A vast number of projects on salinity in irrigated agriculture were funded by the Water Research Commission (WRC) during the past 40 years. However, due to the diversity of the projects it is virtually impossible to cover all  aspects thoroughly in a paper of limited length. Thus this review focuses mainly on projects along the Lower Vaal, Riet, Berg and Breede Rivers in South Africa. The results on the water quality of these rivers indicate that irrigation has led to the deterioration of water sources. There is a direct relationship between river water quality and soils irrigated. Fortunately, effective land-suitability guidelines were developed and applied during the establishment of the major irrigation schemes. This facilitated the management of soils under irrigation. The results from long-term irrigation case studies along the Lower Vaal River and Breede River show that the quality of soils can be improved. The opposite is also true where mismanagement occurred. Research on the salinity threshold of major crops (grapevines, wheat, maize, groundnuts, etc.) confirmed the empiric nature of the guidelines. It is suggested that a more dynamic approach be used for managing salinity under irrigation at farm level, i.e. the use of models. Amongst others, future research should focus on determining the spatial and temporal distribution of salt in irrigated soils. Keywords: crop response, electrical conductivity, sodium adsorption ratio, soil type, water quality


Transport of individual cells or chemical payloads on a subcellular scale is an enabling tool for the study of cellular communication, cell migration, and other localized phenomena. We present a magnetically actuated robotic system for the fully automated manipulation of cells and microbeads. Our strategy uses autofluorescent robotic transporters and fluorescently labeled microbeads to aid tracking and control in optically obstructed environments. We demonstrate automated delivery of microbeads infused with chemicals to specified positions on neurons.


Around 1970, violence among pupils became conceptualised in a radically new way when the concept of "mobbing" was introduced into the Nordic school debate. The concept was immediately embraced by popular discourse with the result that significant attention and discussion followed. It was also soon picked up by researchers and became further developed within Swedish and Norwegian behavioural science. This article concerns how pupil violence in the form of bullying was understood and theorised in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s in Sweden and Norway. It shows how certain political and intellectual conditions, and events, in both national contexts were decisive for the development of bullying theory, eventually leading up to a commercialisation of bullying theory. This development is discussed with the help of the concept "psychology-commercial complex," derived from Pickstone's theory of technoscience.


Nrf2 is a transcription factor that plays critical roles in regulating the expression of cellular defensive antioxidants and detoxification enzymes. However, the role of Nrf2 and Nrf2's epigenetics reprogramming in skin tumor transformation is unknown. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory role and epigenetics of Nrf2 on tumor transformation induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) in mouse skin epidermal JB6 (JB6 P+) cells and the anticancer effect of sulforaphane (SFN), an isothiocyanate found in cruciferous vegetables. After five days of treatment, SFN significantly inhibited TPA-induced JB6 cellular transformation and SFN enhanced the nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and increased the mRNA and protein levels of the Nrf2 target genes HO-1, NQO1 and UGT1A1. Knockdown of Nrf2 attenuated the induction of Nrf2, HO-1 and NQO1 by SFN, enhanced TPA-induced colony formation and dampened the inhibitory effect of SFN on TPA-induced JB6 transformation. Epigenetics investigation using bisulfite genomic sequencing showed that SFN decreased the methylation ratio of the first 15 CpGs of the Nrf2 gene promoter, which was corroborated by increased Nrf2 mRNA expression. Furthermore, SFN strongly reduced the protein expression of DNA methyltransferases (DNMT1, DNMT3a and DNMT3b). SFN also inhibited the total histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity and decreased the protein expression of HDAC1, HDAC2, HDAC3 and HDAC4. Collectively, these results suggest that the anti-cancer effect of SFN against TPA-induced neoplastic transformation of mouse skin could involve the epigenetic reprogramming of anti-cancer genes such as Nrf2, leading to the epigenetic reactivation of Nrf2 and the subsequent induction of downstream target genes involved in cellular protection. Cancer Prev Res; 7(3); 319–29. ©2014 AACR.


The new approach, allowed to take into account some additional information, coming from datas, is proposed. The main idea is to obtain from datas some information about structure of the model in order to improve accuracy of estimation. It seems to be important, since standard nonparametric accuracy of estimation is usually very low. To improve one statisticians often impose some additional structure on considerable model, that can lead to inadequate model. To avoid both these disadvantages special form of estimation procedure, based on some combination of adaptive technique and hypothesis testing, is applied. From mathematical point of view it leads to the consideration of new kind of minimax risks. From practical point of view it allows to improve accuracy of estimation procedures even for the cases when guess on special structure of a model turns out to be wrong.


Sebastian Knight, a cipher in a novel, possesses no real life; what Nabokov labels as The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is, of course, mislabeled inasmuch as the words apply to the story the book coyly tells, as if the life were being recounted by the writer rather than invented. The book itself, however, is impeccably labeled: the book itself (the thing, not its story) is all the real life that Sebastian Knight has. Nabokov has this tendency to pass off an invented story as a real past, even if his labels do not always betray his trick as clearly as in Sebastian Knight's case. Moreover, by making his unreliable narrators the easy targets of his readers' doubts, the author makes us trust him for telling us who to distrust. He thus preserves for his stories (not as told, but as past) a fictional infallibility. His own story, in fact, as related in Speak, Memory, seems almost more fallible than his fictions do. According to David Shields, Nabokov takes up largely opposite modes of narration in his autobiography Speak, Memory and the fictional biography The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. Shields argues that Speak, Memory positions the reader and writer both as listeners to the autonomous voice of the mnemonic--a situation which renders the memoir's author as no more than the scribe best-qualified to write down whatever memory discloses. The automechanics of the autobiography's composition then sets Nabokov as the pencil-handed narratee as much as it sets him up to be the narrator, and this contingency, says the critic, permits the stuff of his autobiography the near-sentimentality (the forward tenderness) that his novels never allow. Shields perceives the difference between the autobiography and the fictional biography even on the level of what he calls the "titular antithesis" of the two books. Unlike the invocation "Speak, Memory," and its corollary positioning of author as recipient (as narratee), the half-dozen words that name The Real Life of Sebastian Knight imply the genre of the "tell-all," a genre that showcases the writer's authority. The writer thus "assumes a sophistication beyond the reader and hence an implicit antagonism toward us," writes Shields. He goes on to urge us to compare the first lines of each book. (1) Speak, Memory opens: "The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness;" (2) Sebastian Knight: "Sebastian Knight was born on the thirty-first of December, 1899, in the former capital of my country." (3) The universal cradle of Speak, Memory makes for easy contrast with the specificity of Sebastian Knight's birth announcement. But the most telling comparison between Speak, Memory and Sebastian Knight lies not in this juxtaposition of first lines; rather, it is the cradle of the autobiography and the novel's deathbed that reveal most about the two books' cross-purposes, purposes that finally intersect at a single point. At the end of Sebastian Knight, the narrator, having hurried to a hospital by train, "peer[s] for a moment into a dark room" in which he believes his half-brother is dying. "A small blue-shaded lamp" lit and dim beside him, V. listens to the man in the other room breathing gently. (5) "That door standing slightly ajar," he recounts, "was the best link imaginable." Nabokov's biography begins by insisting that "common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness." But his novel insists upon the opposite: that two eternities of light (even if that light is only the dim wattage from a shaded lamp) ensconce the dark brevity of having to die. Common sense does not tell us this, as common sense is more comfortable with the logic of mortality than that of immortality. Common sense, likewise, balks at the novel's conclusion: "I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps we both are someone whom neither of us knows. …


Streptococcal microorganisms mostly beta hemolytic streptococci are the most important and widespread bacterial agents causing infectious diseases in horses and they often follow a difficult course. The goals of the present study are to determine; i) together with cytologic findings, the system distributions of the beta hemolytic streptococci as a primary pathogen, ii) the susceptibility patterns to the most commonly used antibiotics in thoroughbred and Arabian racing horses iii) the presence of multiple antibiotics resistance of beta hemolytic streptococci encountered in horses. Beta hemolytic streptococci isolated and cytologically neutrophilic inflammation confirmed samples which were submitted to Jockey Club of Turkey horse hospital laboratory between April 2014 April 2017 were included into the study. The study was conducted on 128 samples including tracheal wash (71.9%), endometrial swabs (21.9%), abscess material (5.4%) and urine sample (0.8%). According to the isolation results, S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus), S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis (S. equisimilis) and S. equi subsp. equi (S. equi) were isolated from whole samples as 80.4%, 14.1% and 5.5% respectively. Antibiotics susceptibility results demonstrated that amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (100%), amoxicillin (100%), ampicillin (100%), penicillin (100%), imipenem (100%), ampicillin/sulbactam (100%), rifampicin (97.6%), ceftiofur (100%) and ceftazidime (87.5%) were found to be effective, while enrofloxacin (14.8%), amikacin (0.8%), gentamicin (4.7%), kanamycin (0%), neomycin (0%), streptomycin (0%), oxytetracycline (7.0%) and trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole (27.3%) were found to be mostly uneffective. The multiple antibiotics resistance rate was found to be 1.6% amongst beta hemolytic streptococci isolates in horses. These results of the present study confirmed the results of many similiar previous studies that S. zooepidemicus was the most frequently isolated beta hemolytic Streptococcus species followed by S. equisimilis and S. equi. In suspecious infections where a beta hemolytic streptococcal infection is suspected penicillin should be considered as the first line antimicrobial for horses when results of the samples submitted for bacterial culture and susceptibility test results are pending.


