This paper investigates the effects of education vouchers for teachers. We study effects on enrollment and completion of higher education programs, and on the retention of teachers in the education sector. We do this by exploiting a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. Read also the accompanying Background Document (only in Dutch). The discontinuity in the probability of being assigned a voucher arises due to budget constraints in the first application period. Our estimates suggest that effects of voucher assignment on both higher education enrollment and completion rates are in the order of 10 to 20 percentage points as measured five and a half years after application. Relative to a baseline enrollment rate of 77 percent and a baseline completion rate of 54 percent (i.e. of applicants that were not assigned a voucher), these effect estimates correspond to a 12 to 29 percent higher enrollment and to a 17 to 42 percent higher completion. Effects on enrollment and completion are relatively small for shorter studies (up to one year) and for teachers that had already started at the time of application. The teacher voucher crowds out both funding by schools out of their regular professional development budgets as well as financial contributions by teachers themselves. Our results suggest small positive effects of voucher assignment on retention in education as measured four years after application.


The thesis presents a combined experimental and computational investigation of a novel thermochemical material removal mechanism for cutting of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) substrates through controlled crack propagation. The CO2-Laser/Waterjet machining system developed by the Iowa State University's Laboratory for Lasers, MEMS, and Nanotechnology was utilized to achieve specimen cutting. It has been proved that the hybrid machining method is more efficiency and able to provide high quality cutting that overcomes the major drawbacks with current EDM and Nd:YAG laser machining techniques. The LWJ method implemented a high power laser heating followed by low pressure waterjet quenching that achieved fracture initiation and propagation along the cutting path. The purposes of water in LWJ machining are: (1) help the phase transformation as to induce larger tensile stresses for crack propagation and (2) provide thermal shock that reduce the fracture toughness of material in specimen. Two forms of PCBN specimens: the solid compact and the composite with tungsten carbide substrate were studied in this thesis. The mechanism governing the fracture behavior was studied through Raman spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and surface profile measurement with profilometer. FEA model associated with machining parameters was developed to validate the machining mechanism and provide prediction of fracture behavior. Good agreement between simulation prediction and experimental observation was achieved.


This synthesis examines current performance-based management practices that are applied by state departments of transportation (DOTs) in highway maintenance and operations (M&O). Past studies have focused on the elements that make up a performance-based M&O approach, such as condition ratings, levels of service, performance measures, and threshold values. This study focuses on how state DOTs actually use performance-based measures to manage their highway programs. Information used in this study was acquired through a review of the literature, a survey of state DOTs, and follow-up interviews with four state DOTs to develop case examples of highway M&O performance management.


Vapor deposited thin coatings have served well as mechanically hard coatings in different practical applications e.g., cutting and forming tool industries, decorative industries, biomedical industries etc. Some of these coatings (i.e., TiN) have a high coefficient of friction and can cause abrasion and rapid wear of the opposing surface. In a closed-system, a hard coating constitutes a source of abrasive particles upon spallation within the mechanism, which can lead to a worse result than the uncoated surface. Increasing number of reports in literature has suggested the use of a hard solid lubricant based coating to avoid this problem.

A sputtering rig was made operative as a closed-field magnetron sputtering system by reestablishing different systems (magnetron, water cooling, vacuum, electrical etc.). A heavy-duty impact-abrasion wear tester was modified for applying lower load on the coated sample during abrasion by a spring-loaded mechanism. A single-axis and double-axis rotary substrate table system was designed, manufactured and successfully installed in the existing sputtering system. This substrate table facilitated the rig for the deposition of multicomponent and multilayer composite coating by using different target materials and reactive gases. A rotational control mechanism has been developed to rotate the substrate table at slower speed in front of activated targets and faster speed in front of inactivated targets within a single rotation instead of rotating at constant speed. This system increased the deposition rate thus saving time and materials.

A three dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study has been carried out using FLOTRAN-CFD code of the ANSYS analysis package to predict the velocity, pressure and concentration distribution of the process gas species (argon and nitrogen) across the sputtering chamber, inlets and outlet. The numerical predictions provided useful understanding of the multiple species process gas distribution and their mixing behaviour at various gas flow rates to some extent.

Modelling of thermal stress developed during cooling of a typical coating-substrate system (TiNstainless steel) from deposition to room temperature was performed using the finite element code ANSYS. A parametric study was performed to analyse the effects of coating and substrate thickness, Young's modulus, deposition temperature etc. on the thermal stress. Radial, tangential, axial and shear stress distribution through the thickness of the coating and substrate were examined. The interface of the coating and substrate was recognised as the critical location from the failure point of view. Ti interlayer between TiN coating and substrate has significant influence on the reduction of thermal stress at the interface.

The deposition of composite hard and solid lubricant coatings (TiN+MoSx) has been performed on a rotating substrate by closed-field magnetron sputtering using separate Ti and MoS2 targets in a nitrogen gas environment. The composition of the coating was varied by controlling target current, gas pressure, and target to substrate distance. Compositional and structural analysis indicated the presence coating species (Ti, N, Mo and S) and incorporation of Mo and S atoms in the TiN matrix. The change of process parameters during deposition was also reflected in the measurements. For instance with the increase of MoS2 target current, higher peak shifting and peak widening were observed in XRD study. The TiN+MoSx coating showed slightly lower hardness than pure TiN coating but higher hardness than MoSx coating. The hardness could not be directly correlated with the tribological properties. The adhesion test for all TiN+MoSx coatings showed a better adhesion compared to pure TiN and MoSx coatings. The TiN+MoSx coating also showed lower coefficients of friction than TiN in Pin-on-disk wear tests possibly due to the solid lubrication effect from MoS2 formed during sliding. This fact was also speculated based on the results of the optical investigation of the wear track.


This study revealed for the first time the microtexture and crystallographic features of natural polycrystalline diamond, yakutite found in placer deposits in the Siberian Platform, Russia. Yakutite consists of well–sintered nanocrystalline (5–50 nm) diamond and small amount of lonsdaleite showing distinct preferred orientations. Micro–focus X–ray and electron diffractions showed a coaxial relationship between lonsdaleite 100 and diamond 111, suggesting the martensitic formation of yakutite from crystalline graphite. These textural and crystallographic features are well comparable to those of the impact diamonds from the Popigai crater located in the central Siberia and strongly support the idea that yakutite is a product of long–distance outburst from the Popigai crater, which has been inferred merely from the geochemical signatures.


Trauma affected communities (TACs) are population groups in which members have experienced chronic traumatic events. This dissertation research defines "trauma informed" communities as services which have been tailored and evaluated specifically for the needs of communities in which trauma and violence have been seen. This dissertation details the process of designing and evaluating a first of a kind intervention via a weighted mobile app with the idea of trauma informed services in mind. This research is part of a larger project known as imHealthy, a comprehensive health status evaluation system, which represents an entire ecosystem of mobile technology coupled with various other software components. My dissertation addresses the feasibility of building a well-being scoring system from the ground up. A preliminary study was conducted to test the usability of a well-being app. The results showed that further attention was needed in addressing various user-interface (UI) sizing issues. Upon modification and a re-test, a positive time on task results was seen. The total time spent logging into the app dropped by 50%; navigation between domains dropped by 43%, navigation within pages dropped 82% and overall total time to logout dropped by 44%. In addition, a scoring algorithm was devised to weight and score the mobile-based wellbeing survey. A step-by-step approach outlines the process of the scoring function and the calibration of the algorithm. Initial results showed inconsistencies between expert raters vs. the app generated score (inter-rater reliability (ICC) values for five domains were physical = .279, behavioral = .237, relational = .029, spiritual = .497, socio-economic = -.268). Post calibration the ICC results improved significantly (physical = .797, behavioral = .749, relational = .742, spiritual = .905, socio-economic = .286). Lastly, a usability study was conducted to test user satisfaction of an administrative web portal used in conjunction with the mobile app. The low ASQ (Avg. Range 1.00 - 1.52) and CSUQ (Avg. Range 1.00 – 1.95) scores during, and post study suggest highly favorable user satisfaction on the web portal.


