In his later writing, Martin Heidegger outlines an existential structure called the fourfold, which is composed of earth, sky, mortals, and divinities. Gathering the fourfold is the 'thing', which, by its 'thinging' makes manifest a world. This is the happening of 'place', and Heidegger's descriptions of this happening offer a certain lyrical beauty, but are not particularly illuminating if left undigested. In order to get to the real wealth one must examine the phenomena suggested, moving beyond the intellect into the experiences themselves. In light of such reading, considering environmental issues – particularly the way we build– might suggest directions toward more responsive and attuned practices that both acknowledge and activate the nuances of place. Although Heidegger says at the beginning of his essay "Building Dwelling Thinking" that he is not trying to 'discover architectural ideas' or develop 'rules for building', I still believe it is important to delve into this work with an eye toward architecture, as he lays out some beautiful and insightful ideas by which we might better assess our place in the environment. If we read Heidegger with the phenomena in mind, a richness emerges from the poetic quality of his writing that reflects the imbrication of time, culture, growth, human responsibility, and those things of significance within our world. My hope is that through such reading and thinking, possibilities might surface for designers to develop deeper phenomenological connections between building and place. In this way, Heidegger's poetic descriptions of the thing and the fourfold can be a catalyst in shedding new light on the way we think about building with environments. This approach seeks to question the often myopic view of sustainability as technological upgrade and instrumental efficiency; for example, solar panels on a sweatshop would not demonstrate the depth of attunement that Heidegger's writings endorse. In order to move beyond simply limiting ecological damage and maximising natural resources, it becomes important for mortals to create things that bring us together with the earth, sky, and divinities; and in so doing gather a place for a sustainable future.


QoS Routing for Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) generally posses several challenges that must be addressed. In selecting the best route from source to destination, one has to choose from a set of routes with the corresponding quality of connectivity and resources. Due to the nature of node mobility the protocol demands an exceptional performance. It needs to select a single route with the longest residual node-pair connectivity time simultaneously. As the name implies, QOSRGA (QoS Routing Using GA) was designed to select QoS route based on QoS metrics such as bandwidth, delay and node connectivity index (nci). The design of QOSRGA and its choice of parameters are elaborated. The performance considered here is the effect of mobility and node density on the average packet delivery ratio, average packet end to end delay and total average throughputs.


This gesture recognizer, developed by students in a third-year microprocessor-based laboratory course, takes Wii remote (Wiimote) as an input device to estimate the movements of the user and to compare the detected trajectory with the previously learnt movements, in order to carry out the associated actions. Such a cheap state-of-the-art wireless user interface is very attractive for the students and can be used in many interactive applications, from robotics to virtual reality and multimedia presentations. By combining commercially-available hardware, pattern-matching techniques and programming skills, we are able to foster students' interest on developing innovative potentially-marketable systems. This freeware project, implemented as a configurable publicly-available library, can be adapted to the needs of any course or student. In our laboratory this open-source DLL is used for remotely controlling a robot (based on an open-hardware Arduino platform), using a PC and the Wiimote, although the DLL can be integrated in any C, C++, Java or C# project. A GUI application (based on a Model-View-Presenter paradigm) is also provided and can be used as a template for new applications or just for debugging purposes. Although the developed application only uses data from the accelerometers, data from the infrared camera and buttons of the Wiimote is also available.


We fix a fundamental issue in the stochastic extragradient method by providing a new sampling strategy that is motivated by approximating implicit updates. Since the existing stochastic extragradient algorithm, called Mirror-Prox, of (Juditsky et al., 2011) diverges on a simple bilinear problem when the domain is not bounded, we prove guarantees for solving variational inequality that go beyond existing settings. Furthermore, we illustrate numerically that the proposed variant converges faster than many other methods on bilinear saddle-point problems. We also discuss how extragradient can be applied to training Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and how it compares to other methods. Our experiments on GANs demonstrate that the introduced approach may make the training faster in terms of data passes, while its higher iteration complexity makes the advantage smaller.


Secondary plant metabolites, such as the flavonoids epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and proanthocyanidins (PAC) have been linked to numerous health promoting activities. Studies addressing flavonoid antiviral activity, however, have been directed towards testing infectivity and investigating inhibition of metabolic processes associated with viral growth in the host cell. Few studies have addressed the direct loss of viral activity by plant metabolites in a cell-free system. In the current study, the extent of antiviral activity by a structurally diverse group of flavonoids present in cranberry juice and grape juice (proanthocyanidins), citrus fruits (hesperidin, naringin, and diosmin), and green tea (catechins) was investigated using a quantitative antigen capture enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA) in a cell-free system of simian rotavirus strain SA-11 (RTV). The RTV, representative of an enteric virus, was placed in MA104 cell cultures and tested by endpoint dilution. PACs at 100 and 200 g/mL caused a direct loss of virus activity at 56% and 92%, respectively, as compared with the control. Use of EGCG at 80 and 160 g/mL resulted in a loss of RTV infectivity of 45 and >98%. Individual tests with the PAC components catechin and epicatechin (EC) required increased concentrations (ca. 5000 to 10,000 g/mL) to cause an RTV antigen loss approaching 50%. The combined use of catechin and EC had no significant synergistic effect on the loss of RTV capsid antigen. Tests with the flavanones (hesperidin and naringin) and the semisynthetic isoflavone (diosmin) displayed antiviral activity at a concentration of 1200 g/mL. PAC extract at 200 g/L inhibited RTV-induced hemagglutination, suggesting an inhibitory effect on the binding of RTV antigenic determinants to RBC receptors. Gold-labeled immunoelectron microscopy showed RTV particles entrapped or sequestered with PAC aggregates. These findings suggest two things: first, recognition that the potential antiviral efficacy of flavonoids is related to structural differences between groups and within subgroups, and second, antiviral (anti-RTV) activity occurs at the virusflavonoid interface in the absence of the viral host


Researchers, historians, and philosophers of science have debated the nature of scientific research in education for more than 100 years. Recent enthusiasm for "evidence-based" policy and practice in educationa "now codified in the federal law that authorizes the bulk of elementary and secondary education programsa "have brought a new sense of urgency to understanding the ways in which the basic tenets of science manifest in the study of teaching, learning, and schooling. Scientific Research in Education describes the similarities and differences between scientific inquiry in education and scientific inquiry in other fields and disciplines and provides a number of examples to illustrate these ideas. Its main argument is that all scientific endeavors share a common set of principles, and that each fielda "including education researcha "develops a specialization that accounts for the particulars of what is being studied. The book also provides suggestions for how the federal government can best support high-quality scientific research in education.


While existing academic and government research has focused on the size, growth trajectory, and labor and tax law implications of independent contractors, freelancers, and workers selling goods and services online and through app-based platforms (the "on-demand" economy), less work has been devoted to quantifying the Social Security implications for the on-demand economy and its workers. Although it is known that self-employed workers have tax compliance and reporting issues, the existing reporting rules applicable to most workers earning income in the on-demand economy substantially increase the likelihood that these taxpayers are failing to contribute to Social Security and Medicare through payment of the self-employment tax (SE tax). As such, this paper sheds light on the Social Security implications of current federal tax rules for independent contractors generally and, in particular, workers earning income through occupations occurring in the on-demand economy by estimating the population and earnings of these workers using the U.S. Census Bureau's redesigned Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).

By analyzing 2014 SIPP data, we identify a population of self-employed, non-employer respondents working outside of a traditional employment relationship ("independent contractors"), as well as individuals working in occupations in the on-demand economy ("on-demand workers"). SIPP data have the potential to capture workers who earn income using on-demand platforms to connect with customers and process payments ("on-platform work"), as well as workers who earn income in occupations occurring in the on-demand economy who do not use on-demand platforms ("off-platform work").

Additionally, with SIPP data, we are able to estimate the income that independent contractors and on-demand workers earned in these employment relationships in 2014. Using Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data on the tax gap, U.S. Treasury Department audit data on underpayment of the SE tax, and survey data on tax compliance by on-demand economy workers and the self-employed, we are able to create an estimate of how much SE tax should have been paid on this income but likely was not. To provide context for our findings, we applied the methodology we developed to estimate the likely underpayment of the SE tax to data published in 2018 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on the number of independent contractors and on-platform workers in 2017. In addition, using SIPP, we were able to provide supplemental demographic data on independent contractors and the on-demand platform workforce.


Increasing budget pressures on universities are causing many to turn to online education to solve their budget woes. However, as the marketplace for online learning expands, so does the opportunity for students to become ever more selective of the programs and universities they choose. The researchers sought to identify those factors that motivate students to choose or not choose to take online courses at Eastern Oregon University (EOU). Furthermore, students currently enrolled at EOU were asked to identify the interactions and services they would like to see increase at the university. Results of the survey are discussed in light of university mission and strategic plans to demonstrate how survey data works to drive policy decisions in uncertain financial times.