As a result of the ever growing number of functionalities and standards to be supported by communication systems, as well as the constant development of radar and imaging technologies, a key research area in the field of microwaves and millimeter waves is the achievement of reconfigurability capabilities. In recent years, the progress of MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) fabrication techniques has allowed radically challenging the performances of reconfigurable devices based on established technologies such as controllable ferrite material, semiconductor pin diodes or FET transistors. Consequently, there is presently significant effort to apply MEMS technology to the microwave field; in the case of high-cost applications (e.g. radars, satellites), the main reason is the state-of-the-art performances that MEMS technology can offer; namely, low losses, high linearity, large bandwidth. In the case of mass market (e.g.: mobile phone, GPS receiver), it is rather pushed by the increasing demand for the integration of numerous microwave functionalities into a monolithic, small, low-power consuming and low-cost device. In this context, the objective of this thesis is to contribute to the development of new periodic or cascadable microwave devices reconfigurable by means of MEMS. Indeed, numerous microwave devices take advantage of the particular propagation properties of a wave in periodic structures to achieve given functionalities (e.g. phase shifters, frequency selective surfaces, periodic antennas, antenna arrays and reflectarrays, metamaterials). For this purpose, analysis and design methods were developed based on the theory of waves propagating in periodic structures to help in dealing with different kinds of periodic or cascadable MEMS structures in an integrated approach. The method comprises the following main steps: the setup of efficient full-wave simulations of MEMS blocks, the derivation of physical and accurate circuit models, and the development of hybrid full-wave-circuit model design methods based on periodic structure modeling. It is noticeable that several theoretical developments presented are not restricted to micromachined and MEMS devices, but could be of use for many other microwave designs. Three main classes of devices have been studied and designed to illustrate the versatility of the approach, as well as the various potentialities of MEMS in microwave applications. The first structure addressed is an existing microwave MEMS structure, the distributed MEMS transmission line (DMTL), for which design methods based on the periodic structure modeling were developed. Analog and digital devices were fabricated, showing excellent agreement with the circuit modeled results. We also introduce and analyze a new topology for the reduction of the mismatch in multi-bit DMTLs. The results presented next consist mainly in theoretical developments on the metamaterial composite right/left handed transmission line (CRLH-TL) structure, carried out to overcome the limitations of existing models, which were shown to be inappropriate in the case of MEMS CRLH-TL implementations. Fixed micromachined devices were successfully designed based on the new theory, which also allowed the demonstration of the possibility to design especially low/high impedance CRLH-TLs. Next, MEMS implementations of variable CRLH-TLs are presented. Analog and digital devices were designed, and excellent agreements between full-wave simulations and circuit models are obtained in both cases. For fabrication reasons, only the analog device could be measured to exhibit the expected performances. This constitutes –to the author's knowledge– the first implementation of a MEMS-reconfigurable metamaterial structure. The last device studied is a MEMS-reconfigurable reflectarray cell. A comprehensive assessment of the numerous requirements for such a cell with regard to the functioning of a reconfigurable reflectarray is first presented, as well as detailed discussions on the rigorous simulation and measurement of the device. A monolithic MEMS reflectarray cell was then designed based on these considerations, and exhibits excellent performances in comparison with other reconfigurable reflectarray cells based on MEMS and other technologies.


Abstract To evaluate neutron and gamma-ray absorbed doses in human bodies at criticality accidents, two kinds of tissue-equivalent dosimeters, a polymer-alanine dosimeter and a thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) made of 7Li211B4O7, were applied to dosimetry experiments with ˜10% enriched uranyl nitrate solution at the Transient Experiment Critical Facility (TRACY) in the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. For the experiments, five transient operations were conducted to simulate criticality accidents by varying the conditions of reactivity addition. Very high doses from both neutrons and gamma rays were successfully measured in the range of 1.5 to 1600 Gy by using polymer-alanine dosimeters. The gamma-ray doses were able to be determined in the range of 1 to 900 Gy by using 7Li211B4O7 TLDs. In addition, it is confirmed that the doses are proportional to integrated power during transient operations although the conditions of reactivity addition are different. Since the sensitivity of 7Li211B4O7 to gamma rays is almost the same as that of alanine, the neutron doses are easily evaluated without any complicated correction by subtracting the gamma-ray doses obtained by the 7Li211B4O7 TLDs from the sum of neutron and gamma-ray doses by the polymer-alanine dosimeters. As a result of computational analyses by the MCNP4B code, it is also found that calculated doses agree with measured ones within 95% confidence intervals and the MCNP4B is applicable to the evaluation of neutron and gamma-ray absorbed doses during the transient.


Abstract In most European countries a 'childcare gap' exists: that is, a discrepancy between the demand for and provision of childcare. Among the countries that are succeeding in closing the gap are the Nordic welfare states. Hence, knowledge about how childcare provision in these countries has developed is of wide interest. This article stresses the importance of studying how the interactive processes of changing provision and demand explain the building up and the closing of national childcare gaps. Although there are similarities in the development of Nordic childcare services, some differences stand out. The comparison indicates that complex societal processes interact in shaping provision and demand. These dynamics are explored in more detail in the Norwegian case, where the interactive processes have produced an ever-increasing demand for childcare. The demand side is crucial, particularly the role of mothers in generating momentum for policy change. Mothers' changing labour market patterns and their demand for childcare are important driving forces for policy change.


Hand posture and force, which define aspects of the way an object is grasped, are features of robotic manipulation. A means for specifying these grasping "flavors" has been developed that uses an instrumented glove equipped with joint and force sensors. The new grasp specification system will be used at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in a Virtual Reality based Point-and-Direct (VR-PAD) robotics implementation. Here, an operator gives directives to a robot in the same natural way that human may direct another. Phrases such as "put that there" cause the robot to define a grasping strategy and motion strategy to complete the task on its own. In the VR-PAD concept, pointing is done using virtual tools such that an operator can appear to graphically grasp real items in live video. Rather than requiring full duplication of forces and kinesthetic movement throughout a task as is required in manual telemanipulation, hand posture and force are now specified only once. The grasp parameters then become object flavors. The robot maintains the specified force and hand posture flavors for an object throughout the task in handling the real workpiece or item of interest.


Over-the-counter personal lubricants are used frequently during vaginal and anal intercourse, but they have not been extensively tested for biological effects that might influence HIV transmission. We evaluated the in vitro toxicity anti-HIV-1 activity and osmolality of popular lubricants. A total of 41 lubricants were examined and compared to Gynol II and Carraguard as positive and negative controls for toxicity, respectively. Cytotoxicity was assessed using the XTT assay. The MAGI assay with R5 and X4 HIV-1 laboratory strains was used to evaluate antiviral activity. The effect of the lubricants on differentiated Caco-2 cell monolayers (transepithelial electrical resistance, TEER) was also measured. None of the lubricants tested showed significant activity against HIV-1. Surprisingly, four of them, Astroglide Liquid, Astroglide Warming Liquid, Astroglide Glycerin & Paraben-Free Liquid, and Astroglide Silken Secret, significantly enhanced HIV-1 replication (p<0.0001). A common ingredient in three of these preparations is polyquaternium-15. In vitro testing of a chemically related compound (MADQUAT) confirmed that this similarly augmented HIV-1 replication. Most of the lubricants were found to be hyperosmolar and the TEER value dropped approximately 60% 2 h after exposure to all lubricants tested. Cells treated with Carraguard, saline, and cell controls maintained about 100% initial TEER value after 2-6 h. We have identified four lubricants that significantly increase HIV-1 replication in vitro. In addition, the epithelial damage caused by these and many other lubricants may have implications for enhancing HIV transmission in vivo. These data emphasize the importance of performing more rigorous safety testing on these products.


Anal canal duplication (ACD) is the rarest congenital malformation of the digestive tract and is associated with other congenital malformations. The clinical case reports a 40 years old woman who had two episodes of anal abscesses treated with surgical drainage within 1 year. In proctology consultation, the examination revealed a structure in the midline, posterior to the native anus. Pelvic magnetic resonance imaging and anal echoendoscopy confirmed the presence of a tubular structure posterior to the anal canal, compatible with duplication of the anal canal. The patient was proposed for surgical excision but refused. Seven years later, the patient had another anal abscess. She was again proposed for surgery and refused. Around 60 cases of ACD are currently described worldwide. The diagnosis is usually made at an early stage of life. Our patient was diagnosed at the age of 40 years, constituting one of the most elderly patient diagnosed with ACD. J Med Cases. 2018;9(2):61-63 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc2902w


This study has been motivated by the recent shift of energy demand's gravity to Asia due to decades of robust and stable economic growth in the region. Said economic growth has correspondingly led to increases in per capita income in emerging economies in ASEAN and East Asia. Past empirical studies showed that energy intensity –thus energy demand-- tends to grow at an early stage of development. However, curbing the energy intensity remains central to green growth policy. Thus, this study formulates the hypothesis on whether energy intensity – thereby energy demand -- starts to fall as a country becomes richer. Based on this hypothesis, this study aims to investigate: (i) the non-monotonic relationship between energy demand and income levels in selected ASEAN and East Asia countries; (ii) the short- and long-run association of energy demand with price and income level; and (iii) the country performance in curbing the energy intensity. The study employs panel data model, pool-OLS, and historical time series data of individual countries with Vector Error Correction Model (ECM) for the analysis of the above objectives. The findings have suggested three major implications. One, it found that energy intensity --thus energy demand -- has a trade-off relationship with income level which contributes to the theory of energy demand. Two, energy demand has a trade-off relationship with income level, albeit the fact that each country has a different threshold level, implying that whatever the level of per capita income a particular country has, that country can curb energy intensity if it has the right policies in place. And three, countries with persistently increasing energy intensity will need to look into their energy efficiency policies more aggressively to ensure that structural changes in the economy do keep the energy efficiency policy to its core.


