In 1987, the World Health Organization, or WHO, took action to improve the quality of maternal health around the world through the declaration of the Safe Motherhood Initiative, or the SMI, at an international conference concerning maternal mortality in Nairobi, Kenya. Initially, the SMI aimed to reduce the prevalence of maternal mortality around the world, as over 500,000 women died during pregnancy [5] and childbirth annually at the time of its inception, while about 98 percent of those deaths occurred in low-income countries. While WHO led the initiative, many organizations in various countries participated in additional programs in order to implement the goals of the SMI. WHO developed the SMI in order to reduce the prevalence of maternal death, developing one of the first proposals that brought attention to maternal health on a global basis at a time when global maternal mortality was high.


This study highlights soil fertility status as well as plant structural and compositional makeup in two different forest types after being exposed to different levels of anthropogenic disturbances. The mineral soil chemical analysis (pH, conductance, percentage of carbon and nitrogen, Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and total and available phosphorus) showed that the concentrations of the chemical elements were lower than the values of published results from other studies in Borneo, suggesting a serious habitat degradation due to prior land-use in the forest reserve. In terms of plant abundance and richness, the logged-over forest fragments were dominated by small trees, whereas the understorey of tree plantations was composed of dense ferns and sedges with very low tree abundance and species richness. This study therefore provides important information on the management of soils and plant diversity in the tropics.


In this experiment, we examined whether self-observation, via video replay, coupled with the viewing of a skilled model was better for motor skill learning than the use of self-observation alone. Twenty-one female gymnasts participated in a within design experiment in which two gymnastics skills were learned. One skill was practiced in conjunction with the self-observation/skilled model pairing and the other with only self-observation. The experiment unfolded over five sessions in which pre-test, baseline, acquisition, retention, and post-test scores were obtained. Analysis of the physical performance scores revealed a significant Condition ×Session interaction in which it was shown that there were no differences between the intervention conditions at baseline and early in acquisition; but, later in acquisition, those skills practiced with the self-observation/skilled model pairing were executed significantly better than those with only self-observation. Also, an error identification test showed that participants had significantly higher response sensitivity scores for those skills learned with the paired intervention compared to self-observation alone. These results suggest that pairing self-observation with a skilled model is better in a gymnastic setting than self-observation alone.


Rendering an animation in a global illumination framework is a very costly process. Each frame has to be computed with high accuracy to avoid both noise in a single frame and flickering from frame to frame. Recently an efficient solution has been presented for camera animation, which reused the results computed in a frame for other frames via reprojection of the first hits of primary rays. This solution, however, is biased since it does not take into account the different probability densities that generated the different contributions to a pixel. In this paper we present a correct, unbiased solution for frame reuse. We show how the different contributions can be combined into an unbiased solution using multiple importance sampling. The validity of our solution is tested with an animation using path-tracing technique, and the results are compared with both the classic independent approach and the previous unweighted, biased, solution.


Knowledge networks and social networks are the drivers of information sharing and they play an important role in diffusion of technology and related knowledge. In this study the key informants in a village setup are studies to understand the farmer's network with an objective to understand the existing social, knowledge systems and their structure, characteristics and relationships between different actors. The purpose is to use these channels as means to disseminate technologies and related information. We use the network map analysis as a tool to demonstrate the linkages between the key actors. Attributes captured in the study are information flows between different actors, the type of information, timeliness and frequency of information and mode of communication. The study is undertaken in 6 districts covering 20 villages of Bihar where 111 key informants were interviewed and this is supplemented with survey of 1000 households. The paper uses a mixed approach of quantitative and qualitative analysis.


According to a recent Wall Street Journal headline, "Even Syrian Merchants Are Now Ready to Do Business With Israel."(1) This headline reflects a significant reversal of attitudes from previous decades of hate and fighting. In the past few years the world has seen the disintegration of many geopolitical rivalries, and this momentum has finally reached the Middle East. The signing of the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self Government Arrangements Between the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in September 1993 stimulated visions not only of a different political world, but also of economic activity and economic interdependence in the Middle East. With 200 million Arab consumers in close proximity, the opportunity for Israel is unfathomable. As a result of the changes, both Arab and Israeli businessmen are beginning to explore new business opportunities. For example, Jordanians are enrolling in Hebrew classes, making visits to meet with Israeli businesses, and executing agreements with Israelis. As the Wall Street Journal remarked, "businessmen are poised for peace, waiting for the politicians to catch up."(2) Israel, which is at the center of this furor both politically and geographically, has the most to gain from these recent developments. With its advanced infrastructure, developed economy, political stability, developed capital markets, and skilled work force, Israel is a natural choice for companies seeking to establish headquarters or distribution centers in the region. A review of Israel and its resources elucidates why Israel is an ideal location for an international export hub to the United States, Europe, and (in the future) Arab countries. This essay will support this conclusion with surveys of foreign investors and foreign businesses in Israel. It will review Israel's investment climate by evaluating the country through an investor model, which includes three important criteria for a foreign investor. First, the essay analyzes institutional factors such as Israel's economy, its trade agreements with major markets, and its foreign investor incentive programs. Second, the essay critiques Israel's infrastructure, focusing on the cost and quality of the labor force and Israel's infamous bureaucracy. Third, the essay considers the legal aspects of investing in Israel, such as currency exchange controls, treatment of foreigners, and taxes. Through this discussion investors will gain an understanding of why Israel should be considered an excellent location for an entire business, a branch office, or for direct or indirect capital investment. In recent years, the worldwide investment community has become much more interested in investing in Israel. The Tel Aviv stock market had a record year in 1991 and rose another ninety percent in 1992. Although growth was disappointing through most of 1993, the stock market has had strong gains since the signing of the Declaration of Principles, with the expectation that, if peace arrives, a torrent of investment will follow.(3) These gains have been lost recently due to declines in the market; however, expectations are that the market will recover in the near future. As a consequence of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's meteoric climb, the First Israel Fund was established in 1992 - the first time a U.S. mutual fund was established solely for investment in Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli companies have flooded the U.S. financial markets. Forty-six Israeli companies now trade on U.S. stock exchanges, more than any other foreign country except for Canada, and another twenty initial public offerings will probably be placed in 1994.(4) Multinational companies such as IBM, Intel, National Semiconductor, and Motorola have established research or production facilities, or both, in Israel. In the last year, several large institutional investors have begun investing in Israel, such as Advent International, Oxton, and Walden. Although great excitement surrounds the idea of investing in Israel, the question still arises of whether the emotion fits a logical framework and sound business judgment. …


The author has made the attempt to develop conceptual issues of systems approach to comparative criminological studies. The article deals with "bedrock" of criminology (and comparative criminology) as interdisciplinary science. In this article, the systems approach to comparative criminological studies has been defined. The author argues that practically all modern sciences are designed according to systems approach. Analysis of scientific literature enabled the author to state that systems approach was/is applied to the studies of political systems, legal systems, criminal legal systems, criminal justice systems, penitentiary systems, and other systems. Standing out that "systems theory" as one of scientific approaches has made a considerable influence on criminology, the author considers the systems approach in criminology to be hosted and necessary. Considering three basic assumptions of systems approach, the author believes in the existence of "criminological systems". The author has conducted a profound analysis of "criminological system" from the point of view of "systems theory". He argues that the definition of criminological system and its features allow getting a general conception of system and the definition of such features on the level of a country allows getting the idea of its "national criminological system". Also, the author supports the idea of existence of "criminological system" elements, such as "criminological outlook", "criminological legislation", "criminological practice", "criminological security". The interrelation between the elements of "criminological system" and other systems (and their elements) is discovered. Results of the author's analysis will be significant in the development of modern criminology in the context of science globalisation.


Background/Context Teaching, leading, and learning are inextricably connected to emotions. Yet, the significance of emotions is rarely addressed in educational settings, and when it is, the relationship between emotions and curricula is most often framed by of an overly individualistic behavior model that focuses on the management and regulation of emotions. This model obscures, if not denies, the structural-collective aspects of students' and teachers' emotions and thereby fails to recognize that emotions are culturally based, with patterns of selectivity deeply embedded in social and cultural structures. These patterns of selectivity operate to influence decisions that can lead to educational and social (in)equities. This article focuses on an imperative to understand how emotions function as sites of knowledge to create cultural rules of interactions that promote and/or hinder the preparation of teachers to act as agents of change. Focus of Study In seeking to better understand both individualistic behavior models and structural-collective aspects of teachers and students' emotions as sites of knowledge within the classroom, the authors focus on the role of emotions in preparing preservice and in-service teachers to confront educational and societal inequities. Research Design The authors conducted a retrospective qualitative case study of 14 graduate students—reflecting a diversity including age, gender, and race—enrolled in a course on urban education. Using multicultural feminist theories, they analyze students' understandings of a critical incident in the course about gender inequities through individual semistructured interviews, focus group interviews, and document analysis. Conclusions Students enter classrooms with "pretexts" of how teachers and students will interact in the classroom. These pretexts are integrally related to the negotiation of power in the intersections of race, gender, and class and underlie emotional selectivity. In these pretexts, a pedagogy of discomfort and a pedagogy of challenge simultaneously exist. The blurring and blending of these two pedagogies create a unique third space in which emotions serve as sites of struggle and contestation, and possibilities for changing the status quo of inequities. Four prevalent patterns of emotional selectivity emerged within the specific context of gender inequity in educational contexts: (1) denial of emotions, (2) mere existence of emotions, (3) simultaneous acceptance and denial of emotions, and (4) emotions-reason informing knowledge, identities, and actions. The fourth of these patterns offers pedagogical possibilities for challenging personal, educational, and societal inequities as it situates the focus of teachers' roles as active agents of change.


