Most legal scholarship implicitly adopts the assumption of the Coase Theorem that the value an individual places on a legal entitlement is independent of whether or not the individual has physical possession of or a legal right to that entitlement. This is true of both traditional law and economics analysis concerned with the efficient allocation of resources and scholarship that is not self-consciously in the law and economics tradition but is concerned with law's effects on incentives. A robust body of social science scholarship, however, demonstrates that the assumption is incorrect, at least in many circumstances. The much studied "endowment effect" is that people tend to value goods more when they own them than when they do not. A consequence of the endowment effect is the "offer-asking gap", which is the empirically observed phenomenon that people will often demand a higher price to sell a good that they possess than they would pay for the same entitlement if they did not possess it at present. A third term - the "status quo bias" - is often used interchangeably with the other two, but actually has a slightly broader connotation: individuals tend to prefer the present state of the world to alternative states, all other things being equal. Whatever the label, this insight is the most significant finding from behavioral economics for legal analysis to date. This article reviews the empirical evidence of the endowment effect and considers a variety of possible causes of the effect. It then explores how the endowment effect can affect the positive and normative analysis of legal rules that (1) assign or transfer legal entitlements, (2) facilitate the private exchange of legal entitlements, and (3) enforce the rules of property and contract. The discussion demonstrates that the endowment effect is relevant to the analysis of virtually every field of law. It also shows that careful normative legal analysis based on the endowment effect must take into account the context-dependent nature of the effect and the causes of the effect, neither of which are fully understood. Thus, when the endowment effect is used as a basis for normative claims, these claims must often be qualified and contingent.


Abstract. The relationship between the frequency of River Ammer floods (southern Germany) and atmospheric circulation variability is investigated based on observational Ammer River discharge data back to 1926 and a flood layer time series from varved sediments of the downstream Lake Ammer for the pre-instrumental period back to 1766. A composite analysis reveals that, at synoptic timescales, observed River Ammer floods are associated with enhanced moisture transport from the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean towards the Ammer region, a pronounced trough over western Europe as well as enhanced potential vorticity at upper levels. We argue that this synoptic-scale configuration can trigger heavy precipitation and floods in the Ammer region. Interannual to multidecadal increases in flood frequency, as detected in the instrumental discharge record, are associated with a wave train pattern extending from the North Atlantic to western Asia, with a prominent negative center over western Europe. A similar atmospheric circulation pattern is associated with increases in flood layer frequency in the Lake Ammer sediment record during the pre-instrumental period. We argue that the complete flood layer time series from Lake Ammer sediments covering the last 5500 years contains information about atmospheric circulation variability on interannual to millennial timescales.


Background: A cardiac origin in ischemic stroke is more frequent than previously assumed, but it is not clear which patients benefit from cardiac work-up if obvious cardiac pathology is absent. We hypothesized that thromboembolic stroke with a cardiac source occurs more frequently in the posterior circulation compared with thromboembolic stroke of another etiology. Methods: We performed a multicenter observational study in 3,311 consecutive patients with ischemic stroke who were enrolled in an ongoing prospective stroke registry of 8 University hospitals between September 2009 and November 2014 in The Netherlands. In this initiative, the so-called Parelsnoer Institute-Cerebrovascular Accident Study Group, clinical data, imaging, and biomaterials of patients with stroke are prospectively and uniformly collected. We compared the proportions of posterior stroke location in patients with a cardiac stroke source with those with another stroke etiology and calculated risk ratios (RR) with corresponding 95% CI with Poisson regression analyses. To assess which patient or disease characteristics were most strongly associated with a cardiac etiology in patients with ischemic stroke, we performed a stepwise backward regression analysis. Results: For the primary aim, 1,428 patients were eligible for analyses. The proportion of patients with a posterior stroke location among patients with a cardiac origin of their stroke (28%) did not differ statistically significant to those with another origin (25%), age and sex adjusted RR 1.16; 95% CI 0.96–1.41. For the secondary aim, 1,955 patients were eligible for analyses. No recent history of smoking, no hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease, a higher age, and a higher National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score were associated with a cardiac etiology of ischemic stroke. Conclusions: We could not confirm our hypothesis that thromboembolic stroke localized in the posterior circulation is associated with a cardioembolic source of ischemic stroke, and therefore posterior stroke localization on itself does not necessitate additional cardiac examination. The lack of determinants of atherosclerosis, for example, no recent history of smoking and no hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease, a higher age, and a higher NIHSS score are stronger risk factors for a cardiac source of ischemic stroke.


Within the COST Action TU1101 the working group (WG) 1 is dealing with acceptance criteria and problems in helmet use while bicycling concerning conspicuity, thermal stress, ventilation deficits and other potential confounding factors. To analyze the helmet usage practice of bicyclists in Europe a questionnaire was developed to collect relevant information by means of a field study. The questionnaire consists of some 66 questions covering the fields of personal data of the cyclist, riding und helmet usage habits, information concerning the helmet model and the sensation of the helmet, as well as information on previous bicycle accidents. A second complementary study is conducted to analyze if the use of a bicycle helmet influences the seating geometry and the posture of cyclists when riding a bicycle and if the helmet vertically limits the vision. For this purpose cyclists with and without helmets were photographed in real world situations and relevant geometrical values such as the decline of the torso, the head posture of the upper vertical vision limit due to the helmet were established from the photos. The interim results of the field studies which were conducted in Germany by the Hannover Medical School are presented in this study. Some 227 questionnaires were filled out, of which 67 participants had used a helmet and 42 participants have had a bicycle accident before. For the analysis of the riding position and posture of the cyclist over 40 pictures of riders with a helmet and over 240 pictures of riders without a helmet were measured concerning the seating geometry to describe the influence of using a bicycle helmet. From the riders interviewed with the questionnaire only 11% of the city bike riders and 12% of the mountain bike riders always used the helmet, while 38% of the racing bike riders and 88% of the e-bike-riders always used the helmet. The helmet use does not seem to change the sensation of safety of cycling compared to the use of a car. The reasons for not wearing a helmet are mostly stated to be the short distance of a trip, high temperatures or carelessness and waste of time. The reasons for using a helmet are stated to be the feeling of safety and being used to using a helmet. Being a role model for others was also stated to be a reason for helmet use. Concerning the sensation of the helmet 9% of the riders reported problems with the field of vision when using a helmet, 57% saw the problem of sweating too much, and 10% reported headaches or other unpleasant symptoms like pressure on the forehead when using the helmet. The analysis of the seating posture from the pictures taken of cyclists revealed that older cyclists generally have a riding position where the handle bar is higher than the seat (0° to 10° incline from seat to handlebar), while younger riders had a higher variance (between -10° decline and 20° incline). Further, elderly riders and riders with helmets seem to have a more upright position of the upper body when cycling. The vertical vision limit due to the helmet is determined by the front rim of the helmet (mostly the sun shade). Typical values here range from 0° (horizontal line from the eye to the sun shade) to 75° upwards, in which elderly riders tend to have a slightly higher vertical vision limit possibly due to the helmet being worn more towards the face. (A)


The mid-infrared (MIR) spectra observed with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) provide a valuable data set for untangling the physical processes and conditions within galaxies. This paper presents the first attempt to blindly learn fundamental spectral components of MIR galaxy spectra, using non-negative matrix factorization (NMF). NMF is a recently developed multivariate technique shown to be successful in blind source separation problems. Unlike the more popular multivariate analysis technique, principal component analysis, NMF imposes the condition that weights and spectral components are non-negative. This more closely resembles the physical process of emission in the MIR, resulting in physically intuitive components. By applying NMF to galaxy spectra in the Cornell Atlas of Spitzer/IRS sources, we find similar components amongst different NMF sets. These similar components include two for active galactic nucleus (AGN) emission and one for star formation. The first AGN component is dominated by fine structure emission lines and hot dust, the second by broad silicate emission at 10 and 18 μm. The star formation component contains all the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon features and molecular hydrogen lines. Other components include rising continuums at longer wavelengths, indicative of colder grey-body dust emission. We show an NMF set with seven components can reconstruct the general spectral shape of a wide variety of objects, though struggle to fit the varying strength of emission lines. We also show that the seven components can be used to separate out different types of objects. We model this separation with Gaussian mixtures modelling and use the result to provide a classification tool. We also show that the NMF components can be used to separate out the emission from AGN and star formation regions and define a new star formation/AGN diagnostic which is consistent with all MIR diagnostics already in use but has the advantage that it can be applied to MIR spectra with low signal-to-noise ratio or with limited spectral range. The seven NMF components and code for classification are available at https://github.com/pdh21/NMF_software/.


Generalized Additive Models (GAM) are a widely popular class of regression models to forecast electricity demand, due to their high accuracy, flexibility and interpretability. However, the residuals of the fitted GAM are typically heteroscedastic and leptokurtic caused by the nature of energy data. In this paper we propose a novel approach to estimate the time-varying conditional variance of the GAM residuals, which we call the GAM algorithm. It allows utility companies and network operators to assess the uncertainty of future electricity demand and incorporate it into their planning processes. The basic idea of our algorithm is to apply another GAM to the squared residuals to explain the dependence of uncertainty on exogenous variables. Empirical evidence shows that the residuals rescaled by the estimated conditional variance are approximately normal. We combine our modeling approach with online learning algorithms that adjust for dynamic changes in the distributions of demand. We illustrate our method by a case study on data from Réseau de transport d'électricité, the operator of the French transmission grid.