This essay articulates obstacles to an interpretation of the whole proper to Plato's philosophy that are rooted in the general methodical principle of traditional hermeneutics, and then addresses them by a novel hermeneutic application of Husserl's transcendental and eidetic reductions. This application involves disclosing the transcendental phenomena of the texts of Plato's dialogues on the basis of the former and articulating their phenomenological essence in accord with the latter. A meta-hermeneutical argument for what Plato himself might have thought is then ventured, which takes as its point of departure both the transcendental phenomena of his texts and Aristotle's report that eide for him were in some sense arithmoi.


Byzantine resilience emerged as a prominent topic within the distributed machine learning community. Essentially, the goal is to enhance distributed optimization algorithms, such as distributed SGD, in a way that guarantees convergence despite the presence of some misbehaving (a.k.a., {\em Byzantine}) workers. Although a myriad of techniques addressing the problem have been proposed, the field arguably rests on fragile foundations. These techniques are hard to prove correct and rely on assumptions that are (a) quite unrealistic, i.e., often violated in practice, and (b) heterogeneous, i.e., making it difficult to compare approaches. We present \emph{RESAM (RESilient Averaging of Momentums)}, a unified framework that makes it simple to establish optimal Byzantine resilience, relying only on standard machine learning assumptions. Our framework is mainly composed of two operators: \emph{resilient averaging} at the server and \emph{distributed momentum} at the workers. We prove a general theorem stating the convergence of distributed SGD under RESAM. Interestingly, demonstrating and comparing the convergence of many existing techniques become direct corollaries of our theorem, without resorting to stringent assumptions. We also present an empirical evaluation of the practical relevance of RESAM.


The trade collapse of 2008-2009 and the anemic trade growth since then raise the question of whether trade elasticities may be undergoing fundamental structural change. A potential source of such change is the spread of global value chains (GVCs), which have brought a marked increase in the use of intermediate goods and changes in the nature of trade competition. We review the recent literature on the impact of GVCs on measured trade elasticities and the ways in which their emergence may affect how we estimate and interpret trade responsiveness. We then draw out a few implications of recent research for global modeling. JEL codes: C5, F14, F23


A hybrid finite element/boundary element technique (FEM/BEM) is presented for the analysis of plane wave scattering from an axially corrugated cylinder of arbitrary geometric and material parameters. Inside the periodic structure a cylinder of infinite length composed of a piecewise uniform isotropic medium moving uniformly in the axial direction is also considered. Covariant-projection edge elements are employed in the inhomogeneous region of the unit cell to solve the Maxwell-Minkowski equations, whilst the scattered field is expanded in terms of cylindrical Floquet harmonics. Numerical results, for both TE/sub z/ and TM/sub z/ polarised incident fields, are presented and validated as far as was possible.


Setting the inflation rate may look simple but certainly not easy. This can be evidenced by frequent melencengnya inflation target has been set by Bank Indonesia. To overcome this, the 2004 Law No. 3 Article 7 were excluded, thus changing the policy framework of inflation targeting lite be a full-fledged inflation targeting. This means that Bank Indonesia will focus on regulating the rate of inflation only. The purpose of this study to determine whether the rate of inflation to be more easily controlled in the period of full-fledged inflation targeting. The method used is the autoregressive model estimation. The results showed that the application of full-fledged inflation targeting has not had a positive impact in regulating the rate of inflation. In the period 2005-2015, was inflation is still very difficult to control or tend to be persistent. Interestingly, this was due to the strong influence of the global economy on the Indonesian econom


Modern psycholinguistic studies started to use experimental and child language observational data concerning the language of space to obtain evidence for the primacy issue: who leads in the articulation of spatial language: language or spatial cognition? Following the model of Landau and Jackendoff, strong claims can be made about the universal distinctions languages make about space and their relationship to the organization of spatial cognition in the brain. However, there are important differences in this regard between languages. Hungarian data will be used to illustrate how a universal cognitive tendency – the primacy of goals – exist very early on in a language that requires distinctions along the path (e.g. in, into, from inside). These tendencies are shown both in normal and in developmentally impaired populations. Our studies on Williams syndrome (in coll. with A. Lukacs) provide some clarifications regarding the language-cognition interface. This condition is characterized by severe limitations of spatial cognition, related to the underdevelopment of posterior parietal areas. In line with these neurocognitive limitations, spatial language in these subjects seems to be very limited as compared to their general level of grammatical morphology. However, detailed comparisons show no differences in the qualitative pattern of performance and errors in using spatial language. It seems that the limitations of computational space limit spatial language in this group, but at the same time the types of computations performed by this limited system are identical. A similar observation also indicates that, in using spatial suffixes to code interpersonal meanings such as to be angry at, spatial use is easier and earlier both in normal subjects and in impaired populations. All of these data support a rather universal and cognition-based view of the unfolding and organization of spatial language.


Pre-service teachers responded to a twenty-item survey on the topic of Islam. The survey was designed to both assess their knowledge about Islam as well as to gauge their reaction to Islam in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. An analysis of the 218 responses indicate that many of the pre-service teachers in the sample lack a rudimentary knowledge as to the nature of the Islamic faith as well as the global nature and influence of Islam. In addition the survey responses suggest that the majority of this sample of pre-service teachers did not grasp the diverse nature of Islam. Although pre-service teachers' responses concerning how they would treat Muslim students indicated sensitivity, few seemed to be aware of specific ways in which to integrate diversity into their teaching. Pre-service coursework needs to address the misconceptions and lack of knowledge concerning Islam and Muslims. It also should address strategies for infusing diversity into the curriculum. ********** In recent years there has been much concern that as our nation's population becomes more diverse, our public school teachers need to better understand this diversity and how to work with diverse populations of students (Sleeter, 2001). With the events of September 11, 2001 as a backdrop, once again the issue of understanding diversity re-emerged. Countless discussions about the events on September 11 and after have occurred throughout thousands of classrooms. While no doubt these discussions were multi-faceted in nature ranging from American reaction to the September attack to understanding why those who perpetrated the act did so, one issue that no doubt arose during the course of these discussions concerned the nature of the Islamic religion. As roughly seven million Americans claim the Islamic religion and an increasing number of our nation's school populace is Muslim, it became of interest to contemplate the nature of students' schemata about Islam. Research in cognitive psychology has shown that often students' pre-conceived ideas about virtually any topic, let alone pre-existing ideas about religion or ethnicity, are very powerful and as such difficult to change (Barrass, 1984; Steffensen, Joag-Dev, & Anderson, 1979). University students' pre-existing knowledge, and specifically that of pre-service teachers became our particular focus. Based on schema theory it would follow that pre-service teachers' schemata held in reference to a religion such as Islam would have some impact, if not a large one, on how these future teachers dealt with student questions about the events of September 11 as well as on how these future teachers interacted with students of the Muslim persuasion. Methodology The major research question focused upon the nature of pre-service teachers' knowledge about Islam. Approximately one month after the September 11 events, pre-service teachers were asked to complete a 20-item survey on the topic of Islam. All of the respondents were undergraduate students seeking teacher certification at a mid-sized state university in a mid-atlantic state; the total number of teacher education majors at the university was approximately 1,450. The investigators explained that an analysis of this survey was to be undertaken to understand the nature of students' schemata and as a means of modeling to pre-service teachers one method by which to ascertain the nature of students' schemata. Students were also informed that the survey answers would be reconsidered and discussed during an upcoming unit on diversity. For the latter reason, two courses taken by all teacher education majors after the freshman year that contained units on the topic of diversity were selected as the focus of the study. By the time students enrolled in these courses, most of them had completed their general education requirements; one of these requirements was a course in history although students could choose from a wide variety of options. …


The increase in computational power and available data has fueled a wide deployment of deep learning in production environments. Despite their successes, deep architectures are still poorly understood and costly to train. We demonstrate in this paper how a simple recipe enables a market player to harm or delay the development of a competing product. Such a threat model is novel and has not been considered so far. We derive the corresponding attacks and show their efficacy both formally and empirically. These attacks only require access to the initial, untrained weights of a network. No knowledge of the problem domain and the data used by the victim is needed. On the initial weights, a mere permutation is sufficient to limit the achieved accuracy to for example 50% on the MNIST dataset or double the needed training time. While we can show straightforward ways to mitigate the attacks, the respective steps are not part of the standard procedure taken by developers so far.


This study explores the learning processes that contribute to knowledge productivity: gradual improvement and radical innovation of an organisation's operating procedures, products, and services, based on the development and application of new knowledge. The research is based on the assumption that innovation is the result of a series of powerful social learning processes. Previous research revealed a set of eleven design principles that reflect factors that really matter in an innovation process. The study at hand presents how these design principles facilitate the design of an innovation practice. Review workshops and design workshops were used to answer the main research question: How do the design principles facilitate the design of an innovation practice? The data reveals that the design principles do not work as prescriptive rules that in a specific combination, applied to a predefined situation, will result in certain effects. Every design principle offers a new perspective on the innovation practice. This new perspective helps to get new ideas for interventions in the innovation practice. After the design of these interventions it is mainly the facilitator who has an important role in making it a success. If he sees opportunities and is capable, then he can use the interventions to create breakthroughs in the innovation practice.