The increasing complexity of HPC systems has introduced new sources of variability, which can contribute to significant differences in run-to-run performance of applications. With components at various levels of the system contributing variability, application developers and system users are now faced with the difficult task of running and tuning their applications in an environment where run-to-run performance measurements can vary by as much as a factor of two to three. In this study, we classify, quantify, and present ways to mitigate the sources of run-to-run variability on Cray XC systems with Intel Xeon Phi processors and a dragonfly interconnect. We further demonstrate that the code-tuning performance observed in a variability-mitigating environment correlates with the performance observed in production running conditions. CCS CONCEPTS • General and reference $\rightarrow$ Performance; • Networks $\rightarrow$ Network performance analysis; • Hardware $\longrightarrow$ Process, voltage and temperature variations;


To achieve the economic target of one calf a year, a cow must be pregnant by 85 days postpartum and is essential for maximum milk production. Resumption of ovarian activity and repro were investigated in ten normally calving cows from each of three breeds of cattle - Friesian, Jersey x LO and Friesian x Sahiwal. Visual observations, a teaser bull and tail painting wer detection. Rectal palpatian was conducted once weekly between 17 and 70 days postpartum and laparoscopic examination waw performed at least once during the experimental period to monitor ovarian changes. Samples
of blood plasma were collected twice weekly during the same period from all cows and assayed for plasma progesterone using a radioimmunoassay. The non-detected aestrus, pregnancy and early embryonic mortality. A plasma progesterone concentration of 1 ng/ml or greater was used as the criterion for luteal activity. Intervals and standard deviations from parturition to first ovulation and first detected oestrus were 23 + 6.5 and 62 ± 25.9 days
for Friesian, 29 + 9.9 and 33 ± 11.5 days for Jersey x LD and 48 + 29.1 and 59 ± 21.9 days for Friesian x Sahiwal cows. Interval from calving to the first postpartum ovulation and oestrus among three breeds were significantly different (p < 0.05). The interval from parturition to uterine involution for Friesian, Jersey x LD and Friesian x
sahiwal were 35 ± 1.2, 33 ± 4.1 and 30 ± 2 days respectively (p> 0005). Only 52 percent of all cows were detected in oestrus at the commencement of the first aestrous cycle. The mean plasma progesterone concentration
during detected oestrus was 0.23 ± 0.16 ng/ml and at 21 days for pregnant cows was 3.01 Z 0.89 ng/ml. Average plasma progesterone levels during oestrous cycle were highest in Friesian cows, moderate in Jersey x LD and lowest in Friesian x Sahiwal cows. Only one case of early embryonic death was recorded. Cystic ovaries were observed
in 4 out of 10 Friesian cows. Sixty percent of Jersey x LD and 50 percent of Friesian x Sahiwal had conceived about day 85 postpartum. However, none of the Friesian cows had conceived by this time. The infertility in the Friesian cows were an oestrus, non-detected oestrus and repeat breeding which extended the calving interval beyond the
optimum interval. The results confirm that Bos taurus x Bos indicus dairy breeds have a better reproductive performance than a Bos taurus breed in a tropical environment.


Most studies on self-esteem among black and white Americans include samples of elementary school and high school students. In the present study, data on 298 black and white college students and an examination of the relationship between student's grade point average and self-esteem were presented. Several findings corroborate earlier research on school-age children. Self-esteem scores of blacks and whites were not significantly different, despite blacks having significantly lower grade point averages than whites. The relationship between grade point average and self-esteem, however, was negligible among blacks and among white males, suggesting that academic achievement is not critical to the self-concept of college students.


In Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World, the World Bank noted that many African countries have significantly improved their political and economic systems during the last several years, placing the continent in a position to emerge as a core center for economic development. However, as reported in the UN Development Programme's Human Development Report, 2011, many Africans remain trapped in extremely high levels of poverty: they live in countries where existing societal structures make it virtually impossible for them to escape poverty or even meet their basic needs. Of the forty-two countries with the lowest levels of human development in 2011, 81 percent of them were in Africa, and in nearly half of those, over 50 percent of the population suffers from extreme poverty. Thus, the immediate policy priority for African countries should be to reverse this unfortunate reality. Historical discussions among economists on how to achieve this goal have produced two policy options: (1) a redistribution of income, and/or (2) provision of opportunities for the poor to create their own wealth--all to be accomplished through progressive taxation. Aside from the usual controversies about whether high marginal tax rates would negatively affect innovation and investment in productive capacity or reduce the desire of recipients to invest in self-improvement, it is obvious that the African economies do not presently have the resources to fully implement meaningful income-support programs. Even with significant flows of foreign aid, cash transfers to the poor as a way to deal with the continent's poverty quagmire is not and can not be considered a sustainable public policy. The most effective and sustainable way to deal with severe poverty and minimize the chances that vulnerable groups will soon slip back into poverty is to enhance their ability to create their own wealth. Governments should follow a pro-poor growth policy that enhances the ability of the poor to participate fully and effectively in wealth creation and economic growth. Revisiting the Source of the Problem The decolonization project was expected to help Africans rid themselves of their European colonizers and then engage in democratic constitution-making processes to develop laws and institutions based on their own values, aspirations, traditions, and customs. These post-independence institutional arrangements were expected to minimize corruption, rent seeking, and other growth-inhibiting behaviors, in addition to securing peace and providing the wherewithal for peaceful coexistence, and enhancing entrepreneurship and wealth creation, especially among the poor. Colonial public policy maximized the interests of Europeans. After independence, Africans hoped that public policies would be devoted exclusively to nation building, improvement of the welfare of citizens, and the protection of fundamental rights. In order for African countries to accomplish these important national goals, popular forces, with significant input from all of the country's relevant stakeholder groups rather than ethno-regional coalitions, had to control post-independence public policy. Such a vision of governance was not shared by all Africans, as evidenced by the fact that many of Africa's post-independence ruling coalitions engaged in corruption and other behaviors that imposed significant costs on the people. The pervasiveness of venality in many of Africa's public services is a manifestation of the desire of ruling elites to subvert national laws to enrich themselves. During decolonization, many of Africa's indigenous elites betrayed their preference for top-down, elite-driven, non-participatory approaches to constitution-making. For example, all former French colonies in sub-Saharan, Africa except Guinea accepted de Gaulle's offer of free association as autonomous republics within the French Community. By doing so, these elites adopted the French Constitution of 1958 as a foundation for their governance institutions and effectively deprived their citizens of the opportunity and right to select their own laws and institutions. …


Objectives: To determine clinical application of GRACE risk score in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Patients and Methods:   It was an observational analytical study conducted in the Cardiology ward of Mayo hospital, Lahore from April to July 2015. Patients with Acute STEMI, NSTEMI or Unstable angina (UA) were selected on the basis of typical chest pain, ECG changes or cardiac biomarkers .For all eligible cases, at presentation GRS was calculated using online calculator. Also, GRACE risk categories and predicted in-hospital mortality were determined. Patients with previous episodes of STEMI/ NSTEMI, old Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB), stable angina pectoris, acute pericarditis, myocarditis, acute rheumatic fever or pulmonary embolism were excluded. Data was analyzed on SPSS 20 and the R project for statistical computing. Individual components of GRS were compared among discharged and expired cases using t-test. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 165 patients with STEMI and ACS were included. The mean GRS among males and females was 137.4 ± 39 and 151.5 ± 50.6. The observed in-hospital mortality was 12.12% with 60% patients of STEMI. Among expired cases, 90% patients had high GRS, predominantly from STEMI group. Important determinants of adverse outcome were advanced age, tachycardia, low systolic blood pressure and presence of cardiac failure. Conclusion: STEMI was the major acute cardiac event. The mean GRS of expired patients was significantly higher than discharged group. GRS accurately identified low risk cases with low probability of in-hospital death. GRS over estimate probability of in-hospital death among STEMI high risk cases that had higher scores and discharged uneventfully. Grace Risk Score is a reliable predictor of risk category and adverse outcomes and its use by clinicians should be strongly recommended.


Mobile Robotics offers comprehensive coverage of the essentials of the field suitable for both students and practitioners. Adapted from Alonzo Kelly's graduate and undergraduate courses, the content of the book reflects current approaches to developing effective mobile robots. Professor Kelly adapts principles and techniques from the fields of mathematics, physics, and numerical methods to present a consistent framework in a notation that facilitates learning and highlights relationships between topics. This text was developed specifically to be accessible to senior level undergraduates in engineering and computer science, and includes supporting exercises to reinforce the lessons of each section. Practitioners will value Kelly's perspectives on practical applications of these principles. Complex subjects are reduced to implementable algorithms extracted from real systems wherever possible, to enhance the real-world relevance of the text.