Fire is a major disturbance agent in the boreal forest, influencing many current and future ecosystem conditions and services. Surprisingly few studies have attempted to improve the accuracy of fire-event reconstructions even though the estimates of the occurrence of past fires may be biased, influencing the reliability of the models employing those data (e.g. C stock, cycle). This study aimed to demonstrate how three types of fire proxies – fire scars from tree rings, sedimentary charcoal and, for the first time in this context, fungal spores of Neurospora – can be integrated to achieve a better understanding of past fire dynamics. By studying charcoal and Neurospora from sediment cores from forest hollows, and the fire scars from tree rings in their surroundings in the southern Fennoscandian and western Russian boreal forest, we produced composite fire-event data sets and fire-event frequencies, and estimated fire return intervals. Our estimates show that the fire return interval varied between 126 and 237 years during the last 11,000 years. The highest fire frequency during the 18th–19th century can be associated with the anthropogenic influence. Importantly, statistical tests revealed a positive relationship between other fire event indicators and Neurospora occurrence allowing us to pinpoint past fire events at times when the sedimentary charcoal was absent, but Neurospora were abundant. We demonstrated how fire proxies with different temporal resolution can be linked, providing potential improvements in the reliability of fire history reconstructions from multiple proxies.


The symptoms: increased customer complaints, high turnover, low quality of work, increased absences, loss of morale and motivation, lack of creativity and innovation, loss of loyalty to the organization. The diagnosis: workplace negativity. The cure: Managing Workplace Negativity. Workplace negativity may seem like an intangible problem--but it has very tangible consequences for the companies it afflicts. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that U.S. companies lose $3 billion a year to the effects of negative attitudes and behaviors at work. Managing Workplace Negativity gives managers, team leaders, trainers, and other human resources professionals much-needed help in treating the negativity bug. It will help readers: Identify the 14 types of negative individuals, from the "not-my-jobber" to the "rumor monger" Confront their own negativity Recognize negativity "trigger points" Overcome entrenched, ongoing negativity Deal with group or company-wide negativity problems Create a positive environment that enhances morale and productivity.


The simple modification of the surface of a glassy carbon electrode with chitosan (CS) allowed the development of a electroanalytical method useful for the detection and quantification of sunset yellow (SY-E110) by square wave adsorption voltammetry (SWAdV). The electrode surface was characterized with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The results showed that the presence of CS on the surface of the electrode, allowed the oxidation of the SY to 1.01 V in a process controlled by adsorption. Under optimal conditions (pH 2.5, t ADS 60s, E ADS 0.10 V) the anodic peak current was proportional to the concentration of SY between 0.25 to 3.25 μmol L -1 , with a limit of detection of 0.098 μmol L -1 . The relative standard deviation (RSD) for a solution with 0.080 mmol L -1 of E110 was 2.5% for five different electrodes (n=5). The method was validated with unflavored gelatin samples spiked with known amounts of SY. The potential interferences of other synthetic dyes were studied and finally the method was tested with real samples of foods containing SY and other synthetic dyes. The results were equally acceptable compared to previous reports.


The population dynamics, life-histories, and reproductive strategies of a number of rare plants in the Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve have been studied in detail over a three year period. Results from a seven year period have been analysed, and information presented on the changes in numbers, mortality rates, recruitment rates, and reproductive behaviour of Viola rupestris. Polygala amarella. Gentiana verna and Viola rupestris x riviniana with particular reference to different site conditions. The mortality patterns of even-aged cohorts of plants have been followed, and mathematical models fitted to their rates of decline. The relative contributions of sexual and vegetative reproduction to the population numbers have been analysed, and the different reproductive strategies related to different environmental conditions. Life-cycles have been constructed for some species, and those points of the life-cycle where the greatest losses of plants occur have been revealed. The study has also sought to analyse any effects on the rare plant populations caused by the presence of the recently- constructed Cow Green reservoir, and future management of these rare plants is considered in the light of the information collected.


Invasive fungal infections are major causes of mortality in immunocompromised patients. Despite improved outcomes with new antifungals, there remains a pressing need to further improve outcomes, especially with invasive aspergillosis and other invasive mold infections. Combination antifungal therapy is an attractive option that offers the prospect for improved effi cacy, decreased toxicity, reduced likelihood for the emergence of resistance, and shorter courses of therapy. The current available evidence regarding the role of combination antifungal therapy for invasive fungal infections is discussed in this article, including data from in vitro studies, animal models, and human clinical trials to try to clarify this important issue. Randomized, prospective clinical trials are urgently needed, especially for invasive aspergillosis.


The Clean Water Act (CWA) Amendments of 1987 and subsequent programs of the Environmental Protection Agency have led to a greater emphasis on controlling nonpoint source pollution. Many states have responded with creative programs to implement watershed management strategies. This paper examines the watershed management approaches of North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Oregon. Each of these states represents a distinct response to the policy directive of the CWA and other federal legislation. Through the use of formalized coordination mechanisms, open planning processes, and creative implementation strategies, states can use watershed planning and management to resolve complex water resources issues through a holistic and integrated approach to environmental management. Although evaluation of these programs in achieving long term water quality and habitat enhancements cannot yet be conducted, initial evidence suggests that coordination across jurisdictions and agencies and cooperation among various stakeholders are essential elements of successful watershed planning and management program design.


The study of languages in prehistory critically involves the ever changing sound patterns of human languages, in short speech. Speech is the default medium for language, and it most likely has a long evolutionary history. However, the fully human speech anatomy which allows us to produce the most common, "universal" vowels [i], [u] and [a], first appears in the fossil record in the Upper Paleolithic (about 50,000 years ago) and was absent in both Neanderthals and earlier humans. Recent genetic evidence also suggests the appearance of the neural substrate that is necessary to regulate human speech within the past 100,000 years. Thus, we have had a wild ride – creating thousands of languages since the Upper Paleolithic start-point for fully human linguistic capacity.


Web browsers mediate access to valuable private data in domains ranging from health care to banking. Despite this critical role, attackers routinely exploit browser vulnerabilities to exfiltrate private data and take over the underlying system. We present QUARK, a browser whose kernel has been implemented and verified in Coq. We give a specification of our kernel, show that the implementation satisfies the specification, and finally show that the specification implies several security properties, including tab non-interference, cookie integrity and confidentiality, and address bar integrity.


Risk and liability change the initially stipulated terms of contracts, overruling their otherwise binding nature. Risk encourages careful assessment of debtors' abilities to service debts. Errors and negligence in assessment, and even external shocks, make creditors suffer losses. Disregarding one's duty of care or professional standards, or engaging in tortious or illegal behavior makes actors liable to compensate for any resulting damage—a necessary systemic element of the framework markets need to function well. Neither mechanism was allowed to work properly in sovereign lending. This essay analyzes why risk and liability are necessary mechanisms of well-functioning markets, and discusses how risk can be handled. In the United States, inappropriate regulatory norms hindered providing against risk in the case of sovereign debt. The absence of liability—a market imperfection—has produced debts no decent legal system would recognize as legitimate domestic debt, thus aggravating the sovereign debt problem, and giving rise to concepts such as criminal, odious, and illegal debts. Discriminating sovereign debtors and disobeying the rule of law caused market distortions, resulting in not only grave damages to debtors, but also losses to creditors that the mechanisms risk and liability would have avoided. Finally, I briefly present proposals to repair these shortcomings in order to avoid the disasters of the past.


The objective of the article is to evaluate the impact of the friction force mouse-pad in the contraction level of the forearm muscles M. extensor carpi ulnaris, M. extensor digitorum and M. extensor carpi radialis longus. A standard protocol of mouse movements was performed involving horizontal, vertical and diagonal mouse displacements drag-anddrop type. The operators were instructed to execute the protocol with their normal working speed. The movements protocol were performed by each subject (n=17) with three selected pairs mouse-pad, classified as low, medium and high friction force pairs. The mean time to execute the protocol with each mouse was ~138 s. Mean values of ~13%MVE (Maximum Voluntary Electromyography signal), ~17%MVE and ~10%MVE were found in the M. extensor digitorum, M. extensor carpi ulnaris and in the M. extensor carpi radialis longus respectively when performing the movements' protocol. A 8.1% increase in %MVE was observed in the M. extensor digitorum and a 9.4% increase in %MVE was observed in the M. extensor carpi ulnaris when the high friction force pair was operated, relatively to the low friction force pair (p<0.05). The main conclusions of this study is that operating a high friction force mouse-pad (with 79 g of static longitudinal friction force measured with a compression force of 100 g on the mouse) may increase the risk to symptoms or disorders in the wrist, particularly during work with drawing applications, due to an increase in the forearm muscles contraction levels.


Recent developments in communication and information technology have disrupted the long-established dominance of mass media over the production and distribution of news. As an effort to reclaim their role of society's information gatekeeper, media companies absorb digital technology as instruments of institutional power to reproduce its own logic in the digital space. This paper dis-cusses two interrelated modalities of algorithmic news: economically efficient production, where news outlets utilize quantitative metrics to improve content effectiveness and desirability; and shared-gatekeeping, where visibility and distribution of information are contextual and based on users' behaviour. The paper proposes that algorithmic media hides under its supposed objectivity and neutrality to become a new gatekeeper "organism", which not only regulates flows of information, but also interprets and negotiates both public interests and the value of the news.


