The emergence of drug resistance and multiple drug resistance has necessitated the discovery of novel strategies for development of new generation of antimicrobial agents from natural substances for control of microbial infections. Metal nanoparticles have proven to have antimicrobial properties, but the chemical methods used in their production use hazardous chemicals and nanoparticles produced are unstable. In this study, an alternative feasible environmentally friendly method was used for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Bridelia micrantha, a Kenyan medicinal plant as a reducing, stabilizing and capping agent. The reaction was done over ultrasonic bath. Formation of the nanoparticles was monitored by visual observation and also by use of UV-VIS spectrophotometer. The synthesized silver nanoparticles had an absorption peak at λmax 431 nm due to plasmon resonance. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis showed the synthesized nanoparticles were pure silver. High resolution transmition electron microscope (HRTEM) analysis showed the nanoparticles had non uniform surface and were spherical with an average size of 16.07±3.192 nm. Scanning area electron diffraction (SAED) showed distinct shiny spots, confirming the crystallinity of the nanoparticles. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis indicated the presence of biomolecules capping the nanoparticles. The silver nanoparticles inhibited growth of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The data from this study will significantly contribute in designing novel methods geared towards development of drugs to combat pathogens by use of silver nanoparticles synthesized in an environmentally and ecofriendly way.

 Key words: Antibacterial activity, Bridelia micrantha, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), scanning area electron diffraction (SAED), high resolution transmition electron microscope (HRTEM), silver nanoparticles (AgNPs).


Health care delivery systems are challenged to support the increasing demands for improving patient safety, satisfaction, and outcomes. Limited resources and staffing are common barriers for making significant and sustained improvements. At Oregon Health & Science University, the medical intensive care unit (MICU) leadership team faced internal capacity limitations for conducting continuous quality improvement, specifically for the implementation and evaluation of the mobility portion of an evidence-based care bundle. The MICU team successfully addressed this capacity challenge using the person power of prehealth volunteers. In the first year of the project, 52 trained volunteers executed an evidence-based mobility intervention for 305 critically ill patients, conducting more than 200 000 exercise repetitions. The volunteers contributed to real-time evaluation of the project, with the collection of approximately 26 950 process measure data points. Prehealth volunteers are an untapped resource for effectively expanding internal continuous quality improvement capacity in the MICU and beyond.


The development of a new class of spatial light modulator (SLM), which uses modulation of lossy guided waves generated by surface-plasmon resonance, is described. The potential advantages of this technique are explained, including increased response uniformity and enhanced sensitivity and speed. An optically addressed SLM that is based on a nematic liquid crystal with a spatial resolution better than 10 line pairs/mm (at 50% modulation transfer function) is demonstrated. For the design of devices that are based on newer smectic liquid crystals the use of anisotropy-induced polarization mixing and the so-called pseudoplasmon modes are described. Such modes offer controllable sensitivity-spatial resolution characteristics in simple liquid-crystal SLM structures. Within a typical SLM resolution requirement of 10 line pairs/mm, for example, the sensitivity can be optimized to obtain a theoretical reflectivity modulation from 0 to 0.7 for a liquid-crystal director modulation of 5 degrees .


