Examining the Relationship Between Bullying, Attendance, and Achievement in Schools by Peter M. Mullvain MA, Walden University, 2006 BS, The College of St. Scholastica, 1998 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University July 2016 Abstract Bullying is a widespread problem in American schools. Researchers have suggested a relationship between bullying, school attendance rates, and achievement levels. This study was conducted in a suburban school district in Georgia that identified bullying as a problem in its schools during the 2011-2012 school year. The purpose of this correlational study was to identify potential relationships between the primary predictor variable of bullying and the outcome variables of attendance and achievement as measured by the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). Secondary predictor variables suggested by research were socioeconomic status and number of limited English proficiency students. These secondary predictors were used as control variables, offering a clearer look at bullying's relationship with the outcome variables. Patterson's coercive process model was used for explaining the underlying interactions that may illustrate how or why bullying is related to variables such as school attendance and achievement. The research questions focused on whether or not attendance and achievement within district schools are predicted by incidents of bullying. Two separate multiple regression analyses were applied to examine whether the predictors were associated with attendance or achievement in the district's 49 schools. Bullying was not a significant predictor of attendance (p = .75) or achievement (p = .83) in the sample district's schools. Recommendations included further study with variables and sample sizes consistent with prior studies that have found significant relationships. Implications for positive social change include providing the district with recommendations for promoting a positive academic climate built upon positive behavior supports.Bullying is a widespread problem in American schools. Researchers have suggested a relationship between bullying, school attendance rates, and achievement levels. This study was conducted in a suburban school district in Georgia that identified bullying as a problem in its schools during the 2011-2012 school year. The purpose of this correlational study was to identify potential relationships between the primary predictor variable of bullying and the outcome variables of attendance and achievement as measured by the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). Secondary predictor variables suggested by research were socioeconomic status and number of limited English proficiency students. These secondary predictors were used as control variables, offering a clearer look at bullying's relationship with the outcome variables. Patterson's coercive process model was used for explaining the underlying interactions that may illustrate how or why bullying is related to variables such as school attendance and achievement. The research questions focused on whether or not attendance and achievement within district schools are predicted by incidents of bullying. Two separate multiple regression analyses were applied to examine whether the predictors were associated with attendance or achievement in the district's 49 schools. Bullying was not a significant predictor of attendance (p = .75) or achievement (p = .83) in the sample district's schools. Recommendations included further study with variables and sample sizes consistent with prior studies that have found significant relationships. Implications for positive social change include providing the district with recommendations for promoting a positive academic climate built upon positive behavior supports. Examining the Relationship Between Bullying, Attendance, and Achievement in Schools by Peter Mullvain MA, Walden University, 2006 BS, The College of Saint Scholastica, 1998 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University July 2016


Two objective functions representing the second-law efficiency and the operating cost in binary distillation operation were empirically derived and used to optimise the operations of the distillation column. The benzene-toluene and the methanol-water mixtures, process simulation, exergy analysis, operating cost analysis, statistical design of experiments and optimisation were employed in the study. The results showed that the optimum operating set points for the operating variables in the distillation column – feed temperature, column pressure and feed flow rate – were the same for the exergetic and operating cost objective functions. An increase in second-law efficiency corresponded with a decrease in operating cost for the two binary mixtures considered. This implied that the optimisation study using the exergetic objective function is meaningful and realistic.


"Free" products have exploded in popularity along with widespread Internet adoption—but many of them are not truly free. Customers often trade their attention or personal information to access zero-price products. This exchange dynamic brings zero-price markets within the scope of antitrust law. But despite the critical role that such markets now play in modern economies, the antitrust enterprise has largely failed to account for their unique attributes.In response, this Article undertakes two primary tasks. The first is to address particular areas of current antitrust doctrine that require revision or reinterpretation in the face of zero prices. Topics addressed include consumer standing (can attention or personal information qualify as "property" under the Clayton Act?), market definition (is the SSNIP-based hypothetical-monopolist test still workable?), market power (can the traditional emphasis on "power to control price" be refocused on more relevant modes of competition?), defenses (is there a viable "free goods" defense?), and damages (can attentional or informational harms be quantified with the requisite degree of accuracy?). The second task is to examine applications of antitrust law to particular types of strategic conduct. Toward this end, the Article surveys and critiques the existing antitrust case law involving zero-price markets. Though this analysis reveals some flawed judicial reasoning, it also identifies an encouraging trend toward honest attempts to grapple with the distinctive difficulties posed by zero-price markets.


Unlike delta-hedging or similar methods based on Greeks, global hedging is an approach that optimizes some terminal criterion that depends on the difference between the value of a derivative security and that of its hedging portfolio at maturity or exercise. Global hedging methods in discrete time can be implemented using dynamic programming. They provide optimal strategies at all rebalancing dates for all possible states of the world, and can easily accommodate transaction fees and other frictions. However, considering transaction fees in the dynamic programming model requires the inclusion of an additional state variable, which translates into a significant increase of the computational burden. In this short note, we show how a decomposition technique based on the concept of post-decision state variables can be used to reduce the complexity of the computations to the level of a problem without transaction fees. The latter complexity reduction allows for substantial gains in terms of computing time and should therefore contribute to increasing the applicability of global hedging schemes in practice where the timely execution of portfolio rebalancing trades is crucial.


A simulation-based real options analysis (ROA) approach is used to determine the optimum predictive maintenance opportunity for a wind turbine with a remaining useful life (RUL) prediction. When an RUL is predicted for a subsystem in a single turbine using PHM, a predictive maintenance option is triggered that the decision-maker has the flexibility to decide if and when to exercise before the subsystem or turbine fails. The predictive maintenance value paths are simulated by considering the uncertainties in the RUL prediction and wind speed (that govern the turbine's revenue earning potential). By valuating a series of European options expiring on all possible predictive maintenance opportunities, a series of option values can be obtained, and the optimum predictive maintenance opportunity can be determined. A case study is presented in which the ROA approach is applied to a single turbine.


We introduce a new approach aiming at computing approximate optimal designs for multivariate polynomial regressions on compact (semialgebraic) design spaces. We use the moment-sum-of-squares hierarchy of semidefinite programming problems to solve numerically the approximate optimal design problem. The geometry of the design is recovered via semidefinite programming duality theory. This article shows that the hierarchy converges to the approximate optimal design as the order of the hierarchy increases. Furthermore, we provide a dual certificate ensuring finite convergence of the hierarchy and showing that the approximate optimal design can be computed numerically with our method. As a byproduct, we revisit the equivalence theorem of the experimental design theory: it is linked to the Christoffel polynomial and it characterizes finite convergence of the moment-sum-of-square hierarchies.


Information technology is revolutionizing products, from appliances to cars to mining equipment. Products once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts have become complex systems combining hardware, sensors, electronics, and software that connect through the internet in myriad ways. These "smart, connected products" offer exponentially expanding opportunities for new functionality, far greater reliability, and capabilities that cut across and transcend traditional product boundaries. The changing nature of products is disrupting value chains, argue Michael Porter and PTC CEO James Heppelmann, and forcing companies to rethink nearly everything they do, from how they conceive, design, and source their products; to how they manufacture, operate, and service them; to how they build and secure the necessary IT infrastructure. Smart, connected products raise a broad set of new strategic choices for companies about how value is created and captured, how to work with traditional partners and what new partnerships will be required, and how to secure competitive advantage as the new capabilities reshape industry boundaries. For many firms, smart, connected products will force the fundamental question: "What business am I in?" This article provides a framework for developing strategy and achieving competitive advantage in a smart, connected world.


ABSTRACT The migration of the human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococcus) from localized to deep tissue sites may result in severe invasive disease, and sequestration of the host zymogen plasminogen appears crucial for virulence. Here, we describe a novel plasminogen-binding M protein, the plasminogen-binding group A streptococcal M protein (PAM)-related protein (Prp). Prp is phylogenetically distinct from previously described plasminogen-binding M proteins of group A, C, and G streptococci. While competition experiments indicate that Prp binds plasminogen with a lower affinity than PAM (50% effective concentration = 0.34 μM), Prp nonetheless binds plasminogen with high affinity and at physiologically relevant concentrations of plasminogen (Kd = 7.8 nM). Site-directed mutagenesis of the putative plasminogen binding site indicates that unlike the majority of plasminogen receptors, Prp does not interact with plasminogen exclusively via lysine residues. Mutagenesis to alanine of lysine residues Lys96 and Lys101 reduced but did not abrogate plasminogen binding by Prp. Plasminogen binding was abolished only with the additional mutagenesis of Arg107 and His108 to alanine. Furthermore, mutagenesis of Arg107 and His108 abolished plasminogen binding by Prp despite the presence of Lys96 and Lys101 in the binding site. Thus, binding to plasminogen via arginine and histidine residues appears to be a conserved mechanism among plasminogen-binding M proteins.


AbstractEdge detection is a category of geometric seismic attributes that has the capability to delineate vital information from seismic reflection data that can be used to aid qualitative and quantitative interpretation. We have evaluated a new method for geologic interpretation based on templates derived from magic squares and cubes. These are discrete differential operators that approximately calculate the spatial derivative of seismic amplitude through 2D and 3D convolution to locate edges and/or geologic features in seismic data. The new operator benefits from multidirectional scanning leading to efficient detection of different edge locations and their respective orientations. We have tested the new operators against the commonly used Sobel filter using two 3D seismic data volumes. Results of the 5×5×5 magic cube operators provided better definition of seismic features than the 3×3×3 magic cube operators. The overall results compared favorably with the Sobel operator, which suggests that the method ...