Background Neuropilin-1 (NRP-1, BDCA-4, or CD304) is a nontyrosine kinase coreceptor for semaphorins and vascular endothelial growth factor, involved in neural development and tumor angiogenesis. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate NRP-1/CD304 expression in acute leukemia to be used as a potential marker for minimal residual disease (MRD) detection using flow cytometry. Materials and methods This study was conducted on 30 adults with newly diagnosed acute leukemia admitted to the Hematology Unit, Internal Medicine Department, Main Alexandria University Hospitals and Alexandria Research Institute within the period from February 2014 to December 2014, and 10 patients diagnosed with hypersplenism were also included as a control group. The following investigations were carried out for all patients: complete blood picture, bone marrow examination, and immunophenotyping using flow cytometry. Results This study showed that NRP-1/CD304 expression was statistically higher in B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) than in the acute myeloid leukemia and the control group (P = 0.002). There was a positive correlation between NRP-1/CD304 percentage expression and blast cell percentage in the bone marrow (P = 0.039). Follow-up of the patients on day 28 of induction chemotherapy revealed that NRP-1/CD304 expression was statistically higher in those who did not achieve complete remission than those who did (P = 0.035). Moreover, we observed that leukemic patients with extramedullary infiltration had statistically higher NRP-1/CD304 expression than those who did not have extramedullary infiltration (P = 0.023). All patients who achieved complete remission on day 28 of induction chemotherapy had negative MRD (<0.001). Conclusion It was observed that NRP-1/CD304 was expressed in almost all B-lineage ALL patients in variable degrees. It might be a useful marker in MRD detection of B-lineage ALL patients.


Are numerals divorced from a sense of the actual quantities they represent? We show that accessing a sense of how much a numerical symbol actually represents is a surprisingly difficult and non-trivial process. Irrespective of numerical size or distance, direct comparison of the relative quantities represented by symbolic and non-symbolic quantities leads to performance markedly worse than when comparing two non-symbolic quantities. Experiment 2 shows that this effect cannot be attributed to differences in perceptual processing streams. Experiment 3 shows that there is no additional cost of mixing two formats that are both symbolic; that is, the decrement in mixing formats is specific to mixing symbolic and non-symbolic representations. Our data are consistent with the view that numerical symbols operate primarily as an associative system in which relations between symbols come to overshadow those between symbols and their quantity referents.


Despite our admiration for Renaissance achievement in the arts and sciences, in literature and classical learning, the rich and diversified philosophical thought of the period remains largely unknown. This volume illuminates three major currents of thought dominant in the earlier Italian Renaissance: classical humanism (Petrarch and Valla), Platonism (Ficino and Pico), and Aristotelianism (Pomponazzi). A short and elegant work of the Spaniard Vives is included to exhibit the diffusion of the ideas of humanism and Platonism outside Italy. Now made easily accessible, these texts recover for the English reader a significant facet of Renaissance learning.


Antibiotic exposure can perturb the human gut microbiome and cause changes in the within-host abundance of the genetic determinants of drug-resistance in bacteria. Such within-host dynamics are expected to play an important role in mediating the relationship between antibiotic use and persistence of drug-resistance within a host and its prevalence within a population. Developing a quantitative representation of these within-host dynamics is an important step towards a detailed mechanistic understanding of the population-level processes by which antibiotics select for resistance. Here we study extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing organisms of the Enterobacteriaceae bacterial family. These have been identified as a global public health priority and are resistant to most first-line antibiotics for treatment of Enterobacteriaceae infections. We analyse data from 833 rectal swabs from a prospective longitudinal study in three European countries including 133 ESBL-positive hospitalised patients. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify the abundance of the CTX-M gene family – the most wide-spread ESBL gene family – and the 16S rRNA gene as a proxy for bacterial load. We find strong dynamic heterogeneity in CTX-M abundance that is largely explained by the variable nature of the swab sampling. Using information on time-varying antibiotic treatments, we develop a dynamic Bayesian model to decompose the serial data into observational variation and ecological signal and to quantify the potentially causal antibiotic effects. We find an association of treatment with cefuroxime or ceftriaxone with increased CTX-M abundance (approximately 21% and 10% daily increase, respectively), while treatment with meropenem or piperacillin-tazobactam is associated with decreased CTX-M (approximately 8% daily decrease for both). Despite a potential risk for indirect selection, oral ciprofloxacin is also associated with decreasing CTX-M (approximately 8% decrease per day). Using our dynamic model to make forward stochastic simulations of CTX-M dynamics, we generate testable predictions about antibiotic impacts on duration of carriage. We find that a typical course of cefuroxime or ceftriaxone is expected to more than double a patient's carriage duration of CTX-M. A typical course of piperacillin-tazobactam or of meropenem – both options to treat hospital acquired infections (HAI) like pneumonia – would reduce CTX-M carriage time relative to ceftriaxone plus amikacin (also an option to treat HAIs) by about 70%. While most antibiotics showed little association with changes in total bacterial abundance, meropenem and piperacillin-tazobactam were associated with decrease in 16S rRNA abundance (3% and 4% daily decrease, respectively). Our study quantifies antibiotic impacts on within-host resistance abundance and resistance carriage, and informs our understanding of how changes in patterns of antibiotic use will affect the prevalence of resistance. This work also provides an analytical framework that can be used more generally to quantify the antibiotic treatment effects on within-host dynamics of determinants of antibiotic resistance using clinical data.


Significance Health has long been conceived as not just the absence of disease but also the presence of physical, psychological, and social well-being. Nonetheless, the traditional medical model focuses on specific organ system diseases. This representative study of US older adults living in their homes amassed not only comprehensive medical information but also psychological and social data and measured sensory function and mobility, all key factors for independent living and a gratifying life. This comprehensive model revealed six unique health classes, predicting mortality/incapacity. The healthiest people were obese and robust; two new classes, with twice the mortality/incapacity, were people with healed broken bones or poor mental health. This approach provides an empirical method for broadly reconceptualizing health, which may inform health policy. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a "state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Despite general acceptance of this comprehensive definition, there has been little rigorous scientific attempt to use it to measure and assess population health. Instead, the dominant model of health is a disease-centered Medical Model (MM), which actively ignores many relevant domains. In contrast to the MM, we approach this issue through a Comprehensive Model (CM) of health consistent with the WHO definition, giving statistically equal consideration to multiple health domains, including medical, physical, psychological, functional, and sensory measures. We apply a data-driven latent class analysis (LCA) to model 54 specific health variables from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a nationally representative sample of US community-dwelling older adults. We first apply the LCA to the MM, identifying five health classes differentiated primarily by having diabetes and hypertension. The CM identifies a broader range of six health classes, including two "emergent" classes completely obscured by the MM. We find that specific medical diagnoses (cancer and hypertension) and health behaviors (smoking) are far less important than mental health (loneliness), sensory function (hearing), mobility, and bone fractures in defining vulnerable health classes. Although the MM places two-thirds of the US population into "robust health" classes, the CM reveals that one-half belong to less healthy classes, independently associated with higher mortality. This reconceptualization has important implications for medical care delivery, preventive health practices, and resource allocation.


Abstract High mountains have sensitive social-ecological systems (SESs) characterized by fragility, complexity, and marginality. The local economies of these environments mainly rely on primary production, tourism, and leisure activities; thus human–ecosystem interactions are intricately linked. Many authors stress that this strict relationship must be assisted with a participatory approach involving interested stakeholders in the conceptualization, specification, and synthesis of knowledge and experience into useable information for the express purpose of addressing a problem complex. This paper presents experience garnered with a participatory modeling framework combining hard and soft methodology in 2 case studies: the Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer Zone (Nepal) and the Central Karakoram National Park (Pakistan). The modeling framework was developed based on local stakeholders' demands and needs; it consists of 5 modules, briefly presented here along with their conceptual background. In developing the framework, particular emphasis was given to considering the needs of decision-makers at the local level, rather than simply providing technical solutions to abstract problems. From the development of this modeling process, a need emerged to structure a management-oriented research module in order to generate management knowledge that is both stakeholder-relevant and evidence-based. The application of the framework in the 2 cases studies showed that the modeling can trigger valuable discussion among stakeholders as well as guidance for management-oriented research and feedback loops ensuring validation of knowledge. In addition, the resulting scenarios can help decision-makers in defining pathways for sustainable development in mountain areas, where people's livelihoods are closely dependent on ecosystems. The framework was developed in such a way that it can be replicated in other mountain areas with similar challenges.


This study aims to relate the intra‐seasonal rainfall variability over the Amazon basin to atmospheric circulation patterns (CPs), with particular attention to extreme rainfall events in the Amazon–Andes region. The CPs summarize the intra‐seasonal variability of atmospheric circulation and are defined using daily low‐level winds from the ERA‐Interim (1.5° × 1.5°) reanalysis for the 1979–2014 period. Furthermore, observational data of precipitation and high‐resolution TRMM 3B42 (∼25 km), 2A25 PR (∼5 km) and CHIRPS (∼5 km) data products are related to the CPs throughout the Amazon basin. Nine CPs are determined using a hybrid method that combines a neural network technique (self‐organizing maps, SOM) and hierarchical ascendant classification. The CPs are characterized by a specific cycle with alternative transitions and a duration of 14 days on average. This configuration initially results in northerly winds to southerly winds towards the northern or eastern Amazon basin. The related rainfall suggests that it is driven mainly by CP dynamics. In addition, we demonstrate a good agreement amongst the four rainfall data sets: observed precipitation, TRMM 3B42, TRMM 2A25 PR and CHIRPS. Furthermore, special attention is given to the Amazon–Andes transition region. Over this region, two particular CPs (CP4 and CP5) are identified as the key contributors of maximum and minimum daily rainfall, respectively. Thus, during the dry season, 40.8% (11.4%) of the CP5 (CP4) days demonstrate rainfall of less than 1 mm day−1, while during the wet season, 6.2% (14.6%) of the CP5 (CP4) days show rainfall amounts higher than the seasonal 90th percentile (10.4 mm day−1). This study provides additional information concerning the intra‐seasonal circulation variability in Amazonia and demonstrates the value of using remote sensing precipitation data in this region as a tool for forecast in areas lacking observable information.