The increased levels of distributed generator (DG) penetration and the customer demand for high levels of reliability have attributed to the formation of the Microgrid concept. The Microgrid concept contains a variety of technical challenges, including load management and anti-islanding protection discrimination strategies. This paper provides a novel scheme in which loads and DG are able to detect the conditions where the load of the island cannot be sufficiently supplied. In these instances, a load shedding algorithm systematically removes loads from the system until an island can be maintained within satisfactory operating limits utilising the local DG. The concept of an Intelligent Load Shedder (ILS) module is proposed in this paper. This module is connected in series with non-critical loads in order to detect the conditions where that non-essential load should be isolated from an island. This module must be capable of communicating with the static transfer switch (STS), which is the intelligent isolator associated with the island. The STS will also be capable of sending and receiving data with each DG's islanding protection device. The combined algorithmic control of the STS, ILS module and DG islanding protection device forms the Intelligent Load Management algorithm. This algorithm is capable of islanding protection and load shedding irrespective of the use of communications. The algorithms within this paper are simulated using MATLAB script. The results show that, on a theoretical level, the intelligent load management scheme described in this paper can be used to detect the conditions where an insufficient load is available using local parameters. Load shedding coordination is also shown to be possible with and without the use of communications between the STS, ILS module and DG islanding protection module.


The Semantic Web brings a powerful set of concepts, standards and ideas that are already changing the shape of the Web. However, in order to put these notions into practice we need to translate them into code. That is why the broad notion of programming the Semantic Web is important, even if it remains challenging to provide the appropriate tools for developers to implement these ideas. In this work, we present our experience in a series of common Semantic Web programming tasks, and how we improve the developer experience and productivity by providing a simple Domain Specific Language (DSL) in Scala. We exemplify its use through fundamental tasks such as dealing with RDF data and ontologies, or performing reasoning and querying using JVM languages. In particular, we show how we can profit from the intrinsic extensibility of the Scala language to simplify these tasks using a custom DSL, at the same time that we introduce principles of reactivity and scalability in the code.


Curation is the long-term care and management of collections, which is essential to preserve objects, artifacts, and records for future generations. Yet, in the past, there had often been little concern given to the curation of archaeological collections, especially in higher education archaeology programs in the United States. This attitude began to change in the 1990s, when the federal government passed two critical laws, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (known as NAGPRA) and the Curation of Federally-Owned and Administered Archeological Collections (36 CFR 79). Despite some positive changes over the past two decades, research suggests that archaeological collections curation remains undervalued. This paper examines 21st century attitudes surrounding curation and the prevalence of long-term collections management in higher education archaeology programs. The assessment of over 40 college archaeology textbooks as well as a survey sent to professors in the top five archaeology programs by rank and enrollment confirm that curation concerns are still lacking. This preliminary study suggests that archaeology programs need to better integrate curation-focused courses into their curricula and demand that curation topic be discussed in archaeology textbooks to better train and educate students (i.e., the future archaeologists) about the proper care and management of archaeological collections.


Information Technology professionals can use this book to move beyond the excitement of web services and service oriented architecture (SOA) and begin the process of finding actionable ideas to innovate and create business value. In Enterprise SOA: Designing IT for Business Innovation, SAP's blueprint for putting SOA to work is analyzed from top to bottom. In addition to design, development, and architecture, vital contextual issues such as governance, security, change management, and culture are also explored. This comprehensive perspective reduces risk as IT departments implement ESA, a sound, flexible architecture for adapting business processes in response to changing market conditions.This book answers the following questions:What forces created the need for Enterprise Services Architecture?How does ESA enable business process innovation?How is model-driven development used at all levels of design, configuration, and deployment?How do all the layers of technology that support ESA work together?How will composite applications extend business process automation?How does ESA create new models for IT governance?How can companies manage disruptive change?How can enterprise services be discovered and designed?How will the process of adapting applications be simplified?Based on extensive research with experts from the German software company SAP, this definitive book is ideal for architects, developers, and other IT professionals who want to understand the technology and business relevance of ESA in a detailed way--especially those who want to move on the technology now, rather than in the next year or two.


Socio-spatial polarization is increasing in large cities throughout Europe (Tammaru et al., 2016). Socio-spatial polarization refers to the process where the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing, which is translated into spatial segregation along ethnic or socioeconomic lines. In the European context, this has resulted in distinctive spatial patterns in large cities where the rich are increasingly located in historic city centres, while the poor reside in the more disadvantaged outer-city neighborhoods (cf. Hulchanski, 2010; Van Eijk, 2010). Despite substantial government investments to counteract such socio-spatial polarization over the past few decades, this process seems to be persistent, though it varies over time and between places (Bailey, 2012).
In most of the studies on socio-spatial polarization the continuous dynamic character of neighborhoods is neglected, reducing neighborhood change to comparing two points in time. However, neighborhoods are constantly changing in their population composition as the result of residential mobility and demographic events, thereby changing the aggregate status of neighborhoods. Many studies investigating neighborhood change focus on exceptional cases of gentrifying or declining neighborhoods (Bailey, 2012; Bailey et al., 2013; Bailey & Livingston, 2007; Clark et al., 2006; Finney, 2013; Hochstenbach & Van Gent, 2015; Jivraj, 2013; Van Ham et al., 2013). Although these studies have provided important insight in the drivers behind neighborhood change, they are typically limited to time-specific case-studies in particular cities. As a result, we do not know if neighborhoods with similar characteristics experience similar processes of change over time – or if processes of gentrification or downgrading are the exception to the rule. In addition, we have limited understanding of how processes of gentrification and downgrading affect other neighborhoods. As neighborhoods do not operate in a societal and policy vacuum, changes in one neighborhood are likely to affect other neighborhoods as well. It has, for example, been argued that processes of urban restructuring or gentrification are likely to lead to new concentrations of deprivation in other neighborhoods through the displacement of low-income groups (Bolt et al., 2009). As such, the upgrading of one neighborhood might go hand-in-hand with the deterioration of another neighborhood (Brama, 2013; Musterd & Ostendorf, 2005a).
In addition, many studies in this field rely on percentile shifts and point-in-time measures to analyze change, neglecting the possibility that development over time might be more non-linear than linear or need much more time to take effect (see also Van Ham & Manley, 2012). Because the physical structure of neighborhoods hardly changes, neighborhoods can maintain their overall status over longer periods of time (Meen et al., 2013; Tunstall, 2016). However, selective mobility and demographic events lead to a constantly changing population composition (Van Ham et al., 2013). In this paper we argue that to fully understand processes of neighborhood change, the next step in neighborhood research is to focus on detailed neighborhood trajectories and to identify typologies of neighborhood change over longer periods of time. Analyzing interrelated neighborhood trajectories and understanding why some neighborhoods are more prone to change than others is therefore highly relevant to the debate on spatial manifestations of inequality and neighborhood development.
In this paper, we present an approach for analyzing neighborhood change by focusing on long-term neighborhood change combined with a detailed analysis of neighborhood trajectories. Focusing on the trajectories of low-income neighborhoods in the Netherlands over the period 1971-2013, we analyze the role of physical characteristics in neighborhoods change. In the Dutch context, neighborhood and housing quality is often related to the debate on neighborhood change, however, few empirical studies try to analyze to what extent physical characteristics are related to today's spatial patterns. Different starting positions in terms of housing quality can have long-lasting effects on neighborhood status through processes of path-dependency (Meen et al., 2013). In addition, because the Dutch government has invested heavily in urban restructuring by changing the share of owner-occupied and social-rented dwellings in particular neighborhoods, we analyze the effect of demolition and construction on the different neighborhood trajectories. Changes to the housing stock generate mobility processes and may thus affect neighborhoods in both direct and indirect ways.
To analyze neighborhood trajectories we use a combination of methods. Sequence analysis allows for the analysis of complete pathways through time and is therefore a promising method for longitudinal neighborhood research. Sequence analysis is gaining popularity in the social sciences and is increasingly used by researchers interested in patterns of socio-spatial inequalities (e.g. Coulter & Van Ham, 2013; Hedman et al., 2015; Van Ham et al., 2014). However, sequence analysis is ultimately a descriptive method and its potential for explaining trajectories is limited. Researchers have therefore developed a methodological framework that combines sequence analysis and a treestructured discrepancy analysis, allowing for the analysis of the relationship between covariates and sequences (Studer et al., 2011). As such, this framework can provide insight in how different covariates affect neighborhood trajectories in different ways. To our knowledge, this paper offers the first empirical application of this combination in the field of urban research, constituting a new approach towards researching neighborhood dynamics and a move towards the visualization and analysis of complex trajectories. In this paper, we only highlight the most important aspects of the combination between sequence analysis and a tree-structured discrepancy analysis. Based on our presentation, researchers should be able to get a basic understanding of both methods (for a full understanding of sequence analysis researchers are referred to Gabadinho et al., 2011; for a tree-structured discrepancy analysis to Studer et al., 2011).
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. We start with expounding our approach for analyzing neighborhood change. We then move to describe the combination of sequence analysis and the tree-structured discrepancy analysis in more detail. In the data and method section, we elaborate on the structure of the dataset and the methodological choices made. We then discuss the substantive results and reflect on the applicability of the methods for neighborhood research.