During development, axons navigate a complex intracellular milieu, often over long distances to reach target tissues at stereotyped locations. The basis for this navigation lies in the growth cone a motile structure at the tip of the growing axon. Studded with receptors for an array of guidance cues, the growth cone interprets a balance of attractive and repellant signals en route to its target. However, during pathfinding, axons often must extend along or near areas expressing repellents. We previously showed that growth cones can modulate their response to multiple repellents through a G protein coupled receptor, calmodulin, cAMP and PKA mediated pathway that ultimately abrogates the repellent response through inhibition of Rho. (Chalasani et al, 2003 PMID:12598624) We sought to further investigate the role of cAMP and G Protein signaling in guidance and used the zebrafish retinto-tectal projection as our model system, due to its well characterized projection all axons extend towards the ventral midline, cross at chiasm and project dorsally and posteriorly to the contralateral tectum. In Chapter 2, I describe my contributions to a paper recently published (Xu, et al 2010 PMID:20505109), in which we describe the role of the calcium/calmodulin adenylyl cyclase, ADCY8, in directing the trajectory of retinal ganglion cells. In Chapter 3 I describe a study that examined the role of G protein coupled receptor signaling in directing retinal trajectories. In this study, I took advantage of the UAS/ GAL4 system to express dominant negative constructs targeting specific classes of heterotrimeric G proteins in retinal ganglion cells. We generated constructs targeting GNAi/o, GNAq/11, GNAs/olf, and Gbetagamma. We find that reduction of GNAS produces a consistent guidance error misprojection to the ipsilateral tectum. These errors phenocopy the knockdown of ADCY8 as well as knockdown of the axon guidance molecules Semaphorin 3D, Semaphorin 3E and their co-receptor, Nrp1a. Using a combination of QPCR, morpholino injection, and in vivo manipulation we demonstrate that depression of cAMP signaling, either through the heterotrimeric G protein GNAS or ADCY8 reduces Neuropilin expression, and renders navigating axons insensitive to Semaphorin 3D and Semaphorin 3E signaling near the chiasm. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Cell & Molecular Biology First Advisor Jonathan A. Raper Second Advisor Michael Granato


Coherent coupling between a large number of qubits is the goal for scalable approaches to solid state quantum information processing. Prototype systems can be characterized by spectroscopic techniques. Here, we use pulsed-continuous wave microwave spectroscopy to study the behavior of electrons trapped at defects within the gate dielectric of a sol-gel-based high-k silicon MOSFET. Disorder leads to a wide distribution in trap properties, allowing more than 1000 traps to be individually addressed in a single transistor within the accessible frequency domain. Their dynamical behavior is explored by pulsing the microwave excitation over a range of times comparable to the phase coherence time and the lifetime of the electron in the trap. Trap occupancy is limited to a single electron, which can be manipulated by resonant microwave excitation and the resulting change in trap occupancy is detected by the change in the channel current of the transistor. The trap behavior is described by a classical damped driven simple harmonic oscillator model, with the phase coherence, lifetime and coupling strength parameters derived from a continuous wave (CW) measurement only. For pulse times shorter than the phase coherence time, the energy exchange between traps, due to the coupling, strongly modulates the observed drain current change. This effect could be exploited for 2-qubit gate operation. The very large number of resonances observed in this system would allow a complex multi-qubit quantum mechanical circuit to be realized by this mechanism using only a single transistor.


Nearing the end of its second decade, the overdose crisis in the United States continues to claim tens of thousands of lives. Despite the rhetorical emphasis on a "public health" approach, criminal law and its enforcement continue to play a central role among policy responses to this crisis. A legacy of the 1980s War on Drugs, statutory provisions that implicate drug distributors in overdose fatalities are on the books in many U.S. jurisdictions and federally. This Article articulates an interdisciplinary critique of these "drug-induced homicide" laws at a time of their increased popularity, expanding scope, and aggressive prosecution. That these policy mechanisms are deployed under the banner of overdose prevention invites a critical public health lens to their reexamination.

After tracing the trajectory of the overdose crisis, this Article examines the role of drug-induced homicide laws as exemplars of U.S. drug policy's reliance on criminal law to address problematic substance use. An empirical analysis of publicized drug-induced homicide cases documents a rapid and accelerating diffusion of prosecutions in many hard-hit jurisdictions; pronounced racial disparities in enforcement and sentencing; and broad misclassification of friends, partners, family members, and others as "dealers." In addition to crowding out evidencebased interventions and investments, these policies and prosecutions run at direct cross-purposes to public health efforts that encourage witnesses to summon lifesaving help during overdose events. At a time of crisis, drug-induced homicide laws and prosecutions represent a false prophecy of retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation. These findings support further efforts to demobilize criminal law and criminal justice actors from responding to drug-related harms in the U.S. as elsewhere.


This study concerns a particular building type; the doocot. Consequently the work has an architectural bias. In stark contrast to large-scale, 'high culture', urban buildings erected for human occupation, the mere doocot has been mostly omitted from inclusion in architectural studies, Scotland especially having the ignominious claim to a dearth of published material on doocots. As a consequence, our ability to comprehend, interpret, evaluate and, where required, conserve doocots is inadequate. This study shows that the doocot has had a long history and, for the first time, it is placed in an overall, international, national, regional and local context. Many historic doocots are redundant and, due to their difficulty to convert or revitalise, some will be lost. The study, therefore, addresses the urgency for action and takes the opportunity to critically review key issues, establish a model for recording, and also test and analyse existing theories whilst the buildings still remain. In the course of the study, a unique methodology is applied. Firstly, an holistic approach (involving matters relating, not only to architecture, but also to history and ornithology) is taken at every step. Secondly, an extensive catalogue raisonne (a detailed building inventory covering a defined geographical area) is utilised as test-bed material for widely recognised theories. Aside from producing transferable models for the researching, or recording, of doocots, the study is able to substantiate and/or refute a variety of theories and also rationalise the issues into a coherent pattern of evolutionary development


Growing demand for wood products, combined with efforts to conserve natural forests, have supported a steady increase in the global extent of planted forests. Here, a two-phase sampling strategy for large-scale assessment of the total area and the total wood volume of fast-growing forest tree crops within agricultural land is presented. The first phase is performed using tessellation stratified sampling on high-resolution remotely sensed imagery and is sufficient for estimating the total area of plantations by means of a Monte Carlo integration estimator. The second phase is performed using stratified sampling of the plantations selected in the first phase and is aimed at estimating total wood volume by means of an approximation of the first-phase Horvitz-Thompson estimator. Vegetation indices from Sentinel-2 are exploited as freely available auxiliary information in a linear regression estimator to improve the design-based precision of the estimator based on the sole sample data. Estimators of the totals and of the design-based variances of total estimators are presented. A simulation study is developed in order to check the design-based performance of the two alternative estimators under several artificial distributions supposed for poplar plantations (random, clustered, spatially trended). An application in Northern Italy is also reported. The regression estimator turns out to be invariably better than that based on the sole sample information. Possible integrations of the proposed sampling scheme with conventional national forest inventories adopting tessellation stratified sampling in the first phase are discussed.


Due to their well-known indeterminacies, factor models require identifying assumptions to guarantee unique parameter estimates. For Bayesian estimation, these identifying assumptions are usually implemented by imposing constraints on certain model parameters. This strategy, however, may result in posterior distributions with shapes that depend on the ordering of cross-sections in the data set. We propose an alternative approach, which relies on a sampler without the usual identifying constraints. Identification is reached ex-post based on a Procrustes transformation. Resulting posterior estimates are ordering invariant and show favorable properties with respect to convergence and statistical as well as numerical accuracy.


Background: Sexual dysfunction in breast cancer patients is considered as a common and distressing problem. Considering the increasing number of breast cancer survivors living for longer periods of time with the disease and the importance of their quality of life, we conducted the present study to compare the sexual functioning in breast cancer patients with their healthy counterparts.Methods: In this case-control study, breast cancer patients who completed their treatment protocol and were followed up for at least six months were included. The controls were healthy women with normal clinical breast examinations. All subjects filled-in the Persian version of Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire.Results: A total of 165 subjects including 71 breast cancer patients and 94 healthy women were studied. The frequency of sexual dysfunction in cases and controls was 52.6% and 47.4%, respectively (P = 0.09). There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding domain scores, except for vaginal lubrication (P = 0.045). Logistic regression analysis indicated that significant determinants of sexual dysfunction in breast cancer group was patients' age (OR = 4.0, 95%CI: 1.3 – 11.5, P = 0.01) and age of the spouse (OR= 9.8, 95% CI: 1.8-51.9, P= 0.007), while in controls, only emotional relationship with the husband was the significant predictive factor (OR = 6.3, 95%CI: 1.9 – 20.5, P = 0.002).Conclusions: Our findings indicated that sexual dysfunction is prevalent in Iranian women regardless of their physical health status. The frequency of vaginal dryness in breast cancer patients was significantly higher than controls. Age of the patient and the spouse (>40) were the only significant predictors of sexual dysfunction among women with breast cancer. Preventive strategies, sexual education and access to effective treatment should be planned in supportive care of breast cancer patients.


I. INTRODUCTION Christine Litaker was an African-American administrative assistant working for Lehman Brothers, one of the major brokerage houses in the United States.1 Because of her gender and race, her boss regularly called her a "black bitch,"2 and other employees frequently used the term "lazy nigger."3 Moreover, one senior vice president constantly touched her and also grabbed other female employees.4 After years of blatant sexual harassment, Lehman Brothers fired Litaker the week her maternity leave was set to begin, despite an "excellent" performance evaluation.5 Litaker subsequently brought suit in federal court against Lehman Brothers for sex and race discrimination, but the court dismissed the case and granted Lehman Brothers' motion to compel arbitration.6 Litaker now faced the prospect of presenting her case not to a jury of her peers, but rather to a homogenous industry arbitration panel comprised of mostly white, older males.7 This frightening scenario represents a common problem in the securities industry. Christine Litaker slammed into a little known, but extremely daunting roadblock many employees working in the securities industry face: predispute arbitration clauses.8 As an employee in the securities industry, Litaker had to sign, at the commencement of her employment, the Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer, more commonly called the Form U-4.9 The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), through the Form U-4, requires every employee who deals directly with the public in the purchase and sale of securities to resolve all employment-related disputes through arbitration. 10 In signing the mandatory arbitration agreement, employees within the industry are denied court-provided rights such as due process, trial by jury, appellate review, and full discovery. 11 "In essence, mandatory arbitration contracts reduce civil rights protections to the status of the company car: a perk which can be denied at will."12 While seemingly unfair, arbitration as a method of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has a long tradition in American jurisprudence. In 1925, Congress established a policy favoring arbitration when it enacted the United States Arbitration Act,13 today called the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA).14 The FAA provides for the enforcement of valid, written arbitration clauses in contracts involving transactions in interstate commerce.15 Accordingly, the FAA expresses a strong federal policy favoring arbitration.16 That policy has been articulated at all levels of the federal judicial system, including the U.S. Supreme Court. 17 Moreover, the use of arbitration in the securities industry to resolve disputes has a tradition that even predates the FAA.18 Participants in the securities industry have created their own organizations, rules, and practices to promote the fair and efficient operation of financial markets (namely, mandatory arbitration procedures) for over 150 years.19 Use of arbitration, rather than litigation, to resolve disputes is a long-established industry practice used in the securities industry since at least 1817.20 Nevertheless, despite Congress's policy favoring arbitration, the enforceability of mandatory arbitration clauses is under siege in the courts, administrative agencies, and even in legislatures. For example, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the 1991 amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 preclude compulsory arbitration of claims arising under Title VII of that Act.21 Other courts continue to find that mandatory arbitration agreements are enforceable and consistent with the strong federal policy favoring arbitration, making this issue ripe for Supreme Court review. This Note focuses on mandatory arbitration within the securities industry and argues that the practice fails to comport with the current status of our nation's civil rights laws. Mandatory arbitration creates a disparate impact on and undermines the statutory rights of minorities and women. …