The paper analyzes the relationships between mutual loan-guarantee societies (MLGS), small firms and banks trying to evaluate the role played by the guarantees granted by MLGSs and by different banks on the availability and the cost of credit. We focus on a sample of firms member of a specific MLGS and we run different econometric exercises in order to identify the effects of the interaction between local firms, banks and MLGS on credit rationing, on the cost of credit, and on the time and the number of guarantees required to obtain a line of credit. Our findings suggest a critical relevance of the MLGS guarantees on the local firms' credit access and conditions. Finally, while the existing evidence points out a reduction in the cost of credit due to MLGSs intermediation, our analysis stresses the heterogeneity of the benefits for local firms, which depends substantially by the guarantees provided by the MLGS and by the reference banks.


Pentamode materials are artificial solids with elastic properties that approximate those of isotropic liquids. The corresponding three-dimensional mechanical metamaterials or 'meta-liquids' have recently been fabricated. In contrast to normal liquids, anisotropic meta-liquids are also possible—a prerequisite for realizing many of the envisioned transformation-elastodynamics architectures. Here, we study several possibilities theoretically for introducing intentional anisotropy into three-dimensional pentamode metamaterials. In static continuum mechanics, the transition from anti-auxetic pentamode materials to auxetics is possible. Near this transition, in the dynamic case, approximately uniaxial versions of pentamode metamaterials deliver anisotropic longitudinal-wave phase velocities different by nearly a factor of 10 for realistically accessible microstructure parameters.


This article investigates some of the ways in which neoliberalism and mainstream psychology intersect to maintain a dominant episteme in psychology education within the Australian context. It is argued that the ubiquity and logic of neoliberalism and the philosophical inclination of mainstream psychology create a "culture of positivism" and epistemic deceit within psychology education. Some of the features of psychology as it has developed in Australia are offered to more clearly define what mainstream psychology is, before outlining the current regulatory, political, and economic forces shaping psychology education and the neoliberal university. The article concludes by proposing some of the consequences for a psychology education system that does not interrogate the origins of epistemic power and proposes that a greater focus on epistemological ethics and historical–hermeneutic elements in psychology education may offer some resistance to the neoliberal episteme.


By federating resources from multiple domains, a shared infrastructure provides aggregated computation resources to a large number of users. With rapid advances in virtualization technologies, we propose the concept of virtual distributed environments as a new sharing paradigm for a multi-domain shared infrastructure. Such virtual environments provide users with confined, customized platforms to execute legacy parallel/distributed applications. Furthermore, we propose to support autonomic adaptation of virtual distributed environments, driven by both dynamic availability of infrastructure resources and dynamic application resource demand. We identify new research challenges and describe our on-going work and preliminary results.


Images taken under water are often of a monochromatic appearance, due to the physical interaction (absorption and reflection) between particles and light sources. Enhanced images with improved saturation, for which the monochromatic character has been corrected, are more suitable for generating 3D models and for identifying structures and materials by human experts. In this paper, we present an automatic method to identify the mean water color from a set of images. This mean color represents an average gray and is used to describe a new axis in CIELab color space. An extended color variance and a histogram equalization are simultaneously applied to the image. The main advantage of this method is the fully automatic enhancement process. An UUV (Unmanned Underwater Vehicle) can operate without providing a color reference scheme. The presented method was implemented in the software JEnhancer, which is freely available. JEnhancer was successfully tested in several documentation campaigns, and was integrated into the videogrammetric software pipeline Archaeo3D to produce 3D models from videos.


The periodic sale of American arms to Taiwan has become one the United States' thorniest diplomatic challenges. Not only has the issue forced the United States to carefully navigate between its long running commitments to Taiwan and its increasingly important relationship with China, it is an issue that could, if not carefully managed, lead to the outbreak of armed conflict between the two major regional powers. Given this danger, should the United States (1) cease arms sales, (2) increase arms sales, or (3) adopt a position somewhere in between? This essay will compare and contrast the merits of these three broad positions.


The objective of this study was to determine the taxonomic composition and ecological aspects of decapod crustacean species belonging to the infraorders Anomura and Brachyura in shallow marine and estuarine waters from southern Bahia, a coastline about 640 km in extent, corresponding to approximately 7% of the Brazilian coast. Sixteen species of the infraorder Anomura and 68 of the infraorder Brachyura are reported for the study area. The most important families in terms of number of species were the Panopeidae with 11 species, and the Ocypodidae and Portunidae with 9. Among the Brachyura, the southern distribution of the species Austinixa leptodactyla Coelho, 1997 (Pinnotheridae), endemic to Brazil, is extended from the coast of Sergipe to Bahia (Prado, Cumuruxatiba Beach, 17°06'18.6"S, 39°10'50.4"W). The ocypodid Uca (Leptuca) cumulanta Crane, 1943 and also the pinnotherids Austinixa aidae (Righi, 1967) and Fabia byssomiae (Say, 1818) are reported for the first time from the Bahia coast. The specimen of F. byssomiae examined was collected in the mantle cavity of the clam Macoma constricta (Bruchière, 1792) (Bivalvia: Tellinidae), a new host record for the species.


The aim of this research was to find the extent to which the literacy levels in reading comprehension of students entering a secondary school with low levels of reading and writing, would improve through content enhancement to aid in their cognitive development. The research was conducted in a secondary school in an educational district in Trinidad and Tobago that has one of the lowest primary school performance in the country. Form 1 Geography students at the secondary school, aged 11-13, expressed frustration in understanding geographical terms and concepts, thereby preventing them becoming proficient in the subject. They felt that teachers should help them understand the complex jargon in the subject.  The Qualitative Reading Inventory-4 (QRI-4) diagnostic test was conducted prior to the intervention, to assess literacy levels for grade levels 4-6. Results from the diagnostic test indicated that the students' literacy level was below grade 7, which is the required level for Form 1. An action research approach, using three literacy strategies, namely, the Frayer Model, Audience-Centred teaching and Learning Logs, were implemented as the intervention during and at the end of each lesson over five weeks. Numerical and non-numerical data on students' performance and attitude to reading were collected and analysed. Overall, students improved in their reading comprehension, which resulted in an elevated level of writing through Audience-Centred Teaching, advancement in vocabulary use with the Frayer model, and student self-reflection by using Learning Logs. They made connections between text in the lesson, other subjects and their real life.  They were also more engaged in class as they began to read, write and construct meaning in Geography. The main implication of this study is that all teachers should consider integrating literacy strategies within their classroom practice to assist their students in becoming proficient in reading comprehension.


The purpose of this work is to examine the decidability problem
of weak bisimilarity for BPA-processes. It has been known that
strong bisimilarity, which may be considered a special case of
weak bisimilarity, where the internal (silent) action tau is
treated equally to observable actions, is decidable for
BPA-processes. For strong bisimilarity, these processes are
finitely branching and so for two non-bisimilar processes there
exists a level n that distinguishes the two processes.
Additionally, from the decidability of whether two processes
are equivalent at a given level n, semidecidability of strong
non-bisimilarity directly follows. We examine the following two
closely related approaches to semidecidability of strong
equivalence: 1.construction of a (finite) bisimulation or
expansion tree, 2.construction of a finite Caucal base. We have
attempted to find out if any of the above mentioned approaches
could be generalized to (semi)decide weak bisimilarity. Our
findings indicate that a direct generalization is not
sufficient and an efficient (semi)decision procedure cannot be
obtained in this way.


of a dissertation at the University of Miami. (May 2010) Dissertation supervised by Professor Jeffrey Goldberg. No. of pages in text. (167) Mammalian central nervous system (CNS) neurons lose their ability to regenerate their axons after injury during development. For example, optic nerve injury studies in hamsters have shown that optic nerve axons injured around the time of birth retain the ability to regenerate to their target, but this ability is lost during development (So et al., 1981). The development of an inhibitory CNS environment has been implicated in the inability of the adult CNS to regenerate, however there is also support for this loss being a result of changes in developmental programs intrinsic to the neurons themselves (Goldberg et al., 2002a; Goldberg, 2004). While some molecules have been identified as being involved in intrinsic mechanisms controlling axon growth, there is still much to be discovered. Using genes shown to be regulated in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) during development (Wang et al., 2007), I performed an overexpression screen in embryonic primary neurons measuring changes in neurite growth. Of these genes, the most significant effect in neurite growth was seen with overexpression of Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), resulting in a greater than 50% decrease in growth. KLF4 is a member of the KLF family of transcription factors which all possess a DNA binding domain containing 3 zinc finger motifs. Outside of the nervous system, KLF4 has been implicated in cancer (Black et al., 2001; Rowland and Peeper, 2006), mitotic growth arrest (Shields et al., 1996) and most recently in the induction of pluripotency (Yamanaka, 2008; Zhao and Daley, 2008). In the CNS, KLF4 has recently been implicated in increasing the sensitivity of cortical neurons to NMDA insult (Zhu et al, 2009), though no effect of KLF4 on neurite growth or regeneration has yet been described. I found that KLF4 overexpression in RGCs results in decreased neurite growth and neurite initiation. KLF4 overexpression also leads to decreases in polarity acquisition in hippocampal neurons, though even when they acquire polarity, they still display decreased neurite growth. Additionally, KLF4 knockout targeted to RGCs leads to an increased neurite growth ability and increased neurite initiation in vitro. In vivo, KLF4 knockout increases RGC axon regeneration after optic nerve injury. Interestingly, KLF4 is one of 17 members of the KLF family, known for their ability to act redundantly and competitively amongst family members for their binding sites. Therefore, we looked to see if other KLFs could affect neurite growth ability. 15 of 17 KLF family members are expressed in RGCs, and their overexpression results in differential effects on neurite growth in both cortical neurons and RGCs. Additionally, many of the family members are developmentally regulated in a manner that typically correlates with their ability to affect neurite growth. For example, KLF6 and -7, whose expression decreases during development, when overexpressed, increase neurite growth, whereas KLF9, whose expression increases developmentally, when overexpressed, decreases neurite growth. Surprisingly, there are multiple KLFs expressed in RGCs that are neurite growth-suppressors, and further study has revealed that the combination of KLF growth enhancers with KLF growth suppressors results in a suppressive or neutral phenotype (Moore et al., 2009), suggesting that to further enhance regeneration after injury in vivo, we will need to additionally remove the growth suppression from other KLF family members. Taken together, these data suggest that KLFs may play an important role in the intrinsic loss of axon growth and regeneration seen during development. Further characterization of downstream targets of KLF4 and other KLF family members may reveal specific neuronal gene targets that could mediate the phenotypic effects of these transcription factors. It is my hope that by determining the developmental programs that underlie the loss of intrinsic axon growth ability of CNS neurons, we may ultimately determine how to revert adult CNS neurons to their embryonic axon growth ability.