This report uses data from the greater London transportation survey (glts) to model pedal cycle use in greater London. The average cycling trip rate per person for a given category of residents of a given area is shown to be the product of two practically independent parameters: participation (proportion of people cycling) and activity rate (number of trips per cyclist). Analysis of the data reveals that the participation parameter is the more important in determining differences between trip rates. Approximate statistical independence between those two parameters is also observed when the population is subdivided into 10 social groups. Cycling varies considerably, with the highest levels for children and students and the lowest for housewives and retired people. Car ownership is also associated with significant differences in cycling within particular social groups but its net effect on the cycling trip rate for all residents of a given area is small. These differences in social characteristics between the populations of different parts of the glts area account for only a small part of the spatial variations in cycling trip rates. Nevertheless zonal modelling using the fine mesh of the glts traffic zones reveals systematic sectoral and radial patterns in the proportion of the population cycling (though not in the activity rates). Within the 10 social groupings the 5 groups for which this zonal model shows the most systematic variation contribute 75 per cent of all cyclists in the glts area. Models of participation were fitted at the local authority level using measurements of road traffic condition, population characteristics and modal use for journeys to work. Fitting 10 variables of these kinds explained over 80 per cent of variation in 6 of the 10 social groups. The proportions of people cycling in some social groups, including children, seem to vary quite strongly with simple indicators of traffic conditions. For possible application to areas other than London, a model which uses solely census variables was fitted. The degree of variance explained exceeded 50 per cent in 5 of the 10 population groups. The proportion of workers who cycle to work, and car ownership, emerge as significant predictors of cycle use at the local authority level in these models. (a)


Monitoring of beach profiles was carried out during one-year period at two sites located 3 km apart along a Pacific beach, Japan. These two sites are composed of beach sand with different grain size: 0.76 mm and 0.26 mm. It was found that the shoreline did not move even in storm wave events at the site with 0.7 6-mm sand, where the "seesaw mode" profile change took place in the subaerial portion of the beach. It was also found that the shoreline was not always retreated by storm waves at the 0.26-mm sand site, where the "parallel mode" profile change dominated, at the time of presence of bars working as a submerged breakwater to protect the beach from erosion.


Early lodging of soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] in highly productive environments has been observed throughout the midwestern United States. It has been established that soybean seed yields are decreased when severe lodging occurs sometime prior to physiological maturity. The objective of this 2-year field study was to examine the effect of plant growth stage at the time of lodging on soybean seed yield and its primary components; pods per plant, seeds per pod, and seed size. The study was conducted at Tipton, Ind., in 1972 on a Crosby silt loam soil (member of the fine mixed mesic family of Aeric Ochraqualfs) and at Lafayette, Ind., in 1973 on a Chalmers silty clay loam soil (member of the fine loamy mixed mesic family of Typic Haplaquolls.) Two Group II soybean cultivars ('Wells' and 'Corsoy'), representing distinct degrees of lodging resistance, were subjected to a simulated lodging treatment at 2-week intervals in the early reproductive growth stages. Controls were: a) plants supported by a 10 ✕ 10 cm plastic grid system, and b) no treatment or support which permited natural lodging to occur. Depending upon the time of simulated lodging, seed yields of both cultivars were reduced from 11 to 32% in 1972 and from 12 to 22% in 1973. The reproductive growth stage, R5, normally reached during the first 2 weeks of August in central Indiana, was found to be the most critical time for lodging to occur. Neither seeds per pod nor seed size was significantly reduced when lodging occurred at stage R5. The reduction in yield was due almost entirely to a reduced number of pods per plant, especially those on the central stem. When lodging occurred after flowering had commenced apical dominance was lost, resulting in lateral branches assuming central stem characteristics.


To assess the sustainability of the agricultural sectors of three farming systems of the Agricultural Park of South Milan (horticultural, rice and livestock) the analysis was performed on agro-environmental and socio-economic aspects of 9 farms with different management systems: conventional, integrated and organic. The agro-environmental sustainability was measured through indicators of the soil, water, air and landscape-biodiversity. Socio-economic indicators was carried out by detecting economic indicators. The result shows that the analyzed farms are managed in a barely sustainable with regard to economic aspects, but have quite a negative impact on the environment. Only organic farms received positive values of environmental sustainability but reach the worst economic performance. The conventional and integrated farms have very negative values of environmental sustainability and better economic results of organic farms.


The eutrophication problem in US wastewater treatment plants becomes more serious with increasing discharge of nutrients from wastewater to water bodies. The US EPA has required more stringent discharge standards on nutrients for higher effluent water quality. The main objective of this research is to investigate cost-effective and efficient environmental technologies such as membrane bioreactors (MBR) and membrane aerated biofilm reactors (MABR) for improved nitrogen removal and recalcitrant organic nitrogen compounds removal. In this research, the MABR process had demonstrated efficient organic matter and nitrogen removal through simultaneous nitrification and denitrification with low sludge production. The metabolic selection via alternating anoxic/aerobic processes in the modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE) type MBR systems resulted in higher bacterial activities and improved nutrient removal than those of integrated fixed-film MBR (IFMBR) systems. The results of a start-up performance study of MBR systems indicated that MBR process configuration and reactor type affect MBR performance, membrane fouling, nutrient removal, and biomass activities. The high biomass MBR systems demonstrated good and stable nitrophenol biodegradation performance with simultaneous nitrogen removal. . The membrane flux and TMP profiles suggested that continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) reactor type MBR appeared to have much better membrane fouling control performance than that of the pseudo-plug-flow-reactor type of MLEMBR due to the difference of metabolic uncoupling by nitrophenol compounds in MBR systems.


The announcement by the Reserve Primary Fund, in September 2008, that it was "breaking the buck," triggered a widespread withdrawal of assets from other money market funds and led the U.S. Government to adopt emergency measures to maintain the stability of the short term credit markets. In light of these events, the SEC heightened the regulatory requirements to which money market funds - a three trillion dollar industry - are subject. Regulators and commentators continue to press for further regulatory change, however. The most controversial reform proposal would eliminate the ability of money market funds to purchase and sell shares at a stable $1/share price.This article argues that the debate over a floating NAV is misguided. First, under current law, money market funds can maintain a $1 share price only under limited conditions. Second, a floating NAV would not achieve the goals claimed by its proponents. Third, and most important, a stable share price is critical to the existence of the money market funds industry. A required floating NAV would eliminate the fundamental attraction of money market funds for investors and, as a result, jeopardize the availability of short term capital.The more important regulatory question, on which existing commentary has not focused, is what happens if an MMF breaks the buck. This article takes the position that this event should neither require the fund to be liquidated nor permit the board unfettered discretion in suspending redemptions. Instead the article proposes two procedural reforms designed to provide flexibility and predictability in these circumstances by allowing a money market fund to convert to a floating NAV and allowing investors to redeem most of their shares without awaiting completion of a fund's liquidation. In conjunction with a modest amendment requiring improved fund disclosure about the circumstances under which a fund may be unable to maintain a stable share price, these changes will increase liquidity, address the pressures that may lead to a "run," preserve the economic viability of money market funds, and allow them to respond to the preferences of investors.


An examination of contemporary struggles over extractive industry projects shows that they are not adequately captured by current CSR strategies because they are not exclusively disputes about the environment, human rights or health and safety as those subjects are generally understood by companies. Rather, they are better understood as disputes over community control of resources and the right of community members to control the direction of their lives. This Article proposes that extractive industries can tackle the underlying causes of the growing opposition to their projects in the developing world by engaging in consent processes with communities and groups directly affected by projects with a view to obtaining their free prior and informed consent (FPIC). The authors propose that FPIC must be enduring, enforceable, and meaningful in order to take companies and communities out of their current defensive positions. FPIC should instead allow companies and communities to take up proactive positions - with those companies that have the consent of the communities in which they operate obtaining a competitive advantage and those communities that have enforceable agreements with companies obtaining control over the natural-resource-based development process on which their future depends.


Sonoran Desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis mexicana) occupy rugged upland areas that experience irregular periods of vegetation growth associated with precipitation events. These episodic and often spatially limited events provide important forage and preformed water resources that may be important drivers of animal movement and habitat use. Habitat-use models that incorporate forage phenology would broaden our understanding of desert bighorn ecology and have considerable potential to inform conservation efforts for the species. Field-based methods are of limited utility to characterize vegetation phenology across large areas. Vegetation indices (VI) derived from satellite imagery are a viable alternative, but may be confounded by areas of high relief and shadow effects that can degrade VI values. The varying spatial and temporal resolutions of readily available satellite sensors, such as the Landsat thematic mapper (TM) and moderate-resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS), present additional challenges. In this study, we sought to minimize degrading effects of terrain on TM- and MODIS-based estimates of vegetation phenology. We compared effects of high topographic relief on time series MODIS- and TM-based VI such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) using VI departures from average (DA) in shaded and unshaded areas. Sun elevation angle negatively impacted TM-derived NDVI and EVI values in areas of steep terrain. In contrast, MODIS-derived NDVI values were insensitive to sun elevation and terrain effects, whereas MODIS-derived EVI was degraded in areas of steep terrain. Time series MODIS NDVI and EVI DA values differed significantly during months of low sun elevation angle. Average MODIS EVI departure values were ≥20% lower than NDVI under these conditions, confounding time series estimates of plant phenology. Our best results were obtained from MODIS 16-day composited NDVI. These remote-sensing-based VI estimates of seasonal plant phenology and productivity can be used to inform models of habitat use and movements of desert bighorn over large areas.