Oxygen saturation estimates from pulse oximeters (SpO2) have been shown to be unreliable in the presence of motion artifact. This may cause errors in the clinical environment if the device falsely detects normal or desaturated conditions. This paper seeks to investigate the failure modes of the standard SpO2 calculation algorithm in the presence of motion artifact. A Texas Instruments AFE4400 evaluation module was used to collect data. The board is designed for pulse oximetry applications and allows access to the raw photoplethysmograph signals. Measurements were taken from a single subject with a finger probe. Signals were collected both while moving the instrumented hand and while moving the sensor without moving the hand. These were compared to a control signal where the subject remained motionless. Oxygen saturation was constant as verified by a Clevemed Bioradio SpO2 probe on the subject's other hand, which remained motionless for all of the measurements. The results showed a significant decrease of measured SpO2 during motion of the hand but not during motion of the sensor. This was likely due to the probe detecting the movement of venous blood, or failure to correctly detect peaks in the PPG signals. The variability of the measured SpO2 increased during motion of the hand and motion of the sensor, likely due to variation of the optical path length through the tissue. This work will help future development of algorithms to improve the performance of pulse oximetry in ambulatory conditions.


The spatiotemporal dynamics of two counterpropagating beams in a photorefractive crystal with nonlocal and sluggish response is investigated in the longitudinal and one transverse dimension. A static external electric field is applied to the crystal to control the coupling strength of the two-wave mixing process. A nonautonomous linear stability analysis is performed that takes a nonconstant modulation depth into account. The onset of pattern formation for arbitrary coupling constants and pump ratios and the influence of linear absorption are discussed. Above the threshold predicted by stability analysis, running transverse waves appear in the optical near field and wandering spots appear in the corresponding far field. A nonlinear eigenmode analysis reveals the running transverse waves as secondary instabilities.


Methylating agents of the SN1 type represent an important class of cancer chemotherapeutics. Efficient killing by clinically-relevant doses of these agents requires cell division and low levels or absence of the repair enzyme methylguanine methyl transferase (MGMT). The process requires also an active mismatch repair (MMR) system, as treatment of cells with the prototypic methylating agent N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) could be shown to trigger a delayed cell cycle arrest, which was absolutely MMR-dependent. We now show that DNA damage signaling activated by high doses of MNNG is very rapid and largely MMR-independent. However, the MMR system still contributes towards cell killing, as MMR deficiency favors the long-term survival of the cells, albeit to a substantially smaller extent than when low MNNG concentrations are deployed.


People who own animals are faced with complex decision making in evacuations. In the US, the Emergency Operations Center is often inundated with calls from animal owners who are aware they are under preor mandatory evacuation, but are unsure of what to do about evacuating their animals. Often animal evacuation is a highly improvised activity for owners and responders, though there is a now a general push toward streamlining procedures because of the high impact the matter of animals has on society's welfare during times of emergency. This paper reports on the use of participatory design methods in a mapping project to support the range of people involved in animal evacuation during mass displacement events. The work provides insight into both procedures and standards for creating evacuation maps that communicate clearly with the public and across the range of emergency responders.


Study of the quench phenomenon is crucial for the design of Resistive Fault Current Limiters (RFCLs) based on high temperature superconducting coated conductors (HTS-CCs). An optimal stabilization of the tape is required to achieve both an economic device and a safe quench. In this context we developed an electro-thermal model that describe the HTS-CCs quench behavior for different degrees of inhomogeneity, both in terms of critical current and of thickness stabilizer. The critical current inhomogeneity for long lengths of tape has been modeled with Gaussian distributions. The mathematical expressions that define the superconducting-to-normal state transition are supported by experimental measurements. Our model allows optimizing the tape design leading to economic and safe limiting performance.


Abstruct-The need for more effective ways to manage the risk and safety of technological systems has been widely recognized and accepted by government and industry. Tkaditionally, risk analysis has been considered as part of the process of planning a technological system and addressed the risk inherent in its day-to-day operations. However, risk must also be considered when responding to episodic events whose uniqueness requires taking actions that are variants of, or different from planned operational procedures. The purpose of this paper is to present a new paradigm for real-time risk analysis that capitalizes upon the advances in computer power, human-machine interfaces, and communication technology. A new process for risk assessment and an appropriate reasoning algorithm for choice has been developed which supports the human operator in analyzing risks and making decisions in real-time during unexpected disruptions in the operations of large-scale systems. The process recognizes that although advances in technology may automate many tasks, humans will always be an integral part of managing large-scale systems. The practical realism of the new approach of operational risk management is illustrated by two examples, hazardous material transportation and emergency management. The first example is discussed within the context of a prototype decision support system for interactive real-time risk management.


During World War I, Britain and France imported workers from their colonies to labor behind the front lines. The single largest group of support labor came not from imperial colonies, however, but from China. Xu Guoqi tells the remarkable story of the 140,000 Chinese men recruited for the Allied war effort. These laborers, mostly illiterate peasants from north China, came voluntarily and worked in Europe longer than any other group. Xu explores China's reasons for sending its citizens to help the British and French (and, later, the Americans), the backgrounds of the workers, their difficult transit to Europe - across the Pacific, through Canada, and over the Atlantic - and their experiences with the Allied armies. It was the first encounter with Westerners for most of these Chinese peasants, and Xu also considers the story from their perspective: how they understood this distant war, the racism and suspicion they faced, and their attempts to hold on to their culture so far from home. In recovering this fascinating lost story, Xu highlights the Chinese contribution to World War I and illuminates the essential role these unsung laborers played in modern China's search for a new national identity on the global stage.


Nitrogen (N) fertilizer plays an important role in agricultural systems in terms of food yield. However, N application rates (NARs) are often overestimated over the rice (Oryza sativaL.) growing season in the Taihu Lake region of China. This is largely because negative externalities are not entirely included when evaluating economically-optimal nitrogen rate (EONR), such as only individual N losses are taken into account, or the inventory flows of reactive N have been limited solely to the farming process when evaluating environmental and economic effects of N fertilizer. This study integrates important material and energy flows resulting from N use into a rice agricultural inventory that constitutes the hub of the life-cycle assessment (LCA) method. An economic evaluation is used to determine an environmental and economic NAR for the Taihu Lake region. The analysis reveals that production and exploitation processes consume the largest proportion of resources, accounting for 77.2 % and 22.3 % of total resources, respectively. Regarding environmental impact, global warming creates the highest cost with contributions stemming mostly from fertilizer production and farming processes. Farming process incurs the biggest environmental impact of the three environmental impact categories considered, whereas transportation has a much smaller effect. When taking account of resource consumption and environmental cost, the marginal benefit of 1 kg rice would decrease from 2.4 to only 1.05 yuan. Accordingly, our current EONR has been evaluated at 187 kg N ha −1 for a single rice-growing season. This could enhance profitability, as well as reduce the N losses associated with rice growing. Correspondence to: X. Yan (email@example.com)


It has been argued that some categories are privileged in that the correlational slructure of features in the environment creates natural chunks that are compelling to learners. If so, then differences in goals should not affect the organization and use of such socalled privileged categories. This paper reports research where the amount and type of expertise is varied for the same domain. Goals exert a major effect on category organization as well as on category-based induction. Even for the case where some categories seemed to be relatively privileged, the basis for this privilege may derive from linguistic cues rather than strictly empirical strucUwe.


Due to the expense associated with at-sea sensor deployments, a challenge in underwater acoustics has been to develop methods requiring a minimal number of sensors. This paper introduces an adaptive time-frequency signal processing method designed for application to a single source-receiver sensor pair. The method involves the application of conjugate time-frequency warping transforms to improve the SNR and resolution of the time-frequency distribution (TFD) of the measured field. Such refined knowledge of the TFD facilitates efforts to extract tomographic information about the propagation medium. Here the method is applied to the case of modal propagation in a shallow ocean range independent environment to extract a refined TFD. Given knowledge of the source-receiver separation, the refined TFD is used to extract the frequency dependent group velocities of the individual modal components. The extracted group velocities are then incorporated into a computationally light tomographic inversion method. Simulated and experimental results are discussed.


At a time when health professionals struggle to address severely inadequate social conditions which are reflected in the poor health of Indigenous peoples from remote and rural Australia, Indigenous students are receiving confused messages from national politicians concerning their level of support available. This study identifies ways in which Western tertiary institutions may better appreciate those elements of the Indigenous students' learning environment considered critical for success. This study initially describes the institutional support structures and applied strategies currently considered effective and culturally appropriate to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the Northern Territory. In attempting to investigate whether these solutions to the acknowledged problem of low retention rates and course completions in tertiary study are supported by the students themselves, the study records the perceptions of a sample of Indigenous students enrolled in three Northern Territory institutions across both the Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Higher Education (HE) undergraduate and post-graduate health sciences courses. With its methodology based within the Interpretive Paradigm, the study utilises qualitative research orientations, including semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, and acknowledges the ethical and political dimensions of the research. The resultant data provides insights into the many complex issues impacting on Indigenous Health Science students, many of whom are employed as community Health Workers. The research identifies that the informal learning generated by their unique experiences results in the students reaching a hybrid cultural space within the Western tertiary environment in which they can be an individual without loss of cultural identity. Amongst the findings it was learnt that institutions need to further foster relationships with the family and community connections of the students. This study reveals a Model of Support recommending that increased institutional Cultural Sensitivity involving the simultaneous development of Cultural Nurturing and Cultural Connections is required.