Background: Reliable health user information is needed to effectively organize nursing services and deliver quality patientcentered care. Nurse leaders of Al Gharbia Health Services (AGHS) noted that although budget data and general workforce information were readily available, detailed information about patient experiences, views, and expectations was lacking. Objective: This study aimed to obtain preliminary data regarding health and nursing service expectations of Emirati nationals in the remote western region of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods: This study used qualitative descriptive methodology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of Emirati families who had recently accessed AGHS. Interviews focused on service user understanding and expectations of the role of nurses, nursing services, and the health service overall. Results: Emirati nationals' views and expectations regarding nurses' role and function in the healthcare team were highlighted. Participants' expectations and the attributes they valued were distributed across two distinct areas: clinical competence and the "softer" skills of compassion, caring, and respect. Conclusions: These findings facilitate understanding of the expectations of Emirati health service users. Importantly, the results counter regional perceptions of nursing under-valued as a servant role across the UAE and broader Gulf Cooperation Council region. The findings may inform a range of activities including: a large-scale survey regarding the views and expectations of Emirati health service users; pre-service nursing education and nursing in service development; and the recruitment of Emirati nationals to the nursing profession. Further investigation regarding perceptions and valuing of nursing within the Emirati community is warranted.


Howard Wesley Johnson has been associated with MIT for more than forty years and been a major influence on the modernization and expansion of many of its programs. He will be most remembered as a management educator and as MIT's president during the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s. The title of his memoirs reflects his central, usually lonely position in those days, trying to hold together an institution often torn apart by the turmoil of the times. Johnson was more successful at navigating the minefields on campus than were many other college and university presidents, perhaps because he was always willing to listen to both sides and because his values were in the right place--against the war in Vietnam, in favor of increased participation in the university by women and minorities, and concerned about environmental issues. As a professor and administrator at MIT, a corporate director, and an advisor to American government agencies and to museums and foundations, Johnson consistently sought both to understand and to apply the principles of good management.


We review recent progress in the development of organic bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells employing donor–acceptor copolymers as the electron-donor and fullerene derivatives as the electron-acceptor. We discuss the role of the donor and acceptor moieties, side-chains, bridging units and atomic substitutions of the copolymers on their optoelectronic functionality. The physical properties, e.g. molecular conformation, miscibility, phase-separated lateral and vertical morphology, of various photovoltaic blends prepared via solution casting and post-treatments are reviewed and correlated with photovoltaic device performance. Factors influencing the morphological stability of polymer:fullerene BHJ thin-films are briefly discussed. Finally, we address the use of thin organic interlayers to increase the efficiency of BHJ solar cells.


Indo-Pacific biogeography has often been explored relative to the Indo-Australian Archipelago centre of origin with southward dispersal of Indo-Pacific fishes in the Indian Ocean linked to poleward-flowing boundary currents off Australia and Africa. Coupled with early Gondwanan fragmentation, which largely defined the biogeography of temperate southern hemisphere taxa, the mixture of fishes around the rim of the South Indian Ocean provides an interesting test case for broad-scale biodiversity analyses. Existing presence/absence data-bases of fish distributions from South Africa and Western Australia were examined and well-defined biogeographic patterns were evident. When compared, the fishes of north-western Australia and north-eastern South Africa were most similar and maximum divergence was evident between the south coasts of Australia and Africa. Although, as expected, species diversity declined from north to south, the number of families across the latitudinal range was surprisingly consistent. The relatedness of fishes across the Indian Ocean was investigated using taxonomic distinctness measures (i.e. distances travelled in connecting every pair of species via a fixed set of levels in the hierarchical Linnean taxonomic tree). Average taxonomic distinctness (Δ+) and variation in taxonomic distinctness (Λ+), known theoretically to be insensitive (in mean value) to variation in sampling effort, both increased from north to south. Comparisons of these values with simulations of their expected range under random sampling at different intensities ('funnel plots') indicated, for the south coasts of Australia and Africa, that average taxonomic distinctness consistently exceeded the 95% upper limit of the simulations. This finding, of greater than expected taxonomic breadth, is largely unprecedented in the literature on observed patterns in taxonomic distinctness, emphasising the high, and unusual nature of, fish diversity in these regions.


We systematically reviewed interventions substituting sucrose for other macronutrients in apparently healthy adults to assess impact on cardiometabolic risk indicators. Multiple databases were searched to January 2012 and abstracts assessed by 2 reviewers. Twenty-five studies (29 papers) met inclusion criteria but varied in quality and duration. Weaknesses included small subject numbers, unclear reporting of allocation, unusual dietary regimes, differences in energy intake, fat composition or fibre between conditions, unhealthy subjects, heterogeneity of results, and selective reporting. Insufficient data were available to draw reliable conclusions except with regard to the substitution of sucrose for starch, where effects on plasma lipids were inconsistent, mostly explicable by other factors, or nonsignificant. Based on fewer studies, there was little evidence for significant effects on plasma glucose or insulin. Sucrose substitution for starch up to 25% energy does not appear to have adverse effects on cardiometabolic risk indicators in apparently healthy adults. Furthermore, there is no consistent evidence that restricting sucrose in an isoenergetic diet would affect risk indicators, except perhaps in people with certain preexisting metabolic abnormalities. Larger, high-quality studies, lasting several months and studying a wider range of outcomes, are needed in order to provide evidence on which to base public health initiatives.


In the first part of this work, called Simple node singularity, are computed matrix factorizations of all isomorphism classes, up to shiftings, of rank one and two, graded, indecomposable maximal Cohen--Macaulay (shortly MCM) modules over the affine cone of the simple node singularity. The subsection 2.2 contains a description of all rank two graded MCM R-modules with stable sheafification on the projective cone of R, by their matrix factorizations. It is given also a general description of such modules, of any rank, over a projective curve of arithmetic genus 1, using their matrix factorizations. The non-locally free rank two MCM modules are computed using an alghorithm presented in the Introduction of this work, that gives a matrix factorization of any extension of two MCM modules over a hypersurface. In the second part, called Fermat surface, are classified all graded, rank two, MCM modules over the affine cone of the Fermat surface. For the classification of the orientable rank two graded MCM R-modules, is used a description of the orientable modules (over normal rings) with the help of codimension two Gorenstein ideals, realized by Herzog and Kuhl. It is proven (in section 4), that they have skew symmetric matrix factorizations (over any normal hypersurface ring). For the classification of the non-orientable rank two MCM R-modules, we use a similar idea as in the case of the orientable ones, only that the ideal is not any more Gorenstein.


Until recently, our understanding of the earliest history of the fish has been fragmentary in terms of the fossil record and conjectural with respect to many details of phylogeny. Fortunately, significant new information has become available in recent years, most notably from the discoveries of at least three taxa of agnathan fish from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstatte of Yunnan, China (Shu et al., 1999, 2003; Shu, 2003; see also Hou et al., 2002; Hou et al., 2004, p. 192–193; Zhang and Hou, 2004). Two of the taxa ( Haikouichthys and Zhangjianichthys ) are represented by numerous specimens, but it is noteworthy that amongst the forty-odd Burgess Shale-type occurrences apart from the Chengjiang Lagerstatte, chordates (or indeed cephalochordates and urochordates) are otherwise unknown. The one exception is the Burgess Shale itself, characterized by the rather enigmatic Pikaia gracilens (Conway Morris, 1982, 1998) and the much rarer chordate described herein. Apart from this exceptionally preserved material, the fossil record effectively only begins in the Ordovician (e.g., Sansom et al., 2001, 2005; Sansom and Smith, 2005), in as much putative fish scales from the latest Cambrian (Young et al., 1996) may be better interpreted as arthropodan (see Smith et al., 2001, p. 78). The difficulties of interpreting what is overall an extremely patchy record are further compounded by the fact that the relevance to this early history of the extant agnathan hagfish and lamprey has remained (and indeed to some extent remains) problematic, given the uncertainty as to which of the presumed archaic features have been over-printed by specializations for modes of life that might have had little counterpart in the ancestral forms.