Abstract. This paper presents theoretical foundations, numerical implementation and examples of application of the two-dimensional Discrete-Element bonded-particle Sea Ice model – DESIgn. In the model, sea ice is represented as an assemblage of objects of two types: disk-shaped "grains" and semi-elastic bonds connecting them. Grains move on the sea surface under the influence of forces from the atmosphere and the ocean, as well as interactions with surrounding grains through direct contact (Hertzian contact mechanics) and/or through bonds. The model has an experimental option of taking into account quasi-three-dimensional effects related to the space- and time-varying curvature of the sea surface, thus enabling simulation of ice breaking due to stresses resulting from bending moments associated with surface waves. Examples of the model's application to simple sea ice deformation and breaking problems are presented, with an analysis of the influence of the basic model parameters ("microscopic" properties of grains and bonds) on the large-scale response of the modeled material. The model is written as a toolbox suitable for usage with the open-source numerical library LIGGGHTS. The code, together with full technical documentation and example input files, is freely available with this paper and on the Internet.


We consider a left-invariant sub-Riemannian problem of Engel type on the central extension of the special linear group. Interest in this problem comes from the fact that it has strictly abnormal trajectories, and the normal geodesic flow is Liouville integrable. An extremal trajectory is called strictly abnormal if it is not present among normal geodesics. It is known that the most complicated singularities of the sub-Riemannian metric arise near abnormal trajectories. The presence of a strictly abnormal trajectory in combination with the integrability of the normal geodesic flow makes the problem under consideration a model example for studying the singularities of the sub-Riemannian metric. We apply to the problem the invariant formulation of Pontryagin maximum principle (PMP), in which the vertical subsystem (for adjoint variables) of the Hamiltonian system of PMP is independent of the state variables. We show that the vertical subsystem is reduced to the equation of a skewed pendulum. The first integrals of the system are found and an explicit solution is obtained in a special case. In the general case, we carry out a qualitative analysis of the phase flow of the Hamiltonian system.


We introduce a new metaphor for learning spatial relations—the 3D puzzle. With this metaphor users learn spatial relations by assembling a geometric model themselves. For this purpose, a 3D model of the subject at hand is enriched with docking positions which allow objects to be connected. Since complex 3D interactions are required to compose 3D objects, sophisticated 3D visualization and interaction techniques are included. Among these techniques are specialized shadow generation, snapping mechanisms, collision detection and the use of two-handed interaction. The 3D puzzle, similar to a computer game, can be operated at different levels of difficulty. To simplify the task, a subset of the geometry, e.g., the skeleton of an anatomic model, can be given initially. Moreover, textual information concerning the parts of the model is provided to support the user. With this approach we motivate students to explore the spatial relations in complex geometric models and at the same time give them a goal to achieve while learning takes place. A prototype of a 3D puzzle, which is designed principally for use in anatomy education, is presented.


The most commonly deployed web service applications employ client-server communication patterns, with clients running remotely and services hosted in data centers. In this paper, we make the case for Service-Oriented Collaboration applications that combine service-hosted data with collaboration features implemented using peer-to-peer protocols. Collaboration features are awkward to support solely based on the existing web services technologies. Indirection through the data center introduces high latencies and limits scalability, and precludes collaboration between clients connected to one-another but lacking connectivity to the data center. Cornell's Live Distributed Objects platform combines web services with direct peer-to-peer communication to eliminate these issues.


Understanding what determines the extent to which economic agents tell the truth to their regulating authority is of major economic importance, from banking to environmental protection. To this end, we examine truth-telling of German commercial fishermen in an artefactual field experiment. Their regulator, the European Union (EU), has recently enacted a ban on discarding unwanted fish catches to the sea, without yet increasing monitoring activities. The regulator thus depends on fishermen's truth-telling, while standard economic theory predicts substantial self-serving dishonesty. Using a coin- tossing task, we test whether truth-telling in a baseline setting differs from behavior in two treatments that exploit fishermen's widespread ill-regard of the EU. We find that fishermen misreport coin tosses to their advantage, albeit to a lesser extent than standard theory predicts. Misreporting is stronger among fishermen in a treatment where they are faced with the EU flag, suggesting that lying towards their ill-regarded regulator is more substantial. Yet, some fishermen are more honest in a control treatment where the source of EU research funding is revealed additionally. Our findings imply that regulators can influence truth-telling behavior by means of their regulatory approaches and communication strategies.


Sequential decision making problems, such as structured prediction, robotic control, and game playing, require a combination of planning policies and generalisation of those plans. In this paper, we present Expert Iteration (ExIt), a novel reinforcement learning algorithm which decomposes the problem into separate planning and generalisation tasks. Planning new policies is performed by tree search, while a deep neural network generalises those plans. Subsequently, tree search is improved by using the neural network policy to guide search, increasing the strength of new plans. In contrast, standard deep Reinforcement Learning algorithms rely on a neural network not only to generalise plans, but to discover them too. We show that ExIt outperforms REINFORCE for training a neural network to play the board game Hex, and our final tree search agent, trained tabula rasa, defeats MoHex 1.0, the most recent Olympiad Champion player to be publicly released.


A total of 63 gravity cores, together with high-resolution bathymetry data and sidescan sonar imagery, were studied along both eastern and western margins of the Rockall Trough, offshore west Ireland. The datasets are used to establish the response of the slopes to high-frequency glacial forcing and they help constrain the shallow stratigraphy left on undersupplied current-swept slopes. During full glacial conditions, multiple episodes of mass wasting took place against a backdrop of weak bottom current activity and ice-rafting. During interstadials and interglacials, the eastern trough margin was characterised by more stable slopes and strong bottom currents resulting in periods of erosion and winnowing and the deposition of sandy biogenic (interglacial) and mixed clastic-biogenic (interstadial) contourites. On the western margin, the currents remained weak resulting in mud-prone deposits. Spatial variations in current flow reflect variations in slope gradient and the impact of local topographic highs or depressions that deflected and enhanced or forced deceleration of the currents, explaining the distribution of sands and muds.


The purpose of this research project was to further the understanding of the construct of fear of emotion, its measurement, its relationship to anxiety disorders and depression, and how it changes over treatment and follow-up with CBT alone or combined with medication in a community mental health centre. Anxiety and depressive disorders cause considerable distress and impairment. Understanding the mechanisms that maintain these disorders is important to optimise the effectiveness of available treatments. Fear of emotion is postulated as a transdiagnostic construct that maintains anxiety and depression and is amenable to treatment. Two studies were carried out; in the first, data from 652 adult patients who had completed treatment were evaluated to determine the association between fear of emotion and symptoms of anxiety and depression, the change after CBT in those who were medicated and those who were not, and those who achieved clinically significant change. Fear of emotion was a weak to moderate predictor of depression and anxiety symptoms independent of medication status. Subscale scores explained a greater proportion of variance of symptoms than total scores, and suggested some specificity in differentiating between the symptoms and the fear of specific emotions. Fear of emotion decreased over treatment regardless of whether patients were medicated or not. There was a trend for a greater proportion of unmedicated patients to achieve clinically significant change. In the second study, 41 patients who completed treatment were assessed at six-month follow-up. Self-reported fear of emotion following CBT treatment predicted severity of anxiety and depression symptoms at follow-up, regardless of medication status. Enhancements to current treatments should continue to target fear of emotion.


Have you thought about what your life will be like in 10 or 15 years? Surely you have imagined yourself being happy, moving around your favorite spaces, working on what you like, and enjoying beautiful plants and clean and fresh air. How is your lifestyle today affecting your chances of enjoying such a future?


This report asks what is happening to middle-skill workers. Driven by mega trends such as automation, ageing and offshoring, the share of jobs whose wages placed them firmly in the middle of the wage distribution has been declining. Termed job polarisation, economists have observed the decline in the share of middle-skill jobs in the majority of OECD labour markets. One little explored question is where are these workers going? This report examines what workers are doing who in the past would have been employed in middle-skill jobs. The report first examines the traits of previous middle-skill workers to build a picture of the "typical" middle-skill worker. Using this profile, the report next examines what types of jobs a worker with the typical middle-skill profile is taking, and how likely such a worker is to be working. The study then analyses different metrics of job stability and compensation to put in perspective what shifts out of middle-skill work imply for labour market outcomes.