Pakistan's Hudood (Islamic criminal) laws have been a source of controversy since their promulgation by the military regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1979. For their supporters, these laws are a welcome step towards the enforcement of shari'ah (Islamic law) and, as such, represent a logical and inevitable progression of those historic processes that had led to the creation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. To their opponents, these laws represent gross violations of fundamental human rights and constitutional norms designed to uphold democratic participation in lawmaking and the equality of citizens irrespective of their religion or gender. This paper will survey the contours of the controversies surrounding the Hudood laws, and seek to broaden the horizons of the debate surrounding these laws by incorporating an "Islamic critique" of these laws that has generally been lacking in the discourse. More importantly, the paper seeks to analyze the role that the Federal Shariat Court has played in substantively shaping the law, through a chronological analysis of the Court's decisions on the most contentious aspects of the Hudood laws: the conviction of rape victims for zina (consensual adultery/fornication) regarding as proof the pregnancy caused by the rape. This analysis will indicate the strengths of the Islamic critique and propose reforms that may offer a viable avenue for alleviating the hardships perpetrated in the application of the Hudood laws.


The orientation of hydrides in fuel cladding determines the anisotropic fracture behavior of Zircaloy and the failure modes of cladding tubes. Approach coupling experiments using the cladding tube deformation test and finite element analysis have successfully led to the quantification of the stress influencing reorientation of hydrides in unirradiated samples. An improved version of this procedure was applied to six samples of irradiated Zircaloy-2 from two different rods with three classes of thermo-mechanical loading. It was found that at medium maximum temperature, when no more than half of the hydrides were dissolved, the mechanical loading showed no measurable effect. When most of the hydrides were dissolved, the orientation and location of the hydrides depended strongly on the mechanical loading: The hydrides spatial location followed the hoop tensile stress. When the number of loading cycles was raised, the fraction of radial hydrides increased even for very low hoop tensile stress. The inner side of the cladding showed a marked depletion of hydrides whatever the size of the hoop stress. Since our test setup involved a tri-axial stress state, the possible influence of the other components of the stress tensor was evaluated. Through the use of a classical nucleation law, it was shown that for our test setup, the hoop stress was the important mechanical quantity. Therefore, the inner side depletion of hydrides may be attributed to three other factors: Residual stress, a memory effect, and a pumping effect by the inner liner.


The rapid rise in food prices has been a burden on the poor in developing countries, including in India, who spend roughly half of their household incomes on food. In many countries and regions, food price inflation is higher than aggregate inflation and contributing to underlying inflationary pressures. Food grain prices have more than doubled between January 2006 and June 2008. More than 60 percent of this increase has occurred since January 2008 alone. Although the pass-through of rising global prices does not translate into an immediate and proportionate rise in domestic price levels, due to various factors such as a weakening dollar, domestic infrastructure, and price stabilization policies; increased food price volatility is expected even to continue for the presumable future and there is also possibility of further long run uncertainty due to climate change. With domestic prices rising, private consumption takes a plunge. Expectedly, global food price increases translate to higher prices in developing Asia, including in India particularly since food carries a large weight in the CPI of many of the region's economies. In fact a number of factors have contributed to the rise in food prices in general; but the increase in energy prices and the related increases in prices of fertilizer and chemicals, which are either produced from energy or are heavy users of energy in their production process etc. are crucial. This has increased the cost of production, which ultimately gets reflected in higher food prices. Higher energy prices have also increased the cost of transportation, and increased the incentive to produce biofuels and encouraged policy support for bio-fuels production. The increase in bio fuels production has not only increased demand for food commodities, but also led to large land use changes which reduced supplies of wheat and crops that compete with food commodities used for biofuels in countries like India. Against these backdrops, this paper focus on the movements in global food price trends and its impact on management of food supply and security, the factors responsible for the rise in food prices in India and its impact on the issue of food security and sustainability of management of food economy of India. The paper concludes that in the short to medium run, the importance of safety nets to secure food for the needy is very much needed and in the long run, the notion of food security should move beyond a relatively static focus on food availability and access to one of higher productivity. Thus, as the majority of the poor in developing India live in rural areas and depend on agriculture, higher agricultural growth will provide food security by increasing supply, reducing prices, and raising incomes of poorer farm households in the near future


Self-imaging in a multi-mode active waveguide is examined as a method to preserve beam quality when amplifying a fundamental gaussian beam. Misalignment tolerance, gain saturation and thermal lensing effects are evaluated for the use of self-imaging in high average power, diodepumped, planar waveguide lasers.


The spectacular Mam Tor landslip, near Castleton, Derbyshire, formed over 3000 years ago on an oversteepened slope left after the last ice age. A section of the Namurian Edale mudstones and overlying Mam Tor sandstones has collapsed, leaving an 80 m high scar on the eastern side of Mam Tor. The slip is about 750 m long and nearly 300 m wide and has the old main road from Manchester to Sheffield built across it. The slipped mass is in a state of year-on-year creep motion, which over the 190 years since the construction of the highway has led to extensive damage to the road, culminating in its closure in 1979. Since 1996 we have carried out annual monitoring by electronic distance measurement of the movement of a network of some 30 stations on the slipped mass. The average movement rate of the whole mass is about 10 cm a−1, with the central region moving significantly faster, at almost 50 cm a−1. Thus substantial readjustments of mass are taking place within the landslip. Local vertical displacements are systematically related to horizontal offsets, and the ratio of the two allows inference of the local attitude of the basal slip surface. The development of surface morphological features (pressure ridges and irregular topography, shear offsets on the highway, bulging of the road surface) reflects the lateral variations in displacement rate. Comparison of our survey of the present-day road position with that recorded in the topographical survey of 1880 shows a total 40 m downhill displacement of the highway over 122 years. This is consistent with extrapolation of our measured displacement rates back to 1880. Displacement rates within this period are, however, clearly higher than during the past 3000 years. There is a fairly clear correlation between vertical and horizontal displacement rates and annual variations in rainfall, with accelerated displacements following winter rainfall above a critical threshold level. Using survey points to define nodal points of a network of triangles, we have analysed the distribution of strain within the slipped mass. This revealed a pattern of continuous strain variations comparable with that found in flowing glaciers. In the lower part of the slip, horizontal strains are contractional and triangle areas are decreasing, causing some uplift of the ground relative to the general downhill flow on the basal slip surface. In the uphill part, strains are extensional and triangle areas are increasing. The new data allow an estimate of the time-dependent rheological behaviour of the sheared mudstone in the basal shear zone. The shear stress vs. shear strain rate relationship is very non-linear, with significant shear strain rates occurring only at shear stress levels within 10% of that required for rapid (catastrophic) shearing.


Many contend that liberalism is weak from the point of view of value orientation, because it neglects that central part of human experience which is expressed by substantive ideas of the good, such as human flourishing, the good life, human goodness, and the like. This paper argues that there is a long tradition, in the Western culture, of a substantive view of human goodness revolving around the notion of 'virtues'. This tradition is supportive of, and still belongs to, liberal political theory insofar as one accepts the assumption that the cultural (and especially the ethical) presuppositions of liberalism are (at least, partly) embodied in natural law. The work of 'retrieval' and analysis necessary to forward this argument will be founded on a few claims concerning the compatibility between the ethical core of the virtues and liberalism. The substantive proposal of human goodness that is put forward, named 'agency goods perfectionism', is an attempt at establishing some continuity between a morality based on the virtues, in agreement with the natural law tradition, and a political morality in which liberal pluralism is balanced by some degree of value orientation through 'general and vague' conceptions of the virtues. The argument is aimed at showing more overlap than what is usually accepted between, on one hand, a secular political theory such as liberalism and, on the other hand, a religiously inspired conception such as natural law. In order to defend this thesis, this paper challenges some competing substantive ethical theories, such as objective list theories and new natural law theory; which are also aimed at addressing the problem of value-orientation, but from a perspective that is threatening the fundamental liberal presupposition of freedom of choice. The inquiry will follow a sort of chronological path, starting with the revival of the ethics of virtues in the last decades. It will then tackle one of the most plausible contemporary theories of the good; namely, perfectionism. Besides, it will carefully consider classical natural law theory, whose ethical core is assumed to be a conception of the virtues that promises to dovetail nicely with a liberal type of perfectionism.