Abstract In general, language for business courses do not include the study of literary texts, despite significant research that demonstrates the value of literature as a way to gain competence in a foreign culture. Carefully selected, adapted, and programmed as a culture complement to the main textbook, literary texts can be a valuable resource in the language for business classes. Based on five years of experience in this area, this study suggests a number of literary texts that have been integrated successfully into the commercial Spanish program, as well as a series of topics and questions for class discussion. Introduction In the field of foreign language education at the postsecondary level, one of the most important developments in recent years is the interest generated by programs of language for specific purposes, in particular for international trade. The new programs are generally built around language for business classes, whose content and objectives are significantly different from those of the traditional areas of specialization such as literature and linguistics. As a result, language for business classes seldom include the study of literature, although there is a substantial body of research that makes a very strong case for the use of the literary text as the basis for the acquisition of foreign culture. The present study briefly reviews the argument in favor of including literature in Spanish for business classes, and suggests a wide range of topics where literature can be a very useful tool to present-and discuss-cultural and business-related issues pertinent to the Spanish-speaking world. The works included in the present study, the topics suggested for class discussion, and the way to relate them to current events are based on approximately five years of experience in the use of literary texts in commercial Spanish courses. The growing demand for language for business programs has resulted in a rift within foreign language departments, where the prevailing view is that business and literature are fields without any common ground (Carney, 1998, p. 116). The same gap, however, does not hold true in other academic disciplines. A number of law and business schools have long recognized the value of literature as a complement to the more technical aspects of the traditional curriculum.1 Links between literature and business have found practical classroom applications as well as valid areas of research. Business students in a number of universities have benefited from the observations of a wide range of authors whose insight into the human condition transcends time and historical context. Clemens and Mayer (1987) used classic literature, from ancient Greek to contemporary American writers, to examine different issues in leadership. "The reason the classics are so compelling," stated the authors, "is that they are about universal human problems and situations. Our premise is that the heroes of this literature mirror our own humanity, our strengths and frailties, our ability to manage" (p. xvii). Although the texts selected were not always directly related to business situations, the authors considered that the behavior of characters as diverse as Achilles, King Lear, and Willy Loman provides valuable lessons for today's students and executives alike. Puffer (1996) saw in literature a useful vehicle through which transnational executives could gain a much needed understanding of foreign cultures (p. xiii). Her book, an anthology with a mix of management articles and literary texts, includes selections from several well-known writers, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Horacio Quiroga among them. In Business in Literature, Burden and Mock (1988) emphasized the value of the literary text as a reflection of social conditions of a particular period in history, as well as the writer's keen powers of observation (p. xx). In foreign languages, literature has yet to find its way into the language for business class. …


This study investigates the role of the Internet in civic participation inequality across 108 countries. Merging individual-level survey data from the 2016 Gallup World Poll with country-level indices, we conduct multilevel analyses to answer three broader sets of questions: (1) Does access to the Internet increase the likelihood of civic participation? (2) Does Internet access amplify or lessen socioeconomic stratification in civic participation? (3) Do press freedom and government intervention as contextual factors shape the role of the Internet in civic participation inequality? The findings suggest that Internet access increases the likelihood of civic participation while it also deepens socioeconomic stratification in participation. Cross-level interactions unveil that the intervening role of the Internet remains unaffected by press freedom, but government intervention through the promotion of ICT use can help control the growing inequality. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings for political inequality research and the applied global significance.


This study examines how overall student satisfaction in Norway can be broken down into component assessments referring to broader aspects of the students' learning experience. The analysis reveals that the academic and pedagogic quality of teaching are crucial determinants of student satisfaction, pointing to a potential overlap between student satisfaction surveys and surveys on student assessment of teaching. However, the analysis also demonstrates that social climate, aesthetic aspects of the physical infrastructure and the quality of services from the administrative staff should not be underestimated when trying to improve student satisfaction and opportunity for learning.


A 52-year-old female presented with hematochezia. A computed topography (CT) scan revealed diffuse proximal gastric thickening with enlarged perigastric lymph nodes. The esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) revealed a diffusely thickened gastric wall with hemorrhagic, friable mucosa, and multiple areas of ulceration. The biopsies showed diffuse amyloid deposition along with transmural proliferation of small- to medium-sized lymphocytes and plasma cells. The gastric mucosa showed lymphoepithelial lesions and chronic inactive gastritis. Immunohistochemical staining of the neoplastic lymphocytes revealed expression of CD20, bcl-2, bcl-10, Ki-67 proliferative index of 5%, and lambda light chain restriction. There was no expression of CD5, CD43, CD10, CD3, cyclin D1, and bcl-6. Immunophenotyping by flow cytometry revealed an abnormal B lymphocyte population with expression of CD45, CD19, CD20, and FMC7. The histomorphological, immunohistochemical and flow cytometric features were consistent with primary gastric amyloidosis associated with extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT lymphoma).