During the period 1996–1997, three highly homogeneous variants of HIV‐1 were identified, circulating among injecting drug users (IDUs) in the former Soviet Union republics. One of these belonged to HIV‐1 genetic subtype A (IDU‐A), another belonged to HIV‐1 genetic subtype B (IDU‐B) and the third was a recombinant between the first two variants (CRF03_AB). However, since 1997, the HIV‐1 epidemic has affected an increasing number of geographic regions in Russia. This study was undertaken to survey the prevailing genetic variants and to estimate the current proportions of these three HIV‐1 genetic subtypes in Russia. Blood samples were taken in 1999–2003 from 1090 HIV‐infected individuals and analysed by gag/env HMA. The IDU‐A variant was found to be the majority variant (89.7–100%) in 44 of 45 regions of the Russian Federation studied. The IDU‐A variant was also found to spreading rapidly through heterosexual transmission in 1999–2003 (30/34, 88%). CRF03_AB predominates in the Kaliningrad region only (28/29, 96.6%). The IDU‐B variant is currently of minor importance in the IDU epidemic but other European subtype B variants predominate among men having sex with men (18/18, 100%). Sequence analysis of the env V3 encoding regions derived from HIV‐1 infected individuals in Yekaterinburg (the main centre of the HIV‐1 epidemic in Russia in 2002–2003) showed that the IDU‐A variant is still highly homogeneous. The mean pairwise nucleotide distance (n = 9) was 2.89 ± 1.14 (range 1.36–6.14). However, the mean genetic distance between each sequence within the samples collected from the Yekaterinburg IDU‐A variant subset and the IDU‐A consensus is 2.51 ± 1.06 (range 1.36–4.66) and considerably higher than in South Russia in 1996 (0.79 ± 0.51, range 0.38–1.90). The current HIV‐1 epidemic in Russia is almost entirely caused by a highly homogeneous A‐subtype strain, which will influence vaccine development strategies and must be taken into account in the quality control of molecular tests for the diagnosis of HIV‐1. J. Med. Virol. 74:191–196, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Probabilistic Boolean networks (PBNs) comprise a model describing a directed graph with rule-based dependences between its nodes. The rules are selected, based on a given probability distribution which provides a flexibility when dealing with the uncertainty which is typical for genetic regulatory networks. Given the computational complexity of the model, the characterization of mappings reducing the size of a given PBN becomes a critical issue. Mappings between PBNs are important also from a theoretical point of view. They provide means for developing a better understanding about the dynamics of PBNs. This paper considers two kinds of mappings reduction and projection and their effect on the original probability structure of a given PBN.


The human gut microbiota is increasingly recognized as playing a central role in human health and disease. This dichotomous relationship with the host forms a central theme in this review, which addresses how we may divert the gut microbiota away from some of its more harmful activities towards beneficial interactions with the human host. We describe the concept of prebiotics, which use specific dietary carbohydrates to increase the numbers of what are seen as beneficial bacteria within the colon, in a selective manner. Specifically, the use of β(2-1) fructans or inulin in general, and certain of its fractions in particular as prebiotics, will be described. Prebiotic fructans constitute efficacious functional foods and there is strong evidence supporting the selectivity of their fermentation within the human gut microbiota, resulting in an increase in the relative numbers of Bifidobacterium spp. There is also considerable evidence, mainly from animal studies but also in humans, that dietary supplementation with prebiotic fructans, through modulation of the microbiota, plays a protective role in colon cancer, heart disease and bone health. However, the mechanisms by which this prebiotic microbiota modulation mediates such diverse health outcomes remain unclear. The future challenge facing the field of prebiotic functional foods will be the elucidation of these mechanisms of action. Recent high resolution bioomics technologies, especially metabonomics, provide the tools necessary to define the metabolic consequences of prebiotic microbiota modulation.


One of the dominant themes in critical accounting theory over the past two decades has to do with the relation between the construction of human identities and accounting discourse and practices. Though with strong antecedents in Marxist –inspired critique of ideology, genealogical studies (e.g., Miller & O'Leary, 19XX), deconstructive studies (e.g., Shearer & Arrington, 19XX), and critical-rational studies (e.g., Power & Laughlin, 19XX) are examples of different theoretical and methodological ways to probe the constructive force of accounting over human identity and subjectivity. This paper offers a fourth approach grounded in social-cognitive concerns with ways in which implicit attitudes, or more broadly tacit habits of mind, enhance our tendencies to let rationally irrelevant criteria (like race, gender, and class) influence our evaluation of others. The paper reports on the results of an empirical, lab-based study of balanced scorecard evaluations and bonus allocations where race is a treatment effect and where the well-established tenets of Implicit Association Testing (IAT) are used to reveal that there are, indeed, propensities to unwillingly let racial prejudice enter into our accounting-based evaluations of others. These tendencies are more pronounced for some dimensions of the balanced scorecard than they are for others.


Application of the tobit model to estimate economic welfare is transferred from the consumer side to the producer side. Supply functions are estimated for multioutput irrigators in the Pacific Northwest. Empirical procedures are then developed for computing expected producer's surplus from the output supply functions. Confidence intervals for the surplus measures are generated using the Krinsky-Robb method. An experiment predicts decreases in surplus given increases in water pumping cost. The experiment replicates possible increases in hydroelectric prices due to the salmon recovery program in the Columbia-Snake River Basin. Output substitution explains producers' ability to mitigate the effect of the price increases on producer's surplus.


Competitiveness of European Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME) in the global marketplace is correlated to and determined by diverse factors. However, specifically SME's ability to satisfy explicit and implicit customer requirements as well as to proactively integrate them as a driver of complex business networks is a key success factor. Although this seems to be the most obvious economic principle, it is hard to be achieved in complex networks of small actors, including vertical and horizontal supply chain dimensions, especially due to self-organisation of single network entities in relation to the continuous and dynamic adjustment of the overall network. Moreover, dynamically changing customer needs, evolving requirements (e.g. legislative demands, technology enablers) and process disturbances (e.g. delivery deviations, incompatibility of supplied semi-finished products) need to be handled.


produce hydrogen peroxide is a much researched topic. Most of the work has been done in the production of hydrogen peroxide in basic media, in order to address the needs of the pulp and paper industry. However, peroxides under alkaline conditions show poor stabilities and are not useful in disinfection applications. There is a need to design electrocatalysts that are stable and provide good current and energy efficiencies to produce hydrogen peroxide under acidic conditions. The innovation focuses on the in situ generation of hydrogen peroxide using an electrochemical cell having a gas diffusion electrode as the cathode (electrode connected to the negative pole of the power supply) and a platinized titanium anode. The cathode and anode compartments are separated by a readily available cation-exchange membrane (Nafion® 117). The anode compartment is fed with deionized water. Generation of oxygen is the anode reaction. Protons from the anode compartment are transferred across the cation-exchange membrane to the cathode compartment by electrostatic attraction towards the negatively charged electrode. The cathode compartment is fed with oxygen. Here, hydrogen peroxide is generated by the reduction of oxygen. Water may also be generated in the cathode. A small amount of water is also transported across the membrane along with hydrated protons transported across the membrane. Generally, each proton is hydrated with 3–5 molecules. The process is unique because hydrogen peroxide is formed as a high-purity aqueous solution. Since there are no hazardous chemicals or liquids used in the process, the disinfection product can be applied directly to water, before entering a water filtration unit to disinfect the incoming water and to prevent the build up of heterotrophic bacteria, for example, in carbon based filters. The competitive advantages of this process are: 1. No consumable chemicals are needed in the process. The only raw materials needed are water and oxygen or air. 2. The product is pure and can therefore be used in disinfection applications directly or after proper dilution with water. 3. Oxygen generated in the anode compartment is used in the electrochemical reduction process; in addition, external oxygen is used to establish a high flow rate in the cathode compartment to remove the desired product efficiently. Exiting oxygen can be recycled after separation of liquid hydrogen peroxide product, if so desired. 4. The process can be designed for peroxide generation under microgravity conditions. 5. High concentrations of the order of 6–7 wt% can be generated by this method. This method at the time of this reporting is superior to what other researchers have reported. 6. The cell design allows for stacking of cells to increase the hydrogen peroxide production. 7. The catalyst mix containing a di qua ternary ammonium compound enabled not only higher concentration of hydrogen peroxide but also higher current efficiency, improved energy efficiency, and catalyst stability. 8. The activity of the catalyst is maintained even after repeated periods of system shutdown. 9. The catalyst system can be extended for fuel-cell cathodes with suitable modifications. This work was done by Charles L.K. Tennakoon, Waheguru Singh, Kelvin C. Anderson, and Thomas Kinney of Lynntech, Inc. for Johnson Space Center. In accordance with Public Law 96-517, the contractor has elected to retain title to this invention. Inquiries concerning rights for its commercial use should be addressed to: Lynntech, Inc. Technology Transfer Office 1302 East Collins Blvd. Richardson, Texas 75081 Phone No.: (979) 693-0017 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Refer to MSC-23874-1, volume and number of this NASA Tech Briefs issue, and the page number. Electrochemical Hydrogen Peroxide Generator Stable electrocatalysts can produce hydrogen peroxide under acidic conditions. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas Manufacturing & Prototyping


The UMTS standard for third generation wireless communications specifies several parameters that play a role in the tradeoff between the performance and the battery life of mobile devices. There are also other, non-standardized, implementation-specific mechanisms that affect both the performance as well as the battery life. In this paper, we focus on the scheduling of system information blocks (SIB) broadcasts on the network side and the inter-SIB sleep management on the mobile device side. We analyze the impact of these mechanisms on the standby battery life of mobile devices in three commercial networks.