The relative abundance of agnathans from the Chengjiang Lagerstatte, but near total absence from equivalent fossil deposits, raises important and related …


Fifteen years to the day after the death of their father, three brothers get together and drive out to the place where it happened: an old fishing spot on the river down Dangerous Passes Road. Each sibling is facing a crucial rite of passage: Carl, the youngest, is to be married later in the day and it is this occasion that has brought the three of them together. Ambrose is losing his lover to AIDS. Victor, the eldest, has just left his second failed marriage. They have never really spoken with each other because they all have their own individual secrets to hide and because they share an ambivalence about the death of their father. Could they have prevented it? Would they have wanted to save the town drunk, dreamer, poet, fisherman, the man who embarrassed them in front of their friends and locked them in the sentimental prison of his poems? Are they ready, finally, to reveal themselves to each other and move on with their lives? Can they survive this unsparing encounter with their own manhood? In voices that interweave, alternate and play off one another with the exquisite lyricism of chamber music, the brothers reveal themselves as trapped by their father's inability to let his boys grow up and their own inability to accept him as an adult. Cast of three men.


In drug design and discovery, ligand binding kinetics combines pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and more and more attention is paid to it. The κ-opioid G-protein coupled receptor (κ-OR) has been determined to be a promising drug target for the treatment of depression- and anxiety-related diseases. Among the κ-OR selective antagonists, JDTic is a failed antidepressant with a short drug-target residence time (RT), whereas LY2456302 exhibits better effects with a longer RT than JDTic. To investigate the inhibition mechanism of the κ-OR induced by the two ligands, unbiased molecular dynamics and well-tempered metadynamics simulations were performed on JDTic–κ-OR and LY2456302–κ-OR complexes. Through detailed analyses of the simulations, a strong but single interaction mode was found to be responsible for the adverse effects and short RT of JDTic, which could be considered as an alert for other chemotypes, whereas LY2456302 was more advanced, mainly due to its multiple metastable states. Based on Eyring's equation, the relative RT of LY2456302/JDTic, determined from the activation free energy of dissociation ΔG≠off, was efficiently calculated and was in good agreement with experimental data. Thus, these simulations might be helpful for the further design of antidepressants targeting κ-OR with reasonable RT.


The ancient Egyptians considered breast milk the nectar of Gods that could give life, strength and ensure a very long existence. Nowadays, it is well known that breast milk is a dynamic bioactive mixture that is tailored upon the needs of the neonates. In fact breast milk contains nutritional substances (such as lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals), bioactive substances (such as hormones, cytokines, chemokines, immunoglobulins, leucocytes) and, according to the newest works, bacteria (microbiome of maternal milk) and multipotent stem cells. Metabolomics is one of the newest "omics" sciences that make it possible to have a snapshot of the metabolic state of an individual or a biufluid. Now about 10 papers have been published in the last 3 years on metabolomics in human milk. Human breast milk was mistakenly thought to be sterile for almost a century, but nowadays using the modern technologies it is well known that it is "contaminated": in fact investigators we know that bacteria can be found in breast milk speaks about maternal milk microbiota. A breastfed baby is thought to ingest up to 10 milions of live bacteria per day.  There are as much as 600 species of bacteria in maternal milk. The possible future applications of stem cells found in are potentially endless: a tailored regenerative medicine with less ethical problems and better outcomes for the patients could be developed.


This paper uses a panel cointegration method to test the Ohlson (1995) model. Sample firms are selected from US listed companies during the period from 1986 to 2004. The analysis is focussed on whether the fundamental value of corporations cointegrates with market value. The results support the hypothesis of cointegration that a long-run equilibrium relationship exists between a corporation's fundamental value and market value. Subsequently, this paper evaluates the predictive power of the Ohlson model for future market value assessment. Since the Ohlson model is built upon the dividend discount model, this paper also examines the validity and the predictive power of the dividend discount model as a basis for comparison. The results show that the Ohlson model can forecast future stock price movements much more accurately in any predicted horizon.


The Holocaust had a profound effect on the Esperanto movement. Many of the leading members of the Esperanto language community perished, and some survived. Recent years have seen a revival of interest in those who died and those who lived. Among the dead were most of the family of L. L. Zamenhof, author of Esperanto. Among the survivors was the father of the financier George Soros, Tivadar Soros, whose memoir of survival in Nazi-occupied Budapest, written originally in Esperanto and published in 1965, was published in English translation in the year 2000. An important player in the effort to protect the Jews of Budapest was the Esperantist Valdemar Langlet, of Sweden, whose memoir of his experiences was adapted and published, first in Swedish, then in Esperanto, by Nina Langlet, his widow. In 2003, Zofia Banet-Fornalowa published a memorial volume for six Esperantist victims of the Holocaust. Among other relatively recent Holocaust-related books in Esperanto are a translation of Imre Kertesz's novel Fateless and a biography of Tilla Durieux.


Subabul (Leucaena Leucocephala) leaves although highly palatable and rich in protein has a limitation as a fodder due to the toxic mimosine content, which generally causes hypothyroidism and alopecia in animals. Studies on the reproductive performance of female goats were carried out by feeding green subabulleaves as a sole feed or at 50% level of roughage or 100% crude protein requirements over a period of 4 weeks to 14 months. The studies showed that out of 35.5% of pregnant goats, 44.5% aborted at different stages of gestation. Feeding of 50% subabul roughage for 3 to 8 months showed that 3 out of 5 (60%) animals had conceived and 1 animal aborted, while at 100% crude protein levels, the conception rate was 80% and no abortions took place indicating that the reproductive failures and abortions were proportional to the daily ingestion of subabulleaves and mimosine. Thyroid glands of all the experimental groups were enlarged weighing 1.78 to 5.75g and exhibited colloidal and hyperplastic goitrogenic changes. Thyroid glands of the aborted fetus and the kids born to the subabul fed animals were also enlarged weighing 0.526 to 3.5g; showed parenchymatous and colloidal goiter indicating that subabul feeding not only caused hypothyroidism and reproductive failures in the female goats but also caused congenital goiter in the progeny. These finding suggested that subabul feeding would adversely affect the reproductive performance of the female animals and is hazardous.


Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate patients with end stage renal failure (ESRD) who underwent chronic peritoneal dialysis (CPD). The clinical outcomes of laparoscopic and open placements of catheters were compared. Materials and Methods: We reviewed 49 (18 male and 31 female) children with CPD according to age, sex, cause of ESRD, catheter insertion method, kt/V rate, complications, presence of peritonitis, catheter survival rate between January 2002 and February 2014. Results: Thirty-three patients were with open placement and 16 patients were with laparoscopic placement. The rate of the peritonitis is significantly less in patients with laparoscopic access than open access (n = 4 v sn = 25) (P<0.01). Patients with peritonitis were younger than those who had no attack of peritonitis (10.95 ± 0.8 years vs 13.4 ± 0.85 years). According to the development of complications, significant difference has not been found between the open (n = 9) and laparoscopic (n = 3) approaches except the peritonitis. Catheter survival rate for the first year was 95%, and for five years was 87.5%. There was no difference between open and laparoscopic group according to catheter survival rate. The mean kt/V which indicates the effectiveness of peritoneal dialysis was mean 2.26 ± 0.08. No difference was found between laparoscopic and open methods according to kt/V. Conclusion: Laparoscopic placement of CPD results in lower peritonitis rate. Catheter survival rate was excellent in both groups. Single port laparoscopic access for CPD catheter insertion is an effective and safe method.


In order to achieve better lightning protection and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements, the needs for a proper grounding system and the knowledge of its transient behaviour become crucial. The present work is focused towards developing engineering models for transient analysis of grounding system with sufficient accuracy and simplicity for lightning studies. Firstly, the conventional uniform transmission line approach for a single grounding conductor is modified and extended to grounding grids. Secondly, in order to overcome the drawbacks of all the existing transmission line approaches, for the first time, a non-uniform transmission line approach is developed for modelling the transient behaviour of different types of grounding systems. The important feature of such an approach is in its capability to include the electromagnetic couplings between different parts of the grounding system using space and time dependent per-unit length parameters. High voltages and currents induced in the grounding systems due to lightning always produce ionization in the soil. This phenomenon should be included during the transient analysis of grounding systems. In the present work, an improved soil ionization model including residual resistivity in ionization region is developed. The fact that there exists residual resistivity in ionization region (7 % of the original soil resistivity) can be proved by the experiments reported in the literature and the experiments carried out at the high voltage lab of Uppsala University. The advantage of including residual resistivity is that the beneficial influence of soil ionization in reducing the potential rise of grounding system will not be overestimated, especially in high resistivity soil. Finally, the transmission line approaches are adopted for studying the response of grounding systems due to lightning for different applications. These are, influence of soil parameters on the transient behaviour of grounding systems, transient analysis of grounding structures in stratified soils, investigation of the validity of existing definitions for effective length/area of different grounding structures, current distribution in the shields of under ground cables associated with communication tower, and influence of insulator flashover and soil ionization around the pole footing on surge propagation in Swedish railway system.