This paper documents changes in female labor force participation (LFP) in Latin America exploiting a large database of microdata from household surveys of 15 countries in the period 1992-2012. We find evidence for a significant deceleration in the rate of increase of female LFP in the 2000s, breaking the marked increasing pattern that characterized the region for at least 50 years. The paper documents and characterizes this fact and examines various factors that could be driving the deceleration. Through a set of simple decompositions the paper helps to disentangle whether the patterns in female LFP are mainly accounted for by changes in the distribution of some direct determinants of the labor supply decision (e.g. education), or instead they are chiefly the consequence of some more profound transformation in behavior.


We report fabrication of sub-100 nm resolution structures by ablation on the surface of sapphire using femtosecond laser pulses. A single 50–70 nm wide groove was recorded by laser ablation via a controlled ripple formation on the surface. Ripples are created by breakdown due to a sphere-to-plane formation of an ionisation below surface in a similar way as the bulk ripples. Different thresholds for the ripples formed parallel and perpendicular to direction of the laser scan were observed. In a sol-gel photo-polymer SZ2080 and thermo-polymer polydimethylsiloxane, free-standing 3D structures were formed without use of two-photon absorbing photo-sensitizers. Both cases of the surface and bulk structuring were achieved via a controlled avalanche, which dominated ionisation of materials.


How does a city obtain water, gas, and electricity? Where do these services come from? How are they transported? The answer is infrastructure, or the inner, and sometimes invisible, workings of the city. Roads, railroads, bridges, telephone wires, and power lines are visible elements of the infrastructure; sewers, plumbing pipes, wires, tunnels, cables, and sometimes rails are usually buried underground or hidden behind walls. Engineering the City tells the fascinating story of infrastructure as it developed through history along with the growth of cities. Experiments, games, and construction diagrams show how these structures are built, how they work, and how they affect the environment of the city and the land outside it.


OBJECTIVE Hypertension and diabetes are both risk factors for cognitive decline, and individuals with both might have an especially high risk. We therefore examined linear and nonlinear (quadratic) associations of 24-h blood pressure (BP) with cognitive performance in participants with and without type 2 diabetes. We also tested the association of nocturnal dipping status with cognitive performance. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This study was performed as part of the Maastricht Study, an ongoing population-based cohort study. Cross-sectional associations of 24-h BP (n = 713, of whom 201 had type 2 diabetes) and nocturnal dipping status (n = 686, of whom 196 had type 2 diabetes) with performance on tests for global cognitive functioning, information processing speed, verbal memory (immediate and delayed word recall), and response inhibition were tested using linear regression analysis and adjusted for demographics, vascular risk factors, cardiovascular disease, depression, and lipid-modifying and antihypertensive medication use. RESULTS After full adjustment, we found quadratic (inverted U-shaped) associations of 24-h diastolic blood pressure (DBP) with information processing speed (b for quadratic term = −0.0267, P < 0.01) and memory (immediate word recall: b = −0.0180, P < 0.05; delayed word recall: b = −0.0076, P < 0.01) in participants with diabetes, but not in those without. No clear pattern was found for dipping status. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that both low and high 24-h DBP are associated with poorer performance on tests of information processing speed and memory in individuals with type 2 diabetes.


Short- and long-term ground deformation at the cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) enhanced oil recovery sites in the Cold Lake region of Alberta, Canada, was measured with RADARSAT-2 differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) during 2011–2016. The interferometric processing of 84 high-resolution spotlight images revealed extensive short-term ground uplift and subsidence greater than 15 cm over the 24-day satellite revisit cycle. Time-series analysis based on the multidimensional small baseline subset (MSBAS) methodology demonstrated that while the predominant deformation signal is cyclical in nature, a long-term subsidence and uplift with maximum deformation rates greater than 5 cm/year is also present. These measurements suggest that CSS injection and production operations result in the long-term semipermanent deformation in the area of reservoir operations, and that the response to injection and extraction can differ from the previous cycles.


The Mongol armies that established the largest land empire in history, stretching across Asia and into eastern Europe, are imperfectly understood. Often they are viewed as screaming throngs of horsemen who swept over opponents by sheer force of numbers rather than as disciplined regiments that carried out planned and practised manoeuvres. In this pioneering book, Timothy May demonstrates that the Mongol military developed from a tribal levy into a disciplined and complex military organization. He describes the make-up of the Mongol army from its inception to the demise of the Mongol empire, and he shows how it was the strength, quality and versatility of Mongol military organization that made them the pre-eminent warriors of their time. 'The definitive study of the Mongol legacy' - Publishers Weekly


In 1995, the broad aggregate M2+ grew at an annual rate of 4.5 per cent -- almost twice the rate recorded in 1994 -- as competition from mutual funds drew less money from personal savings deposits. An adjusted M2+ aggregate, which internalizes the effect of close substitutes such as CSBs and certain mutual funds, grew by only 3.4 per cent. Gross M1 grew by 8.2 per cent during the year, reflecting an increased demand for transactions balances as market interest rates declined and as banks offered more attractive rates of interest on corporate current account balances. The robust growth of gross M1 in the second half of 1995 suggests a moderate expansion of economic activity in the first half of 1996, while moderate growth in the broad aggregates indicates a rate of monetary expansion consistent with continued low inflation. In this annual review of the monetary aggregates, the authors also introduce a new model, based on calculated deviations of M1 from its long-run demand, which suggests that inflation should remain just below the midpoint of the inflation-control target range over the next couple of years.


This study investigates long-term distributional effects of regional agglomeration. We analyse changes in relative incomes for different educational and occupational categories in Taiwan from 1976 to 2006, a period during which the country underwent fundamental structural change from labour-intensive to knowledge-intensive industry and increasing globalisation of the economy. Long-term patterns derived from repeated estimations of cross-sectional micro-level data from 31 consecutive annual household surveys show that less-educated groups are not systematic losers of the transformation as positive externalities of agglomeration are both significant and widespread in the leading region. The famous pattern of 'growth with equity' in Taiwan has, however, become a regional rather than a national feature.


Abstract The mechanisms by which soft-bodied organisms were preserved in late Ediacaran deep-marine environments are revealed by petrographic and geochemical investigation of fossil-bearing surfaces from the Conception and St. John's groups (Newfoundland, Canada). Framboidal pyrite veneers are documented on fossil-bearing horizons at multiple localities. The pyrite is interpreted to have formed via microbial processes in the hours to weeks following burial of benthic communities. This finding extends the 'death mask' model for Ediacaran soft-tissue preservation to deep-marine settings. Remineralization of pyrite to iron oxides and oxyhydroxides is recognized to result from recent oxidation by meteoric fluids in the shallow subsurface. Consideration of other global Ediacaran macrofossil occurrences reveals that pyrite is observed in association with Ediacaran macrofossils preserved in all four previously described styles of moldic preservation (Flinders-, Conception-, Fermeuse- and Nama-type). This suggests that replication of external morphology by framboidal pyrite was a widespread mechanism by which soft-bodied organisms and associated organic surfaces were preserved, in multiple facies and depositional environments, 580–541 million years ago. The extensive global burial of pyrite in medium- to coarse-grained clastics and carbonates is a previously unrecognized yet potentially significant geological sink of iron and sulfur, and may have contributed to rising atmospheric and marine oxygen concentrations across the late Ediacaran interval.


It is widely accepted that peer production communities show a high level of inequality in the level of participation. Typically, we can observe a power law in the distribution of contributions. However, we argue that participation inequality, and specifically its evolution over time, has been understudied. Previous research has concentrated on large successful projects (e.g. Wikipedia), leaving a gap regarding small or mid-size communities. The wiki ecosystem is highly diverse, and so it may be the participation distribution in the communities and its evolution. The aim of this work is twofold: (1) To show a novel webtool, WikiChron, for the analysis of wiki evolution, with a focus on inequality metrics; (2) To provide relevant cases of comparative analysis that show the diversity of the wiki ecosystem, with examples that are counter-intuitive or contradict existing literature, while reflecting the limits of single-metric studies. We aim to open lines of wiki research which require the use of multiple metrics to study participation inequality.