Everyone has strong feelings about Justice Scalia. Lionized by the political right and demonized by the left, he has been among the most polarizing figures in American public life over the course of the last halfcentury.1 It is hardly surprising, then, that in the weeks since Justice Scalia's death, the public discourse surrounding his legacy has exhibited something of a split personality. There have, of course, been plenty of appropriately respectful—even admiring—tributes from some of the Justice's ideological adversaries;2 and here and there one of the Justice's champions has acknowledged, with a hint of lament, the acerbic quality of some of his opinions and public comments.3 For the most part, however, the Justice has been depicted as a flat character—or, more accurately, one of two flat characters: He is, on the one hand, the stalwart champion of law and judicial restraint—a paragon of integrity interested only in the dictates of legal texts and willing to cast aside his personal preferences to make way for outcomes commanded by sources he is bound to obey and powerless to change.4 And


Multihoming technology improves the availability of host and network
connectivity. Since the behaviors of fixed and mobile networks differ,
distinct architectures for each have been discussed and proposed. This
document proposes a common architecture for both mobile and fixed
networking environments, using mobile IP (RFC 3775) and Network
Mobility (NEMO; RFC 3963). The proposed architecture requires a
modification of mobile IP and NEMO so that multiple Care-of Addresses
(CoAs) can be used. In addition, multiple Home Agents (HAs) that are
located in different places are required for redundancy. This memo
defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community.


Around the world, many schools are situated close to a territorial border. In such a situation it is possible, and in some areas probable, that students and teachers interact with people from the other side of the territorial border on a daily or weekly basis. These interactions influence peoples' lives, but how do they affect education? Does a close relation to a territorial neighbour mean that the culture and religion of the territorial Other is taken into consideration in teaching? Or is education, despite the recommendations on the supranational level, a purely national product? These issues are addressed in this paper, which empirical material comes from on a cross disciplinary project focusing on RE in four border areas around the Baltic Sea.


In many domains, including cognition and personality, greater variability is observed in males than in females in humans. However, little is known about how variability differences between sexes are represented in the brain. The present study tested whether there is a sex difference in variance in brain structure using a cohort of 643 males and 591 females aged between 3 and 21 years. The broad age-range of the sample allowed us to test if variance differences in the brain differ across age. We observed significantly greater male than female variance for several key brain structures, including cerebral white matter and cortex, hippocampus, pallidum, putamen, and cerebellar cortex volumes. The differences were observed at both upper and lower extremities of the distributions and appeared stable across development. These findings move beyond mean levels by showing that sex differences were pronounced for variability, thereby providing a novel perspective on sex differences in the developing brain.


This article examines the perception and production of the Focalizing Ser (FS) structure by Dominican speakers living in three urban communities: Santiago de los Caballeros, Sosua, and Santo Domingo de Guzman. FS has received increasing attention over the past years and several studies have investigated it from various linguistic perspectives in Spanish varieties where it is typically found (e.g. Venezuelan Spanish and Colombian Spanish). Although previously reported in Dominican Spanish (Toribio 2002, Alba 2004), FS has still not been extensively analyzed in this variety. The results of three different tests (two acceptability judgment tests and one semi-production test) indicate that FS is certainly entrenched in Dominican speakers' linguistic inventory and that certain focus types (e.g. FS-focused subject and object DPs, FS-focused CPs and IPs, FS- focused complex VPs, and FS-focused prepositional phrases) are more favorably perceived and more frequently produced across all FS dialects.


We propose a theory linking imperfect information to resource misallocation and hence to aggregate productivity and output. In our setup, firms learn from both private sources and imperfectly informative stock market prices. We devise a novel calibration strategy that uses a combination of firm-level production and stock market data to pin down the information structure in the economy. Applying this methodology to data from the US, China, and India reveals substantial losses in productivity and output due to informational frictions - even when only one factor, namely capital, is subject to the friction. Our estimates for these losses range from 5-19% for productivity and 8-28% for output in China and India, and are smaller, though still significant, in the US. Losses are substantially higher when labor decisions are also made under imperfect information. Private learning plays a significant role in mitigating uncertainty and improving aggregate outcomes; learning from financial markets contributes little, even in the US.


Shape optimization on mufflers within a limited space volume is essential for industry, where the equipment layout is occasionally tight and the available space for a muffler is limited for maintenance and operation purposes. To proficiently enhance the acoustical performance within a constrained space, the selection of an appropriate acoustical mechanism and optimizer becomes crucial. A multi-chamber side muffler hybridized with reverse-flow ducts which can visibly increase the acoustical performance is rarely addressed; therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to numerically analyze and maximize the acoustical performance of this muffler within a limited space.
In this paper, the four-pole system matrix for evaluating the acoustic performance - sound transmission loss (STL) - is derived by using a decoupled numerical method. Moreover, a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm, a robust scheme in searching for the global optimum by imitating the softening process of metal, has been used during the optimization process. Before dealing with a broadband noise, the STL's maximization with respect to a one-tone noise is introduced for the reliability check on the SA method. Moreover, the accuracy check of the mathematical models with respect to various acoustical elements is performed.
The optimal result in eliminating broadband noise reveals that the multi-chamber muffler with reverse-flow perforated ducts is excellent for noise reduction. Consequently, the approach used for the optimal design of the noise elimination proposed in this study is easy and effective.


Facial sketch recognition is one of the most commonly used method to identify a suspect when only witnesses are available, which, however, usually leads to four gaps, i.e. memory gap, communication gap, description-sketch gap, and sketch-image gap. These gaps limit its application in practice to some extent. To circumvent these gaps, this paper therefore focus on the problem: how to identify a suspect using partial photo information from different persons. Accordingly, we propose a new Logical Operation Oriented Face Retrieval (LOOFR) approach provided that partial information extracted from several different persons' photos is available. The LOOFR defines the new AND and OR operators on these partial information. For example, " eyes of person A AND mouth of person B" means retrieving the target person whose eyes and mouth are similar to that of person A and person B respectively, while "eyes of person A OR eyes of person B" means retrieving target person whose eyes are similar to both person A and B. Evidently, these logical operators cannot be directly implemented by INTERSECTION and UNION in set operations. Meanwhile, they are better for human understanding than set operators. Subsequently, we propose a two-stage LOOFR approach, in which the representations of partial information are learned in the first stage while the logical operations are processed in the second stage. As a result, the target photo of a suspect can be retrieved. Experiments show its promising results.


The need for modified curriculum provision for exceptional learners has long been recognised. This requires the differentiation of regular curriculum. For those exceptional learners who have learning difficulties, this differentiation is increasingly seen as the responsibility of classroom teachers. For those students who are gifted and talented, on the other hand, the differentiation has been implemented in alternative ways. Experts in the provision of education for gifted and talented students attribute this lack of regular classroom teacher involvement to various reasons. One is the relevant professional knowledge of the teacher. This includes an understanding of gifted knowledge and thinking and the ability to integrate this with modifications to the regular curriculum. This paper on successful differentiation examines how the model of the gifted and talented learner as an expert knower and thinker can be used to differentiate the regular curriculum. It reviews the novice to expert knower transition in terms of its implications for teaching and uses the model to recommend strategies for identifying gifted and talented knowers in terms of their entry level understanding of a topic. The model has helped teachers to infer how gifted and talented students might understand regular topics on the curriculum. This professional knowledge assists teachers in turn to identify various types of gifted interpretations, to evaluate these in terms of the assessment criteria for the regular curriculum.


Local government partnership is one of the strategic issues that recently adopted vastly by developed countries as well as developing countries. The trend of outsourcing or contracting out several public services to private sector or third sector increases in recent decade.  As a part of the New Public Management doctrine, local government partnership is another form of market oriented in providing public service in order to make better service, efficiency and effectiveness (value for money). There are many schemes for local government partnership that each of them contain potential benefits and risks or losses, so special assessment, well designed and planning is needed by government official before making decision.     Keywords: kemitraan, pelayanan publik, efisiensi, dan efektivitas


This work or any part thereof has not previously been presented in any form to the University or to any other body whether for the purposes of assessment, publication or for any other purpose (unless otherwise indicated). Save for any express acknowledgments, references and/or bibliographies cited in the work, I confirm that the intellectual content of the work is the result of my own efforts and of no other person.


Recently, there has been much discussion about replicability and credibility. By integrating the full research record, increasing statistical power, reducing bias and enhancing credibility, meta-analysis is widely regarded as 'best evidence'. Through Monte Carlo simulation, closely calibrated on the typical conditions found among 6,700 economics research papers, we find that large biases and high rates of false positives will often be found by conventional meta-analysis methods. Nonetheless, the routine application of meta-regression analysis and considerations of practical significance largely restore research credibility.


Diversity and distribution patterns of sessile benthic fauna over space and time are often incompletely known. Understanding the factors that govern these patterns is important for informing marine spatial planning, and monitoring the impacts of climate change and habitat alteration in the marine environment. Historical and contemporary records of bryozoans from Scotland were mapped to produce a GIS distribution layer and were assessed in conjunction with JNCC GIS benthic habitat layers. Bryozoans have predominantly been recorded from the west coast, Orkney, Shetland and Western Isle archipelagos. The greatest number of bryozoan species occurred in high energy, rocky environments; few species have been identified from the continental slope, which also has the least number of records. The biodiversity, as measured by the average taxonomic distinctness and variation in taxonomic distinctness, was assessed for sampling sites and sub-regions within Scotland. High values were concentrated around the Orkney Isles and Southwest Scotland. This is the first known attempt at a comprehensive analysis of changes in Northern European bryozoan diversity and distribution from the 1700s through to the present day, but overall temporal patterns remain uncertain due to differences in the availability of records through time. This study provides an example of the application of methods that may be used to assess benthic diversity to identify potential sites for marine conservation or marine protected areas. As benthic data layers improve, and sampling is extended to unstudied areas, greater insight into the relationship between the physical environment and diversity and distribution patterns of benthic fauna will be gained. This study serves as a baseline for long-term monitoring of biodiversity changes in this poorly studied Phylum.