Seborrheic dermatitis is a chronic relapsing inflammatory skin disorder clinically characterized by scaling and poorly defined erythematous patches. The prevalence of adult seborrheic dermatitis is estimated at 5%. Although the exact cause of seborrheic dermatitis has yet to be understood, Malassezia yeasts, hormones (androgens), sebum levels and immune response are known to play important roles in its development. Additional factors including drugs, winter temperatures and stress may exacerbate seborrheic dermatitis. A variety of treatment modalities are available, including antifungal agents, topical low-potency steroids and calcineurin inhibitors (immunomodulators). This review summarizes current knowledge on the etiopathogenesis and therapy of adult seborrheic dermatitis.


In this article, we study tradeoffs associated with homeownership and renting. We consider a model in which housing capital generates housing services, but also requires regular maintenance. A household wants to purchase a flow of housing services. Maintenance on the house providing this flow to the household can be performed by the household itself or by an outside property manager. We abstract from taxes or other government distortions. The household contracts with a bank/landlord that has funds sufficient to make a lumpy housing investment. We do not assume that the bank/landlord can observe the household's effort, consumption, or savings. We show that simple renting of the house from the bank/landlord is an optimal contract for the provision of housing services to the household, conditional on the outside property manager being hired. If the manager is not hired, it is optimal for the bank/landlord to lend the money to the household to acquire housing services by purchasing a home. In this arrangement, the bank's interest is secured by a zero-down, fixed-rate mortgage with a clause prohibiting subordinated financing. We use a parameterized example to compare the values that an average household can obtain in the renting contract against the owning contract. In this example, renting clearly wins.


Sydenham chorea is a post-streptococcal, autoimmune, neuropsychiatric, movement disorder. There is no effective treatment. In a randomized study, comparison was made of the outcomes of 10 children treated with standard management alone compared to 10 who received additional intravenous immunoglobulin. The outcomes were assessed using a clinical rating scale, brain single-photon emission computed tomography, and the duration of symptomatic treatment. All three outcome measurement tools found improved outcomes in the group that received intravenous immunoglobulin.


This was the closing address at the International Conference on Culture and Event Tourism: Issues and Debates. 26 cultural tourism themes emerged from the conference papers and a number of thinking points were presented to the conference attendees: the diversity of research undertaken on cultural tourism, that some of the areas are not obvious choices, that a rich tapestry of research approaches exists, but that a cautionary note was made to delegates not to reinvent the wheel and move beyond the need to define cultural tourism and focus on how to operationalise it. Discussion also focused on the case for and against 'case study research' with perhaps the need to undertake more comparative research. Five broad statements were made regarding where the field currently sits: 1, making the argument for cultural tourism as tourism, 2, the coalescence of thinking between culture and heritage, 3, culture as fundamental to the overall tourist experience, 4, coming to terms with the reality that culture is not a major element of the visitors experience, and 5, a shift of research away from the iconic to the normal everyday products and experiences. The last element of the plenary closing address noted a number of possible future areas the field needs to move toward: understanding of the role of culture in the context of globalisation, research that focuses on the management of cultural resources, research across the traditional disciplines and mixing methods as to how we do our research, and finally, researching cultural tourism in the contexts of the external shocks affecting it.


Objectives This study aimed to examine how social activity (SA) moderates the relationship between age norms (AN) and subjective health status (SHS) among older adults in Korea. Based on the theories of age-integrated structure and active aging, the proposed hypotheses were that SHS has a positive association with attitudes towards AN, and with the interactions between different types of AN and SA. Methods Cross-sectional data from a Korean national survey of older adults were analyzed. Participants were older adults N = 10,451, of whom 10,280 were used in the study sample. Multivariate linear regression including interaction terms, was used to examine the associations among SHS, AN, and SA. Results The results of multivariate linear regression examining learning (ß = 0.066, p < 0.001), working (ß = 0.063, p < 0.001), and remarriage (ß = 0.036, p < 0.001) showed that those who perceived AN more positively, were more likely to have a high SHS. With interaction terms, those who had a positive attitude towards AN for learning and volunteering (ß = 0.025, p < 0.05), and remarriage and engaged in friendship groups (ß = 0.032, p < 0.05) were more likely to have a high SHS. Conclusion SA serves as a great moderator between AN and SHS.


This dissertation consists of four self-contained essays.Essay IThis essay reports on an experimental study of how voluntary contributions in a public good game are affected by framing. In the public good context, average wealth improves from contributions. In the defensive contexts, the voluntary contributions prevent reductions in average wealth. The experiment shows that the subjects classified as conditionally co-operative make zero contributions to a larger extent in the defensive contexts. But there are no significant differences in average contribution levels, owing to compensating contributions by some subjects motivated by warm glow.Essay IIThe aim of this essay is to clarify the magnitude of the sub-optimization cost associated with separate control strategies for compliance with the Swedish environmental quality objectives. The marginal reduction costs are estimated using a separate and an integrated version of a deterministic linear programming model. The main findings are that there are no substantial sub-optimization costs for separate control strategies for CO2, NOX and SO2. But an integrated action strategy could imply enhanced costefficiency in reductions of VOC and particles.Essay IIIIn this essay we develop a multivariate stochastic control framework to deal with the cost efficiency problem associated with multiple emissions, since there are considerable quantification uncertainties concerning the effectiveness of the proposed emission reduction measures. It is found that a composite probabilistic constraint induces considerably lower abatement costs than separable probabilistic restrictions. Moreover, it can be concluded that the possibilities of increasing the cost-efficiency of emission reductions, with an approach that includes all major emissions to air simultaneously, become more apparent in the stochastic framework than in the deterministic setting.Essay IVThe European Union (EU) emission-trading scheme (ETS) is on of the most ambitious emission-trading systems ever and the involved member-states have various national climate strategies. This paper compares two options regarding how Sweden, a memberstate with a stricter national CO2 target than the EU Kyoto commitment, can internalise ETS. In the first strategy, the total emission cap for the Swedish ETS participants is based on the EU Kyoto commitment and combined with existing CO2 taxation. In the second, the ETS participants are exempted from CO2 taxation and the national policy is instead enforced by a stricter emission cap. We evaluate these strategies with a stochastic linear programming model based on 51 measures in Sweden. From the EU perspective, a transition from the first to the second strategy would reduce the cost of complying with the national target by approximately 150 and 40 million € a year, at emission allowance prices of 9 and 54 €/tonne respectively.


Recent research has shown that explicit pronunciation teaching is effective in improving learners' speech comprehensibility, and many studies have presented effective ways to teach pronunciation (Thomson & Derwing, 2014). However, it is still not yet known in many EFL (English as a foreign language) settings whether this finding has any effect on the current beliefs and practices of English language teachers. The current study examines what EFL teachers in a Saudi EFL context believe about teaching pronunciation, how they teach pronunciation, and what pronunciation training they have. Fifty-five English language teachers at the English Language Center at Taif University in Saudi Arabia were asked to complete an online survey regarding pronunciation teaching. Their responses were subjected to quantitative descriptive analysis. The results revealed that the teachers highly valued pronunciation teaching, and most of them considered it as important as teaching other language skills. In addition, most of the teachers reported incorporating pronunciation teaching into their English classes. The unavailability of pronunciation materials and technological recourses forced the teachers to employ traditional strategies to teaching pronunciation. The findings also showed a lack of specific pronunciation training available to the teachers, though the teachers desired to have more training opportunities.


Hydrocarbons are ubiquitous in our daily lives due to their use as commodity materials (e.g. polyethylene) and fuels. Heavier Group 14 element hydrides, termed herein as "inorganic hydrocarbon analogues", often exhibit divergent reactivity with respect to their organic congeners. In addition to expanding our general knowledge with respect to periodic trends, inorganic Group 14 hydrides have a prominent role in industry as gaseous, and now liquid-phase, precursors to semi-conducting films; furthermore, these species have been successfully used to prepare nanomaterials of controllable shape and function. This Review covers these exciting fields of study along with providing computationally-derived insights from the literature as they pertain to the reactivity and structural diversity of inorganic hydrocarbon analogues (118 references).


Library catalogues have embarked into a new world of chaos and begun to lose its value in information dissemination because of the profound impact of various factors which have taken place outside the library world. In this day, providing only bibliographic information is insufficient to meet the current demands of the users. OPACs should be able to give information, and also should be a vibrant and interactive tool. It should consist of many new components to raise the level of its patrons' expectations. This paper is the authors' final part of the research study. General features of OPACs were contemplated in the first part of analysis. In the second part of analysis, OPACs were compared with the features of Amazon and Google. Based on these two research studies, this paper proposes a comprehensive theoretical framework for restructuring the library catalogue to make it as a user centred tool and to fulfil present pressing demands.The suggested framework covers both the cataloguing standards and the computer technology to uplift the proficiency of OPACs for the new generation of users.


Abstract. Modern process studies of the hydrologic balance of Lake El'gygytgyn, central Chukotka, and the sediment income from the catchment were carried out during a field campaign in spring and summer 2003. Despite high uncertainties due to the limited data, the results provide important first estimates for better understanding the modern and past sedimentation processes in this basin. Formed ca. 3.6 million years ago as a result of a meteorite impact, the basin contains one of the longest paleoclimate records in the terrestrial Arctic. Fluvial activity is concentrated over the short snowmelt period (about 20 days in second part of June). Underground outflow plays a very important role in the water balance and predominates over surface outflow. The residence time of the lake water is estimated to be about 100 yr.