OBJECTIVE
To study chondrotoxic effects of enrofloxacin (ENR) and ciprofloxacin hydrochloride (CFX) on canine and equine articular chondrocytes in culture and to compare the effects with that of cultivation in Mg2+-free medium.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Chondrocytes from articular cartilage of 4- and 6 -month old dogs and 2- to 4- year-old horses.

PROCEDURE
Chondrocytes were cultivated with 10, 40, 80, and 160 microg of CFX/ml, 10, 50, 100, and 150 microg of ENR/ml, or in Mg2+-free medium. A live-to-dead test was performed to test cytotoxic effects. Morphologic changes were evaluated by electron microscopy. An attachment assay was used to test the ability of chondrocytes to adhere to collagen type-II coated-chamber slides in the presence of CFX and with Mg2+-free medium.

RESULTS
Chondrocytes cultivated in quinolone-supplemented medium or Mg2+-free medium had a decreased ability to adhere to culture dishes. Cell shape and the actin and vimentin cytoskeleton changed in a concentration-dependent manner. These effects were not species-specific and developed with both quinolones. On day 1 of culture, adhesion of chondrocytes to collagen type II was reduced to 70 and 45% of control values in the CFX treatment and Mg2+-free treatment groups, respectively. On day 5 of culture, adhesion of chondrocytes was reduced to 45 and 40% of control values in the CFX treatment and Mg2+-free treatment groups, respectively.

CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
In vitro, chondrotoxic effects of quinolones appear to be the result of irregular integrin signaling and subsequent cellular changes. Drug concentrations leading to morphologic changes in vitro may be achieved in articular cartilage in vivo.


In this study, the preparation of multifunctional materials based on magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) and original thiosemicarbazide derivatives is presented. The synthesized nanohybrids consist of an iron oxide core and a polymeric shell, which possesses the ability to complex metal ions. They exhibit superparamagnetic properties and can thus be easily separated from complex mixtures using an external magnetic field (facile separation, purification, and recyclability). Synthesized carbamohydrazonothioate derivatives were polymerized on dithiocarbonate-coated MNPs using the RAFT/MADIX (reversible addition–fragmentation transfer/macromolecular design by interchange of xanthates) method. Three types of nanohybrids were obtained and their physicochemical properties were investigated. The ability of nanohybrids to complex palladium(II) ions and the spectroscopic properties of the obtained materials were studied. In addition, the hemolytic activity tests of polymer-coated particles were performed in order to confirm their potential in biomedical applications.


Flooding can cause massive harm to the agricultural sector by flooding fields and damaging the infrastructure that is essential for agricultural activities. Crops are often lost and repairs may be necessary to restore irrigation systems to functional status. This research aims to quantify the damages and losses experienced from the unprecedented September 2013 flooding event in Boulder County Colorado's Left Hand Ditch Company service area. Damages are cataloged and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies were used to estimate economic impact and determine the landscape characteristics of lands where the highest rates of flooding occurred. Alfalfa and non-alfalfa hays experienced the greatest losses with flooding most common in Western Great Plains Riparian Woodlands and Shrublands and Agricultural lands. Flooding was most common in lower elevation areas with shallower slopes. Manter sandy loam, Calkins sandy loam, and Niwot soils were the soil types for that experienced the most widespread flooding.


Rudolf Hilferding has always been regarded as a leading Marxist scholar. His theoretical intervention is still considered as benchmark in the discussions in political economy. Nevertheless, Hilferding's approach to derivatives has been left untouched. The aim of this paper is to fill exactly this gap in literature. Hilferding realized that the development of the stock exchange was indeed parallel to another important development: that of the 'commodity exchange'. This idea led him to emphasize the standardized derivative contracts. In this fashion, he understood the economic significance that derivatives markets have for the organization of capitalism and made an effort to shed light in their workings. In spite of how one appraises the final outcome of his analysis, the intention to incorporate the futures market in his general approach and analyze them using Marxian theoretical categories is quite exception in the long tradition of political economy. He also ends up apprehending derivatives as the new form of money which could become redundant only by the formation of monopoly combines. From this point of view, his analysis is indeed a forerunner of many contemporary approaches.


Previous studies have shown that supernatants from Con A-stimulated human mononuclear cells are chemotactic for T cells, and that the source of the activity is the Leu-2 (suppressor/cytotoxic) T cell. The specificity of this chemoattractant activity for Leu-2 and/or Leu-3 (helper/inducer) T cells was analyzed with isolated human T cell subsets in an in vitro chemotaxis assay system. These studies demonstrate that both human Leu-2 and Leu-3 cells migrate in response to the lymphocyte locomotor stimulus casein, whereas only Leu-3 cells migrate in response to supernatants from Con A-stimulated mononuclear cells. This migration of Leu-3 cells to the Con A supernatant was reflected in both the distance migrated and the number of migrating cells. When Leu-2 cell locomotion in response to Con A supernatants was analyzed, no significant differences from control were observed in either the distance migrated or the number of migrating cells. Supernatants from Con A-stimulated Leu-2 cells similarly attracted Leu-3 cells but not Leu-2 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Supernatants from Con A-stimulated Leu-3 cells did not stimulate either Leu-2 or Leu-3 cell migration. These studies demonstrate that Leu-3 T cells migrate in response to supernatants from Con A-stimulated Leu-2 T cells. This specific response may promote cell-to-cell interaction by providing a means for Leu-2 T cells to recruit Leu-3 T cells.


Striga hermonthica is the most widespread and destructive obligate root parasite infecting maize and other cereals in Africa. Maize inbred lines supporting reduced S. hermonthica emergence can form an important basis for developing Striga-resistant maize cultivars. Twenty new inbred lines selected for field resistance to S. hermonthica, and five inbred checks with known resitance, tolerance and susceptibility reactions to S. hermonthica were evaluated in pots, greenhouse and field experiments under artificial Striga infestation for 3 years. The experiments were conducted to determine the extent of variation in parasite attachment to the roots of these lines and its relationship with emerged Striga plants and other traits. Significant differences (P < 0.0001) were detected among the inbred lines for the numbers of attached and emerged Striga plants and the results were consistent across test environments. Also, the lines exhibited significant differences for Striga damage symptom ratings and other traits recorded in the field. Parasite attachment to the roots was significantly correlated with emerged Striga count in the screenhouse (r = 0.67-0.68, P < 0.001) and in the field (r = 0.82-0.84, P < 0.0001) and with levels of grain yield reduction due to Striga (r = 0.71, P < 0.0001). Regression analysis of the numbers of attached parasites on the first principal component axis scores that integrated several traits recorded in the field was significant (P < 0.0001) and accounted for 62% of the total variation in numbers of attached parasites. The new inbred lines and the resistant inbred check were the least affected by S. hermonthica and exhibited yield losses of 0-37% compared with the yields of the tolerant and the susceptible inbred checks, which were reduced by 40-85%. Sixteen new inbred lines supported significantly fewer attached parasites compared with the susceptible inbred check. Some of these lines also supported significantly fewer emerged parasites and sustained lower damage symptoms and percentage yield losses due to Striga compared with the susceptible inbred check. These inbred lines would be useful in breeding programmes for developing resistant maize cultivars.


Up until the decision of the Federal Circuit in Jazz Photo Corp. v. International Trade Commission, 264 F.3d 1094 (Fed. Cir. 2001), the preponderant weight of judicial authority in the United States, including of this Court, was in favor of international exhaustion of patent rights. The decision of the Federal Circuit for which certiorari has been granted, Lexmark International, Inc. v. Impression Products, Inc., 816 F.3d 721 (Fed. Cir. 2016), affirms its Jazz Photo decision, and it would continue enabling post-sale restrictions based on patents.This Amicus urges the Court to overrule the Federal Circuit on both aspects of that decision. This means adopting a rule of international exhaustion of patent rights for the United States consistent with pre-Jazz Photo jurisprudence, and prohibiting post-sale restrictions based on patent.A fundamental flaw in the approach of the Federal Circuit involves its reasoning that a rule of territoriality of patent rights precludes U.S. courts from taking into account activities of U.S. patent owners outside the United States. The international agreements governing the international patent system do not prescribe such a rule of territoriality. By recognizing that first sales under the authority of U.S. patent owners outside the United States exhaust U.S. patent rights, this Court would not in any sense be subjecting U.S. patent owners to application of foreign law, and would not be impinging on the authority of foreign sovereigns.The rule of independence of patents prescribed by the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property provides that acts taken by patent authorities in one country do not affect patent rights in other Paris countries. Recognition by this Supreme Court that first sales in foreign countries exhaust U.S. patent rights would not affect patents granted outside the United States. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights permits the United States to adopt international exhaustion of patents. Contrary to the view of the Federal Circuit, three trade agreements entered into by the United States that address first sales outside the United States at most require this country to provide the means to enforce contracts limiting imports. Adoption by this Court of a rule of international patent exhaustion would not contravene any such agreement.This Amicus supports the general case for international exhaustion of patent rights and elimination of patent-based post-sale restrictions. This Amicus has expertise in the global regulation of pharmaceutical products, including with respect to patents and other forms of intellectual property, and much of this brief addresses the exhaustion issue with respect to patented pharmaceuticals.By allowing parallel importation of U.S.-patented pharmaceutical products, this Court would enable price competition from imported FDA-approved products manufactured outside the United States with the consent of their U.S. patent owners. The introduction of parallel import products is likely to have a modest downward pricing effect. The United States is a large pharmaceutical market, and the supply of U.S. patented pharmaceuticals from abroad is, and will remain, limited. The fact that parallel imported pharmaceutical products are likely to have a modest effect on U.S. prices is not reason to preclude them. Parallel imports may be one useful and important step toward moderating patented pharmaceutical prices in the United States.The United States should continue to encourage low-priced supply of U.S.-patented pharmaceutical products to low income countries. Suppliers of such products may restrict exports from low income countries by contract, and such contractual provisions should be enforceable, including in the United States. Governments in low income countries may adopt legislation to limit exports of products supplied under discounted pricing programs consistently with WTO rules. If necessary, the United States could also limit imports from designated low income countries, or imports previously supplied under designated programs, under WTO rules. The United States should not forgo the benefits of a rule of international exhaustion of patent rights for the limited purpose of enabling price discrimination with respect to one specific category of products.