This thesis is an examination of Plato's Protagoras, Gorgias, Republic I, and the Phaedrus. The focus is on Plato's political thought and my aim is to examine politics and language within the context of Plato's belief in and desire for order. I try to show how he connects the way language is used with the political life of a community. I argue that he identifies a link between the stability of a political association and the uses, and users, of language. Given his fundamental belief in a metaphysical order, existing beyond and prior to human existence, I argue that Plato seeks to anchor language and politics, to rationalise them in accordance with the the universal harmony characterised by the Forms. In making this argument I try to show that, for Plato, the spread of order logically culminates in a harmonisation of the physical and metaphysical. So much is this so, I claim, that the stability of order in any sphere of human existence depends on the existence of order in all other spheres. Thus, an orderly political association, one organised in accordance with Platonic moral principles, simply cannot exist if the language its members share does not exhibit the very same order. Psychological order is the avenue through which the metaphysical order enters human affairs. Given the Greek assumption that life in the polis is the natural life for man, examination of the human psyche becomes for Plato also an examination of communal, or associative, living. The moral as intrinsically part of the political. Plato is concerned with both the quality of the association and the quality of its mode of interaction. Both politics and language must be harmonised to ensure a concordance between human existence and the metaphysical order in which Plato believes.


This major collection of short essays reviews the scope and progress of research in artificial intelligence over the past two decades. Seminal and most-cited papers from the journal Artificial Intelligence are revisited by the authors who describe how their research has been developed, both by themselves and by others, since the journals first publication.The twenty-eight papers span a wide variety of domains, including truth maintainance systems and qualitative process theory, chemical structure analysis, diagnosis of faulty circuits, and understanding visual scenes; they also span a broad range of methodologies, from AI's mathematical foundations to systems architecture.The volume is dedicated to Allen Newell and concludes with a section of fourteen essays devoted to a retrospective on the strength and vision of his work.Sections/Contributors:- Artificial Intelligence in Perspective, D. G. Bobrow.- Foundations. J. McCarthy, R. C. Moore, A. Newell, N. J. Nilsson, J. Gordon and E. H. Shortliffe, J. Pearl, A. K. Mackworth and E. C. Freuder, J. de Kleer.- Vision. H. G. Barrow and J. M. Tenenbaum, B. K. P. Horn and B. Schunck, K. Ikeuchi, T. Kanade.- Qualitative Reasoning. J. de Kleer, K. D. Forbus, B. J. Kuipers, Y. Iwasake and H. A Simon.- Diagnosis. R. Davis, M. R. Genesereth, P. Szolovits and S. G. Pauker, R. Davis, B. G. Buchanan and E. H. Shortliffe, W. J. Clancey.- Architectures. J. S. Aikins, B. Hayes-Roth, M. J. Stefik et al.- Systems. R. E. Fikes and N. J. Nilsson, E. A Feigenbaum and B. G. Buchanan, J. McDermott. Allen Newell. H. A. Simon, M. J. Stefik and S. W. Smoliar, M. A. Arbib, D. C. Dennett, Purves, R. C. Schank and M. Y. Jona, P. S. Rosenbloom and J. E. Laird, P. E. Agre.


Background/Context Because metacognitive knowledge includes knowledge about adequate learning strategies, and because an effective use of learning strategies is associated with higher levels of performance, substantial relationships can be assumed between metacognitive knowledge, strategic behavior, and performance. However, such a pattern of results is rarely found in the research literature. In part, this may be due to inadequate indicators of strategy use. Purpose of study Prior research showed that high scores on self-reported strategy use were only mirrored in high levels of performance when students had sufficient metacognitive knowledge. To test the cross-country generalizability of the relationship between metacognitive knowledge, strategy use, and reading competence, we analyzed data from the PISA 2009-study, in which similar measures of metacognitive knowledge as well as of students' strategy use were used. Research Design The study uses a cross-sectional correlational design. It draws on representative samples of fifteen-year-old students from 34 OECD countries taking part in the PISA 2009 study. The relations between students' reading competence scores, their metacognitive knowledge as well as their self-reported use of learning strategies were analyzed. We used correlations, mediation, as well as moderator regression analyses to predict students' reading competence. Findings/Results Results showed consistently moderate to high correlations between metacognitive knowledge and reading competence. There were also lower, but still significant, relationships between strategy use and both reading competence and metacognitive knowledge. Testing a "mediator model" with strategy use as a mediator resulted in small but significant effects of strategy use as mediator. Assuming that metacognitive knowledge might be a necessary precondition for effective strategy use, the study tested whether it served as a moderator. Results confirmed this moderator effect for many but not all countries. However, across all countries, there was a consistently high effect of metacognitive knowledge on reading competence, independent of the level of self-reported use of strategies. Conclusions/Recommendations The results are very similar across countries. Taken together, the findings suggest that metacognitive knowledge as measured by a test tapping declarative, conditional and relational strategy knowledge is an important predictor of students' reading competence, and contributes significantly to our understanding of what helps students to become better readers. Metacognitive knowledge captures the prerequisite of adaptive strategic processing of texts. Increasing students' knowledge in this domain is a promising approach when it comes to fostering self-regulated reading.


Background: The development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a growing problem worldwide especially in uropathogenic Escherichia coli (E.coli) isolates.
Objective: This work was designed to assist the in vitro antimicrobial effect of green tea extract against uropathogenic E.coli isolates and to determine the MIC and MBC of green tea extract.
Materials and Methods: This is experimental laboratory based study. A total of 10 uropathogenic E.coli isolates were collected from urinary tract infected patients attended Kosti Teaching Hospital, Sudan during period from September to October 2017. All isolates were identified base on colonial morphology, Gram strain, and standard biochemical tests. Each isolate was subjected to evaluation of their susceptibility to green tea extract using well diffusion and broth dilution method. Data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software version 17.
Results: The means of inhibition zone of bacteria to 25%, 50%, and 100% concentrations of green tea extract were 10 mm, 18 mm, and 30 mm respectively. The MIC and MBC of green tea extract for most isolates were 200mg/ml and 400mg/ml respectively.
Conclusions: Green tea extract has in vitro antimicrobial effect on uropathogenic E.coli. Implementation of in vitro and in vivo studies to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of green tea and the efficacy of its catechins in the treatment of UTIs can lead to discover of a cheapest therapy.


As large-scale biobanks are developed for translational genomic research and health care quality improvement, they are also becoming attractive as sites for public health interventions, such as population-based preventive sequencing for actionable variants. With the rapid advance of next-generation sequencing, the feasibility of such population health interventions is also increasing. The resulting confluence of public health norms, fiduciary clinical obligations, and ethical expectations for research creates a number of challenges. This chapter on public health genomics examines three examples of projects facing such challenges, in order to anticipate the ethical and policy issues that public health uses of research biobanks raise for those responsible for their design and governance. The chapter looks at issues of informed consent, return of results, and community engagement.


Abstract Strategies are needed to improve the dietary habits of children. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of implementing a school food programme on the dietary quality of lunches consumed by school children aged 7–13 years compared with packed lunches brought from home. A secondary objective was to investigate if a possible effect would differ between the younger children and the older. A quasi-experimental study design with four intervention schools and four matched control schools was conducted. In total, 984 school children participated. Data on packed lunches were collected at baseline. At the 1st follow-up the children in the intervention schools were offered free school meals and at the 2nd follow-up children paid for their school meals. The control group had packed lunches at all measurements. A digital photographic method combined with a Meal Index of dietary Quality (Meal IQ) was used for dietary assessment. Multilevel modelling was employed for data analyses. The quality of dietary intake was improved when free school meals were offered (P = 0·004); if the school meals were paid for the use was limited and no difference in change in dietary quality was found (P = 0·343). The school food programme had no difference in effect according to age (P = 0·083). In conclusion, offering a free school meal had a positive effect on dietary quality of the lunches consumed by school children aged 7–13 years. No effect was measured when the school meals were not provided for free. The dietary effect did not depend on age.


In this paper, we prove the existence of common fixed points of two pairs of selfmaps under the assumptions that these two pairs of maps are weakly compatible and satisfying a contractive condition involving rational expression in a complete metric space. The same is extended to a sequence of selfmaps. Also, we prove the same with different hypotheses on two pairs of selfmaps in which one pair is compatible, reciprocally continuous and the other one is weakly compatible. We also discuss the importance of rational expression in our contractive condition. Our theorems extend the results of Chandok [1] to two pairs of selfmaps.