Pediatric autoimmune connective tissue diseases are a group of disorders characterized by the presence of antibodies formed against tissue antigens. These diseases include: systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), dermatomyositis (DM), polymyositis (PM), scleroderma (SSc) and Sjogren's syndrome. The incidence is reduced in children and among the most frequent are lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis and scleroderma. There are many studies based on these disorders in adult population, but only a few describe the pathogenesis and clinical manifestations in children which are essential for the choice of treatment and outcome. In addition to morbidity and mortality due to internal organs damage, the prognosis is also influenced by the adverse effects of immunosuppresive drugs and by emotional, mental, social and economic factors which can have an impact on patients and their families.


This article examines, through a synthesis of the literature and excerpts from a qualitative case study, the concept of exit strategy, specifically its relation to vulnerable populations (e.g., overweight adolescent boys) and potential impact on the researcher-participant relationship. The quality and duration of the researcher-participant relationship, along with rapport and trust building, are potential indicators for negotiated closure (i.e., exit strategy). Reframing this relationship as "participant-researcher" resituates vulnerable participants as foremost in such relationships. Given what is potentially at stake for participants in qualitative research, there is a moral and ethical imperative to enter into the dialogue of closure. Otherwise, participants may unwittingly serve as a means to an end, that is, as objects in the enterprise of qualitative research. Researchers, research supervisors, and human subject ethics committees are urged to establish protocols to guide how research relationships are ended within the context of qualitative methods, particularly with respect to vulnerable populations.


Purpose The purpose of this animal study was to perform a histological and histomorphometric analysis in order to elucidate the effect of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) on injured periodontal ligament (PDL) and cementum after tooth replantation in dogs. Methods The roots of 36 mandibular premolars from six mongrel dogs were used in this study. The roots were randomly divided into three groups: (1) a positive control group (n=12), in which the PDL was retained; (2) a negative control group (n=12), in which the PDL and the cementum between the notches were removed; and (3) an experimental group (n=12), in which the PDL and the cementum between the notches were removed and the roots were soaked in an FGF-2 solution (30 µg/0.1 mL). After treating the root surfaces, the extracted roots were replanted into extraction sockets. The animals were sacrificed four and eight weeks after surgery for histologic and histomorphometric evaluation. Results At four and eight weeks, normal PDLs covered the roots in the positive control group. In the negative control group, most replanted roots showed signs of replacement resorption. In the experimental group, new PDL-like tissue and cementum-like tissue were observed to partially occupy the region between the root surfaces and the newly formed bone. Histomorphometric analysis showed that the mean length of the newly formed cementum-like tissue on the roots treated with FGF-2 was significantly greater than that of the tissue on the roots in the negative control group (four weeks, P=0.008; eight weeks, P=0.042). However, no significant differences were observed between the roots treated with FGF-2 and the negative control roots with respect to newly formed PDL-like tissue. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that use of FGF-2 on injured root surfaces promotes cementogenesis after tooth replacement in dogs. Graphical Abstract


This research investigates the phenomenon of budgeting practices in the Tanzanian Central Government. It seeks to understand how budgeting systems under the New Public Management (NPM), World Bank- and IMF-exhorted systems were adopted and implemented. There were several motives for this research: the significance of budgeting in financial management, the sparsity of empirical studies on NPM in developing countries, and a call for an understanding of the local contexts of the country and an evaluation of the reforms themselves. Additionally, the complexity of NPM reforms and the mixed results of previous empirical studies, indicated the need for a more appropriate methodology. The study adopts interpretive research and executes a grounded theory strategy. It develops a substantive grounded theory on budgeting practices and a formal grounded theory on accounting changes in organizations (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Strauss, 1987). Fieldwork was undertaken in three Tanzanian Ministries. Struggling for conformance is the central phenomenon of the substantive and the formal grounded theory. The substantive grounded theory explained a process through which the Tanzanian Central Government actors were determined to implement budgetary reforms, despite difficulties. Struggling for conformance was illustrated by the establishment of rhetorically applied (rhetorical) rules and regulations, followed by budgeting attempts and games in their implementation, due to the uncertain environment, complex budgeting systems, the donors? influence, and cultural and administrative practices. The process of struggling for conformance had positive and negative impacts on budgeting operations and budgeting allocations. The formal grounded theory proposes that organizations adopt and implement accounting changes in order to achieve legitimacy, efficiency and self-interests. Rhetorical rules on accounting changes are established and implemented through accounting attempts and games, which may reveal the coexistence of instrumental and ceremonial aspects of accounting (Covaleski and Dirsmith, 1991), and even fulfill individual, rather than organizational, interests (strategic deterioration). Struggling for conformance is caused by conflicting and enabling power, complex rules, and a fragmented environment. Its consequences reflect the extent of the acquisition of efficiency and legitimacy. This research contributes to the limited amount of empirical accounting research on NPM in developing countries, to grounded theory and interpretive accounting research, and to the expansion of New Institutional Sociology. It further provides a framework of struggling for conformance, which produces possible explanations for the complexities of budgetary and NPM reforms, the adoption and implementation of accounting changes in organizations, and loose coupling.


Abstract: Discussions of conscientious objection (CO) in healthcare often concentrate on objections to interventions that relate to reproduction, such as termination of pregnancy or contraception. Nevertheless, questions of conscience can arise in other areas of medicine. For example, the intensive care unit is a locus of ethically complex and contested decisions. Ethical debate about CO usually concentrates on the issue of whether physicians should be permitted to object to particular courses of treatment; whether CO should be accommodated. In this article, I focus on the question of how clinicians ought to act: should they provide or support a course of action that is contrary to their deeply held moral beliefs? I discuss two secular examples of potential CO in intensive care, and propose that clinicians should adopt a norm of conscientious non-objection (CNO). In the face of divergent values and practice, physicians should set aside their personal moral beliefs and not object to treatment that is legally and professionally accepted and provided by their peers. Although there may be reason to permit conscientious objections in healthcare, conscientious non-objection should be encouraged, taught, and supported.


The goal of this research is the creation of robust, flexible, polymer sensors and circuits fabricated partially from the low cost biopolymer, chitosan, the deacetylated form of chitin which is the second most abundant polyssacharide in nature. Chitin is found in crustaceans, insects, bacteria and fungi. The sensors will detect diatomic gases and DNA to more complex macro molecules (e.g. exotoxins) in a fluidic or dry environment. Polymer-nanoparticle (e.g. Ge) hybrid films allow for development of robust polymer thin-film transistors and, with optimization of the hybrid film, sensitive photodetectors. These transistors may be developed into gas or chemical sensors through functionalization of the polymer active layer or dielectric with proteins specific to a target analyte. This technology will enable the development of integrated polymer sensors and electronics which are low-cost, robust and highly versatile due to the replacement of semiconductor, dielectric and possibly metal layers with polymers and minimal thermal budget.


This thesis sets out to challenge the assumption widely held among IR scholars that Scientific Realism (SR) is the definite and final interpretation of realism. The introduction of SR into IR as the latter's proper meta-theory has been the incentive for very intense debates about both meta-theoretical and theoretical IR issues.

I argue that IR has uncritically adopted the strongest version of SR. This can be seen by comparing the different versions of SR and their anti-realist alternatives - as these have developed in the Philosophy of Science literature - to the version of SR which was introduced into IR. It is Critical Realism (CR), however, a version of SR that originated with Roy Bhaskar, which has dominated the SR debate in IR. This development has had negative consequences with respect to the quality of the argumentation about realism in IR. This notwithstanding, a positive implication of this situation is that IR scholars who belong in various traditions of thought have criticized SR from different theoretical angles and thus shed light on many of its shortcomings.

I elaborate on the comments that have been made on meta-theoretical as well as theoretical issues and come up with my own conclusions about SR and CR. In this framework, I also deal with two special issues which have arisen from
this debate's problematique: the question about whether reasons can be causes, which lies in the foundations of Wendt's 'constitutive explanation', and the challenge of 'meta-theoretical hypochondria', according to which the extensive concern with meta-theory takes place at the expense of theorizing real-world political problems. Last, I show, by a way of a novel contribution, that Wendt's
latest undertaking, of a 'quantum social science', although compatible with SR, suffers inconsistencies and misunderstandings in terms of its methodology, metaphysics, use of quantum mechanics, and application to IR.

This thesis is an interdisciplinary study, which draws upon the Philosophy of Science, IR and Physics (namely Quantum Mechanics), in order to scrutinize the use of SR and CR into IR along with its implications for both IR metatheory
and IR theory.