Abstract Improvement of the energy performance of buildings and achievement of indoor comfort conditions can be attained by passive cooling techniques and energy efficient measures. Natural ventilation is one of the simplest and most widely applied cooling strategies, achieved by permitting air to flow through the building. The solar chimney is a construction on the building's envelope that exploits solar energy to promote ventilation through the building. The typical configurations of a solar chimney and the principles of its operation are presented in this chapter. An overview is given of past and ongoing research on experimental work and modelling of the performance of different solar chimney configurations. The work is concluded by identifying the main advantages and disadvantages of solar chimneys.


The study seeks to explore how blockchain technology enables the creation of new ideas for ventures and to examine the activities of founders and entrepreneurial teams in shaping those ideas. We adopted several theoretical frameworks – external enablers theory, dynamic capabilities (DCs), and dynamic managerial capabilities (DMCs) – to explain the interaction of the actor-independent and actor-dependent factors in the process of new firm formation. We analysed four Hungarian blockchain start-ups that operate across financial services, cryptocurrency trading, crypto asset management, energy, information technology, and identity industries and create high value-added and cross-industrial offerings for Hungarian and foreign markets. Using qualitative study research results, the study develops the model of external enablers, founders' and firm capabilities and new venture creation. We identify three interconnected external enablers – namely, market volatility associated with the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology, the properties of blockchain, and the ideology behind the technology – and discuss the role of entrepreneurs' DMCs and sensing and seizing activities in discovering and shaping these enablers into profitable business ideas.


The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of transglutaminase (Tgase) on the functional properties of set yoghurt, due to enzymatic cross-linking of the milk proteins. Yoghurt samples were prepared from three formulations: reconstituted skim milk, and whole milk containing two different solidnon-fat (SNF) content, with four enzyme treatments: Control (no enzyme) and three microbial Tgase treatments: Pre-incubated 90 min, Pre-incubated and inactivated after 90 min, Not pre-incubated. The modifications which were caused by Tgase were found to be more clear when Tgase was active in set type yoghurts. It was found that nonfat yoghurt sample with lower SNF content can be produced with improved textural properties using Tgase.


The rapid development in the design, research and production of various types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has an influence on a wide range of application and fields. UAV offers the rapid data collection and can avoid hazardous environment without risk of human and others. This study is conducted to estimate volume of solid waste on new dumping area at Rimba Mas, Perlis and it can serve as an alternative to conventional technique use in this field. In this study, landfill aerial photographs were obtained using digital cameras attached to the UAV while altitude data were obtained from GPS observations. Data obtained are processed using several software to produce products such as orthophoto, contour map, DEM model, and calculation of solid waste volume contained in each cell in landfill. Each product is evaluated for precision assessment using the root mean square error (RMSE), error in pixel error, and error in image. In conclusion, this study has achieved all the proposed objectives and proves that the UAV system can be used for estimation of volume for solid waste products.


Innovation is one of the key drivers of success that a firm must utilize to develop a competitive advantage. The ability to innovate is especially important for a firm's survival in dynamic, changing environments. Customer demands are constantly changing, and more purchases are made when a firm's product design incorporates what customers perceive as cutting-edge innovations. Satisfying customer demands is a distinct challenge for product designers because firms must develop a clear understanding of what aspects of design the customer wants. Although the importance of design has increased, very little research has been done to explain the relationship between product innovation and product design. Studies indicate that design innovation may create greater customer value through improvements in design value. Previous research has been limited and has not provided a clear concept of design innovation or defined the relationship between design innovation and marketing competencies. This paper seeks to offer a conceptual definition of design innovation, and to define the link between design innovation and marketing competencies. This paper utilizes cross-cultural research to discover how these concepts differ due to cultural differences between the United States and Korea. This research contributes substantially to our understanding of the relationship between design innovation and customer value.


We propose to model multiword expressions as dependency subgraphs, and realize this idea in the grammar formalism of Extensible Dependency Grammar (XDG). We extend XDG to lexicalize dependency subgraphs, and show how to compile them into simple lexical entries, amenable to parsing and generation with the existing XDG constraint solver.