We analyze self-trapping of optical beams in photorefractive media for low irradiances that are typical of cw lasers and high irradiances that are typical of short-pulse lasers and obtain bright and dark soliton solutions in one transverse dimension. Whereas in the low-intensity regime photorefractive screening solitons are trapped by the refractive-index change that is related to the electric field associated with ionized donors or acceptors, in the high-intensity regime the index is related to the field that is also associated with free carriers. Since the time necessary to form the soliton scales inversely with the intensity, one expects a very fast response time in the high-intensity regime, and this suggests attractive applications in optical switching and reconfigurable optical waveguides. We show that throughout the entire intensity range dark solitons require lower voltages and less energy per pulse for applications than do bright solitons.


BACKGROUND
Cryptococcal meningitis is a leading cause of death in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and contributes substantially to the high early mortality in antiretroviral treatment (ART) programs in low-resource settings. Screening for cryptococcal antigen in patients who enroll in ART programs may identify those at risk of cryptococcal meningitis and permit targeted use of preemptive therapy.

METHODS
In this retrospective study, cryptococcal antigen was measured in stored plasma samples obtained from patients when they enrolled in a well-characterized ART cohort in South Africa. The predictive value of screening for cryptococcal antigen before initiation of ART for development of microbiologically confirmed cryptococcal meningitis or death during the first year of follow-up was determined.

RESULTS
Of 707 participants with a baseline median CD4 cell count of 97 cells/microL (interquartile range, 46-157 cells/microL), 46 (7%) were positive for cryptococcal antigen. Antigenemia was 100% sensitive for predicting development of cryptococcal meningitis during the first year of ART, and in multivariate analysis, it was an independent predictor of mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-6.6). Most cases (92%) of cryptococcal meningitis developed in patients with a CD4 cell count <or= 100 cells/microL. In this subset of patients, a cryptococcal antigen titer >or 1:8 was 100% sensitive and 96% specific for predicting incident cryptococcal meningitis during the first year of ART in those with no history of the disease.

CONCLUSIONS
Cryptococcal antigen screening before initiation of ART in patients with a CD4 cell count <or=100 cells/microL is highly effective for identifying those at risk of cryptococcal meningitis and death and might permit implementation of a targeted preemptive treatment strategy.


Each year the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program provides $140 million for independent living services to assist youth as they age out of foster care and enter adulthood. Under this formula grant program, states are provided allocations and allowed to use up to 30 percent of program funds for room and board for youth ages 18 to 21 who have left care. This report describes how states are using these funds to provide housing assistance to these vulnerable youth and explores how the assistance provided through this program fits in with other sources of housing assistance available in the states examined.


Altered mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) levels have been associated with common diseases in humans. We investigated the genetic mechanism that controls mtDNA levels using genome-wide linkage analyses in families from the Genetic Analysis of Idiopathic Thrombophilia Project (GAIT). We measure mtDNA levels by quantitative real-time PCR in 386 subjects from 21 extended Spanish families. A variance component linkage method using 485 microsatellites was conducted to evaluate linkage and to detect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) involved in the control of mtDNA levels. The heritalibility of mtDNA levels was 0.33 (p = 1.82e-05). We identified a QTL on Chromosome 2 (LOD = 2.21) using all of the subjects, independently on their sex. When females and males were analysed separately, three QTLs were identified. Females showed the same QTL on Chromosome 2 (LOD = 3.09), indicating that the QTL identified in the analysis using all of the subjects was a strong female QTL, and another one on Chromosome 3 (LOD = 2.67), whereas in males a QTL was identified on Chromosome 1 (LOD = 2.81). These QTLs were fine-mapped to find associations with mtDNA levels. The most significant SNP association was for the rs10888838 on Chromosome 1 in males. This SNP mapped to the gene MRPL37, involved in mitochondrial protein translation. The rs2140855 on Chromosome 2 showed association in the analysis using all of the subjects. It was near the gene CMPK2, which encodes a mitochondrial enzyme of the salvage pathway of deoxyribonucleotide synthesis. Our results provide evidence of a sex-specific genetic mechanism for the control of mtDNA levels and provide a framework to identify new genes that influence mtDNA levels.


Over the past decade, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have steadily climbed in importance on the CERCLA list of hazardous substances. Though the listing does not necessarily imply that these chemicals exhibit the greatest degree of toxicity, such recognition by ATSDR and USEPA is predicated at least in part on their overwhelming ubiquity in association with many very common sources, coupled with toxicity considerations. Regulatory agencies increasingly are under pressure to define and interpret data describing urban background levels, and to appropriately determine the relative importance of waste-producing activities and concentrations resulting from typical natural and/or human activity. Three case studies from Florida are presented that confirm the ubiquity of the PAHs at low levels, and that demonstrate the need for more sophisticated and transparent treatment by regulatory agencies. We discuss assessment and risk assessment activities related to two urban redevelopment projects, as well as one property transaction project. In each case, considerable sampling of surficial soils and sediment identified total benzo(a)pyrene-equivalent concentrations in the range of less than one ppm to about 5 ppm. Although those concentrations frequently exceeded the default Florida cleanup target level for both residential and commercial/industrial land use by a wide margin, it was concluded that they are completely consistent with levels reported in a great many urban settings. There is an ongoing need to consider the development of a default urban background level for PAHs in areas characterized by busy roadways or multiple industrial facilities, in much the same way that geological or anthropogenic background levels are established for some inorganics.


Modern finance theory and investment practice have shifted toward "passive investing." The current consensus is that most savers should invest in mutual funds or ETFs that are (i) well-diversified, (ii) low-cost, and (iii) expose their portfolios to age-appropriate stock market risk. The law governing trustees, investment advisers, broker–dealers, 401(k) plan managers, and other investment fiduciaries has evolved to push them gently toward this consensus. But these laws still provide broad scope for fiduciaries to recommend that clients invest instead in specific assets that they believe will produce "alpha" by outperforming the market. Seeking alpha comes at a cost, however, in giving up some of the benefits of the well-diversified, low-cost, appropriate-risk baseline. Too little attention has been given in fiduciary law to this tradeoff and, thus, to when seeking alpha is prudent and beneficial for savers, and when it is not.

This Article begins to fill that gap by making two contributions. First, we provide the first benchmark estimates of how much alpha is required before ordinary investors would be better off departing from the consensus. For example, we estimate that a person of average risk aversion would annually need to beat the market by (i.e., obtain alpha of) between 6% and 15% before being willing to entirely forego the benefits of diversification and hold an individual stock (and that during a financial crisis such a person would need an annual alpha between 9% and 18%). Second, we consider the implications of our results for the various branches of law governing investment fiduciaries. We propose generally that fiduciaries should prudently weigh these alpha tradeoffs, and then should explain them to their clients before recommending (or executing) investments that deviate from the low-cost, well-diversified, age-appropriate exposure standard. We argue that through new technology, this kind of information can be given to retirement savers and others at quite low cost. Our results also have a variety of more specific applications. For example, our work shows that the value of diversification increases during periods of market upheaval, and therefore the duty of trustees to diversify personal trusts and employee retirement plans should likewise strengthen during such periods.


Description: The Science of Fitness: Power, Performance, and Endurance clearly explains the vital connection between diet and exercise in the human body. With this knowledge, you can use the right exercise and nutrition to obtain a higher quality life, prevent disease, and slow the aging process. Authored in a straightforward style and with color images throughout, this book explores the cellular science behind fitness, protein synthesis, and healthy living. With it you will learn the most recent and important discoveries in the relationships between physical fitness, nutrition, weight loss, and weight management. It provides key information on the body's mitochondrial processes and their role in aging, along with well-informed discussions on general nutrition, sports nutrition, exercise physiology, how to enhance athletic performance, and how exercise strengthens the mind. Whether you are interested in how to eat healthy, train for your first (or next) marathon, take your fitness to the next level, find the best super foods, or simply want to improve your vitality through healthy, doable practices, this book will help you on your journey regardless of age or fitness level.-Presents the connection between exercise, nutrition, and physiology in a way that is ideal for both experienced athletes and newcomers-Provides the scientific basis for mitochondrial functions and their relationship to fitness, protein synthesis, quality of life, and the aging process-Synthesizes the latest research on nutrition, sports nutrition, super foods, and the brain/body connection-Co-Authored by legendary cyclist Greg LeMond, who illustrates key points using his own athletic journey


Linear Support Vector Machines (SVMs) have become very popular in vision as part of state-of-the-art object recognition and other classification tasks but require high dimensional feature spaces for good performance. Deep learning methods can find more compact representations but current methods employ multilayer perceptrons that require solving a difficult, non-convex optimization problem. We propose a deep non-linear classifier whose layers are SVMs and which incorporates random projection as its core stacking element. Our method learns layers of linear SVMs recursively transforming the original data manifold through a random projection of the weak prediction computed from each layer. Our method scales as linear SVMs, does not rely on any kernel computations or nonconvex optimization, and exhibits better generalization ability than kernel-based SVMs. This is especially true when the number of training samples is smaller than the dimensionality of data, a common scenario in many real-world applications. The use of random projections is key to our method, as we show in the experiments section, in which we observe a consistent improvement over previous -often more complicated- methods on several vision and speech benchmarks.