ABSTRACT We evaluate the presence of three sympatric species of Asian Bronzeback Snakes (genus Dendrelaphis Boulenger, 1890) from Mizoram State, India. These are taxonomically complicated species that were recently, either resurrected (D. proarchos Wall, 1909, D. biloreatus Wall, 1908) or redefined (D. cyanochloris (Wall, 1921)). In the light of morphological and molecular data, we confirm the validity of D. proarchos from Mizoram, Northeast India, and subsequently confer the specimen of D. pictus (Gmelin, 1789) (CHS791) from Hainan (China) to D. proarchos. We also provide the first molecular phylogenetic data for the lesser-known species D. biloreatus as well as the first molecular samples of D. cyanochloris from Mizoram, Northeast India which seems to be the closest sample from Darjeeling, India (type locality). Apart from this, we also affirm the southwestern population in the distribution range of the latter species as D. cyanochloris sensu stricto, while conferring the southern population from Pinag Island, Malaysia to D. vogeli Jiang, Ren, Guo, Wang, Ding & Li, 2020, and the northeastern populations comprising Kachin (Myanmar), Tibet, Yunnan and Hainan (China) to D. ngansonensis (Bourret, 1935). Our present mitochondrial gene trees using the genes 16S rRNA, COI, and Cytb suggest the presence of cryptic diversity within several Dendrelaphis species, which will require rigorous genetic sampling and integrative taxonomic analysis to examine whether these lineages represent distinct species. This study also presents natural history and additional data on the distributional localities of Dendrelaphis species from Mizoram State, Northeast India.


Given a two times differentiable curve in the plane, I prove that — using only the volume fractions associated with the curve — one can construct a piecewise linear approximation that is second-order in the max norm. I derive two parameters that depend only on the grid size and the curvature of the curve, respectively. When the maximum curvature in the 3 by 3 block of cells centered on a cell through which the curve passes is less than the first parameter, the approximation in that cell will be second-order. Conversely, if the grid size in this block is greater than the second parameter, the approximation in the center cell can be less than second-order. Thus, this parameter provides an a priori test for when the interface is under-resolved, so that when the interface reconstruction method is coupled to an adaptive mesh refinement algorithm, this parameter may be used to determine when to locally increase the resolution of the grid.


The scope of this article is the analysis of the reputation risk management process with the aim to define a conceptual model that could be applied to identify, assess and mitigate this type of risk. This model is based on the analysis of the extant literature on risk management and on corporate reputation. This analysis reveals that the measurement of the reputational risk is a controversial aspect and there are different approaches that could be used to carry out this activity. Furthermore the value of the corporate reputation may be influenced by many variables and a wide range of actions could be implemented to reduce the probability and/or the impact. However the analysis of the existing models for reputation risk management reveals noticeable differences regarding the variables and the methodology that could be used. Based on these findings, our conceptual model proposes a qualitative methodology to assess a set of reputational risk drivers. Moreover the model highlights the importance of the internal control systems and the crisis communication management for risk mitigation. Future steps include the formal validation of this model through an empirical investigation that will be carried out on a selected number of Italian companies.


As part of a 5-year project on the impact of subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) application of coalbed-methane (CBM) produced waters, water samples were collected from the Headgate Draw SDI site in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA. This research is part of a larger study to understand short- and long-term impacts on both soil and water quality from the beneficial use of CBM waters to grow forage crops through use of SDI. This document provides a summary of the context, sampling methodology, and quality assurance and quality control documentation of samples collected prior to and over the first year of SDI operation at the site (May 2008-October 2009). This report contains an associated database containing inorganic compositional data, water-quality criteria parameters, and calculated geochemical parameters for samples of groundwater, soil water, surface water, treated CBM waters, and as-received CBM waters collected at the Headgate Draw SDI site.


Nonnative rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) are stocked into several reservoirs in the range of federally threatened Little Colorado spinedace ( Lepidomeda vittata ), and so have the opportunity to negatively impact Little Colorado spinedace populations. We examined rainbow trout escapement from Nelson Reservior into Nutrioso Creek, critical habitat for L. vittata . We also examined movements of L. vittata and incidence of predation by rainbow trout on L. vittata . We detected no movement of rainbow trout out of Nelson Reservoir over 4 years of study. Lepidomeda vittata marked in 3 streams did not move much; but sample sizes were too small to make any meaningful conclusions regarding movement. Most L. vittata we captured during surveys subsequent to marking were unmarked, suggesting movement out of the study area, low tag retention, mortality, or failure to capture marked fish. Lepidomeda vittata co-occurred with O. mykiss , Salmo trutta , and Salvelinus fontinalis and were typically less than half the size of the sympatric nonnative salmonids. Consequently, they are potential prey fish for these species. We found fish remains in stomachs of 33% of S. trutta , 6% of O. mykiss and 25% of S. fontinalis examined, but remains of L. vittata were found only in a single S. trutta . Because S. fontinalis are rare in the streams examined, they probably do not pose a great threat to L. vittata . Salmo trutta , which are no longer stocked, had the highest piscivory level and may thus pose more of a threat to L. vittata than O. mykiss .


To obtain direct measurements of the muon content of extensive air showers with energy above $10^{16.5}$ eV, the Pierre Auger Observatory is currently being equipped with an underground muon detector (UMD), consisting of 219 10 $\mathrm{m^2}$-modules, each segmented into 64 scintillators coupled to silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). Direct access to the shower muon content allows for the study of both of the composition of primary cosmic rays and of high-energy hadronic interactions in the forward direction. As the muon density can vary between tens of muons per m$^2$ close to the intersection of the shower axis with the ground to much less than one per m$^2$ when far away, the necessary broad dynamic range is achieved by the simultaneous implementation of two acquisition modes in the read-out electronics: the binary mode, tuned to count single muons, and the ADC mode, suited to measure a high number of them. In this work, we present the end-to-end calibration of the muon detector modules: first, the SiPMs are calibrated by means of the binary channel, and then, the ADC channel is calibrated using atmospheric muons, detected in parallel to the shower data acquisition. The laboratory and field measurements performed to develop the implementation of the full calibration chain of both binary and ADC channels are presented and discussed. The calibration procedure is reliable to work with the high amount of channels in the UMD, which will be operated continuously, in changing environmental conditions, for several years.


Listening as a language skill is an active process of receiving aural stimuli. It involves attention, reception, comprehension and retention of the message or intention of the speaker. In professional life, efficient listening skills make workers more productive, accountable and cultivate positive working relationships with bosses, clients and colleagues. Thus, Technological Universities prescribe teaching Listening as a language skill at the undergraduate level. But as Listening is not taught at the school level, it becomes a challenge for us to improve listening skills of such students taking admission to technical Institutes at their undergraduate level. However, my experiment in my Institute's Language laboratory showed positive result when such learners were asked to listen to popular animation films. In my paper, I would focus on the importance of Listening Skills and factors affecting it; problems faced with technical undergraduate learners and the syllabus; why only popular animation films, preparing classroom tasks and how it helped in developing effective listening skills.


Abstract. The albedo of the surface of ice sheets changes as a function of time due to the effects of deposition of new snow, ageing of dry snow, bare ice exposure, melting and run-off. Currently, the calculation of the albedo of ice sheets is highly parameterized within the earth system model EC-Earth by taking a constant value for areas with thick perennial snow cover. This is an important reason why the surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is poorly resolved in the model. The purpose of this study is to improve the SMB forcing of the GrIS by evaluating different parameter settings within a snow albedo scheme. By allowing ice-sheet albedo to vary as a function of wet and dry conditions, the spatial distribution of albedo and melt rate improves. Nevertheless, the spatial distribution of SMB in EC-Earth is not significantly improved. As a reason for this, we identify omissions in the current snow albedo scheme, such as separate treatment of snow and ice and the effect of refreezing. The resulting SMB is downscaled from the lower-resolution global climate model topography to the higher-resolution ice-sheet topography of the GrIS, such that the influence of these different SMB climatologies on the long-term evolution of the GrIS is tested by ice-sheet model simulations. From these ice-sheet simulations we conclude that an albedo scheme with a short response time of decaying albedo during wet conditions performs best with respect to long-term simulated ice-sheet volume. This results in an optimized albedo parameterization that can be used in future EC-Earth simulations with an interactive ice-sheet component.


This analysis introduces the Presenter's Paradox. Robust findings in impression formation demonstrate that perceivers' judgments show a weighted averaging pattern, which results in less favorable evaluations when mildly favorable information is added to highly favorable information. Across seven studies, we show that presenters do not anticipate this averaging pattern on the part of evaluators and instead design presentations that include all of the favorable information available. This additive strategy ("more is better") hurts presenters in their perceivers' eyes because mildly favorable information dilutes the impact of highly favorable information. For example, presenters choose to spend more money to make a product bundle look more costly, even though doing so actually cheapened its value from the evaluators' perspective (study 1). Additional studies demonstrate the robustness of the effect, investigate the psychological processes underlying it, and examine its implications for a variety of marketing contexts.