The paper presents a social semiotic multimodal framework for the analysis of website interactivity. Distinguishing it from interaction, the work defines interactivity as the affordance of a text of being acted (up)on. It is actualized digitally in interactive sites/signs (hyperlinks included), having a two-fold nature, as places enabling actions producing effects and as forms endowed with meanings. They have also a two-dimensional functioning, syntagmatically on the page where they are displayed, and paradigmatically, opening to multiple text realizations based on choice. The framework adapts Halliday's (1978) Ideational, Interpersonal and Textual metafunctions to the analysis of the two-fold nature and two-dimensional functioning of interactive sites/signs. As exemplified in the analysis of a sample of blogs, the framework is designed to account for the interactive meaning potentials of a digital text, both in its aesthetics and structure, and is intended to complement the extant practices of text analysis of webpages.


Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) are associated with insulin resistance and accelerated micro- and macro-vascular complications of diabetes. We investigated the relationship between serum levels of IGFBP6 in type-1 diabetes (T1D) patients and diabetic complications. In this study, IGFBP6 was measured in the sera from 697 T1D patients and 681 healthy controls using a Luminex assay. Mean serum levels of IGFBP6 were higher in T1D patients than controls matched for sex and age (119.7 vs 130.6 ng/ml, p < 10(-4)). Subject age, sex and duration of disease have a significant impact on serum IGFBP6 levels in both T1D patients and healthy controls. Patients with complications have significantly higher mean serum IGFBP6 than patients without any complication (p = 3.5x10(-6)). More importantly, conditional logistic regression analysis suggested that T1D patients are more likely to have very high levels of serum IGFBP6 (in the 4(th) quartile) (OR = 1.7) than healthy controls. Furthermore, T1D patients with various complications are more likely to have very high levels of serum IGFBP6 (in the 4(th) quartile) than patients without any complication (OR = 1.7 - 22.9). These results indicate the clinical importance of measuring IGFBP6 to the better management of T1D patients.


The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology, by Philip J. Corr and Gerald Matthews (Eds.) Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2009, 904 Pages (ISBN 978-0-521-86218-9, US $199.95 Hardcover; ISBN 978-0-521-68051-6, CA $96.95, Paperback) Reviewed by ALEXANDER L. CHAPMAN DOI: I0.1037/a0023470 A comprehensive review of personality psychology, this book covers a range of topics, including those that are standard in personality texts (conceptualisation, biological and cultural perspectives) as well as more unique additions (social pain and hurt feelings, animal models, and politics). Although the introductions are lengthy (approximately 33 pages), these chapters do provide a useful guide to the book and key issues addressed in remaining chapters. The chapters are generally written in a manner appropriate for graduate students, professionals, or academics. Given the broad scope and careful attention to the defining of key constructs and methods, this book will appeal to an audience with varying familiarity with personality psychology. Within the first couple of sections, the authors often grapple with key conceptual issues. Chapter 1 covers a breadth of issues in relation to personality psychology. In particular, the discussion of "grand theories," criteria for a sound theory, and philosophy of science will stimulate critical analysis of the constructs we use in personality psychology. From the author's perspective, the goals of a good theory include comprehensive and parsimonious description, as well as prediction. Beyond describing peoples' personalities parsimoniously in a manner that predicts behaviour, might it also be valuable to make our theories relevant to applied implications, such as health, cultural and social relations, and psychopathology? Also within the first few sections, chapters addressed the transaction of personality and environment. Chapters 2 and 3 provided thought-provoking discussions of the nature of "situations," the influence of perceptions, and the transaction of situations and persons. In particular, Chapter 3's interesting discussion of individual situation profile stability provided a synthesis of models emphasising situational variability and those espousing the consistency of trait expression. Reflected in these chapters, a strength cutting across this book was the focus on transactional models of personality. In this way, the book goes beyond anachronistic debates about the importance of context versus traits. The chapters on description and measurement generally underscored the tight conceptual focus across the book. Although parts of Chapter 5 involved a helpful review of the "trait" construct, much of the chapter is mired in historical review and heavily reliant on quotations from personality researchers or theorists. Similarly, although Chapter 7 provided an extensive discussion of measurement and statistical issues, the chapter organisation is hard to follow, with no section headings and less focus/structure than is found in other chapters. The section on development, health, and personality change addressed many important issues, such the temporal stability of personality, the distinction between personality and temperament, the role of early environments, and attachment theory. In Chapter 1 1, the authors define temperament distinctly from personality and review research on temperament in childhood and the interaction of temperament with parenting in the prediction of future outcomes. I would like to have seen more discussion of the potentially bidirectional association of temperament and parenting. Although the authors' definition of temperament included temporal stability, the issue of stability is complex. Notwithstanding, the following chapter included an excellent discussion of the different types of stability of personality as well as mechanisms underlying stability. Perhaps future work will examine the stability of personality X environment transactions, rather than simply the stability of individual traits. …


The primary objective of the project was the development of criteria to define the end-of-life condition of pavements. These criteria could then be used in pavement performance modelling to obtain a more robust measure of remaining life. Another objective was the generation of a new model for maintenance costs. This could then be combined with the existing models for roughness and rutting to define a distress level at which rehabilitation should occur. None of the maintenance cost models developed were particularly successful in producing a reliable prediction of maintenance costs based on the pavement characteristics available from RAMM. Therefore, a logit model was developed to predict rehabilitation decisions. The major factors in the rehabilitation model were maintenance costs, traffic levels and roughness. The rehabilitation decision model derived for this study predicted rehabilitation decisions well. Approximately 72% of pavements that had been rehabilitated were predicted as requiring rehabilitation. When tested on the Nelson network data, which was not used for calibration of the model, a similar performance was obtained indicating the models developed were relatively successful.


The purpose of this study is to apply different methods including statistical and spatial analysis techniques to delineate spatial submarkets of housing prices and to examine spatial dependence of housing prices. The data comes from housing transaction prices in the central development areas of greater Tainan City, 2009. Greater Tainan city is a new metropolis amalgamated from former Tainan city and Tainan county. Due to the amalgamation of municipalities, the local government boundaries should be adjusted, and in the mean time, it is worthy to identify spatial submarkets of housing prices in greater Tainan City, compared to former political boundary submarkets. It was found that spatial submarkets of housing prices classified by cluster analysis and spatial techniques are similar. Higher housing prices are concentrated in the core of central development areas while lower prices spread widely around outer ring of the central development areas in greater Tainan city. In testing spatial autocorrelation of housing prices, it was found that it exists significant spatial dependence between housing prices. In modeling housing prices, the results show that spatial submarkets derived by spatial autocorrelation techniques have stronger and higher impacts on housing prices, and the model also have better goodness-of-fit compared to other two types of models.


We present an analysis of the representation of gender as a data dimension in data visualizations and propose a set of considerations around visual variables and annotations for gender-related data. Gender is a common demographic dimension of data collected from study or survey participants, passengers, or customers, as well as across academic studies, especially in certain disciplines like sociology. Our work contributes to multiple ongoing discussions on the ethical implications of data visualizations. By choosing specifc data, visual variables, and text labels, visualization designers may, inadvertently or not, perpetuate stereotypes and biases. Here, our goal is to start an evolving discussion on how to represent data on gender in data visualizations and raise awareness of the subtleties of choosing visual variables and words in gender visualizations. In order to ground this discussion, we collected and coded gender visualizations and their captions from fve different scientifc communities (Biology, Politics, Social Studies, Visualisation, and Human-Computer Interaction), in addition to images from Tableau Public and the Information Is Beautiful awards showcase. Overall we found that representation types are community-specifc, color hue is the dominant visual channel for gender data, and nonconforming gender is under-represented. We end our paper with a discussion of considerations for gender visualization derived from our coding and the literature and recommendations for large data collection bodies. A free copy of this paper and all supplemental materials are available at https://osf.io/v9ams/.


Psychological studies on teamwork have shown that an effective team often can anticipate information needs of teammates based on a shared mental model. Existing multi-agent models for teamwork are limited in their ability to support proactive information exchange among teammates. To address this issue, we have developed and implemented a multi-agent architecture called CAST that simulates teamwork and supports proactive information exchange in a dynamic environment. We present a formal model for proactive information exchange. Knowledge regarding the structure and process of a team is described in a language called MALLET. Beliefs about shared team processes and their states are represented using Petri Nets. Based on this model, CAST agents offer information proactively to those who might need it using an algorithm called DIARG. Empirical evaluations using a multi-agent synthetic testbed application indicate that CAST enhances the effectiveness of teamwork among agents without sacrificing a high cost for communications.