The distribution of ammonites in Arogyapuram/Dalmiapuram, Ariyalur and Senthurai areas show a maximum abundance at Ariyalur and a decrease in its abundance from Ariyalur around 30-35 Km. An uplift which caused marine regression throughout Cauvery basin was proposed by earlier workers. In the present study author propose a terrain style at Cauvery basin with respect to Senthurai, Ariyalur and Dalmiapuram in early Cretaceous and after uplift in late Cretaceous. Hence the possibility of a shallow water basin in Dalmiapuram and senthurai regions cannot be ruled out. If it happens , there is enough chance to create a very deep canyon like terrain and water from both sides of Ariyalur accumulated in that region with a depth of more than 100 m. This favors the migration of ammonites from Dalmiapuram and Senthurai regions to Ariyalur region. More than 30 samples of Arctostrea were collected by the author, The Rastellum (Arctostrea) genus in cavery basin may have originated in late Jurassic with adaptive modifications like high toothed commissure. The reason for such adaptation is the existence of high energy environment with heavy sedimentation. Arctostrea, comprising strongly elongated, slender, arcuate forms with high zigzag commissure were dominant during this time. These genera differ in their morphology of features externally and internally, but some representatives of genus Alectryonia (e.g., Al. rastellaris or Al. gregarea) are elongated and arched. Probably the Arctostrea originated from such forms.


This paper examines the social impacts of the development of science, technology and innovation indicators. The approach deals separately with the development process and with the use of the indicators that result. Underlying the discussion is an assumption that indicators are a technology, a product, which governs behaviour, is modified by users (outside of the producer community), and develops in response to user needs. Science and technology indicators are considered separately from innovation indicators, and the importance of language based on codified and tacit knowledge is emphasized. The knowledge is codified in manuals, and the tacit knowledge is held in overlapping communities of practice that develop the manuals, gather the data, produce the indicators and use them. Finally, there is a discussion of how this process changes and renews itself.


Ultrasound has evolved into a core bedside tool for diagnostic and management purposes for all subsets of adult and pediatric critically-ill patients. Teleintensive care unit coverage has undergone a similar rapid expansion period throughout the United States. Round-the-clock access to ultrasound equipment is very common in today's intensive care unit, but 24/7 coverage with staff trained to acquire and interpret point-of-care ultrasound in real time is lagging behind equipment availability. Medical trainees and physician extenders require attending level supervision to ensure consistent image acquisition and accurate interpretation. Teleintensivists can extend the utility of ultrasound by supervising and guiding providers without or with only partial training in ultrasound, and also by extending direct trainee ultrasound supervision to time periods when no direct bedside attending supervisor is available, and when treatment decisions otherwise would have been made without supervision and feedback on image acquisition and interpretation. Nursing staff without ultrasound training can also be directed to perform basic ultrasound exams, which may have immediate diagnostic and/or treatment consequences, thereby overcoming access barriers in the absence of physicians or physician extenders. We discuss 4 real-life clinical scenarios in which teleintensivist supervision extended and standardized bedside ultrasound exams to guide management decisions which significantly impacted patient outcomes.


Although David Hume asserted that Tristram Shandy had escaped the turbulence that overwhelmed the early reign of George III by way of a distinctly "Shandean" obliviousness, Sterne's novel cannot be so straightforwardly extricated from the growing political upheaval. While critics have connected the novel to transatlantic debates over heredity and identified partisan targets behind its character portraits, this essay argues for returning Sterne's novel wholesale to the debates over governance that created a political crisis in later eighteenth-century Britain (and that ultimately propelled the American Revolution). Drawing on revisionist accounts of the 1688 Revolution--with whose anniversary Tristram's birthday conspicuously coincides--and an expanded approach to eighteenth-century political culture, I propose that Sterne's embrace of contingency and rupture mounts a broad-ranging and preemptive assault on the "Whig" premise of inevitable historical progress. From their "accidental" involvement with world-historical events to their confused interactions with each other, the Shandy family both anticipate and intersect with a crisis of governmental legitimacy and "political reasoning" within the country at large. The consequences of this clash between past and present can ultimately be discerned through Tristram himself. In the "Gentleman" anxiously appended to his name and his failure to articulate the "Opinions" advertised in the novel's title, Tristram dramatizes a much wider predicament, while his "accident of birth" reveals the arbitrariness endemic to the established constitution and broader social order, which would transform politics in the decades to come.


Over the 34 years from December of 1972 to April of 2006 the authors evaluated prospectively 18,696 injuries sustained by 17,193 skiers and reported to the injury clinic operated in the base lodge of a medium-sized northern Vermont ski area. Data from a total of 3966 randomly selected uninjured controls were also collected. Over the period approximately 6,780,940 skier-visits were accrued by the area. The overall injury rate dropped by 55 % over the 34 years of the study to 1.9 injuries per thousand skier visits. Among lower extremity injuries only tibial plateau fractures produced a statistically significant negative trend. Twist-related lower leg injuries improved the most with a net reduction of 87 % over 34 years. Bending-related lower leg injuries showed no improvement in the last half of the study. Overall, the incidence of knee ligament injuries changed very little. However, the incidence of minor to moderate sprains diminished by 77 % while severe knee sprains, usually involving the anterior cruciate ligament, increased by 268 % through the early 90s. Since then there has been a 37 % improvement. Among upper body injuries only clavicle and humerus fractures produced statistically significant negative trends. KEYWORDS: skiing injury trends, epidemiology, knee injuries, lower leg injuries, injury rates Language: en


For Estonians, similarly to many other peoples, the German occupation (1941–44) stood for massive relocations of people that stemmed from the ethno-political aims and military needs of the National Socialist regime. The evacuation to Estonia in 1942–44 of Estonians who lived in areas to the east of the Estonian border – in Ingria, the region beyond Lake Peipus (the former county of Oudova), and the Luga River and Pskov area – is the focus of this article. This was an operation to bring ethnic Estonians who had emigrated to Russia before World War I back to their ancestral homeland.
According to the plan of the head of the German SS and Police Heinrich Himmler, the approximately 80,000 Russians who lived along Estonia's eastern border were to be settled to the east as an element foreign to Estonia both racially and in terms of their mentality and to replace them with the Estonians living on the eastern side of Lake Peipus. To this end, the Germans, Estonians, Baltic Finns and minorities of other origins living in Russia had to be registered first so that they could be resettled in Germany, Estonia, Finland or elsewhere. The registration of ethnic groups that began in October 1941 was completed in Ingria in February 1942. More than 81,000 persons were registered, among them over 12,000 Estonians. Registration continued in the Oudova area and elsewhere in 1942–43. The "yellow card" issued to registered persons permitted them to resettle. The evacuation of Germans began in January 1942. A while later, Estonians also received permission to relocate into Estonia via Narva. This initially took place on a voluntary basis and by the means of the people themselves. The organised extraction of Estonians began in the summer of 1942, while the more massive resettlement took place in 1943. Above all, difficult local conditions, especially hunger, frequent attacks by partisans, and the high-handed behaviour of the German
authorities, forced the inhabitants to leave. Yet since there was a great deal of uncertainty concerning what lay ahead, many people were hesitated to leave.
The situation changed in 1943, especially in the latter half of the year, when an offensive of Soviet forces was expected in the Leningrad area. On 21 September 1943, the supreme commander of the rear area of Army Group Nord Kuno-Hans von Both gave the order to implement Operation Roboter. According to this plan, not a single "person who could be put to use" was permitted to be left behind. Four routes were prescribed for the evacuation. A large number of people were brought across Lake Peipus on barges. The forcible evacuation of minorities that began in September was followed by the evacuation of local Russian inhabitants in October, which was carried out violently and at an accelerated pace, causing the inhabitants to flee to the woods en masse. Approximately 30,000 Russians were brought to Estonia in the course of this operation.
Approximately 24,000 Estonians made it to Estonia in 1942–44. Most of them were put to work in agriculture. While the first Estonian resettlers were permitted to bring as much livestock, grain and property along with them as their means of transportation allowed, those who came later had to settle for bringing a few pieces of hand baggage. There was not enough food or places to live in Estonia. Those evacuees whose relatives invited them to stay with them were in a better situation. Most evacuees who had not found any relatives were housed in camps, from where they moved around chaotically looking for work and shelter, thus arousing fear in the
local inhabitants of the spread of contagious diseases and annoyance due to the begging that ensued. Although farmers desperately needed a helping hand, the refugees often proved to be unreliable.
After the Great Terror of the 1930s, in the course of which Estonians in the Soviet Union were murdered on the basis of their ethnic attributes, many regretted that they had not opted to return to Estonia in the 1920s. The dream of passage to Estonia came true in 1942–44 in a rather unexpected way, yet a number of disappointments were in store. The general attitude of Estonians living in Estonia was standoffish towards them as people who had come from "over there", or the land of the Soviets. Contacts between families had been severed in the 1920s and 1930s. Attitudes, prejudices, fears and the years spent apart generated distrust and estrangement, which in some cases persisted for years. The evacuation of Estonians also meant the final collapse of the Estonian villages and the cultural landscape in Northwestern Russia. About ten thousand Estonians still lived in the oblasts of Northwestern Russia in 1989.


Coupling of two waves with different polarization states in a photorefractive crystal of cubic symmetry is discussed. We show that a proper choice of the polarization states allows linear transformation of small transient phase shift between the coupled waves into intensity modulation of the transmitted light even in the case when the space-charge field is formed using the diffusion-type mechanism. Comparison of the proposed phase-demodulation technique with known adaptive interferometers is given considering the sensitivity and the response time. The proposed technique is very promising for laser-ultrasound receivers since it allows design adaptive interferometers possessing the best combination of the sensitivity and adaptability.


