves of the slender Gothick mirrors of the Ante-room, framed by their columns and canopies.

Despite their decorative air of porcelain ornaments, the figurines - like 'Witness Tree' in the walled garden - were made using the latest body scanning technology and 3D imaging software. They are the exact images of the three artists.

As if contemplating their own transformation into small trees, they are twisting to glimpse their reflection in the tarnished antique mirrors. Narcissus-like they are rooted in one place, eternally self-regarding and absorbed by their own reflection.

To Suspend the Breath
Glass tubing, red neon, 2008
Courtesy of the artists/International 3
The red neon tubing of To Suspend the Breath pulsates in the corner of the stable block, requiring our attention like an outdated street sign.

Delineating the structure of an inverted pair of lungs, the double neon tubing throbs between inward and outward breaths.

It also clearly alludes to a tree oscillating between its bare branch and full-leaf form.


In the year 2020, in response to COVID-19 health crisis, there were series of adjustment adopted by provinces and local governments. From their stated revised budget, most of provinces and local governments responded by shifting spending allocation to COVID-19 related activities mitigation, rather than by expanding expenditures. Lower-level government average expenditures growth in 2020 is -10.11% and -12.11% respectively for provinces and local governments. Expenditure contraction occurred in all provinces and only 12.4% of local governments show of a positive growth in its public expenditures. On the type of expenditures adjustment, a high increase of emergency spending which covered of 3.3% of total provinces and local government expenditures, may also translate to higher health expenditures. Based on aggregate provincial level data and given that COVID-19 fatalities were concentrated in Java-Bali region, the preliminary results show that emergency spending seem effective in reducing COVID-19 fatalities for the case of provinces in Java-Bali region.


Abstract : This report is an engineering study of the field performance of open span low-rise steel frame structures that have been subjected to extreme wind events such as hurricanes and tornadoes. The wind velocities in these events either approached or slightly exceeded the normal design values specified in ASCE 7-95. This report focuses specifically on the performance of heavy steel structures and does not include pre-engineered metal buildings. All types of building failures are observed and analyzed in this report, including roofing and secondary cladding component failures as well as main structural failures. In each case study, the probable cause of failure is determined and through an analysis of the different case studies, patterns of failure are identified. Through an analysis of the patterns of failure, recommendations for general design improvements are made and areas requiring further study are identified. The study found that the main structural systems of heavy steel structures performed very well in these extreme winds. Virtually no damage was observed to any of the components of the main structural systems of the buildings, even when the wind velocities exceeded design values by as much as 30 percent. However, the components and cladding did not perform as well. In almost every instance of failure, at least some portion of the roof decking was removed. In most cases the damaged area was restricted to the windward edge of the roof and wall intersection. Another weak component was the overhead doors. In over half of the instances of damage, the overhead door was the first point of failure. The failure of the overhead door(s) then caused the failure of other building components.


A paper describes the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), a QWIP-based instrument intended to supplement the Operational Land Imager (OLI) for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). The TIRS instrument is a far-infrared imager operating in the pushbroom mode with two IR channels: 10.8 and 12 microns. The focal plane will contain three 640x512 QWIP arrays mounted on a silicon substrate. The silicon substrate is a custom-fabricated carrier board with a single layer of aluminum interconnects. The general fabrication process starts with a 4-in. (approx.10-cm) diameter silicon wafer. The wafer is oxidized, a single substrate contact is etched, and aluminum is deposited, patterned, and alloyed. This technology development is aimed at incorporating three large-format infrared detecting arrays based on GaAs QWIP technology onto a common focal plane with precision alignment of all three arrays. This focal plane must survive the rigors of flight qualification and operate at a temperature of 43 K (-230 C) for five years while orbiting the Earth. The challenges presented include ensuring thermal compatibility among all the components, designing and building a compact, somewhat modular system and ensuring alignment to very tight levels. The multi-array focal plane integrated onto a single silicon substrate is a new application of both QWIP array development and silicon wafer scale integration. The Invar-based assembly has been tested to ensure thermal reliability.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose was to evaluate brain plasticity that contributes to speech performance after cochlear implantation (CI) in postlingual elderly (>60 years) patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Fifteen elderly postlingual deaf patients who underwent preoperative brain fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and were followed-up for more than 1 year after CI were included. The mean age of these patients was 64.6 years (range, 60-80 years). Based on their sentence score at 1 year after CI surgery, the patients were classified into two groups: poor performers (CID score of <80) and good performers (CID score of ≥80). The duration of deafness, age at operation, preoperative residual hearing, and preoperative brain metabolism were analyzed. SPM5 software was used for FDG-PET image preprocessing and statistical analysis.