This chapter develops an analytical framework that could help legal analysts – especially common law judges – make better decisions about boilerplate in the context of rights deletions deployed by firms against consumers. It is based on one aspect of the author's recent work, Boilerplate: The Fine Print, Vanishing Rights, and the Rule of Law (Princeton University Press, 2012). A great deal of mass-market boilerplate – such as hidden lists of terms that recipients have no idea exist – should not be treated as contractual, and should be regulated by other means. But when courts insist on treating boilerplate as contractual, I encourage them to consider an improved analysis. That analysis takes into account three factors: (1) the nature of the right of recipients deleted by the boilerplate; (2) the quality of consent to the boilerplate deletion; and (3) the extent of social dissemination of the deletion. Two particular features of current doctrine should be improved. The procedural/substantive requirement in unconscionability doctrine is misapplied when a judge ignores the nature of the right once she concludes that the quality of consent is adequate, because some rights are market-inalienable, or partially market-inalienable. Market-inalienable rights tend to be rights that are constitutive of civil society, that are not salient to individual decision-makers, and/or that are important for the progress or well-being of the collective as a whole. Also, the notion of reasonable expectation should be avoided because it engenders a truly mischievous positive/normative ambiguity, and seems to license a conclusion that the more something is imposed on people, no matter what it is, the more it is permissible. The approach taken here need not be interpreted as innovative, because it can be understood as a reinvigoration of principles of equity that have been corrupted.


One important source of variance in the performance and success of products designed for use by people is the people themselves. In many cases, the acceptability of the design is affected more by the variance in the human users than by the variance attributable to the hardware from which the product is constructed. Consequently, optimization of products used by people may benefit from consideration of human variance through robust design methodologies. We propose that design under uncertainty methodologies can be utilized to generate designs that are robust to variance amongusers, includingdifferencesinage, physicalsize, strength, and cognitive capability. Including human variance as an inherent part of the product optimization process will improve the overall performance of the product (be it comfort, maintainability, cognitive performance, or other metrics of interest) and could lead to products that are more accessible to broader populations, less expensive, and safer. A case study involving the layout of the interior of a heavy truck cab is presented, focusing on simultaneous placement of the seat and steering wheel adjustment ranges. Tradeoffs between adjustability/cost, driver accommodation, and safety are explored under this paradigm.


We report the Regression Transformer (RT), a method that abstracts regression as a conditional sequence modeling problem. The RT casts continuous properties as sequences of numerical tokens and encodes them jointly with conventional tokens. This yields a dichotomous model that can seamlessly transition between solving regression tasks and conditional generation tasks; solely gov-erned by the mask location. We propose several extensions to the XLNet objective and adopt an alternating training scheme to concurrently optimize property prediction and conditional text generation based on a self-consistency loss. Our experiments on both chemical and protein languages demonstrate that the performance of traditional regression models can be surpassed despite training with cross entropy loss. Importantly, priming the same model with continuous properties yields a highly competitive conditional generative models that outperforms specialized approaches in a constrained property optimization benchmark. In sum, the Regression Transformer opens the door for "swiss army knife" models that excel at both regression and conditional generation. This finds application particularly in property-driven, local exploration of the chemical or protein space.


Do financial advisers undo or reinforce the behavioral biases and misconceptions of their clients? We use an audit methodology where trained auditors meet with financial advisers and present different types of portfolios. These portfolios reflect either biases that are in line with the financial interests of the advisers (e.g., returns-chasing portfolio) or run counter to their interests (e.g., a portfolio with company stock or very low-fee index funds). We document that advisers fail to de-bias their clients and often reinforce biases that are in their interests. Advisers encourage returns-chasing behavior and push for actively managed funds that have higher fees, even if the client starts with a well-diversified, low-fee portfolio.


Nanostructured CeO2 powders were synthesized via a series of hydrothermal and solution precipitation methods. Three different hydrothermal methods including 1:2 and 1:1 Bi:Ce molar ratios at 180 °C for 48 h (S1 and S2, respectively) without calcinations; and 2:1 Bi:Ce molar ratio at 180 °C for 48 h with calcinations (S3) were performed successfully for the synthesis of the target nanomaterials. Two different solution precipitation methods i.e. 1:1 Bi:Ce molar ratio at 80 °C for 40 min without and with calcinations (S4 and S5, respectively) were also used for the synthesis of CeO2 nanoparticles. Bi(NO3)3 and (NH4)2Ce(NO3)6 were used as raw materials. The synthesized materials were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) technique. CeO2 crystallized in a cubic crystal structure with cell parameters of a=b=c= 5.412 A. The morphologies of the synthesized materials were studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The technique showed that the morphology of the synthesized nanomaterials were strongly dependent on the synthetic procedure.


I analyze the innovation incentives under monopoly and duopoly provision of horizontally differentiated products purchased via bilateral negotiations, integrating the market structure and innovation literature with the holdup literature. I show that competition can improve local incentives for non-contractible investment. Because innovation levels are generally strategic substitutes, however, there can be multiple duopoly equilibria. In some circumstances, monopoly can provide a coordination device that can lead to greater expected welfare despite inferior local innovation incentives. The conditions for this to be the case, however, are quite restrictive.


Neanderthal language abilities cannot be directly observed, but indirect evidence is available in their anatomy, archeology, and DNA. Neanderthal anatomy shows possible speech adaptations, and their archeology contains enough indicators of behavioral modernity, including symbols and ornaments, to conclude that their minds could handle symbolic communication. Neanderthal DNA, finally, indicates both that they possessed some of the language-relevant genes found in modern humans and that they could and did have children with modern humans. From the consilience of evidence from anatomy, archeology, and DNA, one can conclude that some language abilities, if not necessarily full modern syntactic language, were present in Neanderthals.


ABSTRACT The integration sites of viral vectors used in human gene therapy can have important consequences for safety and efficacy. However, an extensive evaluation of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector integration sites has not been completed, despite the ongoing use of AAV vectors in clinical trials. Here we have used a shuttle vector system to isolate and analyze 977 unique AAV vector-chromosome integration junctions from normal human fibroblasts and describe their genomic distribution. We found a significant preference for integrating within CpG islands and the first 1 kb of genes, but only a slight overall preference for transcribed sequences. Integration sites were clustered throughout the genome, including a major preference for integration in ribosomal DNA repeats, and 13 other hotspots that contained three or more proviruses within a 500-kb window. Both junctions were localized from 323 proviruses, allowing us to characterize the chromosomal deletions, insertions, and translocations associated with vector integration. These studies establish a profile of insertional mutagenesis for AAV vectors and provide unique insight into the chromosomal distribution of DNA strand breaks that may facilitate integration.


Abstract This study aims to provide insights on personal branding and impression management practices in the context of selfie production and sharing on online social networking sites (oSNSs). The theoretical framework of the study was constructed according to Goffman's 'Dramaturgy Theory' and Belk's 'Digital Extended Self' theory. Four constructs; de-materialization of photography, co-construction of the self, sharing economy of digital media and online social networks, and distributed memory were included in the study. The results of the literature review were further explained according to the production and consumption of selfies. This study provides detailed information about how selfies can be used as a mediator for purposes of self-extension and personal branding. Even though selfies are seen as an everyday activity and a raw presentation of the subject, they also include extra contextual information about the subject. The results of the study exert that selfies shared online can be used as a tool for impression management in oSNSs.


A substantive body of research highlights the existence of framing effects in labour supply responses to taxation challenging traditional models that assume taxes only influence behaviour via the budget constraint. Using a lab experiment, this paper examines the presence of differential responses to identical marginal tax schedules coming from direct taxation and from benefit withdrawal respectively. In an incentivised real-effort task, subjects supply time and effort while facing an incentive structure that is framed as taxation or benefit withdrawal respectively, while yielding the exact same budget constraint. Results indicate that subjects in the benefit withdrawal condition are more likely to reduce working time compared to both subjects in the tax treatment and a control group where the incentive structure is described without using the language of taxes and benefits. The effect is driven by loss-averse individuals suggesting that benefit streams may be subject to an 'endowment effect'. The findings have clear implications for welfare policy design.


Revealing what is 'Islamic' in Islamic art, Shaw explores the perception of arts, including painting, music, and geometry through the discursive sphere of historical Islam including the Qur'an, Hadith, Sufism, ancient philosophy, and poetry. Emphasis on the experience of reception over the context of production enables a new approach, not only to Islam and its arts, but also as a decolonizing model for global approaches to art history. Shaw combines a concise introduction to Islamic intellectual history with a critique of the modern, secular, and European premises of disciplinary art history. Her meticulous interpretations of intertextual themes span antique philosophies, core religious and theological texts, and prominent prose and poetry in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu that circulated across regions of Islamic hegemony from the eleventh century to the colonial and post-colonial contexts of the modern Middle East.