India has been known as the land of many cultures. Gujarat, an Indian state, has reflected this special aspect for over a millennium. In addition to the people of different religious faith like Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Christian and Zorastrian, various caste groups within the Hindus and migrant workers ensured a diversity of culture and lifestyle. This is especially true in the city of Baroda. This paper studies the dynamics of their coexistence. Gujarat, till about two years ago, was an economically vibrant state with Baroda as its pride. Employment opportunities attracted fresh migration to the city. Despite sporadic troubles among different religious groups there was at least a veneer of calm in Baroda. But early in 2002, violence of an unbelievabld dimension broke out between Hindus and Muslims. This was not a conflict arising out of migration of outsiders but among people of the same soil and similar background, between Hindus and Muslims. With this background the critical factor in spreading the violence was economic. Encroachments on each other's economic turf were unavoidable which in turn became a new source of conflict. There never is a set formula about the relationship between cultural diversity and conflict. Diverse cultures merge into the mainstream partly to avoid conflicts as in the case of tribals whereas in the case of the two major protagonists, Hindus and Muslims, conflict leads to greater attention to difference. In periods of extreme tension in this relationship, economic hardships, spatial pressures, competition for limited resources can lead to conflicts of catastrophic proportions.


Is it more dangerous to call something evil or not to? This fundamental question deeply divides those who fear that the term oversimplifies grave problems and those who worry that, to effectively address such issues as terrorism and genocide, we must first acknowledge them as evil. Recognizing that the way we approach this dilemma can significantly affect both the harm we suffer and the suffering we inflict, a distinguished group of contributors engages in the debate with this series of timely and original essays. Drawing on Western conceptions of evil from the Middle Ages to the present, these pieces demonstrate that, while it may not be possible to definitively settle moral questions, we are still able and in fact are obligated to make moral arguments and judgments. Using a wide variety of approaches, the authors raise tough questions: Why is so much evil perpetrated in the name of good? Could evil ever be eradicated? How can liberal democratic politics help us strike a balance between the need to pass judgment and the need to remain tolerant? Their insightful answers exemplify how the sometimes rarefied worlds of political theory, philosophy, theology, and history can illuminate pressing contemporary concerns."


Impingement with high velocity gas jets has become an established method of convectively cooling or heating services in a wide variety of processes and thermal control applications. Examples include cooling of gas turbine airfoils and electronic equipment, drying of paper and textiles or other thin layers or films, annealing of metals, and glass tempering operation. This study investigates the effect of the size of jet, number of jets and jet-to-target plate spacing for jet-issuing plate and target plate in the presence of cross flow originated from the upstream jets on the heat transfer distribution of the jet and target plates. Two-dimensional inline arrays of circular jets of air impinging on a heat transfer surface paralleled to the jet-issuing plate are considered. The air, after impingement, is constrained to exit in a single direction along a channel formed by the target plate and the jet-issuing plate. The downstream jets are subjected to a cross flow from the upstream jets.Three sets of jet distribution were tested, 6 rows with one hole in each row, 12 rows with 2 holes in each row and 18 rows with 3 holes in each row. The jet-to-jet spacing for all jet plates is 4 holes diameter in the spanwise direction and 6.5 holes diameter in the streamwise direction. Tests were conducted at Reynolds number between 5,000 and 33,000. The heat transfer measurement uses a liquid crystal imaging technique with a one dimensional transient conduction model.


In the eight years since NAFTA's implementation, leaders and citizens in member countries have gained a sense of what the agreement is and is not, what it can and cannot do. NAFTA has resolved some problems but revealed (or created) others. Contributors to this volume examine NAFTA's performance and impact, the degree of support it enjoys in the member countries, prospects for short- and longer-term change, and NAFTA's place in the still-evolving world economy.


Modern Arabic literature reflects a long history of the Western colonization of the Muslim World and this colonization generally results either in the rejection or acceptance of the colonizing culture. Specifically concerning the acceptance, it is related to the merger of two different cultures of Islam and the West as being expressed in literary domain. This merged cultures expressed in literary domain culminate in the formation of a structured identity of individual or collective values called acculturation. Thus, this study intends to analyse the acculturation of Western knowledge and worldview in modern Arabic novels as portrayed in the novel 'al-Ashjār wa Ightiyāl Mazrūq' by Abd al-Rahman Munif. It is found that the novels portray the confrontation of the stagnant Arabs and the advanced West, and the writer charges the Arabs with the accountability for the stagnation as he touches on the absence of freedom in the Arab World while at the same time, he is obviously fascinated with the freedom and intellectualism the West enjoys. Clearly, this is kind of acculturation of the novels from 'the other'.


Restart strategies are commonly used for minimizing the computational cost of randomized algorithms, but require prior knowledge of the run-time distribution in order to be effective. We propose a portfolio of two strategies, one fixed, with a provable bound on performance, the other based on a model of run-time distribution, updated as the two strategies are run on a sequence of problems. Computational resources are allocated probabilistically to the two strategies, based on their performances, using a well-known K-armed bandit problem solver. We present bounds on the performance of the resulting technique, and experiments with a satisfiability problem solver, showing rapid convergence to a near-optimal execution time.


Amorphous and crystalline iron oxides are prevalent in subsurface systems and are important surfaces for metal contaminant sorption. While discrete amorphous iron oxide is microporous with particles ranging from 1 to 100 μm resulting in significant contributions from intraparticle diffusion, the degree to which this process is important for crystalline iron oxides such as goethite was studied in this work. The porosity of goethite was found to be only 0.3% with pores ranging from micro to macro; however, measurements are conducted with freeze-dried oxide. The particle size distribution was observed to be bimodal with overall smaller sizes than that observed for the amorphous iron oxide. Long-term sorption studies for Ni and Zn where a constant boundary constant was maintained revealed no change in the amount sorbed as a function of time. On the other hand, sorption due to intraparticle diffusion in amorphous iron oxide accounts for as much as 40% of the total amount sorbed. Interestingly, although ferrihydrite is a precursor to goethite, enthalpies demonstrated that adsorption to goethite involves greater forces than those for the amorphous form. In addition, site densities were observed to be as much as 3 orders of magnitude greater for amorphous iron oxide than for goethite. Overall, this crystalline oxide does not have significant microporosity.


Climate change affects the physical and biological system in many regions of the world. The extent to which human systems will suffer economically from climate change depends on the adaptive capabilities within a region as well as across regions. We use an economic General-Equilibrium model and an Ocean-Atmosphere model in a regionally and sectorally disaggregated framework to analyze adaptation to climate change in different regions of the world. It turns out that vulnerability to climate impacts differs significantly across regions and that the overall adjustment of the economic system quite reduces the direct climate impacts.


In 1958, Edward Teller, father of the H-bomb, unveiled his plan to detonate six nuclear bombs off the Alaskan coast to create a new harbor. However, the plan was blocked by a handful of Eskimos and biologists who succeeded in preventing massive nuclear devastation potentially far greater than that of the Chernobyl blast. The Firecracker Boys is a story of the U.S. government's arrogance and deception, and the brave people who fought against it-launching America's environmental movement. As one of Alaska's most prominent authors, Dan O'Neill brings to these pages his love of Alaska's landscape, his skill as a nature and science writer, and his determination to expose one of the most shocking chapters of the Nuclear Age.


The signaling pathway through which cells modulate protein synthesis and cell growth in response to amino acids has been tricky to unravel. Sancak et al. add a key piece to the puzzle with experiments that reveal a role for a group of small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) known as Rag proteins. RagC associates with the mTORC1 protein kinase complex, a key regulator of cell growth. This interaction of Rag proteins with mTORC1 appears to be necessary and sufficient to convey nutrient availability signals when cells are exposed to amino acids. The physical interaction of Rag proteins with mTORC1 appears not to regulate activity of mTOR but to influence its localization within the endomembrane system of the cell. Y. Sancak, T. R. Peterson, Y. D. Shaul, R. A. Lindquist, C. C. Thoreen, L. Bar-Peled, D. M. Sabatini, The Rag GTPases bind raptor and mediate amino acid signaling to mTORC1. Science 320, 1496-1501 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text]


High precision/high accuracy U-Pb analyses of zircons from the Ben Vuirich granite in the Scottish Dalradian succession were performed on carefully picked, high integrity, abraded fractions of specific morphologies. Zircon needles, which grew during crystallization, give an age of 590 ± 2 Ma. Stubby prisms show inheritance with an upper concordia intercept of 1448 ± 7 Ma. The age of intrusion at 590 Ma contrasts strongly with a previous U-Pb zircon age of 514+6−7 Ma, determined on bulk-fraction unabraded grains, which, it is argued, must have suffered significant Pb loss. As the Ben Vuirich granite was emplaced between the regional D2 and D3 deformation events in the Dalradian block, the new data imply that all Dalradian sedimentation was Precambrian. Supposed Lower Cambrian fauna1 links between the Dalradian succession and Laurentia are thus discounted, and the possibility that the Dalradian Supergroup has non-Laurentian affinities must be considered. The early D1/D2 nappe-forming Grampian structures are also Precambrian, and may be associated with terrane docking along a tectonically active ocean margin. Later D3 structures and associated peak Barrovian metamorphism suggest a subsequent thickening event, possibly c. 520 Ma ago.