RESULTS
Neither deafness duration nor preoperative residual hearing was associated with speech performance. The age at operation had little association with speech performance. Deaf patients whose brain metabolism was higher in frontotemporal regions became good CI users but those with higher metabolism in visual association areas became poor CI users. No significant cortical area of higher metabolism was associated with the duration of deafness.

CONCLUSION
Overactivation in the visual processing pathway correlated with a poor CI outcome at 1 year. Deaf patients who are going to be poorer performers with CI devices maintain visual information processing during preoperative silent resting periods.


Riverine ecosystems in the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) significantly contribute to the lake's water budget and aquatic biodiversity. Despite their significance to the lakes fisheries, only limited biodiversity studies have been carried out, particularly in the smaller riverine ecosystems. This study investigated the fish species composition, diversity and distribution in two small riverine ecosystems (Rivers Awach Seme and Kisian) draining the Kenyan Lake Victoria Basin. Sampling was carried out monthly from August 2009 to June 2010, at three sampling sites of 100-m stretch along each river, representing the upper, middle and lower reaches. Fish were caught using an electro-fisher, identified with the help of relevant taxonomic guides and staff from the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, measured for total lengths and weighed to the nearest 0.1 cm and 0.1 gm, respectively. The results showed that the two rivers had a diverse fish community consisting of docmak Forsskål, out of which 9 were present in River Kisian and 7 in River Awach. The fish community at River Kisian was dominated by C. gariepinus, constituting over 42.5% while at River Awach, B. altianalis and B. nyanzae dominated with over 46.3% and 30.7% of the total catch, respectively. Fish abundance and evenness were much higher in River Awach suggesting that this river would provide better fisheries if managed appropriately. Generally, the results show that the two rivers may be an important source of fish for both the lakes ecosystem as well as local fisheries if appropriate management interventions are instituted.


Cybersecurity students need to develop practical skills such as using command-line tools. Hands-on exercises are the most direct way to assess these skills, but assessing students' mastery is a challenging task for instructors. We aim to alleviate this issue by modeling and visualizing student progress automatically throughout the exercise. The progress is summarized by graph models based on the shell commands students typed to achieve discrete tasks within the exercise. We implemented two types of models and compared them using data from 46 students at two universities. To evaluate our models, we surveyed 22 experienced computing instructors and qualitatively analyzed their responses. The majority of instructors interpreted the graph models effectively and identified strengths, weaknesses, and assessment use cases for each model. Based on the evaluation, we provide recommendations to instructors and explain how our graph models innovate teaching and promote further research. The impact of this paper is threefold. First, it demonstrates how multiple institutions can collaborate to share approaches to modeling student progress in hands-on exercises. Second, our modeling techniques generalize to data from different environments to support student assessment, even outside the cybersecurity domain. Third, we share the acquired data and open-source software so that others can use the models in their classes or research.


This study analyses the economics of Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) and the economic values appropriated by tribals in a protected area in India. Using primary data covering a cross section of tribals in the Nagarhole National Park (NNP), South India the stud y notes that the economic values appropriated by the tribals are quite high. Even after including external costs (i.e. wildlife damages costs and defensive expenditures to protect against wildlife attacks) the Net Present Value of NTFP benefits derived by the tribal households was over Rs 30,378 per household (at 12% discount rate for cash flows summed over 25 years). Interestingly when the external costs borne by third parties (i.e., coffee growers) are taken into account the net NTFP benefits turned negative. In other words, although from the NTFP extractors viewpoint NTFP extraction is a viable activity, from the society's viewpoint this is not so. The estimated net NTFP benefits from NNP after including the external costs borne by NTFP extractors was estimated at between USD 33.5 to 167.5 per ha per year using alternate assumptions regarding the park's catchment area. The tribals have a positive attitude towards biodiversity conservation. Asked to justify and rank the reasons why biodiversity needs to be conserved, the tribals emphasized its livelihood and ecosystem fun ctions. Using contingent valuation method, the study notes that those with income from coffee estates and forest employment, and those residing in the core zone of the national park are less willing to accept compensation and relocate outside the national park. The study suggests improving the incentive structure in order to obtain the support and participation of tribals in biodiversity conservation strategies.