—Smart city analytics requires the harnessing and analysis of emotions and sentiments conveyed by images and video footage. In recent years, facial sentiment analysis attracted significant attention for different application areas, including marketing, gaming, political analytics, healthcare, and human computer interaction. Aiming at contributing to this area, we propose a deep learning model enabling the accurate emotion analysis of crowded scenes containing complete and partially occluded faces, with different angles, various distances from the camera, and varying resolutions. Our model consists of a sophisticated convolutional neural network (CNN) that is combined with pooling, densifying, flattening, and Softmax layers to achieve accurate sentiment and emotion analysis of facial images. The proposed model was successfully tested using 3,750 images containing 22,563 faces, collected from a large consumer electronics trade show. The model was able to correctly classify the test images which contained faces with different angles, distances, occlusion areas, facial orientation and resolutions. It achieved an average accuracy of 90.6% when distinguishing between seven emotions (Happiness, smiling, laughter, neutral, sadness, anger, and surprise) in complete faces, and 86.16% accuracy in partially occluded faces. Such model can be leveraged for the automatic analysis of attendees' engagement level in events. Furthermore, it can open the door for many useful applications in smart cities, such as measuring employees' satisfaction and citizens' happiness.


This thesis describes a study of the implementation of Indonesia's national policy on active learning. Active learning was first introduced in Indonesia in the 1970s. Since then four different national curricula have rearticulated the policy, and numerous donor and government funded projects have attempted to support implementation. Notwithstanding all of this effort at reform, the gap between policy and practice remains wide. Most schools and classrooms remain little changed. A wide range of teaching practices is employed by Indonesia's more than three million teachers and across its 260,000 schools. However, with a few exceptions, a casual look in any one of these schools will reveal poor conditions, few books or teaching aids, and traditional chalk-and-talk' teaching methods.
The study addresses two questions: (1) How do teachers translate active learning methodology in the classroom? (2) What factors impede the implementation of active learning?
A mixed-method, qualitative, case study approach was adopted to answer these questions. The case selected was a group of teachers, schools and school clusters in three districts in the remote eastern Indonesian province of North Maluku. The data collection phase of the study took place in 2007. Data analysis was conducted in the following years. Four main data gathering methods were employed: (1) document analysis, (2) survey questionnaire, (3) semi-structured interview and informal discussions, (4) field visits to schools and class observation. The study is underpinned by a conceptual framework, which developes the theory of House (1979), and subsequently House and McQuillan (1998), who proposed three perspectives for the analysis of education reform. This study argues that each of three perspectives is necessary to an understanding of educational reform: the technical, the political and the cultural.
The study found that implementation of the policy of active learning has essentially failed in this case, due to a combination of technical, political and cultural factors and the interaction between these three. Is is argued that the dominance of the technical perspective in previous studies and in the policy process is, in part, a result of policy borrowing, whereby technical innovations are borrowed from the West and, with the support of international donors, are implemented in Indonesia – without the cultural context necessary for successful implementation. This thesis thus further develops the theory by taking House and McQuillan's (1998) three perspectives, expanding the meaning to include higher level political perspectives and broader cultural and technical perspectives, and applying this conceptual framework in a new setting, that of Indonesia, a developing nation. This study concludes with a number of recommendations for policy makers and researchers. The key recommendation is that Indonesian policy on classroom practice should be made in a way that is more cognizant of the technical, political and cultural realities. What is required is a review of current policy and implementation expectations, and an adjustment of the policy to fit with Indonesian realities. These realities, it should be stressed, are not uniform and vary according to the local context. This recommendation is significant, not only for Indonesia, which spends substantial amounts of money every year on reform programs which fail repeatedly due to lack of awareness of the need to address cultural, technical and political factors. It also offers a warning to other developing nations and for the international donors which support them.


In order to count partial orders on a set of n points, it seems necessary to explicitly construct a representative of every isomorphism type. While that is done, one might as well determine their automorphism groups. In this note it is shown how several other types of binary relations can be counted, based on an explicit enumeration of the partial orders and their automorphism groups. A partial order is a transitive, reflexive, and antisymmetric binary relation. Here we determine the number of quasi-orders q(n) (or finite topologies or transitive digraphs or reflexive transitive relations), the number of "soft" orders s(t) (or antisymmetric transitive relations), and the number of transitive relations t(n) on n points in terms of numbers of partial orders with a given automorphism group.


Among the concerns of Walter Benjamin's giant mosaic of 19th century Parisian cultural life, the Passagenarbeit, and his related studies of Baudelaire, one of the most perplexing figures is the flaneur. Although the lone individual wandering within urban labyrinths appears in Benjamin's other city sketches, he thought that "Paris created the flaneur as a type" (M1, 4 PW p. 525). He is the stroller — the pedestrian who finds delight in ambling contentedly and unhurriedly through the city. He is at home in the metropolitan environment. As the flaneur turns the boulevard into an interior setting, so the internalized street, the arcade, is his favorite haunt.


Title: "'Strange Matings' and Unexpected Encounters: Octavia Butler's Hybrid Fictions" Abstract: "Strange matings" is a quotation from African American science-fiction writer Octavia Butler's fifth novel, Wild Seed (1980) – it also serves as the title of the second book to date entirely devoted to Butler's work. Nothing could be more appropriate since there are intimate as well as hostile encounters between humans and different species in many of her narratives from the Clayarks (a quadruped hybrid human-alien species) in her first published novel Patternmaster (1974) to the Ina (vampires) in her last novel, Fledgling (2005). Through these always cultural and often biological exchanges, Butler's fiction explores the problems and possibilities of hybridity in ways that matches and sometimes surpass theoretical formulations of the concept. There is never an option for her human protagonists to settle with the notion of the "Sacred Image of the Same" (Butler, Survivor 1978); they have to find ways of dealing with "Others" – other races or ethnicities and/or other species– and with the outcomes of these encounters in terms of individual physical and mental changes and hybrid offspring. In this paper, I will examine a few examples of cross-species encounters in Butler's fiction and discuss the theoretical implications of these fictional boundary crossings.


One-dimensional quantum systems show fascinating properties beyond the scope of the mean-field approximation. However, the complicated mathematics involved is a high barrier to non-specialists. Written for graduate students and researchers new to the field, this book is a self-contained account of how to derive a quasi-particle picture from the exact solution of models with inverse-square interparticle interactions. The book provides readers with an intuitive understanding of exact dynamical properties in terms of exotic quasi-particles that are neither bosons nor fermions. Powerful concepts, such as the Yangian symmetry in the Sutherland model and its lattice versions, are explained. A self-contained account of non-symmetric and symmetric Jack polynomials is also given. Derivations of dynamics are made easier, and are more concise than in the original papers, so readers can learn the physics of one-dimensional quantum systems through the simplest model.


In this study, we investigated the pretreatment of a high concentration pharmaceutical wastewater by catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) process. Different experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of the catalyst type, operating temperature, initial system pH, and oxygen partial pressure on the oxidation of the wastewater. Results show that the catalysts prepared by the co-precipitation method have better catalytic activity compared to others. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) conversion increased with the increase in temperature from 160 to 220 °C and decreased with the increase in pH. Moreover, the effect of the oxygen partial pressure on the COD conversion was significant only during the first 20 min of the reaction. Furthermore, the biodegradability of the wastewater improved greatly after CWAO, the ratio of BOD5/COD increased less than 0.1-0.75 when treated at 220 °C (BOD: biochemical oxygen demand).


Changes in the extent of woody vegetation represent a major conservation question in many savannah systems around the globe. To address the problem of the current lack of broad-scale cost-effective tools for land cover monitoring in complex savannah environments, we use a multi-scale approach to quantifying vegetation change in Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa. We test whether medium spatial resolution satellite data (Landsat, existing back to the 1970s), which have pixel sizes larger than typical vegetation patches, can nevertheless capture the thematic detail required to detect woody encroachment in savannahs. We quantify vegetation change over a 13-year period in KNP, examine the changes that have occurred, assess the drivers of these changes, and compare appropriate remote sensing data sources for monitoring change. We generate land cover maps for three areas of southern KNP using very high resolution (VHR) and medium resolution satellite sensor imagery from February 2001 to 2014. Considerable land cover change has occurred, with large increases in shrubs replacing both trees and grassland. Examination of exclosure areas and potential environmental driver data suggests two mechanisms: elephant herbivory removing trees and at least one separate mechanism responsible for conversion of grassland to shrubs, theorised to be increasing atmospheric CO2. Thus, the combination of these mechanisms causes the novel two-directional shrub encroachment that we observe (tree loss and grassland conversion). Multi-scale comparison of classifications indicates that although spatial detail is lost when using medium resolution rather than VHR imagery for land cover classification (e.g., Landsat imagery cannot readily distinguish between tree and shrub classes, while VHR imagery can), the thematic detail contained within both VHR and medium resolution classifications is remarkably congruent. This suggests that medium resolution imagery contains sufficient thematic information for most broad-scale land cover monitoring requirements in heterogeneous savannahs, while having the benefits of being cost-free and providing a longer historical archive of data than VHR sources. We conclude that monitoring of broad-scale land cover change using remote sensing has considerable potential as a cost-effective tool for both better informing land management practitioners, and for monitoring the future landscape-scale impacts of management policies in savannahs.