We present a case study of implementing gasification in the Higher School for Information Technology and Information Systems of Kazan federal University - the teaching department educating the new generation of ICT professionals. A special platform for gamification was developed. This platform includes a cloud service accessible through any sort of mobile devices (iOS, Windows, Android) and web-interface. This service integrates with the existing university information services. The department works in the context of Bologna system. Every course in the curriculum is assigned certain credit, and every student has a certain value of mastering each of the courses in his or her curriculum. We not only made the current course progress easily available for each of the students, but also introduced "badges" that students may earn for completing complex tasks, and this tasks not easily formulated in terms of a student's rating. Therefore we introduced new complex learning goals in the form every student can easily grasp. We also developed an easy interface of the teacher to track the activity of every student, assign complex goals without creating an extra work overload. We introduced certain social services to the gasification platform developed without turing it into a "yet another social network". This platform can be used for both supporting online learning and integrating available online resources utilization into the ordinary "offline" curriculum. It can be also used perfectly well in the setting where no online learning resources are being used, although we don't consider it a wise teaching strategy. The approach, the solution and the outcome oft he experiment are discussed here.


Abstract Bigg's killer whales (Orcinus orca; i.e. 'transient' ecotype), as apex predators, are important to the dynamics of marine ecosystems, but little is known about their population structure in western Alaska. Currently, all Bigg's killer whales in western Alaska are ascribed to a single broad stock for management under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act. However, recent nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that this stock is likely comprised of genetically distinct sub-populations. In accordance with what is known about killer whale vocal dialects in other locations, we used the spatial distribution of group-specific call types to investigate the population structure of Bigg's killer whales in this part of Alaska. Digital audio recordings were collected from 33 Bigg's killer whale encounters throughout the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands in the summers of 2001–2007 and 2009–2010. Recorded calls were qualitatively classified into discrete types and then quantitatively described using 12 structural and time-frequency measures. Resulting call categories were validated using a random forest approach. A total of 36 call types and subtypes were identified across the entire study area, and regional patterns of call type use revealed three distinct dialects which correspond to proposed genetic delineations. Our results suggest that there are at least three acoustically and genetically distinct sub-populations in western Alaska, and we present an initial catalogue for this area describing the regional vocal repertoires of Bigg's killer whale call types.


Abstract Among several quantitative invariants found in evolutionary genomics, one of the most striking is the scaling of the overall abundance of proteins, or protein domains, sharing a specific functional annotation across genomes of given size. The size of these functional categories change, on average, as power-laws in the total number of protein-coding genes. Here, we show that such regularities are not restricted to the overall behavior of high-level functional categories, but also exist systematically at the level of single evolutionary families of protein domains. Specifically, the number of proteins within each family follows family-specific scaling laws with genome size. Functionally similar sets of families tend to follow similar scaling laws, but this is not always the case. To understand this systematically, we provide a comprehensive classification of families based on their scaling properties. Additionally, we develop a quantitative score for the heterogeneity of the scaling of families belonging to a given category or predefined group. Under the common reasonable assumption that selection is driven solely or mainly by biological function, these findings point to fine-tuned and interdependent functional roles of specific protein domains, beyond our current functional annotations. This analysis provides a deeper view on the links between evolutionary expansion of protein families and the functional constraints shaping the gene repertoire of bacterial genomes.


The Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) continue their efforts to forge a new binding international agreement by 2015. The negotiations face daunting odds, but the 2009 Copenhagen Accord's shift towards heterogeneous national commitments was a positive step forward for climate policy. The prior presumption that binding commitments could only take the form of a percentage reduction relative to historical levels alienated rapidly industrializing countries and led to unproductive disputes over base years and other issues of target formulation. However, the disparate approaches now under discussion complicate comparing the likely emissions reductions and economic efforts required to achieve the commitments. This paper makes two points. First, we offer good reasons and ways to adapt international negotiations to allow for price-based commitments. The economic uncertainty surrounding target-only commitments is enormous. Combining a clear cumulative emissions target with limits on the cost associated with achieving the target would balance the environmental objective with the need to ensure that commitments remain feasible. This economic insurance could foster greater participation in the agreement and more ambitious commitments. Specifically, we suggest that in addition to their cumulative emissions targets for the 2013 to 2020 period, major economies could agree to a price collar on greenhouse gas emissions in their domestic economies. This would include starting floor and ceiling prices on a ton of CO2 and a schedule for real increases in those prices. All major parties would need to show at least a minimum level of effort regardless of whether they achieve their emissions target, and they would be allowed to exceed their target if they are unable to achieve it in spite of undertaking a high level of effort. The paper provides an example of how a price collar would work in the US context under a cap-and-trade system. Second, analyzing proposed climate commitments in terms of their implied economic stringency, as measured by the implied price on carbon necessary to achieve the targets, offers transparent and verifiable assurance of the comparability of effort across countries. It possible to calculate carbon price equivalents of climate commitments in a conceptually similar way to the tariff equivalents used in international trade negotiations. In sum, the lack of transparency in the level of effort involved in achieving particular emissions targets highlights the potential value of allowing for price-based commitments and argues for greater economic transparency in the international negotiation process.


BACKGROUND
Robotic laparoendoscopic single-site (LESS) partial nephrectomy is not widely used because of its limitations, and true single-site surgery has not previously been possible. To investigate the feasibility of partial nephrectomy using the novel SP surgical system, compare perioperative outcomes using this system and the previous Xi single-site platform, and describe how true single-site partial nephrectomy is possible with the SP system.

METHODS
Retrospective chart review of patients undergoing robotic partial nephrectomy by a single surgeon using the SP surgical system or Xi single-site platform from December 14, 2016 to June 14, 2019. For the SP system, a GelPOINT access platform was placed through a single periumbilical incision. A 25-mm multichannel robotic port and assistant's ports were placed in the GelSeal cap. No additional incisions were required for the assistant or liver traction. The primary outcomes were intraoperative and postoperative complications.

RESULTS
Fourteen patients underwent single-site partial nephrectomy with the SP surgical system (n=9) or Xi single-site platform (n=5). No limitations were noted for accessing tumors in the upper aspect of the kidney using the SP system. One case of tumor fracture occurred with the SP system, and one case of conversion to multiport robotic surgery occurred with the Xi single-site platform. The postoperative course was uneventful in all patients; only Clavien-Dindo 1 complications occurred.

CONCLUSIONS
True single-site partial nephrectomy was performed safely with the SP surgical system. The SP system resolved many limitations associate with LESS and the Xi single-site platform.


Cardiomyocytes are best known for their spontaneous beating activity, large cell size, and low regenerative capacity during adulthood. The mechanical activity of cardiomyocytes depends on a sophisticated contractile apparatus comprised of sarcomeres whose rhythmic contraction relies on Ca(2+) transients with a high level of energy consumption. Hence the proper folding and assembly of the sarcomeric and other accessory proteins involved in those diverse functions (i.e., structural, mechanical, energy exchange and production) is critical for muscle mechanics. Chaperone proteins assist other polypeptides to reach their proper conformation, activity and/or location. Consequently, chaperone-like functions are important for the healthy heart but assume greater relevance during cardiac diseases when such chaperone proteins are recruited: 1) to protect cardiac cells against adverse effects during the pathological transition, and 2) to mitigate certain pathogenic mechanisms per se. Protein misfolding is observed as a consequence of inappropriate intracellular environment with acquired conditions (e.g., ischemia/reperfusion and redox imbalance) or because of mutations, which can modify primary to quaternary protein structures. In this review, we discuss the importance of cardiac chaperones while emphasizing the genetic origin (modification of gene/protein sequence) of cardiac protein misfolding and their consequences on the cardiomyocytes leading to organ dysfunction and failure.


Assurance of learning (AoL) is an important process in quality education, designed to measure the accomplishment of educational aims at the core of an institution's programs, whilst encouraging faculty to continuously develop and improve the programs and courses. This paper reports on a study of Australian business schools to investigate current AoL practices through semi structured interviews with senior faculty leaders followed by focus group interviews with groups of senior program leaders and groups of academic teaching staff. Initial findings indicate there are significant challenges in encouraging academic staff to commit to the process and recognise the benefits of assuring learning. The differences in understanding between the various leaders and the academics were highlighted through the different focus groups. Leaders' stressed strategic issues such as staff engagement and change, while academics focussed on process issues such as teaching graduate attributes and external accreditation. Understanding the differences in the perspectives of leaders and faculty is important, as without a shared understanding between the two groups, there is likely to be limited engagement, which creates difficulties in developing effective assurance of learning processes. Findings indicate that successful strategies developed to foster shared values on assurance of learning include: strong senior leaders' commitment; developing champions among program and unit level staff; providing professional development opportunities; promoting and celebrating success and effectiveness; and ensuring an inclusive process with academics of all levels collaborating in the development and implementation of the process. research in this area related to strategies of managing the changes required in an AoL process will shed light on current approaches utilised in Australia universities in order to determine best practice components.


Abstract Amphibians are declining globally at an unprecedented rate. Disease and climate change are implicated as causes of enigmatic declines. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is an amphibian pathogen prevalent in the Neotropics and is commonly associated with declining populations. Another amphibian pathogen, ranavirus, has not been detected in the nontemperate areas of the Neotropics, but few investigators have sampled for it. We used molecular techniques to test for Bd and ranaviruses in two areas of Costa Rica with a history of amphibian declines. We detected Bd from field-sampled amphibians in Monteverde and Las Cruces, Costa Rica; ranaviruses were not detected in either area. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that Bd was involved in declines at both sites, and provides additional information on its distribution in Costa Rica.