The efficiency and high mobility of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) made them essential to aerial photography assisted survey and mapping. Especially for urban land use and land cover, that they often changes, and need UAVs to obtain new terrain data and the new changes of land use. This study aims to collect image data and three dimensional ground control points in Taichung city area with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), general camera and Real-Time Kinematic with positioning accuracy down to centimetre. The study area is an ecological park that has a low topography which support the city as a detention basin. A digital surface model was also built with Agisoft PhotoScan, and there will also be a high resolution orthophotos. There will be two conditions for this study, with or without ground control points and both were discussed and compared for the accuracy level of each of the digital surface models. According to check point deviation estimate, the model without ground control points has an average two-dimension error up to 40 centimeter, altitude error within one meter. The GCP-free RTK-airborne approach produces centimeter-level accuracy with excellent to low risk to the UAS operators. As in the case of the model with ground control points, the accuracy of x, y, z coordinates has gone up 54.62%, 49.07%, and 87.74%, and the accuracy of altitude has improved the most.


The development of embedded systems in information-rich contexts is governed by some intertwined trends. The increase of both volume of data to be processed and the related processing functionality feeds the growing complexity of applications. Independently, the processing hardware that is needed to process these applications is becoming increasingly parallel and heterogeneous (many-core) because of performance and power problems. Furthermore, today's compiler technology is not able to translate sequential legacy code for
multi-core or many-core systems in an efficient way.

This thesis addresses the problem of generating efficient code for a number of cores, that operate synchronously. Examples are SIMD and VLIW architectures. In this thesis we restrict ourselves to architectures that include a control processor that provides the instruction stream.

In practice the manufacturers of such many-core processors only provide a C-compiler that supports hardware intrinsic instructions. This situation usually requires manual adaptation of sequential code. Unfortunately, a first feedback of the implementation on the targeted parallel architecture only comes late in the development trajectory. Moreover, during implementation phases more engineers enter the project and this increases the risk of early errors proliferating to later phases. Although some parts of the system can be modelled in high level language(s) (e.g., MATLAB), the typical approach lacks a single integral and executable framework allowing for an immediate system-wide verification.

This thesis proposes an integral design methodology, named IRIS, for the development of firmware for many-core architectures.

The methodology is illustrated by three cases: a colour image processing pipeline for a printer, stochastic image quantisation, and data mining of dynamic document spaces. For the three cases the various development phases and the associated development roles result in mathematical models, that can be directly transcribed in a functional language. The executable models are subsequently transformed into a series of implementation models, that converge to the targeted many-core implementation.


Proposes an extension to current view-based mediator systems called "model-based mediation", in which views are defined and executed at the level of conceptual models (CMs) rather than at the structural level. Structural integration and lifting of data to the conceptual level is "pushed down" from the mediator to wrappers which, in our system, export the classes, associations, constraints and query capabilities of a source. Another novel feature of our architecture is the use of domain maps - semantic nets of concepts and relationships that are used to mediate across sources from multiple worlds (i.e. whose data are related in indirect and often complex ways). As part of registering a source's CM with the mediator, the wrapper creates a "semantic index" of its data into the domain map. We show that these indexes not only semantically correlate the multiple-worlds data, and thereby support the definition of the integrated CM, but they are also useful during query processing, for example, to select relevant sources. A first prototype of the system has been implemented for a complex neuroscience mediation problem.


OBJECTIVE
This study explores the factors that influence adolescents' help-seeking intentions. Specifically, the study investigates the extent to which perceived benefits of help seeking, stoicism, gender and symptoms of psychological distress are associated with intentions to seek professional help for emotional problems.