Several 17 and 19 centuries accounts from the Atlantic islands of Bermuda (32° N) describe enormous plagues of ants whose species identities have never been satisfactorily determined. Whereas there are few clues to the identity of the 17 century plague ants, earlier authors proposed four primarily tropical ant species as possible candidates for the 19 century plague ants: Monomorium destructor (JERDON, 1851), Monomorium pharaonis (LINNAEUS, 1758), Pheidole megacephala (FABRICIUS, 1793), and Solenopsis geminata (FABRICIUS, 1804). None of these species, however, fit the firsthand accounts very well. Searching the collections of several major museums, I did not find any ant specimens from Bermuda dating from before 1900. However, reanalyzing published accounts, I propose that the 19 century plague ants were a Lasius species. Lasius niger (LINNAEUS, 1758) was the only ant species reported from an 1873 expedition to Bermuda, and the first ant from Bermuda identified to species. However, this recorded ant may actually have been some similar Lasius species, e.g., Lasius grandis FOREL, 1909, currently the most common ant on the Atlantic islands of Madeira (33° N) and the Azores (37 40° N), or Lasius neglectus VAN LOON & al., 1990, now a widespread pest species in Europe. Since 1873, no Lasius species has ever again been reported from Bermuda. It is possible that the Lasius of Bermuda were driven extinct by later invading ants. Bermuda's small size, relatively flat topography, and scarcity of intact natural habitat may have afforded the resident Lasius insufficient refuge against the onslaughts of invasive exotic ants.


Players begin games at different skill levels and develop their skill at different rates—so that even the best-designed games are uninterestingly easy for some players and frustratingly difficult for others. A proposed answer to this challenge is Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA), a general category of approaches that alter games during play, in response to player performance. However, nearly all these techniques are focused on basic parameter tweaking, while the difficulty of many games is connected to aspects that are more challenging to adjust dynamically, such as level design. Further, most DDA techniques are based on designer intuition, which may not reflect actual play patterns. Responding to these challenges, we have created Polymorph, which employs techniques from level generation and machine learning to understand level difficulty and player skill, dynamically constructing levels for a 2D platformer game with continually-appropriate challenge. We present the results of the user study on which Polymorph's model of level difficulty is based, as well as a discussion of the unique features of the model. We believe Polymorph creates a play experience that is unique because the changes are both personalized and structural, while also providing an example of a new application of machine learning to aid game design.


Preliminary desktop studies have been carried out to illustrate the potential value of metropolitan open space areas in Durban and Cape Town using speculative estimates derived mainly from values in the international literature. This paper investigates the effects that a selected open space (Zandvlei in Muizenberg) has on nearby property values and attaches values to the space using a combination of estate agent interviews and statistical analysis (hedonic pricing). The results indicate that using statistical analysis generates reasonably similar valuation estimates when compared to the use of estate agent interviews. The property price premiums or discounts associated with open spaces are found to be case specific, but certain trends are discernable that should apply to all areas. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of the property price approach are discussed.


Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of endorectal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Magnetic Resonance Spetroscopic Imaging (MRSI) combined with total prostate-specific antigen (tPSA) and free prostate-specific antigen (fPSA) in selecting candidates for biopsy. Subjects and Methods: 246 patients with elevated tPSA (median: 7.81 ng/ml) underwent endorectal MRI and MRSI before Transrectal Ultrasound (TRUS) biopsy (10 peripheral + 2 central cores); patients with positive biopsies were treated with radical intention; those with negative biopsies were followed up and underwent MRSI before each additional biopsy if tPSA rose persistently. Mean follow-up: 27.6 months. We compared MRI, MRSI, tPSA, and fPSA with histopathology by sextant and determined the association between the Gleason score and MRI and MRSI. We determined the most accurate combination to detect prostate cancer (PCa) using receiver operating curves; we estimated the odds ratios (OR) and calculated sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values. Results: No difference in tPSA was found between patients with and without PCa (p = 0.551). In the peripheral zone, the risk of PCa increased with MRSI grade; patients with high-grade MRSI had the greatest risk of PCa over time (OR = 328.6); the model including MRI, MRSI, tPSA, and fPSA was more accurate (Area under Curve: AUC = 95.7%) than MRI alone (AUC = 85.1%) or fPSA alone (AUC = 78.1%), but not than MRSI alone (94.5%). In the transitional zone, the model was less accurate (AUC = 84.4%). The association (p = 0.005) between MRSI and Gleason score was significant in both zones. Conclusions: MRSI is useful in patients with elevated tPSA. High-grade MRSI lesions call for repeated biopsies. Men with negative MRSI may forgo further biopsies because a significantly high Gleason lesion is very unlikely.


Intuitively, how we feel about potential outcomes will determine our decisions. Indeed, one of the most influential theories in psychology, Prospect Theory, implicitly assumes that feelings govern choice. Surprisingly, however, we know very little about the rules by which feelings are transformed into decisions. Here, we characterize a computational model that uses feelings to predict choice. Not only does the model perform better than existing value- based models, it also redefines some of their core assumptions. We reveal in three independent samples that, contrary to conventional wisdom, losses do not have a larger impact on explicit feelings than gains. Rather, loss feelings are weighted more when making a decision. It are these relative weights that explain individual differences in decision- making. The results provide new insights into how feelings are utilized to reach a decision.


The geometry of ytterbium-doped active media in diode-pumped lasers can be calculated with the help of a few analytic expressions for the optimization of high-energy and high-efficiency Q-switched lasers. The first step in the optimization consists in the definition of a basic three-level model with which to estimate the energy to be extracted. In the second step, for validation purposes we use a side-pumped Yb3+:YAG slab at 2-kW peak pump power in the long-pulse mode of operation up to 1 J, and we Q switch it at reduced energies up to 100 mJ. The final step of this study provides fairly general relationships devoted the geometric sizing of optimized slabs that will be of some interest for the design of higher-energy ytterbium-doped Q-switched lasers.


In this study information-related activities engaged in by engineers during work task performance in the research and development centre at Sandvik Materials Technology AB are investigated. The purpose of the present study was to identify and achieve an understanding of the information-related activities performed by engineers during work task performance in a corporate context. The work task performance in focus is the task of writing a technical report.The study rests on methodological triangulation through the use of a work task diary, a semi-structured questionnaire and focus groups. In total 16 engineers participated in the study. The theoretical framework is based on theories of information in social practice, the information seeking process and the concept of task.The study presents results showing that engineers work in a highly complex information environment and their work task performance is to a high degree affected by situational attributes such as previous experience, type of work task, time, target group, and access to information. The results show that the information sources preferred by engineers have not changed over time; rather a change is seen in the type of sources. There is a distinct increase in the use of electronic sources; which in turn seem to affect the way engineers perceive accessibility. The study also shows that there are evident situational and contextual attributes affecting the information-related activities. Information needed to perform a work task is strongly related to data retrieved from experiments. There also seems to be an embedded tolerance for a low scientific level in technical reports, even though the scientific practice is the norm.This study also shows that the concept of work task forms a relevant basis for studies of information-related activities, particularly in combination with theories on information in social practice. The model of the work task process combined with a faceted classification of work tasks provides a sound methodological tool for the analysis of work tasks in different contexts.


Non-timber forest products (NTFPs). The collection, trade and use of these products have been important to rural economies in country. At the same time the plants from which these products originate are crucial to healthy ecosystems. Over the last decade, the market demand and the interest in managing forests for NTFPs has grown tremendously, which has generated concern for the ecological sustainability of forest resources from which they are produced. The health and functioning of the forest ecosystems and the associated rural communities depend on the sustainable management of the NTFP resources. And yet, the scientific knowledge of these products is not well developed. Sustainability and the full range of benefits cannot be realized unless non-timber forest products are included in the scientific management of the forest resources. We examine the status of forest management for non-timber products and discuss issues critical to sustainable management for these products.


Friction between Chile and the other partners in a U.S.-led consortium building twin, 8-meter telescopes in Hawaii and Chile is threatening to cause a cash-flow problem that could delay construction. Officials for the $184 million project, known as Gemini, are so concerned that they are negotiating with Australia to become a partner and pay the 5% share previously promised by Chile, where a 3-year legislative battle over the project9s legal standing has so far blocked payment. They have given Chile until 1 September to pass an acceptable law and be reinstated as a partner.


Abstract This article takes its starting point in the Nazi ideology as it appears in the writings of Adolf Hitler, and discusses how disability and the body can be understood in the context of Mein Kampf. The article underlines how disability and bodily infirmities, alongside race, featured significantly in Hitler's demagogic message. Although the overall image of disability was related to a sense of threat – and a culture gone wrong – Mein Kampf also contains a mixed interpretation of disability as a phenomenon, in which different and opposing disability narratives took part in the construction and the image of the body as a national property.


Background: This study is a retrospective record-based study involving all children aged less than five years admitted to Basrah General Hospital with acute gastroenteritis during study period 2008-2013. Objectives: To measure the prevalence of rotavirus infection and to relate the infection to selected epidemiological variables. Methods: All children less than five years old admitted to pediatric ward in Basrah General Hospital with acute gastroenteritis over the period 20082013 were included. They were 942 in number. The data were collected through special form (diarrhea case report form). It included two parts, the first part about patient's information and clinical information while the second one was about the laboratory information. Results: The overall prevalence of rotavirus infection among the study children was 43.7%. The highest prevalence rate was in 2009 (53.0%) and the lowest rate was in 2010 (33.6%). The infection increased in the colder months of the year. The infection was more among age group 6-12 months (58.7%) affecting males and females in similar degree and no statistical significance could be found. All the positive rotavirus cases complained from diarrhea (100%), vomiting (74.5%) and fever (70.1%). Conclusions: Rotavirus a common cause of acute gastroenteritis in children under five years old. The prevalence was higher in infant between 6-11 months.