Abstract. Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) observations allow researchers to map elevations, analyze surface deformation, and even detect ground water level changes from satellites orbiting the Earth. The InSAR phase measurements are inherently wrapped between 0 and 2π. For most physical interpretation methods the phase measurements have to be unwrapped to reveal the full scale of the observations. The unwrapping of multi-dimensional phase data is still a field of active research and here we present an algorithm using an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The current implementation of our EKF algorithm utilizes a piecewise linear approximation in space and a simple model in the third dimension (e.g. time). The algorithm starts from wrapped, unfiltered interferograms and filters and unwraps the results at the same time solving for a common topography or deformation rate, starting from the highest quality point in the coherent area and proceeding to unwrap highest quality neighbors. The highest quality neighbors are determined according to the Fisher's Distance, which is a phase quality measure similar to the more commonly used phase derivative variance, but also includes the interferogram coherence. In this presentation we demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm for the applications of DEM generation and deformation rate analysis using real data.


On Tuesday 10 August 1915, a 25 year old Russian named Neplen Matanakes was allowed to disembark from the SS Empire in Brisbane, the capital city of the state of Queensland in the recently federated Australia. A year into World War I, Neplen's journey had started a few weeks earlier in the Chinese Russian city of Harbin. Like other Russians before him, Neplen made his way to the Japanese seaport of Dairen (or Dalny), also located on the Chinese mainland. He then joined the SS Empire at Kobe, Japan, on one of its regular round trips to Australia and, after brief stops in Hong Kong and Manila, the steamer arrived in Darwin on 1 August 1915. The three unnamed Russians on board were mentioned in dispatches telegraphed south. Brisbane was the SS Empire's first capital city landfall in Australia and, by disembarking here, Neplen followed the path of thousands of other Russians who arrived in Australia through its most northerly state capital (Govor 1997).


This study investigated microRNA and target gene profiles under different conditions of burn, bed rest, and exercise training. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 48) were assigned to sham ambulatory, sham hindlimb unloading, burn ambulatory, or burn plus hindlimb unloading groups. Rats received a 40% TBSA scald burn or sham treatments and were ambulatory or hindlimb unloaded. Rats were further assigned to exercise or no exercise. Plantaris tissues were harvested on day 14 and pooled to analyze for microRNA and gene expression profiles. Compared with the sham ambulatory–no exercise group, 73, 79, and 80 microRNAs were altered 2-fold in the burn ambulatory, sham hindlimb unloading, and burn hindlimb unloading groups, all with no exercise, respectively. More than 70% of microRNAs were upregulated in response to burn and hindlimb unloading, whereas 60% microRNA of the profile decreased in hindlimb unloaded burn rats with exercise training. MiR-182 was the most affected in rat muscle. Gene ontology biological process and pathway analysis showed that the oxidative stress pathway was most stimulated in the hindlimb unloaded burn rats; while in response to exercise training, all genes in related pathways such as hypermetabolic, inflammation, and blood coagulation were alleviated. MicroRNAs and transcript gene profiles were altered in burn and hindlimb unloading groups, with additive effects on hindlimb unloaded burn rats. The altered genes' signal pathways were associated with muscle mass loss and function impairment. Muscle improvement with exercise training was observed in gene levels with microRNA alterations as well.


In recent times, enterprises have been increasingly dealing with the use of social media in internal communication and collaboration. In particular, so-called Enterprise Social Networks (ESN), promise meaningful benefits for the nature of work in corporations. However, these platforms often suffer from poor degrees of use. This raises the question of what initiatives enterprise can launch in order to stimulate the vitality of ESN. Since the use of ESN is often voluntary, individual adoption by employees need to be examined to find an answer. Therefore, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was selected for the theoretical foundation of this paper. Following a qualitative research approach, the available research provides an analysis of expert interviews on specific ESN implementation strategies and included factors. In order to extensively conceptualize and generalize these strategic considerations, we conducted an inductive coding process. The results reveal that ESN implementation strategies can be understood as a multi-level construct (individual vs. group vs. organizational level) containing different factors dependent on the degree of documentation and intensity. This research in progress describes a qualitative evaluation as a preliminary study for further quantitative analysis of an ESN adoption model.


AIMS: To determine the frequency of abnormal pancreolauryl tests in untreated and treated adults with coeliac disease and to see whether abnormalities in treated coeliac patients correlate with the degree of recovery of intestinal morphology or brush border enzyme activity. METHODS: Pancreolauryl tests were performed in a study population of 57 adult coeliac patients (25 on gluten containing diets and 32 on gluten free diets), 59 symptomatic controls, and eight patients with pancreatic disease. Brush border enzyme activity and morphological assessment were performed on small intestinal biopsies in 27 of the treated coeliac patients. RESULTS: Forty per cent of untreated coeliac patients and 18% of treated coeliac patients had abnormal tests. In treated coeliac patients, no significant correlation was detected between the pancreolauryl test result and either brush border enzyme activity or morphological parameters. CONCLUSION: Abnormal pancreolauryl test results are common in untreated and treated adult coeliac disease patients. Abnormalities in treated coeliac patients do not correlate with the degree of recovery of small intestinal morphology or brush border enzymes.


We define long shots as investment projects with four features: (1) low probabilities of success; (2) long gestation lags before any cash flows are realized; (3) large required up-front investments; and (4) very large payoffs (relative to initial investment) in the unlikely event of success. Funding long shots is becoming increasingly difficult—even for high-risk investment vehicles like hedge funds and venture funds—despite the fact that some of society's biggest challenges such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease, global warming, and fossil-fuel depletion depend critically on the ability to undertake such investments. We investigate the possibility of improving financing for long shots by pooling them into a single portfolio that can be financed via securitized debt, and examine the conditions under which such funding mechanisms are likely to be effective.


This study explored the social justice implications of the transition of a Hispanic-serving Institution (HSI) to a "Tier-1" institution. Interviews and demographic statistics describe a university that has increased its global reach, its enrollment of students of color, and the prestige of the Latinx-majority city in which it is located. Conversely, the institution is declining in its service to low-income students and the local community, and changing expectations for faculty and staff compromise the hiring and retention of marginalized groups such as women and people of color.


With the prevalence of location-based services and geo-functioned devices, the trend of spatial data outsourcing is rising. In the data outsourcing scenario, result integrity must be ensured by means of a query authentication scheme. However, most of the existing studies are confined to a centralized environment. In this paper, we investigate the query authentication problem in distributed environments and focus on the k nearest neighbor (kNN) query, which is widely used in spatial data analytics. We design a new distributed spatial authenticated data structure (ADS), distributed MR-tree, to facilitate efficient kNN processing. Furthermore, we propose a basic algorithm to process authenticated kNN queries based on the new ADS. Apart from the results, some verification objects are generated to guarantee the results' integrity. We also design two optimized algorithms to reduce the size of verification objects as well as the verification cost. Our experiments validate the good performance of the proposed techniques in terms of query cost, communication overhead, and verification time.


Objective: It has been suggested that mean platelet volume can be used as a marker of inflammation in some inflammatory diseases. This marker has not been investigated adequately in children with allergic disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate mean platelet volume in children with chronic spontaneous urticaria. Materials and Methods: Fifty-four children with chronic spontaneous urticaria (26 boys and 28 girls, mean age 13.70±3.66 years) were included in this retrospective study. The demographic characteristics, complete blood count, serum total IgE, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and skin prick tests results of the patients were recorded. Sixty healthy children were included as the control group. Only complete blood count results of the control group were recorded. Platelet count, mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width, leukocyte count, and hemoglobin values were compared between the two groups. Correlations between mean platelet volume with age, disease duration, atopy, serum total IgE, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were analyzed in the patient group. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in terms of age and sex between the two groups (p=0.09, p=0.60, respectively). Mean platelet volume and platelet count in the patient group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p=0.005, p=0.01, respectively). Platelet distribution widths in the patient group were significantly lower than those in the control group (p 0.05). Mean platelet volumes in the patient group were not correlated with age, disease duration, atopy, serum total IgE, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Conclusion: Mean platelet volumes and platelet counts are increased in children with chronic spontaneous urticaria. However, the mean platelet volume does not appear to be associated with the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and atopy.


Modern information retrieval research has evolved a standard workflow that involves first indexing a document collection and then running ad hoc queries sequentially to evaluate retrieval effectiveness using standard test collections. This paper explores how aspects of this workflow might change in a MapReduce cluster-based environment. First, we present and evaluate two algorithms for inverted indexing that take advantage of the programming model's sorting mechanism to different extents. The running times of both algorithms scale linearly in terms of collection size up to 102 million web pages. Second, we show that it is possible to efficiently perform batch query evaluation with MapReduce by scanning all postings lists in parallel, as opposed to sequentially accessing each postings list. Third, we explore an approach that forgoes inverted indexing altogether and simply computes all query–document scores from document vectors themselves. Experimental results challenge us to think differently about previous assumptions in information retrieval, and show that brute force approaches are surprisingly compelling under certain circumstances: parallel scan of postings can effectively take advantage of large clusters and parallel scan of documents fits naturally with ranking functions that use document-level features.


This book constitutes the refereed proceedings ofHCIEd 2007held in Aveiro, Portugal on March 29-30, 2007. The IFIP series publishes state-of-the-art results in the sciences and technologies of information and communication. The scope of the series includes: foundations of computer science; software theory and practice; education; computer applications in technology; communication systems; systems modeling and optimization; information systems; computers and society; computer systems technology; security and protection in information processing systems; artificial intelligence; and human-computer interaction. Proceedings and post-proceedings of refereed international conferences in computer science and interdisciplinary fields are featured. These results often precede journal publication and represent the most current research. The principal aim of the IFIP series is to encourage education and the dissemination and exchange of information about all aspects of computing.