DESIGN AND SETTING
A cross sectional self-report questionnaire was administered to adolescents recruited from seven high schools in rural towns in the Riverina region of New South Wales.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 778 adolescents were recruited. The sample included 373 male and 404 female participants between 13 and 18 years of age.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)
Participants completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire designed to measure help-seeking intentions in the advent that they were to experience emotional problems, psychological distress symptoms, perceived benefits of help seeking and stoicism.

RESULTS
In all, 17% of male participants and 29% of female participants reported they would be likely to seek help from doctors if they were to experience emotional problems. In total, 15% of male participants and 23% of female participants reported they would be likely to seek help from other health care professionals. Multiple regression analysis suggested that adolescents are more likely to seek help from professionals if they perceive help seeking as beneficial (t=12.91; P<0.001). Female participants reported that they were more likely to seek help than male participants (t=2.69; P=0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest that adolescents are reluctant to seek professional help if experiencing emotional problems, because they do not believe professional help seeking is beneficial. Improving adolescents' beliefs about the benefits of professional help seeking might be a key strategy for increasing their use of professional health services to address mental health problems.


The study was carried out to determine the most effective, efficient, and profitable combination of fertilizer regime
and pineapple residue management practice for pineapple grown on tropical peat. Three residue management
practices, namely; (i) In situ decomposition of pineapple residue without any disturbance (R1), (ii) Stacking of
pineapple residue slashed and raked from 0.6 m x 10 m beds into 0.9 x 10 m beds (R2), and (iii) In situ burning
of pineapple residue (RJ) were used in combination with three fertilizer regimes; (i) application of P and K at
the 651h, 135th, 19151, and 233'"d days after planting (F1), (ii) application of P and K at the 651h , 135t1
·, and 191st days after planting (F2), and (iii) application of P and K at the 65t11 , 1351 and 191'1 days after planting but sharing fertilizer amount of the 23Jrd day between the 1351h and 19151 days (F3). The effect of the three residue management practices on P and K uptake as well as fruit yield was not significant. Similar observation was made for the three fertilizer regimes. In terms of cost, R1 was the cheapest residue management practice with RJ being the most expensive practice. F2 emerged the cheapest fertilizer regime while F1 was the most expensive regime. The most cost effective treatment combination was R1F2. Burning, stacking of pineapple residue in rows or leaving pineapple residue to decompose in situ did not improve K and P uptake as well as fruit yield. The application of K (188 kg/hay and P (7 kg/hay fertilizers at 23Jrd day after planting is not necessary and lJy omitting it the practice could save as much as RM 187. 98/ha. The application of muriate of potash and China phosphate rock at the 651h, 135t1 ·, and 19151 days (F2) under in situ decomposition of pineapple residue (R1) looks promising in terms of the cost effectiveness.


As an artist, Edgar Degas (1834-1917) defies easy description. Allied with the French impressionists through his commitment to portraying modern life, he also took an independent course, preferring line over color and the visible brushstroke, and working in a studio instead of out-of-doors. He is perhaps best known as a painter, but his most widely known work is a sculpture, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Executed in wax, near life-sized, dressed in a ballerina's tutu, with real ballet slippers and real hair, the sculpture caused a sensation when it was exhibited in 1881. It is the only sculpture Degas ever showed publicly, though more than one hundred--of dancers, horses, and bathers--were found in his studio after he died, all dusty, some fallen apart. For almost forty years after his death, these works were known only through the bronzes his heirs had cast from the originals.Then, in 1955, the waxes themselves appeared on the art market. Thanks to the discernment and generosity of Paul Mellon, the majority are now preserved at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, most on permanent display. This groundbreaking volume honors this extraordinary gift by linking art and science. It brings together the insights of a distinguished art historian of nineteenth-century painting and sculpture and the specialized knowledge of National Gallery conservators and scientists who have published pioneering technical studies. Including essays on Degas' life and work, his sculptural technique and materials, and the story of the sculptures after his death, it features art-historical and technical discussions of every work in the collection as well as indispensable concordances and bibliography. The richly illustrated text is intended for both art lover and specialist. Was Degas the sculptor technically inept or unusually inventive? How do we understand his sculpture in light of his paintings, prints, and photographs? These questions and many others are explored with originality and depth, adding immeasurably to our understanding of the artistic avant-garde in the late nineteenth century and to our appreciation of this controversial artist.