Summary Mice harboring a deletion of the gene encoding the transporter associated with antigen presentation-1 (TAP1) are impaired in providing major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules with peptides of cytosolic origin and lack stable MHC class I cell surface expression. They consequently have a strongly reduced number of CD8 + T cells. To examine whether selection of CD8 + T cells is dependent on TAP-dependent peptides, we partially restored MHC class I cell surface expression in TAPl-deficient mice by introduction of human 32-microglobulin. We show that selection of functional CD8 § T cells can be augmented in vivo in the absence of TAP1dependent peptides.


A valence-type anion of the canonical tautomer of uracil has been characterized using explicitly correlated second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (RI-MP2-R12) in conjunction with conventional coupled-cluster theory with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations. At this level of electron-correlation treatment and after inclusion of a zero-point vibrational energy correction, determined in the harmonic approximation at the RI-MP2 level of theory, the valence anion is adiabatically stable with respect to the neutral molecule by 40 meV. The anion is characterized by a vertical detachment energy of 0.60 eV. To obtain accurate estimates of the vertical and adiabatic electron binding energies, a scheme was applied in which electronic energy contributions from various levels of theory were added, each of them extrapolated to the corresponding basis-set limit. The MP2 basis-set limits were also evaluated using an explicitly correlated approach, and the results of these calculations are in agreement with the extrapolated values. A remarkable feature of the valence anionic state is that the adiabatic electron binding energy is positive but smaller than the adiabatic electron binding energy of the dipole-bound state.


Depth profiling studies (laser ICP-MS) of ions (Cl-, Na+, Mg2+) in concrete-based material can be used to provide useful information on the migration paths of these ionic species. In particular, deterioration of concrete through infiltration of chloride could lead to costly corrosion problems with serious impact on the environment. Many modeling studies on concrete matrices depend on the tortuosity of these transport paths. Our work showed that dispersion paths of ionic species in concrete are intermittent and sporadic, suggesting that applications of simplifying assumptions in treatment of such data could lead to appreciable perturbations in related mathematical models. This paper examines the capability of using a high resolution ICP-MS laser ablation technique to track Cl– migration in concrete samples in the presence of other ions such as Na+ and Mg2+. Cationic migration in such materials is underexplored and data in this particular area could contribute to modeling studies. Concrete bricks (with and without surface coatings) were specially prepared in cubic configurations and allowed to saturate in a ponding medium (sea water). The study subsequently examined the distribution of Cl– , Na+ and Mg2+ with depth in protected (epoxy coated) and unprotected cored concrete slivers (5 mm diameter; 2 mm thick) using an 80 μm- diameter laser beam coupled to an ICP-MS instrument. The laser (213 nm) was programmed to ablate a total depth of 50 μm at each point at 5-μm intervals. The results in unprotected samples indicated that chloride intensity showed a general decline with depth, suggesting that mobility of the chloride is a function of its interaction with the concrete matrix. In some cases 'hotspots' were observed at certain points indicating that transport of the intruding ion was limited. No significant mobility was observed in coated samples. The depth-profiling results for Na+ and Mg2+ were somewhat unexpected. Strong similarities in their spectra purported that the matrix was indifferent to charge and size of the ion. Our experimental data further showed that the matrix itself offers natural protection to the reinforced steel rebars by limiting chloride and metal diffusion at certain locations. Clearly, if the composition of these protective environments within the concrete could be simulated on a larger scale and introduced into the matrix it would offer scope for extended research in this area. Our work would be of definite interest to materials and environmental research; and mechanistic studies on aggregates.


Named entity extraction and disambiguation have received much attention in recent years. Typical fields addressing these topics are information retrieval, natural language processing, and semantic web. This paper addresses two problems with named entity extraction and disambiguation. First, almost no existing works examine the extraction and disambiguation interdependency. Second, existing disambiguation techniques mostly take as input extracted named entities without considering the uncertainty and imperfection of the extraction process. It is the aim of this paper to investigate both avenues and to show that explicit handling of the uncertainty of annotation has much potential for making both extraction and disambiguation more robust. We conducted experiments with a set of holiday home descriptions with the aim to extract and disambiguate toponyms as a representative example of named entities. We show that the effectiveness of extraction influences the effectiveness of disambiguation, and reciprocally, how retraining the extraction models with information automatically derived from the disambiguation results, improves the extraction models. This mutual reinforcement is shown to even have an effect after several iterations.


This article examines how politicians have applied evaluative-descriptive
terms as rhetorical levers to a pivotal basic concept, illustrating the broader
rhetorical strategy of dissociation identified by Chaim Perelman and Lucie
Olbrechts-Tyteca. It focuses on political debates around capitalism that
took place in late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century British politics,
including the period following the financial crisis of 2008. Drawing
on data from the Enhanced Hansard Corpus and Hansard Online, together
with other contemporary texts, it combines quantitative and qualitative
analyses using a corpus-based approach to identify salient items that are
then placed in their discursive and sociopolitical contexts. More generally,
the article seeks to bridge part of the gap between Koselleckian Begriff sgeschichte
and Quentin Skinner's rhetorical approach by applying what is in
effect a historical-pragmatic approach to the history of political concepts.


Our paper investigates the link between international outsourcing and wages utilizing a large household panel and combining it with industry level information on industries' outsourcing activities from input-output tables. This approach avoids problems such as aggregation bias, potential endogeneity bias and poor skill definitions that commonly hamper industry-level studies. We find that outsourcing has had a marked impact on wages. Applying two alternative skill classifications we find evidence that a one percentage point increase in outsourcing reduced the wage for workers in the lowest skill categories by up to 1.5% while it increased wages for high-skilled workers by up to 2.6%. This result is robust to a number of different specifications.


Rachel Davies' ambitious new work is an interactive film installation with live performance. 'They Tuck You Up Your Mum and Dad' (the title a nod to Philip Larkin's famous poem) is a personal response to the thunderbolt of new parenthood and a desire to connect contemporary art with family life. For adults it's a layered and cinematic experience which explores the complexities of family dependency and interdependency, how patterns of behaviour are mirrored and repeated – control, responsibility, anxiety and letting go.

Using film installation and live action, Rachel's narrative of a family's interdependency is constructed from hundreds of different film shots, creating interconnecting stories from three generations of family life. The audience may or may not realize that aspects of their own physical behaviour will affect what is seen on the screen. For children it will present a space full of interactive possibilities.


The partial blockage in gas pipeline due to solid deposition is one of the major risks for the pipelines transportation system. Determining the location and severity of blockage is the key to mitigate or remove it with a high efficiency. In this year, the pressure pulse wave method has been considered as a promising method for blockage detection for their operational speed, maneuverability, and long detection range. However, the application results of this method showed the low accuracy of detecting blockages in pipelines. In this work, a series of tests was performed in a 106 m pipelines with a 22 mm pipe diameter, the experimental result indicated that the blockage location predications based on pressure pluse wave method have an acceptable accuracy. The cross-sectional shape of the blockage will greatly affect the intensity of the reflect wave. It is necessary to consider the cross-sectional shape when calculating the blockage percentage.


Accommodation of collisional shortening in the Central Alps varies dramatically along strike, and this change is inferred to result from along-strike changes of rheology. In the western Central Alps, 90% of shortening is accommodated in the thickened lower plate. In the eastern Central Alps, 90% of shortening is accommodated in the upper plate. In the central Central Alps, shortening is almost equally partitioned between the two plates. The lower crust of the Adriatic plate forms a wedge that reaches a maximum north-south extension of almost 70 km in the Engadine section, progressively decreasing westward and disappearing along the Simplon section. This difference indicates an along-strike increase of intra-plate decoupling, limiting shortening of the Adriatic plate to the middle and upper parts of the crust. Whereas the upper plate indents into the thickened accreted lower plate in the Simplon section, it is the lower plate that indents an intensely deforming upper plate in the Engadine section. In the west, the Ivrea mantle body increases the strength of the Adriatic upper plate, and Barrovian metamorphism weakens the lower plate. Therefore, along-strike transfer of shortening from one plate to the other appears to be a manifestation of along-strike changes in rheology deep in the crust.