Purpose: To estimate the energy expenditure (EE) of Vinyasa Flow and validate the Actigraph (AG) and GENEActiv (GA) for measuring EE in Vinyasa Flow. Methods: Participants (N = 22) were fitted to a mask attached to the Oxycon. An AG was placed on the left hip and a GA was placed on the non-dominant wrist. Participants were randomized to an initial resting activity before completing a 30-minute Vinyasa Flow video. AG data was scored using the Freedson VM3 (2011) and the Freedson Adult (1998) algorithms in the Actilife software platform. EE from GA were derived using cut points from a previous study. Date and time filters were added corresponding to the time stamps recorded by the tablet video files of each yoga session. Kcals and METs expended by participants were calculated using bodyweight measured during their visit. Data was analyzed using SPSS. A dependent samples t-test, an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and mean absolute difference were used to determine agreement between variables. Results: According to the Oxycon, participation in Vinyasa Flow required an average EE of 3.2 ± 0.4 METs. The absolute agreement between the Oxycon, AG, or GA was poor (ICC < .20). The mean difference in METs for the AG was −2.1 ± 0.6 and GA was −1.4 ± 0.6 (all p < .01). Conclusion: According to the Oxycon, participation in Vinyasa Flow met the criteria for moderate-intensity physical activity. The AG and GA consistently underestimated EE. More research is needed to determine an accurate measurement for EE during yoga using a wearable device appropriate for free-living environments.


Four papers this week (Kanai et al., Ellson et al., Cheever et al., and Xu et al.) show that the PX (phox homology) domain binds to inositol lipids phosphorylated on the 3 position [(phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P) and phosphatidylinositol-3,4-bisphophate (PI3,4P2)], the products of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). In neutrophils and other phagocytic cells, two subunits of NADPH oxidase (p40phox and p47phox) are kept in the cytosol until cells are activated. Upon activation, which involves activation of PI3K, these two subunits are recruited to secretory vesicles and granules where the remaining subunits are located. These vesicles then fuse with the plasma membrane and phagosomes leading to production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Kanai et al. show that p40phox binds preferentially to PI3P and p47phox binds preferentially to PI3,4P2 and that binding to the endosomal membranes depends on PI3P production and an intact PX domain. Ellson et al. used ROS assays to determine that PI3P was essential for activation of ROS. Furthermore, the component binding PI3P was identified as p40phox by surface plasmon resonance assays, and the PX domain was sufficient to target a reporter protein to endosomes. The identification of this phospholipid-binding motif provides an essential missing piece in the puzzle of why PI3K is important for regulating neutrophil function and inflammatory processes. The remaining two papers address this motif in proteins involved in targeting proteins to the vacuole in yeast (Cheever et al.) and in sorting proteins in the endosomal system (Xu et al.). Thus, the PX domain is a common motif that allows protein trafficking to be controlled by the activity of PI3K and the production of PI3P species. F. Kanai, H. Liu, S. J. Field, H. Akbary, T. Matsuo, G. E. Brown, L. C. Cantley, M. B. Yaffe, The PX domains of p47phox and p40phox bind to lipid products of PI(3)K. Nature Cell Biol. 3, 675-678 (2001). [Online Journal] C. D. Ellson, S. Gobert-Gosse, K. E. Anderson, K. Davidson, H. Erdjument-Bromage, P. Tempst, J. W. Thuring, M. A. Cooper, Z.-Y. Lim, A. B. Holmes, P. T. J. Gaffney, J. Coadwell, E. R. Chilvers, P. T. Hawkins, L. R. Stephins, PtdIns(3)P regulates the neutrophil oxidase complex by binding to the PX domain of p40phox. Nature Cell Biol. 3, 679-682 (2001). [Online Journal] M. L. Cheever, T. K Sato, T. de Beer, T. G. Kutateladze, S. D. Emr, M. Overduin, Phox domain interaction with PdtIns(3)P targets the Vam7 t-SNARE to vacuole membranes. Nature Cell Biol. 3, 613-618 (2001). [Online Journal] Y. Xu, H. Hortsman, L. Seet, S. H. Wong, W. Hong, SNX3 regulates endosomal function through its PX-domain-mediated interaction with PtdIns(3)P. Nature Cell Biol. 3, 658-666 (2001). [Online Journal]


A Microsoft Excel based budget was developed to find the
cost of becoming
 National Animal Identification Systems (NAIS)
compliant in the U.S for beef cow-calf
 producers. This budget was
turned into a stochastic budget by using different distributions
for five key variables. From these distributions 10,000
observations were simulated using
 Latin Hypercube sampling.
 From
the comprehensive budget, a second, more simple budget was
constructed for
 obtaining NAIS cost. This Microsoft Excel based
model gives beef cow-calf producers an
 estimate and a prediction
interval associated with the estimated cost of adopting a cattle
ID
 system that is compliant with the National Animal
Identification Systems quickly and
 conveniently, requiring only
six inputs. Both the comprehensive and the quick budget are
available online. An Ordinary Least Squares regression was
estimated using the simulated
 observations to find marginal
effects associated with key variables.
 The driving factor of total
cost per head was eID tag price for operations that tag
 and eID
tag price and chute costs for non-tagging operations. For producers
with five or
 less animals, it was cheaper to hire third parties to
tag animals. From the sample data
 generated, smaller operations
pay significantly more than larger operations on a per head
 basis,
as the minimum cost was $2.08 for the larger operations and the
maximum cost to
 small operations was $17.56. The estimated overall
average cost per head for the cow/calf
 industry was $6.26, with a
standard deviation of $4.12. Costs were on a per breeding
 female
basis. The Excel spreadsheet budget and model can be downloaded at
http://www.agmanager.info/ for producers who wish to estimate NAIS
costs specific to
 their operations.


Determining the causality between health measures and both income and labor productivity remains an ongoing challenge for economists. This review paper aims to answer the question: Does improved population health lead to higher rates of agricultural growth? In attempting to answer this question, we survey the empirical literature at micro and macro levels concerning the link between health investments and agricultural productivity. The evidence from some micro-level studies suggests that inexpensive health interventions can have a very large impact on labor productivity. The macro-level evidence at the country and global level, however, is mixed at best and in some cases suggests that health care interventions have no impact on income, much less on agricultural productivity. At both micro and macro levels, the literature does not provide a clear-cut answer to the question under investigation. Overall, the review reveals a great deal of heterogeneity in terms of estimation methods, definition and measurement of health variables, choice of economic outcomes, single-equation versus multiple-equation approach, and static versus dynamic approach. The actual magnitude of estimated elasticities is difficult to assess in part due to estimation bias caused by the endogeneity of health outcomes. We also found significant gaps in the literature; for example, very little attention is given to demand for health inputs by rural populations and farmers.


Bill Clinton's tenure as president was, on one hand, propitious and lucky, with the nation generally at peace and prosperous. But his tenure was also marked by scandal. Few presidents have been put under such close public scrutiny for their personal behavior in office. Clinton's scandal-plagued presidency allows us to address the questions of whether, how, and why public evaluations of the personal attributes of presidents may change or resist change. We know much about changes in public evaluations of presidential job performance. The public seems to alter its view of job performance in reasonable ways, with the peaks and valleys of public approval covarying with economic tides as the most well-known and documented relationship. But we do not know much about whether the public will alter its perception of the president as a person across the incumbent's time in office. There are good reasons to suggest that the public's perceptions of the president's personal traits should not change very much across the course of an administration. First, inasmuch as these personal presidential traits are rooted in personality, we should not expect much alteration in public perceptions. By the time a president has come to office, his personality structure should be relatively fixed and stable, in other words, matured (although not necessarily mature). Psychologists inform us that most personality development is realized by late adolescence or early adulthood. Hence, we should not expect presidents to undergo major personality transformations while in office. Moreover, the electoral process should weed out those candidates who exhibit major personality disorders, as well as those with very pliable and/or unformed personalities. Much of the psychological school of presidential research (e.g., Barber 1972; George 1998; Renshon 1996) is grounded in this conception: that by the time the president has taken office, his personality and associated traits are, for all practical purposes, in place and discernable. In fact, Barber's (1972) bold claim of being able to "predict" presidential behavior before the incumbent even assumes office is predicated on such reasoning. This personality stability argument does not, however, say anything about public perceptions and assessments of presidents. Given the climate of intense media scrutiny during the primary and general election campaigns, it is possible that the public is presented with enough information about the incoming president to make reasonable judgments about his personal nature and attributes. Clearly, media handlers, campaign managers, and election strategists deem to present their candidate's best face and image before the public. Yet, events occur in campaigns that not only call for strategic responses but elicit the candidate's personal reactions. How does the candidate respond to attacks from the opposition? Is he or she calm and cool or hotheaded and easily irritated? Does he or she seem to enjoy political competition, or is he or she seemingly motivated more by duty or ambition or some other base attitude or emotion? The rough and tumble of the electoral season, the rise of unexpected events, media frenzies, and the like, probably provide ample opportunity for the public to learn something about what kind of person is running for office. Moreover, the quantity of information presented during the campaign probably also means that public attitudes and perceptions toward the candidates are relatively firmly set. Early in the campaign, before the public possesses much information about the candidates, attitudes toward the candidates may be soft and malleable. But once the information necessary to make judgments about the candidates is at hand, it may be hard to shake or change the public's assessments of the person elected. And all the techniques of Madison Avenue and the advertising industry may be incapable of fundamentally altering how the public feels about its leading political leader. …


The US monopoly of information regarding nuclear weapons was one of the distinctive features of the early Cold War. It encouraged US officials to bolster their country's hegemonic role in post-war affairs, something that scholars have previously referred to in terms of "atomic diplomacy." This paper shows that Cold War atomic diplomacy originated in an ancestral form of what we call today "science diplomacy," distinctive of wartime allied relations during WW2. It first explores how science became a distinctive feature of wartime diplomacy by looking at agreements regarding exchanges of information and collaboration that shaped the relations between wartime allies (US, UK, and the Soviet Union). It then shows that their signing (and, at times, their rejection) eventually paved the way to conflicting views within allied administrations on what to share, making their officials less inclined to pool more knowledge toward the end of WW2. In conclusion, US monopolistic stances and atomic diplomacy originated in these disagreements, also marking the demise of wartime science diplomacy.
 This essay is part of a special issue entitled Science Diplomacy, edited by Giulia Rispoli and Simone Turchetti.