Modern corporate governance scholars often extol an activist role by institutional investors in directing corporate activity. Widely viewed as a solution to the "collective action" problems that inhibit such activism by individual investors, institutional investors are praised for adding value to corporations through their participation in the decision making process. The ouster of Joseph Antonini as Chief Executive Officer of Kmart Corporation in 1995 might be taken as a vindication of this view, because substantial evidence indicates that institutional investors played a crucial role in influencing Kmart's board of directors to remove him. In this Article, Professor Smith challenges this potential reading of the events at Kmart and poses the fundamental question of whether institutional investor activism designed to address perceived incompetence among corporate managers consistently adds value to corporations in which such activism is present. Professor Smith analyzes the effect of internal and external forces on managers, particularly on Antonini and Kmart's directors, and derives two fundamental lessons: (1) External constraints are ineffective in solving managerial incompetence; and (2) Investor activism will often be counterproductive because it destroys the value of centralized decision making.


The information capacities of two-dimensional optical low-pass channels are discussed. Coherent and incoherent systems operating under finite optical power and area constraints are characterized in terms of two criteria:spacebandwidth product (SBP; the number of pixels required for achieving maximum information capacity) and resolution (G(min); the smallest spot size capable of supporting positive capacity gain). A coherent system operating with an initial signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 5 can achieve a 48% capacity gain by operating at an optimal SBP that is 3.4 times that of the nominal system. The same system has a resolution that is 0.31 times nominal. Incoherent systems experience additional SNR loss, and with an initial SNR of 5 they achieve capacity gains of 29% at the optimal SBP of 2.8 times nominal. The incoherent system resolution is found to be 0.4 times nominal.


HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS RELATING HEAT LOSSES FROM SURFACES OF HEATED ROADS TO WIND SPEED AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AIR AND SURFACE TEMPERATURES HAVE BEEN DERIVED FROM MEASUREMENTS MADE DURING ICY CONDITIONS. THE MAGNITUDE OF THE HEAT FLOW DOWNWARDS FROM THE HEATING GRID IS DISCUSSED AND A METHOD OF CALCULAING THE EXTRA HEAT OUTPUT REQUIRED FOR INSTALLATIONS ON ELEVATED ROADS IS GIVEN. SOLUTIONS OF THE EQUATION OF HEAT FLOW IN A SEMI-INFINITE MEDIUM UNDER SIMPLE BOUNDARY HEAT FLUX CONDITIONS ARE USED TO ILLUSTRATE THE EFFECT OF HEATER DEPTH AND OUTPUT ON THE RATE RESPONSE, SNOW MELTING CAPACITY AND THERMAL STORAGE OF THE SYSTEM. OPERATING CONDITIONS REQUIRED TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE THERMAL STORAGE IN OFF-PEAK INSTALLATIONS ARE EXAMINED IN THE LIGHT OF THIS ANALYSIS AND THE OBSERVED HEAT LOSSES FROM EXISTING INSTALLATIONS, AND HEATER OUTPUT REQUIRED IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS ARE ESTIMATED BOTH FOR CONTINUOUSLY AVAILABLE SUPPLY AND FOR OFF-PEAK SUPPLY. /AUTHOR/