A core Palestinian struggle is safeguarding adequate food and water. Palestine's agricultural economy drastically decreased since the 1967 war. Continued construction of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and the separation barrier that was erected between Israel and the West Bank create enormous barriers to food sovereignty. One-third of Palestinians suffer from food insecurity. Most communities located in "Area C" (Israeli controlled territory) of the West Bank aren't connected to water networks and have to purchase water at vastly increased costs. International organizations, like the World Food Programme, the UN Relief and Works Agency, and other groups such as the Palestine Fair Trade Association, Non-Governmental Organizations, and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign, work toward a common goal of enhancing Palestinians' lives in general, and improving the food and agriculture sector in particular. Better access to the region's nutritious, staple foods that are low on the food chain could readily provide nutritional needs to the Palestinians. A sample menu and nutrition analysis, intended to meet the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization's minimum daily energy requirement of 1690 kcal per person per day for people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is provided. If barriers to food access could be removed, food variety could be increased, and food plans meeting this baseline caloric and nutrient requirement would be within reach. *Corresponding author: Susan J. Massad, Professor, Foods and Nutrition, Framingham State University, 100 State St., Framingham, MA 01701, USA, E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Received Date: May 18, 2016 Accepted Date: October 24, 2016 Published Date: October 31, 2016


A novel mechanism that flexibly adapts data flows and configures computational units is proposed to establish an application-specific data path in the digital signal processor (DSP) that can efficiently perform multistandard video codecs. Based on this mechanism, the proposed application-specific data path, using the very long instruction word (VLIW) architecture with eight computational units of five arithmetic logic units (ALUs), one multiplier and two load/store units, is designed to perform five adaptive operations according to the characteristics of the low-level functions of MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and H.264/AVC video codecs. Using these adaptive operations, the proposed application-specific data path reduces the number of clock cycles required by the TI TMS320C64x data path to perform the low-level functions of the MPEG-2 video encoder and the H.264/AVC video decoder by 23.10% and 28.43%, respectively, for 30 352times288-pixel Foreman frames. Additionally, considering the operating frequency, the proposed application-specific data path reduces the computation time required by the TI TMS320C64x data path to realize the abovementioned encoder and decoder by 19.86% and 25.41%, respectively. Based on the TSMC 0.18-mum CMOS cell library, the proposed application-specific data path is implemented, and exhibits the highest ratio of computational power to hardware cost among all of the data paths associated with the conventional DSPs in implementing the low-level functions of video codecs


Although the Middle Ages saw brilliant achievements in the diverse nations of East Central Europe, this period has been almost totally neglected in Western historical scholarship. East Central Europe in the Middle Ages provides a much-needed overview of the history of the region from the time when the present nationalities established their state structures and adopted Christianity up to the Ottoman conquest. Jean Sedlar's excellent synthesis clarifies what was going on in Europe between the Elbe and the Ukraine during the Middle Ages, making available for the first time in a single volume information necessary to a fuller understanding of the early history of present-day Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and the former Yugoslavia.Sedlar writes clearly and fluently, drawing upon publications in numerous languages to craft a masterful study that is accessible and valuable to the general reader and the expert alike. The book is organized thematically; within this framework Sedlar has sought to integrate nationalities and to draw comparisons. Topics covered include early migrations, state formation, monarchies, classes (nobles, landholders, peasants, herders, serfs, and slaves), towns, religion, war, governments, laws and justice, commerce and money, foreign affairs, ethnicity and nationalism, languages and literature, and education and literacy.After the Middle Ages these nations were subsumed by the Ottoman, Habsburg, Russian, and Prussian-German empires. This loss of independence means that their history prior to foreign conquest has acquired exceptional importance in today's national consciousness, and the medieval period remains a major point of reference and a source of national pride and ethnic identity. This book is a substantial and timely contribution to our knowledge of the history of East Central Europe.


Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a most common psychiatric disorder in the childhood. The exact pathomechanisms related to ADHD core symptoms--hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention--are still unclear. The developmental dysfunction of cortical-striatal-thalamic-cortical network combined with the dysregulation of catecholamine neurotransmitters could be responsible for symptoms of the disorder. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a method which allows a partial view on molecular mechanisms of biochemical and metabolic processes in human brain by in vivo measurement. We address the hypothesis of a potential pathomechanisms associated with ADHD symptoms which is based on the studies concerning magnetic resonance spectroscopy method and ADHD.