The shift in regulated financial markets and global economies induced by globalisation has had significant impacts on housing in many cities of the world. This feat was largely assisted by de-regulation within the banking sector which affected manoeuvrings in the housing finance system, making mortgage finance readily obtainable through the end of credit rationing. As a result, the flow of funds into the property sector via liberalised lending policies and subsequent competition within the mortgage market has simultaneously introduced increased demand for housing products as housing wealth has become more liquid. Importantly, the advent of finance streams resulted in the demutualisation of financial institutions, resulting in improved mortgage liquidity and an increase in gearing rates in the marketplace, leaving mortgage rates dependent on interest rates. This dependency heightened the sensitivity of the housing market to macroeconomic fluctuations on debt and consumption (Kasparova and White, 2001) and introduced an era of destabilisation. Furthermore, it could be argued that this has served as an underlying driver of house price inflation. The demise of global money markets post-financial crisis has curtailed inter-bank lending and borrowing creating a tepid mortgage lending environment. As banks strive to rebuild their balance sheets the contraction in mortgage lending has had a profound impact upon access to the property market, most notably within the first-time buyer cohort. The constrained availability of mortgage finance and subsequent reduction of loan-to-value ratios has manufactured an impasse in housing market activity as mortgage providers with limited credit supply have adopted an overtly conservative approach to their lending capacity and strategy. This paper explores the current position relating to the availability of mortgage finance within Northern Ireland. The research will examine the range of mortgage products currently available, the criteria being applied by lending institutions to prospective purchasers. The dynamics of the mortgage market will also be explored, including an examination of long run trends relating to mortgage approval rates and relative affordability indicators. Comparatives between the Northern Ireland market and the wider UK will be drawn.


Arup is an industry leader in performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE), building upon a history of computer-led design and analysis in its Advanced Technology and Research group (AT+R). This paper provides a summary of Arup's PBEE capabilities (Section 2) and recent projects (Section 3), with particular focus on three main projects in which I have been a member of the design and analysis team: (1) the St Francis Towers, two high-rise buildings located in Manila, Philippines, that employed an innovative damping solution to reduce wind and seismic loads; (2) an offshore platform in a highly-seismic area of the Caspian Sea, off the coast of Turkmenistan; and (3) Torre Reforma, a 240 m building in Mexico City, currently under design. In each case, Arup's PBEE analysis capabilities played an important role in ensuring an efficient design for the client. To remain on the cutting edge of earthquake engineering, Arup also carries out various research activities, both in response to specific problems experienced on projects, and in anticipation of them. One issue that is invariably involved in every PBEE project is the development of ground motion histories to use as input to response history analysis models. Even if ground motion selection (and possibly modification) is performed by a specialist engineering seismology consultant, the structural analyst needs to appreciate the process that has been carried out, and what effect this can have on structural response. Some thoughts on earthquake ground motion selection and modification from my perspective as a practising structural engineer are summarised in Section 4, including a brief description of my program, RSPMatchBi, for spectral matching of two-component ground motions.


During the period from April 3, 1979 to May 1, 1980, fourteen sets of seawater samples were collected at a single station in Conception Bay, Nfld. Each set, except for a set collected on April 3, 1979, consisted of samples from four depths (0.5, 10, 20 and 40 m). Total viable heterotrophic bacteria were estimated by the standard plate count (SPC) method and by the most probable number (MPN) method. Total bacterial numbers were determined by the acridine orange direct count (AODC) method. Oleoclastic bacteria were enumerated by an MPN method using a buffered basal salts medium to which Venezuelan crude oil had been added. Heterotrophic bacterial activity was determined by the heterotrophic potential method. -- Total numbers of bacteria fluctuated over the sampling period but generally were lower in winter. Numbers ranged from 2.5 x 10⁷ to 4.6 x 10⁸ per litre of seawater. Viable bacteria by the MPN method ranged from 3.3 x 10³ to 1.6 x 10⁶ per liter and, generally, were highest in the fall. MPN estimates represented 0.003 to 1.750% of the total bacteria determined by the AODC method. The SPC method yielded 6.0 x 10³ to 3.3 x 10⁶ viable bacteria per liter during the course of sampling, and the highest numbers by this technique were observed in June, 1979, for all depths tested. Throughout the sampling period, 0.003 to 3.370% of the total bacteria (AODC method} were detected by the SPC method. This method gave higher estimates of viable bacteria in June and July, while the MPN method gave higher results in October, November, and December. At other times of the year, numbers were approximately the same by the two methods. Oleoclasts ranged in number from 7.7 x 10² to 1.6 x 10⁶ per liter and were higher in the May to September period than at other times of the year. No pattern of distribution with depth was observed for either total, viable, or oleoclastic bacteria. -- Heterotrophic activities were determined at in situ temperatures and exhibited a seasonal trend. Vmax increased from spring to summer, decreased during the fall, and remained low during the winter. However, highest Vmax values at all sampling depths were recorded before the highest water temperature for the year was reached at each depth. Turnover time decreased with increasing temperature and the opposite was also observed. Vmax ranged from 1.3 to 121.0 ng glutamate l⁻¹h⁻¹ over the sampling period, and turnover time varied from 66 to 13,074 h. Neither Vmax nor turnover showed any pattern with depth. -- Vmax specific activity index (Vmax/ cell) was generally higher in summer than at other times of the year. The highest values at three depths also preceded the maximum water temperature. Values ranged from 0.007 to 1.235 fg glutamate h⁻¹cell⁻¹ over the sampling period. -- A thermocline was present on four of the fourteen sampling days. The thermocline appeared to have little effect on bacterial numbers but heterotrophic activity was lower below the thermocline than above. -- This project has shown that the majority of the bacterial population exists in a dormant state. -- This is the first study in which both bacterial numbers and heterotrophic potentials have been determined throughout four consecutive seasons for marine waters of the Canadian Atlantic seaboard.


Mobile agents constitute a computing paradigm of a more general nature than the widely used client/server computing paradigm. A mobile agent is essentially a computer program that acts autonomously on behalf of a user and travels through a network of heterogeneous machines. However, the greater flexibility of the mobile agent paradigm compared to the client/server computing paradigm comes at additional costs. These costs include, among others, the additional complexity of developing and managing mobile agent-based applications. This additional complexity comprises such issues as reliability. Before mobile agent technology can appear at the core of tomorrow's business applications, reliability mechanisms for mobile agents must be established. In this context, fault tolerance and transaction support are mechanisms of considerable importance. Various approaches to fault tolerance and transaction support exist. They have different strengths and weaknesses, and address different environments. Because of this variety, it is often difficult for the application programmer to choose the approach best suited to an application. This thesis introduces a classification of current approaches to fault-tolerant and transactional mobile agent execution. The classification, which focuses on algorithmic aspects, aims at structuring the field of fault-tolerant and transactional mobile agent execution and facilitates an understanding of the properties and weaknesses of particular approaches. In a distributed system, any software or hardware component may be subject to failures. A single failing component (e.g., agent or machine) may prevent the agent from proceeding with its execution. Worse yet, the current state of the agent and even its code may be lost. We say that the agent execution is blocked. For the agent owner, i.e., the person or application that has configured the agent, the agent does not return. To achieve fault-tolerance, the agent owner can try to detect the failure of the agent, and upon such an event launch a new agent. However, this requires the ability to correctly detect the crash of the agent, i.e., to distinguish between a failed agent and an agent that is delayed by slow processors or slow communication links. Unfortunately, this cannot be achieved in systems such as the Internet. An agent owner who tries to detect the failure of the agent thus cannot prevent the case in which the agent is mistakenly assumed to have crashed. In this case, launching a new agent leads to multiple executions of the agent, i.e., to the violation of the desired exactly-once property of agent execution. Although this may be acceptable for certain applications (e.g., applications whose operations do not have side-effects), others clearly forbid it. In this context, launching a new agent is a form of replication. In general, replication prevents blocking, but may lead to multiple executions of the agent, i.e., to a violation of the exactly-once execution property. This thesis presents an approach that ensures the exactly-once execution property using a simple principle: the mobile agent execution is modeled as a sequence of agreement problems. This model leads to an approach based on two well-known building blocks: consensus and reliable broadcast. We validate this approach with the implementation of FATOMAS, a Java-based FAult-TOlerant Mobile Agent System, and measure its overhead. Transactional mobile agents execute the mobile agent as a transaction. Assume, for instance, an agent whose task is to buy an airline ticket, book a hotel room, and rent a car at the flight destination. The agent owner naturally wants all three operations to succeed or none at all. Clearly, the rental car at the destination is of no use if no flight to the destination is available. On the other hand, the airline ticket may be useless if no rental car is available. The mobile agent's operations thus need to execute atomically, i.e., either all of them or none at all. Execution atomicity also needs to be ensured in the event of failures of hardware or software components. The approach presented in this thesis is non-blocking. A non-blocking transactional mobile agent execution has the important advantage that it can make progress despite failures. In a blocking transactional mobile agent execution, by contrast, progress is only possible when the failed component has recovered. Until then, the acquired locks generally cannot be freed. As no other transactional mobile agents can acquire the lock, overall system throughput is dramatically reduced. The present approach reuses the work on fault-tolerant mobile agent execution to prevent blocking. We have implemented the proposed approach and present the evaluation results.


IN PLAIN SIGHT: CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF "BIRACIAL" PEOPLE IN FILM 1903-2015 Charles L. Gray, B.F.A., M.A. Marquette University, 2016 Rooted in slavery, the United States in both law and custom has a long history of adhering to the one drop rule–the stipulation that any amount of African ancestry constitutes an individual as black. Given this history, decidedly mixed race people have been subjected to a number of degrading stereotypes. In examining the three broad themes of the tragic mulatto, racial passing, and racelessness in cinema, this dissertation asks to what extent film representations of mixed race characters have had the capacity to educate audiences beyond stereotypes. Although a number of film scholars and critics have analyzed mixed race characters in American cinema, there is no treatment spanning the last century that comprehensively analyzes each film's capacity to diminish racism.