A Novel Three-Dimensional Framework for Automatic Lung Segmentation from Low- Dose Computed Tomography Images Ayman El-Baz, Georgy Gimel'farb, Robert Falk, and Mohamed Abo El-Ghar Incremental Engineering of Lung Segmentation Systems Avishkar Misra, Arcot Sowmya, and Paul Compton 3D MGRF-Based Appearance Modeling for Robust Segmentation of Pulmonary Nodules in 3D LDCT Chest Images Ayman El-Baz, Georgy Gimel'farb, Robert Falk, and Mohamed Abo El-Ghar Ground-Glass Nodule Characterization in High-Resolution Computed Tomography Scans Kazunori Okada Four-Dimensional Computed Tomography Lung Registration Methods Anand P. Santhanam, Yugang Min, Jannick P. Rolland, Celina Imielinska, and Patrick A. Kupelian Pulmonary Kinematics via Registration of Serial Lung Images Tessa Cook, Gang Song, Nicholas J. Tustison, Drew Torigian, Warren B. Gefter, and James Gee Acquisition and Automated Analysis of Normal and Pathological Lungs in Small Animals Using Computed Microtomography Xabier Artaechevarria, Mario Ceresa, Arrate Munoz- Barrutia, and Carlos Ortiz-de- Solorzano Airway Segmentation and Analysis from Computed Tomography Benjamin Irving, Andrew Todd-Pokropek, and Paul Taylor Pulmonary Vessel Segmentation for Multislice CT Data: Methods and Applications Jens N. Kaftan and Til Aach A Novel Level Set-Based Computer-Aided Detection System for Automatic Detection of Lung Nodules in Low-Dose Chest Computed Tomography Scans Ayman El-Baz, Aly Farag, Georgy Gimel'farb, Robert Falk, and Mohamed Abo El-Ghar Model-Based Methods for Detection of Pulmonary Nodules Paulo R. S. Mendonca, Rahul Bhotika, and Robert Kaucic Concept and Practice of Genetic Algorithm Template Matching and Higher Order Local Autocorrelation Schemes in Automated Detection of Lung Nodules Yongbum Lee, Takeshi Hara, DuYih Tsai, and Hiroshi Fujita Computer-Aided Detection of Lung Nodules in Chest Radiographs and Thoracic CT Kenji Suzuki Lung Nodule and Tumor Detection and Segmentation Jinghao Zhou and Dimitris N. Metaxas Texture Classification in Pulmonary CT Lauge Sorensen, Mehrdad J. Gangeh, Saher B. Shaker, and Marleen de Bruijne Computer-Aided Assessment and Stenting of Tracheal Stenosis Romulo Pinho, Kurt G. Tournoy, and Jan Sijbers Appearance Analysis for the Early Assessment of Detected Lung Nodules Ayman El-Baz, Georgy Gimel'farb, Robert Falk, Mohamed Abo El-Ghar, and Jasjit Suri Validation of a New Image-Based Approach for the Accurate Estimating of the Growth Rate of Detected Lung Nodules Using Real Computed Tomography Images and Elastic Phantoms Generated by State-of-the-Art Microfluidics Technology Ayman El-Baz, Palaniappan Sethu, Georgy Gimel'farb, Fahmi Khalifa, Ahmed Elnakib, Robert Falk, Mohamed Abo El-Ghar, and Jasjit Suri Three-Dimensional Shape Analysis Using Spherical Harmonics for Early Assessment of Detected Lung Nodules Ayman El-Baz, Matthew Nitzken, Georgy Gimel'farb, Eric Van Bogaert, Robert Falk, Mohamed Abo El-Ghar, and Jasjit Suri Index


In Drosophila, the receptor tyrosine kinase Alk and its ligand Jeb are required to drive founder cell (FC) specification in the visceral mesoderm (VM). Alk-signalling activates downstream MAPK/ERK- and PI3K-pathways in human and Drosophila but little is known about immediate downstream signalling events. Here we report that the scaffolding protein Cnk interacts directly with Alk via a novel c-terminal binding motif. Cnk is required for Alk-signalling as ectopic expression of the minimal interaction motif as well as loss of maternal and zygotic cnk blocks visceral FC-formation, resembling the phenotype of jeb and Alk mutants. We also show that the Cnk-interactor Aveugle/Hyphen (Ave/HYP) is critical, while the (pseudo-) kinase Ksr is not required for Alk-signalling in the developing VM. Taken together, Cnk and Ave represent the first molecules downstream of Alk whose loss genocopies the lack of visceral FC-specification of Alk and jeb mutants indicating an essential role in Alk-signalling.