With continued deployment of solar across the United States, assessing the interactions of solar with the power system is an increasingly important complement to studies tracking the cost and performance of solar plants. This project focuses on the historical contribution to reliability, trends in market value, and impacts on the bulk power system of solar deployed in the U.S. through the end of 2019.

The scope of this analysis includes the seven organized U.S. wholesale power markets and is based on historical hourly solar generation profiles for each individual plant larger than 1 MW or county-level aggregate profiles for smaller solar. In addition, we present a limited set of results for ten utilities that are outside of the independent system operator (ISO)/regional transmission organization (RTO) markets.

Highlights include:

-Solar Generation: Solar deployment in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), where solar generation was equivalent to 18.7% of annual load in 2019, far exceeds the level in other ISOs. The New England Independent System Operator (ISO-NE) has the second-highest penetration, with solar generation equivalent to 4.3% of annual load in 2019. All other ISOs have annual solar generation shares at or below 2%.

-Reliability Contribution: Solar's contribution to the overall resource adequacy of the power system is measured by its "capacity credit". While calculation methods vary across ISO/RTOs, summer capacity credits for solar in 2019 range 45-76% of a system's nameplate capacity. Capacity credits have remained largely stable over the past years except in CAISO where solar's capacity credit steeply declined in 2018.

-Market Value: The market value of solar, defined here as the sum of the energy and capacity values, primarily varies across regions and years because of variations in average energy prices and capacity market prices. The energy value, based on the hourly solar generation and real-time power prices at pricing nodes near each solar plant, is the largest component of the market value across ISOs. In 2019, the average energy value spanned from $24/MWh in CAISO to $60/MWh in ERCOT. The capacity value of solar is based on the capacity credit of solar and the capacity price. The capacity value in 2019 was highest in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP; $25/MWh), though capacity prices there are based on estimates of bilateral capacity transactions rather than transparent organized capacity market prices, and lowest in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO; below $1/MWh).

-Market Value Decline: The market value of solar in CAISO declined between 2012 and 2019, both overall and relative to annual average energy and capacity prices. In 2012, solar's market value in CAISO was 40% higher than the value of a flat block of power (representing the market value of a generator that operates at full nameplate capacity in all hours of the year). By 2019, however, solar's value was 31% lower than a flat block of power's value because of a solar-induced shift in the timing of high and low energy prices and a reduction in solar's capacity credit. In contrast, the market values of solar in regions where solar penetrations were low did not decline relative to average prices.

-Overall Competitiveness: As solar's market value declined in CAISO, its cost—as measured by levelized power purchase agreement (PPA) prices—declined at a similar pace, thus maintaining solar's overall competitiveness. Solar was more competitive in PJM and the non-ISO utilities where the market value in 2019 exceeded the levelized PPA price of contracts signed in 2019. Solar was more competitive in ERCOT in 2018, and the energy value of solar was significantly higher in 2019 than 2018, but data to report an average PPA price were insufficient in 2019.

-System Impact: In CAISO, the net load has shifted to resemble the "duck curve," with particularly low net load during spring days and high ramps as the sun sets in the evening. Similar patterns emerge in real-time prices, with lower prices during the day and higher prices in the early evening. Ancillary service requirements, particularly regulation reserves, have increased during the day, as have regulation prices. Negative real-time prices during low net load days in the spring suggest growing challenges with providing flexibility. However, broader shifts in the system—including growing participation of western utilities in the Western Energy Imbalance Market and variations in hydropower levels—appear to have mitigated some challenges in 2019 relative to 2017, even with greater solar deployment in 2019. Impacts to the net load shape from solar are similarly evident in a number of non-ISO utilities in the Western U.S., for example Arizona and Nevada. With much less solar deployment in the other ISOs, solar impacts on the bulk power system are much less obvious.


Background: Water service providers invoice most South African urban consumers for the water they use every month. A secure treasury system generates water invoices at municipalities' financial departments. Information about the water usage of customers initially comes from reading the water meters, usually located in gardens near the front boundaries of properties. Until as recently as 1990, the main purpose of the water meter readings was to generate invoices for water usage. There are various treasury systems for this purpose. Objective: The objective of this research article was to describe the development of Swift, a locally developed software tool for analysing water meter data from an information management perspective, which engineers in the water field generally use, and to assess critically the influence of Swift on published research and industry. This article focuses on water usage and the challenge of data interchange and extraction as issues that various industries face. Method: This article presents the first detailed report on Swift. It uses a detailed knowledge review and presents and summarises the findings chronologically. Results: The water meter data flow path used to be quite simple. The risk of breaches in confidentiality was limited. Technological advances over the years have led to additional knowledge coming from the same water meter readings with subsequent research outputs. However, there are also complicated data flow paths and increased risks. Users have used Swift to analyse more than two million consumers' water meter readings to date. Studies have culminated in 10 peer-reviewed journal articles using the data. Seven of them were in the last five years. Conclusion: Swift-based data was the basis of various research studies in the past decade. Practical guidelines in the civil engineering fraternity for estimating water use in South Africa have incorporated knowledge from these studies. Developments after 1995 have increased the information processing capacity for water meter data.


Smart environments worthy of the name need to capture, interpret, and support human activities that take place within their realms. Most existing efforts tend to focus on either real world activities or activities taking place in the virtual world accessed through digital devices. However, as digital computation continues to permeate our everyday real world environments, and as the border between physical and digital continues to blur for the human agents acting in these environments, we need system design approaches that can cope with human activities that span the physical-virtual gap. In this paper, we present such an approach and use it for designing a smart home intended to support Activities of Daily Living (ADL). The easy ADL home is designed based on a wearable personal server that runs a personal ADL support middleware and a set of computationally augmented everyday objects within the easy ADL home. An initial qualitative study of the system involving 20 subjects revealed a highly positive attitude (score 4.37 out of 5) towards the system's capability of co-locating and synchronizing physical and virtual events throughout the everyday activity scenarios, while classical usability aspects in particular related to the gesture-based input (score 2.89 out of 5) leaves room for improvement.


The advancement of open source libraries is playing a key role in today's world. These libraries are being used in most of the real time applications .It is not an easy task to develop a library which is portable and having hundreds of algorithms in it and which is available for free. Here we have Opencv which has hundreds of functions and is being downloaded by millions and the other library PCL is also extensively used open source library for 3D point clouds. The major problem in using these libraries comes when we are trying to integrate these libraries In this thesis we have developed a class library based on open source libraries (opencv,pcl) which has been designed and implemented in c++ programming. The developed class library gives its user portability, simplicity, collabratibility and extendibility. The class library uses qt framework provides a lab environment for students and researchers and also gives the freedom to extend classes. Besides its practical value, the developed class library teaches both object oriented programming and computer vision. The students spend more time in integration of different open source libraries, so in order to save the time spent by the students in integration and also to make the user use the functions in reliable way. This class library helps the students to overcome this problem and understand both the object oriented programming methodology as well as the Image processing and computer vision. This library is mainly built to maintain portability and extendibility which is the main goal of this thesis.


Citrus tristeza closterovirus (CTV), is a phloem-limited virus transmitted by aphids in a semipersistent manner. The genome of CTV is composed of a ssRNA with two capsid proteins: CP, covering about 95% of the particle length, and a diverged coat protein (dCP), present only in one end of the particle, forming a rattlesnake structure. dCP is the product of p27 gene for which it is also postulated a function in the transmissibility by aphid vectors. Hybridization analysis showed a p27 gene region, which exhibits different patterns with two probes derived from two biological distinct CTV isolates. In an attempt to screen whether that gene region differs in mild and severe strains, six CTV isolates belonging to different biogroups were compared for variations in their p27 gene by analysis of singlestrand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). The p27 gene was reverse transcribed and amplified by PCR and thirty clones of each isolate were obtained. From each clone, two fragments of the gene were amplified by PCR: fragment (a), 459 bp long, and fragment (b), 281 bp long. Sequence variations in both gene fragments were studied by SSCP analysis. A variety of SSCP patterns was obtained from each isolate, being isolates belonging to the groups II-IV and III those with the higher and lower number of them. Moreover, SSCP analysis provided a rapid procedure to screen the genetic heterogeneity of the viral isolates reducing considerably the amount of nucleic acid sequenciation necessary to gain that knowledge.


How is a classic book to be defined? How much time must elapse before a work may be judged a "classic"? And among all the works of American literature, which deserve the designation? In this provocative new book Denis Donoghue essays to answer these questions. He presents his own short list of "relative" classics--works whose appeal may not be universal but which nonetheless have occupied an important place in our culture for more than a century. These books have survived the abuses of time--neglect, contempt, indifference, willful readings, excesses of praise, and hyperbole. Donoghue bestows the term classic on just five American works: Melville's Moby-Dick, Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Thoreau's Walden, Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Examining each in a separate chapter, he discusses how the writings have been received and interpreted, and he offers his own contemporary readings, suggesting, for example, that in the post--9/11 era, Moby-Dick may be rewardingly read as a revenge tragedy. Donoghue extends an irresistible invitation to open the pages of these American classics again, demonstrating with wit and acuity how very much they have to say to us now.