SABKOV, H., E. VIDINOVA, E. RAYCHEVA and T. IVANOVA, 2016. Influence of the modular approach on the production costs during introduction of ewes' machine milking. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 22: 158–164 The object of this study is the status of sheep breeding in the Republic of Bulgaria and the possibility of reducing the production costs in the sub-sector by application of the modular approach. The analysis of the status and trends in sheep breeding showed that despite the favourable geographical location, climate conditions, rich sheep breeding traditions and wide variety of local indigenous breeds, the sheep population has been reduced about 6-times over the last 20 years, with entire breeds being in danger of extinction. The sheep breeding sub-sector is characterised by low technical and technological level, hand milking of the sheep and shortage of investments. As a rational option to ease the investment process and to reduce the production costs it is proposed the application of modular approach to introduce machine milking in expanding sheep farms with shortage of investment capital. It was found that when the necessary investments for machine milking introduction are covered by a bank loan, the total amount of investment of the modular approach is lower than that of the traditional approach, respectively with: 15.64% for initial sheep farm with 80 ewes and 19.12% for initial sheep farm with 40 ewes. The application of modular approach also contributes to a significant decrease in the depreciation allowances, both in absolute terms and in relative value per production unit. For the conditions of the conducted study it was found that the modular approach contributes to savings from depreciation allowances in size of, respectively, BGN 7515 for initial sheep farm with 80 ewes and BGN 7432 for initial sheep farm with 40 ewes. The survey results suggest that the application of the modular approach contributes to a decrease of the production costs, and therefore can be regarded as a significant factor for the increasing of sheep farms capacity and the development of dairy sheep breeding.


"Open Gate" is the first bilingual volume of Haitian Creole poetry published in English. Seven years in the making, this anthology is the result of the dedication of its editors and translators, Paul Laraque, Jack Hirschman and the Haitian poet Boadiba, as well as Max Manigat, one of the first teachers of Creole on the university level who was an invaluable advisor. The editors focus on contemporary Creole poetry that reflects the struggle for human rights in Haiti. The book is divided into three sections: Pioneers of Modern Haitian Creole poetry, beginning with the founder of modern Haitian Creole literature, Felix Morisseu-Leroy (19131998); the flowering of Haitian poetry as represented by the literary movement, "Society of Butterflies," some of whose members were jailed or exiled by the bloody Duvalier dictatorship; and the New Generation featuring primrily those poets in the Diaspora whose work has been published in the last 15 years.


As being a complementary technique for Machine Type Communications (MTC) in future 5th Generation (5G) wireless communications, the control mechanism and control signaling should preferably be able to operate at possibly low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) without interfering the existing cellular network. In this paper, we propose an enhanced mechanism for the control signaling, targeting to low-power communications. It enables the detection of sporadically transmitted data packet of a user at relatively low SNR. Further, we focus on the low-power channel estimation and data detection as an additional proof-of-concept within a multicarrier system. The superimposed pilots are exploited 2-dimensionally in time and frequency to jointly detect the data and estimate the channel.


Abstract. Fire is a dynamic ecological process in forests and impacts the carbon (C) cycle through direct combustion emissions, tree mortality, and by impairing the ability of surviving trees to sequester carbon. While studies on young trees have demonstrated that fire intensity is a determinant of post-fire net primary productivity, wildland fires on landscape to regional scales have largely been assumed to either cause tree mortality, or conversely, cause no physiological impact, ignoring the impacted but surviving trees. Our objective was to understand how fire intensity affects post-fire net primary productivity in conifer-dominated forested ecosystems on the spatial scale of large wildland fires. We examined the relationships between fire radiative power (FRP), its temporal integral (fire radiative energy – FRE), and net primary productivity (NPP) using 16 years of data from the MOderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) for 15 large fires in western United States coniferous forests. The greatest NPP post-fire loss occurred 1 year post-fire and ranged from −67 to −312 g C m−2 yr−1 (−13 to −54 %) across all fires. Forests dominated by fire-resistant species (species that typically survive low-intensity fires) experienced the lowest relative NPP reductions compared to forests with less resistant species. Post-fire NPP in forests that were dominated by fire-susceptible species were not as sensitive to FRP or FRE, indicating that NPP in these forests may be reduced to similar levels regardless of fire intensity. Conversely, post-fire NPP in forests dominated by fire-resistant and mixed species decreased with increasing FRP or FRE. In some cases, this dose–response relationship persisted for more than a decade post-fire, highlighting a legacy effect of fire intensity on post-fire C dynamics in these forests.


As a proponent for social change few authorrs have had the continuing impact or critical influence of Charles Dickens (1812-70), who used his writings to critique and, he wished, to change his culture. In this respect, Dickens was similar to John Milton (1608-74), who also attempted to shape the identity and values of his early modern culture through his literary endeavor. While Milton's influence on Dickens can be seen in many of his novels, few scholars have directly addressed the Miltonic elements that Dickens implements in his writing. This thesis examines Dickens's novel Bleak House (1852-53), and more specifically its omniscient narrator as a Miltonically-inspired voice used to narrate this complex story and what can be described as its prophetic message about the possibility of revolutionary disintegration in the midst of a drastically changing era. In this thesis, I explore, what I call, the prophetic message running throughout Bleak House and the three different personas that the omniscient narrator adopts to convey his prophetic message. I argue that the omniscient narrator becomes a type of muse for the reader—similar to the ways Milton invokes his Muse in Paradise Lost—in an attempt to help them better understand the novel's prophecy through the use of direct references to Milton's Paradise Lost. I also address Dickens's use of passages from the Book of Common Prayer throughout the novel. Through these passages, the omniscient narrator becomes an intercessory figure for readers calling their attention to familiar prayerful language. I argue that the narrator's prayers inspire readers to recite prayers over the novel's characters and further emphasizes the plight of real people in Victorian London similar to the characters in Bleak House. The narrator's third persona, the revolutionary historian, is perhaps the most crucial to better understand the revolutionary prophetic warning threaded through Bleak House. Essentially, the omniscient narrator refers to historical revolutionary action and reminds readers of the national and international consequences of revolution. This intertextual study, conducted through the lens of New Historical criticism, illuminates the way that Dickens implemented his ascent as a literary icon in response to Milton through the medium of the omniscient narrator. This study offers insight into the significant ways that Dickens utilized Milton in order to achieve a similar identity as a culturally defining and transformative priest and prophet especially through his novel's omniscient narrator. Essentially, the omniscient narrator can be seen as a defining figure for Bleak House, and his three characteristics combined into one figure add to the novel's impactful message and its ability to connect with its readers. Dickens answers his Romantic predecessor William Wordsworth's call for another Milton who will bring England back to her national essence of "manners, virtue, freedom, power."


Abstract The existence or otherwise of the hydronium cation within the mineral alunite has proved difficult to verify based on experimental data alone. In the present study, we employ first-principles quantum mechanical techniques to determine the nature of the structure of hydronium alunite. A new model for the hydrogen atom disorder is predicted that differs from a proposed arrangement in the case of the analogous stoichiometric hydronium jarosite. Instead of occupying one of two orientations that respect the threefold symmetry axis passing through the oxygen, the cation is found to occupy a tilted orientation leading to a greater degree of disorder. Dynamical simulations indicate that the reorientation of the hydronium ions is rapid and exhibits no correlation between the cation sites. The higher level of disorder in the hydrogen positions offers an explanation as to why their location has proved elusive thus far


This paper addresses the problem of detecting and characterizing local variability in time series and other forms of sequential data. The goal is to identify and characterize statistically significant variations, at the same time suppressing the inevitable corrupting observational errors. We present a simple nonparametric modeling technique and an algorithm implementing it—an improved and generalized version of Bayesian Blocks—that finds the optimal segmentation of the data in the observation interval. The structure of the algorithm allows it to be used in either a real-time trigger mode, or a retrospective mode. Maximum likelihood or marginal posterior functions to measure model fitness are presented for events, binned counts, and measurements at arbitrary times with known error distributions. Problems addressed include those connected with data gaps, variable exposure, extension to piecewise linear and piecewise exponential representations, multivariate time series data, analysis of variance, data on the circle, other data modes, and dispersed data. Simulations provide evidence that the detection efficiency for weak signals is close to a theoretical asymptotic limit derived by Arias-Castro et al. In the spirit of Reproducible Research all of the code and data necessary to reproduce all of the figures in this paper are included as supplementary material.


temporal and spatial variations of the larval fish community off the island of gran Canaria (Canary islands) were studied in weekly surveys from october 2005 to June 2006. a total of 156 taxa, belonging to 51 families and 15 orders, were identified. Myctophidae was by far the most abundant family (30%), followed by Sparidae (11%), Clupeidae (9%) and gonostomatidae (7%). as expected for an oceanic island, neritic and oceanic taxa contributed in similar proportions. Leeward and windward retention areas were found for total egg and neritic larval abundance. However, seasonality showed a stronger influence on the annual larval assemblage than sampling site, as the latter was not significant on a long time scale. results suggest that there are two seasonal larval assemblages corresponding to the two main characteristic periods of the water column in these waters: mixing (winter) and stratification (summer). in addition, a significant relationship was recorded between lunar illumination and small mesozooplankton biomass, suggesting that this relationship may be extended to certain neritic families. the most abundant neritic larvae (Sparidae) showed this lunar pattern, which partially supports a recent hypothesis about the effect of lunar illumination on larval fish survival and development in subtropical waters.