Engineering native‐like myocardial muscle, recapitulating its fibrillar organization and mechanical behavior is still a challenge. This study reports the rational design and fabrication of ultrastretchable microfiber scaffolds with controlled hexagonal microstructures via melt electrowriting (MEW). The resulting structures exhibit large biaxial deformations, up to 40% strain, and an unprecedented compliance, delivering up to 40 times more elastic energy than rudimentary MEW fiber scaffolds. Importantly, when human induced pluripotent stem cell‐derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC‐CM) are encapsulated in a collagen‐based hydrogel and seeded on these microstructured and mechanically tailored fiber scaffolds, they show an increase in beating rate (1.5‐fold), enhanced cell alignment, sarcomere content and organization as well as an increase in cardiac maturation‐related marker expression (Cx43 1.8‐fold, cardiac Actin 1.5‐fold, SERCA2a 2.5‐fold, KCNJ2 1.5‐fold, and PPARGC1a 3.6‐fold), indicative of enhanced iPSC‐CM maturation, as compared to rudimentary fiber scaffolds. By combining these novel fiber scaffolds with clinically relevant human iPSC‐CMs, a heart patch that allows further maturation of contractile myocytes for cardiac tissue engineering is generated. Moreover, the designed scaffold allows successful shape recovery after epicardial delivery on a beating porcine heart, without negative effects on the engineered construct and iPSC‐CM viability.


Industrial Policy after the Crisis provides a fresh and insightful study on the lessons that can be drawn from the global financial crisis for the analysis, definition and implementation of industrial policy. The authors utilize a political economy framework for the analysis of industrial development post-crisis, centred on the organisation of production and stressing its importance for the wealth of nations, meaning not only rising income but also 'justice and happiness'.


Complex SOCs are increasingly tested in a modular fashion, which enables us to record the yield-per-module. In this paper, we consider the yield-per-module as the pass probability of the module's manufacturing test. We use it to exploit the abort-on-fail feature of ATEs, in order to reduce the expected test application time. We present a model for expected test application time, which obtains increasing accuracy due to decreasing granularity of the abortable test unit. For a given SOC, with a modular test architecture consisting of wrappers and disjunct TAMs, and for given pass probabilities per module test, we schedule the tests on each TAM such that the expected test application time is minimized. We describe two heuristic scheduling approaches, one without and one with preemption. Experimental results for the ITC'02 SOC test benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, as we achieve up to 97% reduction of the expected test application time, without any modification of the SOC or ATE.


Title of dissertation: ESSAYS ON THE ECONOMICS OF AUTOMOBILE FUEL ECONOMY Takahiko Kiso, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor Kenneth McConnell Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics This dissertation consists of three chapters that analyze issues relating to automobile fuel economy. Chapter 1 discusses automobile fuel economy regulations in the United States. The new U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards not only tighten the target fuel economy to be achieved by automakers, but also make significant changes to the design/structure of CAFE standards by introducing three policy instruments (footprint-based targets, intra-firm transferring of fuel efficiency credits between passenger cars and light trucks, and inter-firm trading of fuel efficiency credits). While there are a number of previous studies on the impact of tightening CAFE standards, economists have paid little attention to the design of CAFE standards. I use policy simulation to evaluate these policy instruments relating to the design of CAFE standards. First, I model and estimate the demandand supply-sides of the U.S. vehicle market using various data sets. Then, based on the estimation results, I simulate the vehicle market and the demand for driving under four counterfactual CAFE policies with different designs, and examine the impacts of the three policy instruments. Simulation results suggest: (1) footprint-based targets have little impact on market shares, producer profits, consumer surplus, and gasoline use; (2) inter-firm credit trading lowers overall compliance costs by about $110-$140 million, and thus increases social welfare; and (3) allowing intra-firm credit transferring (but not inter-firm credit trading) reduces aggregate gasoline consumption by 0.1-0.25%. Chapter 2 proposes a new approach to analyzing how automobile fuel economy is valued in the market, using a hedonic regression framework. A distinctive feature of my approach is the use of each vehicle's miles traveled: a consumer's marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for fuel economy is inferred with her vehicle's miles traveled. With the inferred MWTP, we apply the steps of the standard hedonic method backward and estimate each vehicle's marginal and total price of fuel economy, and consumers' discount rate for future fuel cost savings. We find that the standard hedonic method may not provide a stable and reasonable estimate of the value of fuel economy, likely due to the omitted variable bias from vehicle attributes such as safety features, interior equipment and reliability. This method makes it possible to separate the portion of vehicle price that is attributable to fuel economy, and significantly alleviates the omitted variable bias. Applying the procedure to model year 2001 vehicles in the U.S. market, we estimate that consumers discount future fuel cost savings at the annual rate of 26-43%, that for the middle case of the discount rate of 34%, the price of a 0.1 gallon per 100 miles improvement in fuel efficiency is on average $75 (in 2000 U.S. dollars), and that for the same case, the average total price of fuel economy is $1,950. We also find that larger, less fuel efficient vehicles tend to have higher marginal and total prices of fuel economy. Chapter 3 examines whether Japanese fuel economy regulations established in the 1990s induced technological progress in Japanese automakers' technology for providing fuel economy. By observing how fuel economy of automobiles has improved after controlling for changes in vehicle characteristics such as weight and power, I find that fuel economy improvement accelerated after regulations were introduced, implying induced innovation in fuel efficiency technology. ESSAYS ON THE ECONOMICS OF AUTOMOBILE FUEL ECONOMY