Scholars generally assume that current Euro-American theory is both necessary and sufficient to understand other societies. Analyzing the presuppositions of linguistic and anthropological models indicates however that they are fatally flawed. Examining Balinese practices of speaking and understanding others shows they work with a consistently pragmatic approach with coherent modes of interrogating situated utterances. Close study of examples highlights how far existing theories from truth-conditional semantics to speech act theory not only fail to appreciate what is said and done, but insulate themselves from realizing this. So the many studies of Balinese 'symbolism' are only possible by failing to listen to what people say. According to Balinese, speech is inseparable from other acts, so meaning can only be judged from its consequences. If other people have diverse ways of speaking, acting and understanding, should we not finally lay aside our comfortable hegemony and inquire critically what is going on?


In this paper, abrasive flow machining (AFM), which is effective for improving the precision on property of the surface and shape of a small hole of a Ti–6Al–4V alloy fabricated by electric discharge machining, is described. AFM is a finishing process used on internal shapes which are difficult to finish by other machining methods. It can perform surface polishing removing a small quantity of material by flowing fluid abrasive medium through or across a small gap of workpiece, under a constant extrusion pressure. The shape of a small hole fabricated by EDM is not straight, i.e., the diameter of the entrance is larger than that of the exit, and the machined surface is not smooth, either. The experimental results show that using AFM polishing as finishing process can significantly improve the quality of the machined surface and of the shape of the small hole of the Ti–6Al–4V alloy. It is also shown that the quantity of removal material and the hole precision are remarkably affected by the concentration of abrasive, extrusion pressure, number of cycles and working time.


Background:  Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is relatively uncommon in Malaysia with non-melanomatous skin cancer being the 12 th  most common malignancy in Malaysia.Metastatic basal cell carcinoma (MBCC) is extremely rare and the incidence is estimated to be 0.0028% to 0.55% among all BCC. We report a case of MBCC with a summary of clinical and histopathology findings; and the management.  Case presentation:  A 69-year-old Chinese man, presented with a left wrist mass for 4 years. The mass was on the dorsal surface of the wrist, ulcerated, and measured 15 x 10cm. The tumour size was 2.5 × 8.6 × 10cm on MRI, extending into the extensor digitorum tendons and possible invasion into the lumbricals. He underwent wide excision of the mass, decorticotomy of left 3 rd  to 5 th  metacarpal bones and amputation of 2 nd  metacarpal bone. Histopathological examination showed BCC involving whole skin thickness invading the subcutaneous fat but sparing the underlying tissues, resections margins were clear, maximal diameter was 11.5 cm. The tumour was staged as pT2N0M0. After 18 months, he developed an 8 × 10cm left axillary mass which was fungating and bleeding. CT scan also showed multiple lung metastases. Repeat biopsy of the left axillary mass showed BCC with similar appearance as the previous histopathology examination. Radiotherapy to the left axilla was given (65 Gray in 30 fractions) for local control as the tumour was bleeding profusely.  Discussion:  A review by Wysong  et al . for 194 cases of MBCC suggests that its prognosis remains poor over the past 30 years, with the median overall survival of 10 months from diagnosis despite the introduction of systemic chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Most common metastatic sites are the regional lymph nodes, lungs and bone. Large lesions (particularly those over 10 cm 2 ) and tumours that invade deep structures, such as cartilage, skeletal muscle, or bone, are most likely to metastasize. Perineural invasion, aggressive histologic growth patterns, and long-standing lesions are additional risk factors for metastasis.  Conclusion:  MBCC is a rare entity. Its management is mainly guided by limited case series. In this case, radiotherapy provided palliation of local symptoms.


Globalization features one of the major global trends which shape economic outcomes in developing and developed countries. Standard results from the empirical growth literature suggest that participation in worldwide trade is an important determinant of economic growth. In contrast to previous findings, this paper argues that not only the level of openness matters (trade intensity), but the degree of integration of an economy into the global trade network is even more important for the growth performance of an economy. The new measure of integration captures the network position of an economy and takes into consideration higher order links between economies in the global trade network. First, the theoretical framework of this paper makes use of social network theory to characterize a measure of economic integration. We employ the well-established concept of centrality and construct alternative measures to describe patterns of economic globalization. Second, we make use of a unique data set constructed from the UN Comtrade database and exploit a wide set of bilateral import and export flows to characterize the country's participation in worldwide trade. Third, the identification strategy takes into account the dynamic panel structure of our data to disentangle the impact of economic integration on economic growth. Our results build on the difference and system generalized method of moments and the limited information maximum likelihood method. We take into consideration possible problems of endogeneity and lagged variables in the dynamic panel framework. The empirical analysis highlights the importance of openness and especially integration to fully understand the economic growth performance in a between and within country perspective. Controlling for the standard set of independent variables in the empirical growth literature and using different robustness checks, we find a significantly positive effect of integration on economic growth.


Internet based information and communication technology provides the opportunity for small firms to improve their competitiveness. This paper presents a methodology that responds to the needs of small firms whilst overcoming the constraints to their use of these technologies. Key features of this methodology are: provision of a turnkey package of hardware, software, installation and training for Internet connection and operation; identification of opportunities for integrating Internet ICT into business processes that will deliver performance improvement; ongoing IT and business support for a year. The effectiveness of this methodology was examined during its application in 21 SME automotive component suppliers in the West Midlands region of England. This exercise found that 90 per cent of firms continued to use their Internet based ICT capability after a year.


This thesis studies the usability issues of the mobile phone in informal Swedish language learning. The concept of usability is defined by expanding the technical usability attributes of Jakob Nielsen with other recent attributes derived from considering the technical aspects of mobile learning (m-learning). Thus, the ultimate structure of the usability factors that are discussed in this study consists of: accessibility, easy-to-learn, technical design, efficiency and satisfaction. With the support of the relevant previous literature and interview, we research this topic by considering the mobile-assisted language learning (MALL), informal language-learning and usability elements, in order to explore and identify the usability of mobile phone. The goal of this study is to contribute to detailed understanding of mobile phone usage, further identify the usability issues of mobile phones by obtaining both critical and commendatory feedbacks and reflections from the users. For final results, through qualitative research approach, we offered several findings regarding the mobile phone usability with specified reasons.


Gomez-Ospina et al. provide evidence for an intriguing mechanism whereby voltage-dependent calcium channels modulate gene transcription. Calcium entry through voltage-gated channels in the plasma membrane provides a link between electrical activity and changes in gene expression. Gomez-Ospina et al. found that, whereas an antibody that recognized the full-length Cav1.2 calcium channel localized to membrane and cytosolic fractions of rat brain cortex, an antibody that recognized the C-terminal fragment, which is proteolytically cleaved, appeared in the nucleus. The C-terminal fragment was abundant in nuclei of GABAergic neurons; moreover, nuclear fluorescence was apparent in neurons or glioblastoma cells expressing a construct in which the Cav1.2 C terminus was fluorescently labeled. Treatments aimed at lowering cytoplasmic calcium increased nuclear abundance of the Cav1.2 fragment, whereas treatments that increase intracellular calcium decreased it. The Cav1.2 fragment immunoprecipitated with p54(nrb)/NonO, a nuclear protein, and, when recruited to the promoter with a heterologous DNA binding domain, transcriptionally activated a gene reporter. Overexpression of the fragment, which the authors called calcium channel associated transcription regulator (CCAT), led to an increase in the expression of some endogenous genes and a decrease in the expression of others. CCAT overexpression increased the abundance of mRNA encoding the gap junction protein Cx31.1 and transcriptionally activated a reporter containing the Cx31.1 promoter; chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis indicated that it associated with the Cx31.1 promoter. Furthermore, decreasing the abundance of endogenous nuclear CCAT either by depolarization or with short hairpin RNA led to a decrease in transcription of the Cx31.1 reporter. Thus, the authors conclude that the proteolytically cleaved C terminus of Cav1.2 translocates to the nucleus to act as a transcription factor. N. Gomez-Ospina, F. Tsuruta, O. Barreto-Chang, L. Hu, R. Dolmetsch, The C terminus of the L-type voltage-gated calcium channel CaV1.2 encodes a transcription factor. Cell 127, 591-606 (2006). [PubMed]


Accurate determinations of trace levels of mercury (Hg) in water require scrupulously clean sampling equipment and storage bottles. To avoid Hg contamination during storage, it has been presumed that water samples must be stored in either glass or Teflon bottles cleaned with a rigorous method, such as submersion in hot acid. These cleaning procedures are hazardous, and use of Teflon bottles can be cost prohibitive for major oceanographic programs. We investigated the suitability of alternative cleaning procedures and bottle materials for storage of seawater containing sub-picomolar levels of Hg. We found that a simple technique with detergent, dilute acid, and bromine monochloride removes Hg from all bottle materials tested, which included FEP Teflon, glass, polycarbonate (PC), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and fluorinated polyethylene (FLPE). The technique is effective for bottles that are either new or used previously for trace-level oceanographic samples (total Hg < 10 pM). Stability of seawater Hg levels differed dramatically among storage bottle materials during a 74-week test. Hg in seawater stored in LDPE, FLPE, and FEP bottles increased within 15 weeks of storage at room temperature. In contrast, Hg levels in seawater stored in PC bottles were increased modestly only after 74 weeks of storage and those in glass bottles were unchanged throughout the test. We recommend future use of this new cleaning method and encourage greater use of glass and PC bottles for storage of waters containing low levels of Hg.