In this paper we present a method for the generation of 3D stereo (3DS) pairs from sequences of historical aerial photographs. The goal of our work is to provide a stereoscopic display when the existing exposures are in a monocular sequence. Each input image is processed using its neighbours and a synthetic image is rendered, which, together with the original one, form a stereo pair. Promising results on real images taken from a historical photo archive are shown, that corroborate the viability of generating 3DS data from monocular footage.


The pleiotropic cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is one of the major growth factors for multiple myeloma cells. It was previously shown that IL-6 induces the activation of Src family kinases Hck, Lyn and Fyn and that Hck is associated with the IL-6-receptor beta chain (gp130) via an acidic domain in gp130.

In the first part of this thesis the acidic domain is narrowed down from 41 to 18 amino acids by a peptide-based functional screening assay. A derivative of the acidic domain, an 18mer lipopeptide, peptide 18AD, is characterised on the cellular and molecular level.

IL-6-dependent growth of human and murine myeloma cells is inhibited with an IC50 of 25-30 µM by the addition of peptide 18AD to the growth medium. These cells remain unaffected by treatment with a control peptide with scrambled sequence (18sc). Furthermore, growth of IL-6-independent myeloma cells is not inhibited by peptide 18AD.
In IL-6-dependent cells, peptide 18AD causes the same degree of apoptosis induction as IL-6 deprivation.

On the molecular level it is shown by peptide competition assays that the association of Hck and gp130 is inhibited by peptide 18AD in a concentration dependent way.
Peptide 18AD blocked the IL-6-induced activity of the Src family kinases Hck, Lyn and Fyn. Results from different factor-dependent cell lines demonstrate a common mechanism of the molecular peptide effects on Src family kinase activity, but the involved pathways downstream of the kinases appear to differ among
species and cell lines tested. Treatment of human IL-6-dependent myeloma cells with peptide 18AD reduced the activating tyrosine phosphorylation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), while STAT3 activation remains unaffected in murine cells.
The Co-immunoprecipitations from different overexpressed receptor-deletionmutants and Hck confirms that the association is mainly due to the interaction between the kinase and a 9 amino acids spanning region within the acidic domain which carries the highest accumulation of acidic residues.

Apparently, a sequence of 8-9 amino acids within gp130 with the prevalence of acidic side chains resembles a potential pseudosubstrate domain of tyrosine kinases and is responsible for localisation and activation of Src family kinases in response to receptor stimulation. The identification of sequence motives similar to the acidic domain of gp130 in other cytokine receptors, receptor tyrosine kinases and adapter proteins by an in silicio motive scan might suggest a general role of such motives. This could be the efficient recruitment of cytoplasmic kinases to signalling complexes at the time of ligand stimulation.

Here, the importance of the acidic domain-kinase interaction for the IL-6-signaling pathway is shown by the growth-inhibiting effect of peptide 18AD on myeloma cells.

In the second part, a novel sequence and celltype-specific anti-myeloma agent, peptide 1A, is characterised. It was initially designed as the negative control for a "reverse alanine scan" to define the role of the acidic residues within the sequence of peptide 18AD. Unexpectedly it turned out to be at least a 25-fold more potent growth inhibitor of myeloma cells than peptide 18AD. Similar molecular bases of the observed effects of peptide 18AD and peptide 1A are very unlikely, because in contrast to peptide 18AD, peptide 1A efficiently kills IL-6-independent myeloma cells as well. Moreover, an excess of IL-6 fails to rescue the cells from peptide 1A-induced cell death.
Peptide 1A shows, as tested so far, no effects on cells derived from non-tumor tissue or tumor cells of various origins other than multiple myeloma. Peptide 1A specifically kills myeloma cells by the induction of apoptosis and severely disturbs cell cycle progression. Apoptotic cell death induction by peptide 1A is shown by peptide 1A-induced caspase-3 activation and the cleavage of PARP, a substrate of effector caspases. Peptide-induced cell death can partly be inhibited by co-treatment with the pan-caspase inhibitor ZVAD-fmk. Major survival pathways like the STAT3, PI3K/Akt and the MAPK pathway are inhibited in peptide 1A treated cells.
If a biotinylated version of the peptide is added to the growth medium, it is incorporated into human myeloma cells and localised in defined regions of the cytoplasm of myeloma cells.
Here some of the molecular mechanisms of peptide 1A-induced cell death are elucidated. However, the direct molecular target(s) are still unknown.

Despite the potential difference in the molecular mechanisms, both peptides 18AD and 1A are expected to prove useful for developing derivatives with possible applications for the treatment of multiple myeloma.


In this paper, we are concerned with pure statistical Shewhart control charts for the scale parameter of the three-parameter Weibull control variable, where, and are the location, the scale and the shape parameters, respectively, with fixed (FSI) and variable (VSI) sampling intervals. The parameters and are assumed to be known. We consider two-sided, and lower and upper one-sided Shewhart control charts and their FSI and VSI versions . They jointly control the mean and the variance of the Weibull control variable X. The pivotal statistic of those control charts is the maximum-likelihood estimator of for the Nth random sample XN=(X1N,X2N,…,XnN) of the Weibull control variable X. The design and performance of these control charts are studied. Two criteria, i.e. 'comparability criterion' (or 'matched criterion') under control and 'primordial criterion', are imposed on their design. The performance of these control charts is measured using the function average time to signal. For the VSI versions, the constant which defines the partition of the 'continuation region' is obtained through the 'comparability criterion' under control. The monotonic behaviour of the function average time to signal in terms of the parameters (magnitude of the shift suff ered by the target value 0), and is studied. We show that the function average time to signal of all the control charts studied in this paper does not depend on the value of the parameter or on 0, and, under control, does not depend on the parameter, when Delta (the probability of a false alarm) and n (sample size) are fixed. All control charts satisfy the 'primordial criterion' and, for fixed, on average, they all (except the two-sided VSI, for which we were not able to ascertain proof) are quicker in detecting the shift as increases. We conjecture - and we are not contradicted by the numerical example considered - that the same is true for the two-sided VSI control chart. We prove that, under the average time to signal criterion, the VSI versions are always preferable to their FSI versions. In the case of one-sided control charts, under the 'comparability criterion', the VSI version is always preferable to the FSI version, and this advantage increases with and the extent of the shift. Our one-sided control charts perform better and have more powerful statistical properties than does our two-sided control chart. The numerical example where n=5,0=1,=0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and Delta=1/370.4 is presented for the two-sided, and the lower and upper one-sided control charts. These numerical results are presented in tables and in figures. The joint influence of the parameters and in the function average time to signal is illustrated.


Permanent forest dynamics plots have provided valuable insights into many aspects of forest ecology. The evaluation of their representativeness within the landscape is necessary to understanding the limitations of findings from permanent plots at larger spatial scales. Studies on the representativeness of forest plots with respect to landscape heterogeneity and disturbance effect have already been carried out, but knowledge of how multiple disturbances affect plot representativeness is lacking—particularly in sites where several disturbances can occur between forest plot censuses. This study explores the effects of five typhoon disturbances on the Fushan Forest Dynamics Plot (FFDP) and its surrounding landscape, the Fushan Experimental Forest (FEF), in Taiwan where typhoons occur annually. The representativeness of the FFDP for the FEF was studied using four topographical variables derived from a digital elevation model and two vegetation indices (VIs), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Infrared Index (NDII), calculated from Landsat-5 TM, Landsat-7 ETM+, and Landsat-8 OLI data. Representativeness of four alternative plot designs were tested by dividing the FFDP into subplots over wider elevational ranges. Results showed that the FFDP neither represents landscape elevational range (<10%) nor vegetation cover (<7% of the interquartile range, IQR). Although disturbance effects (i.e., ΔVIs) were also different between the FFDP and the FEF, comparisons showed no under- or over-exposure to typhoon damage frequency or intensity within the FFDP. In addition, the ΔVIs were of the same magnitudes in the plots and the reserve, and the plot covered 30% to 75.9% of IQRs of the reserve ΔVIs. Unexpectedly, the alternative plot designs did not lead to increased representation of damage for 3 out of the 4 tested typhoons and they did not suggest higher representativeness of rectangular vs. square plots. Based on the comparison of mean Euclidian distances, two rectangular plots had smaller distances than four square or four rectangular plots of the same area. Therefore, this study suggests that the current FFDP provides a better representation of its landscape disturbances than alternatives, which contained wider topographical variation and would be more difficult to conduct ground surveys. However, upscaling needs to be done with caution as, in the case of the FEF, plot representativeness varied among typhoons.


As the English language has become a global lingua franca today, it is not surprising that changes in attitudes and perceptions towards learning English in the international context have taken place at the same time. In this paper, I critically examine the notion of 'integrative motivation' in the literature of second language (L2) learning with respect to the changing role of the English language in the global context. In particular, this paper attempts to re-conceptualise the notion of integrative motivation by considering the results of recent empirical research on L2 motivation. It is argued that the predominant motivation of learning English among most L2 learners is no longer concerned with 'integration' in the target native English-speaking culture, but with the construction of a 'bi-cultural' or 'world citizen' identity, as well as identification with the international community. The paper ends by suggesting new ways of understanding the concept of motivation in L2 learning in today's global context.