Consumer innovativeness is an important driver of economic progress and a country's position in global competition. This study aims to examine the moderating effect of demographic factors of Indonesian consumers on the impact of consumer innovativeness on perceived risk and new product adoption. The type of research chosen is a causal comparative study by using online and offline survey methods. Data were obtained from a sample of 1,000 consumers from 31 provinces. The results showed that the demographic variable became a moderating variable for the impact of consumer innovativeness on new product adoption, but did not play a role in the influence of consumer innovativeness on credit-purchase risk perception. With regard to the influence of consumer innovativeness on credit-purchase risk perception, only social class has a significant effect as a moderating variable. As for the effect of consumer innovativeness on a new product adoption, the variables of marital status, occupation, income, and social class have significant effects. The social class variable consistently becomes a moderating one in both equations. The results of this study are useful for marketers to focus more specifically on their target markets, especially on the diffusion of new product innovations based on demographic characteristics.
AcknowledgmentPDUPT Research Grant by Ministry of Research and Technology of The Republic of Indonesia, 2019.


An efficient strategy to modulate the mechanical properties of conjugated polymers has been developed through the incorporation of amide-containing alkyl chains in diketopyrrolopyrrole-based conjugated polymers. The side-chain engineering performed with hydrogen bonding moieties (up to 20 mol% of amide-containing side-chains) was found to reduce the crystallinity of the conjugated polymers in the solid state. Interestingly, this reduction in crystallinity drastically influenced the mechanical properties of the new DPP-polymers, by promoting their stretching ability, reducing the elastic modulus of the polymers, and facilitating the molecular alignment after stretch. The resulting polymers with 10% hydrogen bonding side chains showed a maximum stretchability of 75% elongation, without the appearance of nanoscale cracks, and a detailed investigation of the mechanical properties was performed by a combination of morphological characterization tools, including grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction, polarized UV-Vis spectroscopy and optical/atomic force microscopy to support our finding. Additionally, incorporation of amide-containing side-chains also enabled the regeneration of the conjugated polymer morphology after damage. Our results demonstrate that the introduction of amide-containing alkyl chains is an effective strategy to enhance the mechanical properties of π-conjugated polymers without disrupting the π-conjugation, and to enable new properties such as morphological healing.


Developments within education, psychology and the neurosciences have shed a great deal of light on how we learn while, at the same time, confirming for us all that learning is a profoundly complex process and far from understood. Against this background, and in this position article, we consider the recent rise in interest in the concept of learning styles as VAK (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic) in primary schools in England and Wales and begin to identify and interrogate some of the more unorthodox claims frequently used to legitimise and lend support to its validity. Through the casual acceptance and promotion of VAK, and its often wider association with the notions of accelerated and brain‐based learning, it is our assertion that the complexity of learning is becoming increasingly trivialised and scholarship at all levels within certain sectors of the education community compromised.