Loyalty programs have become an important component of firms' relationship management strategies. There are now some industries in which numerous rival loyalty programs are offered, inducing intense competition among these programs. However, existing research on loyalty programs has often studied such programs in a non-competitive setting and has often focused on a single program in isolation. Addressing this gap, this research examines the effect of a firm's competitive positioning and market saturation on the performance of the firm's loyalty program. Based on the analysis of firm- and individual-level data from the airline industry, the results indicate that larger firms tend to benefit more from their loyalty program offerings than smaller firms. Moreover, when the product category demand is rigid, the impact of an individual loyalty program decreases as the marketplace becomes more saturated with competing programs. However, when the product category is highly expandable, the saturation effect disappears. Under such situations, loyalty programs can help an industry gain competitive advantage over substitute offerings outside the industry, and multiple programs can effectively coexist even under a high level of market saturation.


The diverse and omnipresent social media platforms in contemporary society have fundamentally changed the way people interact with their world. Parks and protected areas are no exception. Although outdoor recreation and tourism research has embraced social media from a utilitarian perspective, very few studies evaluate how social media influences visitor use, experiences, and behaviors. This research note is designed to provide a research agenda for investigating the relationship between social media, visitor use and experience, and parks and protected areas. It identifies four critical themes that act as a platform for further research with respect to social media: 1) the influence of social media on visitor behaviors, 2) using social media to enhance and facilitate the visitor experience, 3) reaching intended audiences, and 4) understanding management perspectives. Collectively, inquiry into these four themes can improve our understanding of how social media influences contemporary and future management of parks and protected areas. Subscribe to JPRA


Stream nutrient tracer additions and nutrient spiraling metrics are frequently used to quantify lotic ecosystem behavior. Of particular concern is the influence nutrient concentration exerts on nutrient retention and export. However, characterizing spiraling response curves across a range of concentrations has remained challenging, in part due to the large effort required to develop these curves using traditional (e.g., plateau or steadystate) approaches. Here we outline and demonstrate a new approach to quantify nutrient uptake kinetics from ambient to saturation using Tracer Additions for Spiraling Curve Characterization (TASCC). This approach provides a rapid and relatively easy technique for quantifying ambient‐spiraling parameters, nutrient uptake kinetics and kinetic model parameterization, and assessment of stream proximity to saturation. We compare the results from TASCC to traditional breakthrough curve integrated and plateau approaches. We highlight the advantages of the TASCC approach for characterizing continuous spiraling response curves from ambient to saturation with a single tracer addition experiment, and its applicability to larger rivers where achieving plateau conditions (i.e., steady‐state) is impractical.


This tutorial takes photographers beyond the quick tips and gimmicky effects of many digital photography books. Author Katrin Eismann -- an internationally acclaimed artist, bestselling author, and gifted educator -- offers high-profile work, including her own, as examples for teaching photographers how to use the digital medium to create, edit, and output images that reflect their true vision. Co-authored by photographer and teacher Sean Duggan, The Creative Digital Darkroom translates skills, concepts, and nomenclature of the traditional darkroom into digital solutions for photographers who sense that, despite the newness of the technologies at hand, there remains a timeless method for learning and practicing photography the right way. This is not a Photoshop book per se, but it does focus on the photographic aspects of Photoshop, something other books claim to do but rarely have the discipline to accomplish. The Creative Digital Darkroom includes: Four sections that cover the black & white darkroom, the color darkroom, creative techniques, and production essentialsChapters that begin with a thorough foundation followed by numerous tutorial examples that apply the theory to real-world examplesExamples and a layout that enables readers to find, understand, and apply the featured techniques quickly and easilyThe authors are both renowned photographers and Photoshop experts Clearly, The Creative Digital Darkroom is not your typical digital photography "how to" book. It's ideal for intermediate and advanced photographers, artists, and educators looking for clear, concise, insightful, and inspiring information and techniques on how to make their photographs shine. The language, and techniques will immediately appeal to serious students and professionals, and the original tutorial images and high-profile work will make the book an important visual resource for educators and art appreciators.


Using scanner data, we estimated demand for nine nonalcoholic beverages under habit formation. We found strong evidence for habit formation. Although demand for sugar-sweetened beverages by low-income households is less elastic to own-price changes compared with high-income households, there is evidence that high-income households consider beverages to be more substitutable than low-income households do. A half-cent per ounce tax on store-purchased sugar-sweetened beverages will result in a moderate reduction in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages for both income strata. Because of habit formation, long-run national tax revenue from a sugar-sweetened beverage tax is about 15 to 20% lower than short-run revenue. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.


This work was undertaken as a final year project in Computer Engineering, within the Department of Computer and Information Science at Linkoping University. At the Department of Computer and Information Science, work oriented at testing and analyzing applications is developed to provide solution approaches to problems that arise in system product development. One of the current applications being developed is the 'Systemics Analyst'. The purpose of the application is to facilitate for system developers with an analysis tool permitting insights on system reliability, system critical components, how to improve the system and the consequences as well as risks of a system failure. The purpose of the present thesis was to enhance the 'Systemics Analyst application' by incorporating an 'automated model-based reliability prediction' and 'fault tree analysis' modules. This enables reliability prediction and fault tree analysis diagrams to be generated automatically from the data files and relieves the system developer from manual creation of the diagrams. The enhanced Systemics Analyst application managed to present the results in respective models using the new incorporated functionality. To accomplish the above tasks, 'Systemics Analyst application' was integrated with a library that handles automated model-based reliability prediction and fault tree analysis, which is described in this thesis. The reader will be guided through the steps that are performed to accomplish the tasks with illustrating figures, methods and code examples in order to provide a closer vision of the work performed.


William Kennedy's fame as a novelist grows primarily from his multi-generational tapestry of Irish-American experience in Albany. Specifically, he focuses on rebels and on the codes that define brotherhoods--be they ethnic enclaves, political machines or hobos. (1) To give this cultural portrait substance, he presents it with sharply attentive realism. Disease, mud, and whiskey, ward bosses, priests, prostitutes, journalists, and gangsters would quickly lapse into stereotypes if not particularized with catchy, surprising details concerning their lives and interactions. Kennedy's realism, then, is both predictable and necessary. Not so his fantasy. Kennedy's departures from material reality are sometimes magical, sometimes mystical, sometimes quasi-scientific, and sometimes extra-sensory. Many conform to Tzvetan Todorov's definition of the fantastic as a form in which natural and supernatural explanations present themselves, but neither is ruled out within the text. (2) Critics have called Kennedy's departures surrealist and mystic, but fantasy's lack of generic respect has kept most readers from focusing on these fantastic elements of Kennedy's work. What and how the fantasy signifies in a realist context are the problems that concern me in this study. Kennedy oddly underestimates his own realistic vein if we compare him to Sukenik or Burroughs, Hawkes or McElroy. In early interviews, he calls his first novel, The Ink Truck, surreal. He links it to the works of Kafka, Beckett, and Rabelais, and he says to Larry McCaffery and Sinda Gregory, "I was trying to leap out of realism because I felt the whole world of Dos Passos and O'Hara, a world I had once revered, was now dead for me. I knew I couldn't do that any longer, couldn't write another realistic line." (3) To Penny Maldonado, he confided, "ethnic novels are dead. Farrell, Dreiser, Baldwin--you just don't want to read that anymore" (7). (4) Kennedy's novels are formally more complicated than those he rejects, but his Albany novels, at least, are much more obviously ethnic novels than they are postmodern, let alone surreal, even though they possess fantastic elements. Why would a writer combine fantasy with relatively realistic historical material? The readiest explanation is that the author has what Peter Brooks calls a "melodramatic imagination." (5) This mindset quests for the spiritual "in a world where there is no longer any clear idea of the sacred, no generally accepted societal moral imperatives" (209). Such a mind establishes a realm of the moral occult, where "there is no clear system of sacred myth, no unity of belief, no accepted metaphorical chain leading from the phenomenal to the spiritual, only a fragmented society and fragments of myths" (210). Kennedy's fantastic intrusions might represent his testing forms of spiritual order in hope of finding some supra-natural system that would satisfy him emotionally. Kennedy was raised Catholic, though he no longer practices (according to Nelson and Seshachari), and many writers with a religious upbringing seek substitutes for lost faith. (6) Kennedy sketches his sense of non-material possibilities when describing the surreal dimension in Martin Daugherty's life (Nelson, 224). His own experience leads him to state, "I believe in the mystical relationship that exists among things. It has surfaced so many times in my life as to confirm my belief that it's worth writing about, thinking about, trying to figure it out. I don't believe in practicing mysticism as a religion but I do know there are certain affinities and transferences of ideas and confluences of thoughts and interactions that are inexplicable in the ways we usually think or function" (McCaffery and Gregory, 41). A variant on the literary substitute for lost faith might be the use of fantasy in Pynchon (who also writes out of a Catholic background). Pynchon does not seem to be testing alternatives, but rather trying to open space for spiritual possibilities. …