AIM
To investigate prevalence of Clonorchis sinensis in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, and the relation of the infection to hepatobiliary diseases in 26 hospitals in Korea.

METHODS
Consecutive patients who had been admitted to the Division of Gastroenterology with gastrointestinal symptoms were enrolled from March to April 2005. Of those who had been diagnosed with clonorchiasis, epidemiology and correlation between infection and hepatobiliary diseases were surveyed by questionnaire.

RESULTS
Of 3080 patients with gastrointestinal diseases, 396 (12.9%) had clonorchiasis and 1140 patients (37.2%) had a history of eating raw freshwater fish. Of those with a history of raw freshwater fish ingestion, 238 (20.9%) patients had clonorchiasis. Cholangiocarcinoma was more prevalent in C. sinensis-infected patients than non-infected patients [34/396 (8.6%) vs 145/2684 (5.4%), P = 0.015]. Cholangiocarcinoma and clonorchiasis showed statistically significant positive cross-relation (P = 0.008). Choledocholithiasis, cholecystolithiasis, cholangitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and biliary pancreatitis did not correlate with clonorchiasis.

CONCLUSION
Infection rate of clonorchiasis was still high in patients with gastrointestinal diseases in Korea, and has not decreased very much during the last two decades. Cholangiocarcinoma was related to clonorchiasis, which suggested an etiological role for the parasite.


The weather in Kuwait is very dry where the dry-bulb temperature exceeds the wet-bulb temperature more than 20 o C in most of the summer months. Thus, the air-conditioning (A/C) system with the water-cooled (WC) condensers is expected to perform more efficiently than with the air-cooled (AC) condensers. This fact was behind the idea of a field study conducted in one of the major hospital in Kuwait during a summer season to investigate the performance of WC and AC systems in terms of peak power and energy consumptions. The cooling capacities for WC and AC systems were 373 and 278 tons-of- refrigeration, respectively. It was found that for the same cooling production, the peak power demand and the daily energy consumption of the WC system were 45 and 32% less than that of the AC system, respectively. The maximum reduction in the power demand coincided with the peak power demand period of the utilities i.e. between 14:00 and 17:00 hr, thereby offering a maximum advantage of peak power saving.


In this article I discuss the consequences of inducing someone to enter into an unconscionable contract and I suggest that there must be limitations on behavior associated with manipulative negotiation strategies. In addition, this article proposes that when inappropriate negotiation strategies result in an unconscionable term or agreement, there should be accountability if damages can be proven. Negotiation techniques and strategies are subject to scrutiny under the rubric of procedural unconscionability. Procedural unconscionability can be shown to have an impact on the sanctity of the contracting process. This article addresses the question of whether there is room in the law for a legal remedy for the consequences that may flow from procedural unconscionability. I propose a tort theory that I have named Consequential Procedural Unconscionability. The issues discussed are presented within the framework of a finding of unconscionability based on an unwarranted manipulation of cognitive biases or heuristics.


The recommendation by Rennie & Behets in the January 2006 issue1 urging policy-makers and health workers to reflect on the ethical significance of routine testing policies for people where protection against discrimination and stigma-related violence does not exist is well taken but, in certain ways, overstated.

If the testing policy outpaces our capacity to meet the stipulated or implicit ethical preconditions (strict confidentiality, informed consent, competent pre-test and post-test counselling, ensuring that human rights are protected and that negative consequences of being tested are minimized by appropriate social and institutional support services), they argue, "the claim that new HIV-testing practices have a human rights basis [or that human rights are at the heart of the policy] could fail to reflect the reality".

If this is a correct analysis of the ethics of – using their example – Botswana's routine offer of HIV testing, we must react conscientiously. Either the policy was irresponsibly optimistic from the beginning, and should perhaps be recalled on ethical grounds, or we must revise the stipulated ideal preconditions of the policy in order to take better account of implementation realities. (It could also be viewed as a call to service.)

Beyond the ideal preconditions stipulated in the WHO Policy Statement on ensuring a rights-based approach to routine offers of HIV testing,2 which are suspected to be unevenly present if not occasionally ignored altogether in practice, Rennie & Behets are particularly concerned with the threat to human rights posed by stigma-related and gender-based violence and discrimination. In search of practical moorings and consistency, it should be noted that: (i) voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) is ethically suspect for the same reasons, since the essential factor is informed consent, or genuine voluntariness; (ii) gender-based violence is a problem quite apart from the risk associated with testing; (iii) we are morally obliged to consider also the human rights of others who are affected by the claimed right not to know; and (iv) the effort to address the human rights-based concerns is ongoing though admittedly imperfect because it is overburdened.

Rennie & Behets also stress the need for rapid testing as well as affordable testing and availability of treatment. Because resource-poor countries are suspected to be unable to ensure social and medical infrastructures adequate for safeguarding the human rights of people seeking services, in which case the testing should not be routinely offered, it is odd to insist on quicker results to tests that they oppose in principle. Though testing should be linked to "accessible and relevant treatment," there are other sufficiently compelling reasons to test even if antiretroviral therapy is unavailable: preventing further infection, normalizing the disease and managing the disease with alternative forms of treatment. Access to informed treatment is but one benefit of testing.

Public health policies are imperfect compromises between the moral mandate to attack the removable causes of disease and the ethical duty to protect individual human rights. Erring on the side of protecting individuals against HIV-related discrimination and threat of violence, advocates of an exceptionally vigilant human rights-based approach to HIV testing oppose the application of standard methods of disease control. Failure to apply these standard methods, it is argued, undermines society's ability and responsibility to control the epidemic.3 De Cock et al. argue that the emphasis on human rights in HIV/AIDS prevention has reduced the importance of public health and social justice.4 Beyond public health and social justice, there is also the very personal issue concerning the human rights of seronegative husbands, wives, partners and neonates: these vulnerable people should be at the very heart of a sound human rights-based approach to HIV-testing policies and legislation.

Kwame Ampomah, UNAIDS Coordinator in Botswana, posed an arresting question in June 2003 in relation to the issue of "normalizing" the disease: "Has there been a case in history where a major public health catastrophe was effectively managed and brought under control by placing individual rights above collective rights as public interest?"5 Botswana's voluntary HIV testing programme enrolment numbers are climbing, not exponentially but steadily, and health officials estimate that up to 35% of the population now know their status.6

Is it ethically obligatory to insist on human rights protections and other policy implementation ideals at all costs, even in health emergencies? Rennie & Behets worry that advocates of expanded testing "sometimes downplay the social consequences of na HIV-positive status for women and girls in low-income countries to make the policy look more attractive or at least less contentious," and they also wonder whether certain individuals might have been channelled into testing. Though useful, this ethical thought experiment is not yet an argument: routine testing policies are hardly responsible for introducing gender inequalities, domestic abuse, stigmatization or overburdened and underfunded health clinics. While routine testing policies could conceivably exacerbate the situation in certain ways, unwittingly or unintentionally, they also raise awareness, reduce stigma, prevent transmission, expand treatment and empower individuals.

Refusing to be tested (opting out) is ethically equivalent to affirmative consent (opting in) only if the refusal is adequately informed and if the patient has sufficient liberty to say no, according to Rennie & Behets, but they would also concede that even affirmative consent in VCT may fail to meet the ethical preconditions they enumerate. Surely we need to understand more about what conditions are required to ensure that the patient has sufficient liberty not to opt out? Rennie & Behets suggest that it would be premature for us to assume that "voluntariness," which is said to be at the very heart of routine HIV-testing policies, occurs in practice. Empowered voluntariness is elusive in any setting, be it high or low in resources; if a decision is voluntary only when one is fully and equally aware of the benefits and risks, informed consent and robust voluntariness are rare achievements in most health-care settings. Further, whereas not opting out during a routine HIV test may demonstrate a certain disempowerment, the decision to opt out might be determined by an equally worrisome form of disempowerment or involuntariness. ■


We study the statistics of citations made to the indexed Science journals in the Journal Citation Reports during the period 2004-2013 using different measures. We consider different measures which quantify the impact of the journals. To our surprise, we find that the apparently uncorrelated measures, even when defined in an arbitrary manner, show strong correlations. This is checked over all the years considered. Impact factor being one of these measures, the present work raises the question whether it is actually a nearly perfect index as claimed often. In addition, we study the distributions of the different indices which also behave similarly.


This book critically explores forms and techniques of calculation that emerge with digital computation, and their implications. The contributors demonstrate that digital calculative devices matter beyond their specific functions as they progressively shape, transform and govern all areas of our life. In particular, it addresses such questions as: How does the drive to make sense of, and productively use, large amounts of diverse data, inform the development of new calculative devices, logics and techniques? How do these devices, logics and techniques affect our capacity to decide and to act? How do mundane elements of our physical and virtual existence become data to be analysed and rearranged in complex ensembles of people and things? In what ways are conventional notions of public and private, individual and population, certainty and probability, rule and exception transformed and what are the consequences? How does the search for hidden connections and patterns change our understanding of social relations and associative life? Do contemporary modes of calculation produce new thresholds of calculability and computability, allowing for the improbable or the merely possible to be embraced and acted upon? As contemporary approaches to governing uncertain futures seek to anticipate future events, how are calculation and decision engaged anew? Drawing together different strands of cutting-edge research that is both theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich, this book makes an important contribution to several areas of scholarship, including the emerging social science field of software studies, and will be a vital resource for students and scholars alike.