Like many other companies, Deloitte realized that its system for evaluating the work of employees—and then training them, promoting them, and paying them accordingly—was increasingly out of step with its objectives. It searched for something nimbler, real-time, and more individualized—something squarely focused on fueling performance in the future rather than assessing it in the past. The new system will have no cascading objectives, no once-a-year reviews, and no 360-degree-feedback tools. Its hallmarks are speed, agility, one-size-fits-one, and constant learning, all underpinned by a new way of collecting reliable performance data. To arrive at this design, Deloitte drew on three pieces of evidence: a simple counting of hours, a review of research in the science of ratings, and a carefully controlled study of its own organization. It discovered that the organization was spending close to 2 million hours a year on performance management, and that "idiosyncratic rater effects" led to ratings that revealed more about team leaders than about the people they were rating. From an empirical study of its own high-performing teams, the company learned that three items correlated best with high performance for a team: "My coworkers are committed to doing quality work," "The mission of our company inspires me," and "I have the chance to use my strengths every day." Of these, the third was the most powerful across the organization. With all this evidence in hand, the company set about designing a radical new performance management system, which the authors describe in this article. INSETS: Idea in Brief.;How Deloitte Built a Radically Simple Performance Measure


This paper examines the core features of the EU reform package designed to encourage greater volumes of private enforcement of the EU competition rules, particularly the Directive on certain rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions of the Member States and of the European Union. Its principal objective is not, however, to scrutinize these provisions in detail. Rather, its purpose is to reflect on the questions of why, especially when compared with the position in the US, it has proved so difficult for a culture of antitrust litigation to develop in the EU, why the Commission believed that EU measures were necessary to kindle it and to consider, against that backdrop, whether the EU package is likely to achieve its stated goals. Section 2 commences by exploring how private enforcement has developed in the US, examining not only the factors that have facilitated and encouraged it, but the extremes widely-believed to have bedeviled and undermined it, and the steps which have consequently been taken to limit and curtail private actions there. Section 3 then examines the EU system and seeks to unpick the different factors that have operated over time as barriers to private litigation in the EU Member States and to identify those that still exist. Having set out the factors that have encouraged and hindered litigation in the US and the EU respectively and examined some of the pros and cons of each system, it is possible to reflect more fully on the questions of whether private litigation should be further encouraged in the EU, what measures might be desirable or required to overcome the obstacles which exist to it, what measures should be avoided, whether the current package is likely to succeed, what pitfalls might be anticipated and/or what further developments and clarifications are likely to be required in the future. Section 4 concludes that the package of reforms is not likely to lead to over-enforcement or to the encouragement of unmeritorious antitrust actions in the EU. What may be more of an issue, however, is whether it has done enough to boost and facilitate private damages actions and to create the level playing field across the EU sought by the Commission. Not only does the Directive not institute a completely harmonised framework, leaving a number of potential obstacles to national actions and areas of legal ambiguity outstanding, but a number of the Directive's provisions are liable to introduce considerable complexities into national proceedings. Further, scope for some significant divergences between national rules remain; such differences are likely to continue to affect where litigants choose to commence their actions and to result in forum-shopping.


Anionic surfactant-biodegrading capability of an Arcobacter butzleri strain was analyzed under aerobic conditions. The A. butzleri isolate displayed efficient surfactant-biodegrading capacity for sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) at concentrations of up to 100 mg/L in 6 days, corresponding to 99.0% removal efficiency. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was applied to observe the effects of varying concentrations of SDS on the biochemistry of bacterial cells. Results suggest that protein secondary structures were altered in bacterial cells at sufficiently high SDS concentrations, concurrent with SDS biodegradation.


A novel, miniaturized micro-sequential injection Lab-on-Valve (μSI-LOV) system hyphenated with electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) is proposed for the automatic preconcentration and speciation analysis of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) utilizing solid-phase extraction on hydrophilic chelating Sepharose beads in the renewable bead injection (BI) mode. Exploiting on-line reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III), the aspirated sample solution is initially divided into two portions, which are treated simultaneously. Thus, while Cr(III) ions are separated from the matrix constituents, preconcentrated on the beads and subsequently eluted by a small volume of eluent (0.1 mol L−1 HNO3) and quantified by ETAAS, the Cr(VI) ions in the second portion are mixed with a reducing agent and parked under stopped-flow conditions in an open tubular reactor attached to one of the peripheral ports of the LOV unit. Following quantification of the native Cr(III) content, the Cr(III) generated from Cr(VI) plus the original Cr(III) is subjected to the same separation/preconcentration/elution procedure. All sample manipulations are controlled automatically by the integrated software.Under optimized chemical and physical conditions, the flow system, by using a total sample loading volume of 3.6 mL, featured retention efficiencies for Cr(III) as high as 86%, and preconcentration factors of 62 and 42 and detection limits (3σ) of 0.010 and 0.020 μg L−1 for Cr(III) and Cr(VI), respectively. The relative standard deviations were 4.7 and 4.5%
 (n
 = 6) at 0.2 μg L−1 for Cr(III) and Cr(VI), respectively, when employing the microcolumn in a renewable fashion, while permanently used sorbent reactors yielded repeatabilities better than 3.0%.The proposed μSI-BI-LOV analyser was successfully applied to the speciation and determination of trace levels of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in environmental samples. The method was validated by determination of chromium species in CRM and NIST standard reference materials, and by spike recoveries of surface waters. Statistical comparison of means between experimental results and the total chromium certified values for the CRM and NIST materials revealed the non-existence of significant differences at a 95% confidence level.


The objective of this paper is to examine the factors or dimensions of BPR that may influence the bank performance. Additionally, it also explores the implementation level of business process reengineering (BPR) in Nigerian financial institutions. A pilot test was conducted to seek these objectives. Instruments content and face validity, and reliability were examined through panel of expert in both academic and practice. The data received from the commercial bank departments was analysed using the SPSS software. The results show that the dimensions of BPR are reliable and valid. In addition, BPR implementation was found in various operations processes in Banks. The research is significant because it explores the level of BRP implementation in Nigerian banks and validates the instrument of various BPR dimensions in which most of these dimensions still need to be further explored.


The article deals with the possibility of developing fiscal decentralization and its main part—the institute of local taxes in Lithuania. The concept of local taxes and its place in state is considered. General principles of tax distribution on the state and local government levels are discussed. Experience of modern democratic states and interwar Lithuania in the sphereof local taxes is presented. The budget's structure of Lithuanian municipalities, from the point of view of local taxes, is analysed in the period of the last few years. The comparative analysis budget structures of Vilnius and other capitals of the Baltic countries are performed. The means proposed will enable us to develop the institute of local taxes up to the European level, i.e. the taxes allocated to the self-government to legalize as a local tax, rendering an opportunity to set its tariffs within the statutory limits and some new local taxes, for example, the taxes on the property of legal persons and that of luxury of natural persons, could be legalized.


The Priest/Klein model predicts both trial rates and plaintiff win rates as functions of three structural parameters: the decision standard, parties' uncertainty in estimating case quality, and the degree of stake asymmetry across parties. Previous tests of the model are unsatisfactory because most have concentrated on its prediction of a 50 percent win rate, which only obtains as a limiting case. We gather independent evidence that describes the model's three parameters and compare it with estimates from a structural model that simultaneously estimates both trial and win rates. The model fits the data for four of our six case types. A four‐parameter model, in which plaintiffs face greater uncertainty than defendants, can explain the two anomalous case types.


Psychological disorders such as depression have more prevalence in inflammatory bowel disease patients and can exacerbate the clinical course of the disease, so anti-depressant therapy may have a potential to positively impact the disease course. On the other hand several antidepressant drugs have shown anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. Thus, this study aimed to explore the beneficial effects of venlafaxine on experimental colitis in normal and reserpinised depressed rats. Acetic acid colitis was induced in both reserpinised and non-reserpinised rats. Reserpinised groups received reserpine at dose of 6 mg/kg i.p.1 h prior to colitis induction and then treated with venlafaxine at doses of 10, 20, 40 mg/kg given i.p. 2 h after induction of colitis and daily for 4 consecutive days. Non-reserpinised groups treated with 10, 20, 40 mg/kg venlafaxine i.p. 2 h after the induction of colitis and daily for 4 successive days. Dexamethasone (1 mg/kg, i.p.) was used as reference drug. Colonic inflammation was evaluated using macroscopic, histological and myeloperoxidase activity measurements. Results showed that reserpine at dose of 6 mg/kg exacerbated the colitis damage. Compared to acetic acid control, venlafaxine at dose of 40 mg/kg as well as dexamethasone significantly improved colitis parameters in both reserpinised and non-reserpinised animals. Venlafaxine reduced inflammatory injury in this animal model of induced ulcerative colitis. These effects are probably mediated first through depressive behavioral changes that could be mediated through the brain-gut axis and second for the anti-inflammatory effect of the drug.


The article will look at how John Buchan (1875–1940) has traced the decline of British aristocracy in his novels that cover the time period when the power radically shifted from the landowning to the middle class, with concomitant feelings of confusion, loss, disillusionment and inadequacy on the part of the class whose very existence was being undermined. Buchan wrote at the time when the spirit of chivalry, so carefully cultivated by the Victorian chivalric revival, still coloured the thinking of the aristocracy and the upper middle class, soon to be extinguished by the trenches of the Great War. This spirit abhorred middle-class mercantilism and pragmatism. Thus we see Buchan's aristocratic heroes, beleaguered by the encroaching spirit of worldliness, going questing in the wilderness to regain their mental balance and purpose. Romantically communing with nature and following their ideals, they fulfil their personal quests, thus reasserting the concepts of duty and selfless service that had been part of the aristocratic code of honour before it was made redundant by middle-class materialism.


Stream flow velocity may be used for estimating discharge. Given the relative scarcity of direct stream flow and discharge measurements, surface velocity measurements can provide useful information for flood warning, hydropower production, hydrological science in general and water resource management. Some recent research efforts attempt involving the population in environmental sensing to complement existing static monitoring networks with alternative, spatially dense environmental information. Given the availability of sensing and the advances in image processing techniques (smartphones), there is a large potential to obtain hydrologically relevant data through motivated citizens. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of stream flow surface velocity measurements from movie clips taken by (smartphone) cameras based on specifically adapted image processing techniques. Results from movie clip derived velocity information is presented and compared to reference measurements from standard flow meters in various field experiments. The application of this technology in the context of so-called Citizen Observatories is expected to have a significant impact on hazard warning, forecasting, decision-making and water governance.


This section contains links to provincial sources of financial assistance as well as guides and lists of bursaries for Aboriginal people.


The reactions of organic azides and alkynes catalysed by copper species represent the prototypical examples of click chemistry. The so-called CuAAC reaction (copper-catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition), discovered in 2002, has been expanded since then to become an excellent tool in organic synthesis. In this contribution the recent results described in the literature since 2010 are reviewed, classified according to the nature of the catalyst precursor: copper(I) or copper(II) salts or complexes, metallic or nano-particulated copper and several solid-supported copper systems.


In a period when financial resources are constrained and there is emphasis on cost cutting and improving operations, repowering offers the potential to significantly improve existing power plant assets. Such improvements can include a more than 50% improvement in power plant heat rate, leading to tremendous operating cost savings. Yet despite the potential operational benefits of repowering, the authors have found that there are misconceptions regarding repowering economics. Those views appear to be limiting the extent to which repowering is being considered as a power supply resource option. Two common misperceptions of repowering relate to its relative installed cost compared to greenfield construction and its comparative financial returns on a life-cycle basis. The authors discuss these two issues and make the case that repowering should be routinely included in power supply planning, along with options such as greenfield construction, power purchase agreements, and spot purchasing.


Each year we pay billions in fees to those who run our financial system. The money comes from our bank accounts, our pensions, our borrowing, and often we aren't told that the money has been taken. These billions may be justified if the finance industry does a good job, but as this book shows, it too often fails us. Financial institutions regularly place their business interests first, charging for advice that does nothing to improve performance, employing short-term buying strategies that are corrosive to building long-term value, and sometimes even concealing both their practices and their investment strategies from investors. In their previous prizewinning book, The New Capitalists, the authors demonstrated how ordinary people are working together to demand accountability from even the most powerful corporations. Here they explain how a tyranny of errant expertise, naive regulation, and a misreading of economics combine to impose a huge stealth tax on our savings and our economies. More important, the trio lay out an agenda for curtailing the misalignments that allow the financial industry to profit at our expense. With our financial future at stake, this is a book that analysts, economists, policy makers, and anyone with a retirement nest egg can't afford to ignore


Author(s): O'Brien, Peter H. | Abstract: Vertebrate pest control has the dual objectives of maximizing efficacy and minimizing nontarget hazard. The task in design is to make these objectives complementary, rather than mutually exclusive. Historically, vertebrate pest control has emphasized target control as a single objective, with nontarget impact a subsequent, secondary consideration. This sequence necessarily constrains the capacity of the design process to minimize nontarget impact. I describe a framework for the design of vertebrate pest control which is based on comparative evaluation of the socioecology of target and potential nontarget species. Using this approach, control systems are designed which focus on and exploit identified differences between target and nontarget species. This approach aids the design of control systems which optimize efficacy and nontarget impact. Further, it facilitates identification of needed research and development, specifies potential problems of nontarget impact, and enables system redesign and refinement prior to implementation. The approach is illustrated with the example of poisoning programmes for feral pig control in Australia.


Background This study investigated two initiatives for preventing falls in Cheshire: public events to raise population awareness about falls and ways of preventing falls, a programme of falls assessments and falls prevention classes. Aim The study aimed to support service development by generating local learning about: the falls risk status of older people attending the public events and their use of services for preventing falls, the efficiency and effectiveness of the falls programme. Methods A local adaptation of an instrument used in similar research was administered to assess the falls risk status of older people attending the public events. This instrument captures data about the age, sex, gait, sensory deficit, falls history, current medication, medical history, mobility and living situation of respondents. Attendees were also asked about their current use of falls services. To evaluate the falls programme data were collected about the characteristics and referral sources of service users and, for users of the falls prevention classes: their mobility and balance on joining and completing the classes; their fear of falling and confidence linked to falls at the start of the classes and six months later; the number of falls they experienced in the six months before starting and after completing the classes. Findings Of the 453 attendees screened, 64.3% were at medium risk of falling or above and 34.3% had suffered previous falls. None were accessing falls prevention services. During its first year, 324 individuals were referred to the falls programme. Overall, among those individuals who provided data for analysis, there was a statistically significant improvement in the 'clinical' outcomes assessed and a statistically significant reduction in the occurrence of falls. The majority of respondents indicated that they achieved an improved confidence linked to falls and a reduced fear of falling. Conclusions Studies of this type can provide a valuable contribution to local learning but the characteristics of the research collaborations developed can affect study designs and the quality of the information generated. Improved contracting arrangements between service commissioners and providers may provide an opportunity to increase the rigour of local developmental studies.


Previous research has shown that individuals with greater cognitive abilities display a greater speed of higher-order cognitive processing. These results suggest that speeded neural information processing may facilitate evidence accumulation during decision making and memory updating and thus yield advantages in general cognitive abilities. We used a hierarchical Bayesian cognitive modeling approach to test the hypothesis that individual differences in the velocity of evidence accumulation mediate the relationship between neural processing speed and cognitive abilities. We found that a higher neural speed predicted both the velocity of evidence accumulation across behavioral tasks and cognitive ability test scores. However, only a negligible part of the association between neural processing speed and cognitive abilities was mediated by individual differences in the velocity of evidence accumulation. The model demonstrated impressive forecasting abilities by predicting 36% of individual variation in cognitive ability test scores in an entirely new sample solely based on their electrophysiological and behavioral data. Our results suggest that individual differences in neural processing speed might affect a plethora of higher-order cognitive processes, that only in concert explain the large association between neural processing speed and cognitive abilities, instead of the effect being entirely explained by differences in evidence accumulation speeds.


Abstract. In the present study, we show evidence of significant stratospheric warming over Southern Hemisphere high latitudes and large portions of the Antarctic polar region in winter and spring seasons, with a maximum warming of 7–8°C in September and October, using satellite Microwave Sounding Unit observations for 1979–2006. It is found that this warming is associated with increasing wave activity from the troposphere into the stratosphere, suggesting that the warming is caused by enhanced wave-driven adiabatic heating. We show that the stratospheric warming in Southern Hemisphere high latitudes has close correlations with sea surface temperature (SST) increases, and that general circulation model simulations forced with observed time-varying SSTs reproduce similar warming trend patterns in the Antarctic stratosphere. The simulated stratospheric warming is closely related to increasing wave activity in the Southern Hemisphere. These findings suggest that the stratospheric warming is likely induced by SST warming. As SST warming continues as a consequence of greenhouse gas increases due to anthropogenic activity, the stratospheric warming would also continue, which has important implications to the recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole.


Making a city "smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid urbanization. Yet little academic research has sparingly discussed the phenomenon. To close the gap in the literature about smart cities and in response to the increasing use of the concept, this paper proposes a framework to understand the concept of smart cities. Based on the exploration of a wide and extensive array of literature from various disciplinary areas we identify eight critical factors of smart city initiatives: management and organization, technology, governance, policy context, people and communities, economy, built infrastructure, and natural environment. These factors form the basis of an integrative framework that can be used to examine how local governments are envisioning smart city initiatives. The framework suggests directions and agendas for smart city research and outlines practical implications for government professionals.


In this study, the skeleton of an approximately 15-year-old child, dating back to the Late Byzantine period (13th century AD) is examined with the aim of determining where this specimen fits in the continuing arguments on the origins of syphilis. It was unearthed during an excavation at an amphitheatre in Nicaea dating to the Roman period. The Nicaea specimen displays common symptoms found in the majority of people with congenital syphilis such as Hutchinson's incisor, mulberry molar, darkened enamel, radial scar on frontal bone, sabre tibia, syphilitic dactylitis, and gummatous and non-gummatous osteomyelitis on almost every post-cranial bone. Because of the sub-periosteal new bone formation, the medullary spaces in some long bones are narrowed or completely obliterated. These lesions, which were observed via macroscopic and radiological examination, reflect the late stages of congenital syphilis. The specimen, when examined together with increasing numbers of other finds from the Old World, contributes to the argument that venereal syphilis did exist in the Old World before 1493, and brings forward the need to revise the Columbian hypothesis, which maintains that syphilis is a new disease carried to the Old World from the New World by Columbus' crew. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The biochemical composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) strongly influences its biogeochemical role in freshwater ecosystems, yet DOM composition measurements are not routinely incorporated into ecological studies. To date, the majority of studies of freshwater ecosystems have relied on bulk analyses of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen to obtain information about DOM cycling. The problem with this approach is that the biogeochemical significance of DOM can only partially be elucidated using bulk analyses alone because bulk measures cannot detect most carbon and nitrogen transformations. Advances in fluorescence spectroscopy provide an alternative to traditional approaches for characterizing aquatic DOM, and allow for the rapid and precise characterization of DOM necessary to more comprehensively trace DOM dynamics. It is within this context that we discuss the use of fluorescence spectroscopy to provide a novel approach to tackling a longstanding problem: understanding the dynamics and biogeochemical role of DOM. We highlight the utility of fluorescence characterization of DOM and provide examples of the potential range of applications for incorporating DOM fluorescence into ecological studies in the hope that this rapidly evolving technique will further our understanding of the biogeochemical role of DOM in freshwater ecosystems.