"Visible | Invisible" presents 40 of the completed landscape designs by the widely recognized firm Reed Hilderbrand. Douglas Reed and Gary Hilderbrand are known for their rigorously conceived and carefully executed projects that merge the particular native qualities of a site with recognizably contemporary design expression. Their embrace of modernism, devotion to intellectual traditions in their field and deep engagement with horticulture, ecology and urban forestry are evident in all of their work. The firm has worked with numerous internationally known architects, including Allied Works Architecture, ARO | Architecture Research Office, Machado and Silvetti, Safdie Associates and Tadao Ando Architects. The books narrative describes Reed Hilderbrands sensibilities and working methods, examining a range of public and private commissions including institutional campuses in urban and rural settings, residences and civic infrastructure projects. An introduction by Reed and Hilderbrand looks at the firms 20-year evolution, and five essays by noted scholars develop specific themes that characterize the work. Also included are an extensive photographic essay by Millicent Harvey, and 60 drawings that document the featured projects and several unbuilt works. Internationally renowned landscape architect Peter Walker contributes a preface, placing Reed Hilderbrands 20 years of work within the highest calibre of landscape architectural projects being executed worldwide today. Elegantly designed and lavishly produced, "Visible | Invisible" is ideal for architects, designers, gardeners, preservationists and anyone who appreciates truly beautiful books.


Self-training based semi-supervised learning algorithms have enabled the learning of highly accurate deep neural networks, using only a fraction of labeled data. However, the majority of work on self-training has focused on the objective of improving accuracy, whereas practical machine learning systems can have complex goals (e.g. maximizing the minimum of recall across classes, etc.) that are non-decomposable in nature. In this work, we introduce the Cost-Sensitive Self-Training (CSST) framework which generalizes the self-training-based methods for optimizing non-decomposable metrics. We prove that our framework can better optimize the desired non-decomposable metric utilizing unlabeled data, under similar data distribution assumptions made for the analysis of self-training. Using the proposed CSST framework, we obtain practical self-training methods (for both vision and NLP tasks) for optimizing different non-decomposable metrics using deep neural networks. Our results demonstrate that CSST achieves an improvement over the state-of-the-art in majority of the cases across datasets and objectives.


Critics claim that patent screening is ineffective, granting low-quality patents that impose unnecessary social costs. We develop an integrated framework, involving patent office examination, fees, and endogenous validity challenges in the courts, to study patent screening both theoretically and quantitatively. In our model, some inventions require the patent incentive while others do not, and asymmetric information creates a need for screening. We show that the endogeneity of challenges implies that courts, even if perfect, cannot solve the screening problem. Simulations of the model, calibrated on U.S. data, indicate that screening is highly imperfect, with about forty percent of all patents issued on inventions that do not require the patent incentive. While we nd that the current patent system generates positive social value, intensifying examination would yield large welfare gains. The social value of the patent system would also be larger if complemented by antitrust limits on licensing.


Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, is determined to wipe out bad grammar - but she's also determined to make the process as painless as possible. One year ago, she created a weekly pod cast to tackle some of the most common mistakes people make while communicating. The pod casts have now been downloaded more than seven million times, and Mignon has dispensed grammar tips on Oprah and appeared on the pages of "The New York Times", "The Wall Street Journal", and "USA Today".Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the pod casts are known for, "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing" covers the grammar rules and word-choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. From "between vs. among" and "although vs. while" to comma splices and misplaced modifiers, Mignon offers memory tricks and clear explanations that will help readers recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules. Chock-full of tips on style, business writing, and effective e-mailing, "Grammar Girl's" print debut deserves a spot on every communicator's desk.


The tasks and skills that are required of accounting practitioners in today's global business environment have changed significantly since the early 1990s. No longer are accounting practitioners required merely to undertake the tasks necessary for information provision, such as bookkeeping, data analysis and tax preparation. Instead, they are now in a more encompassing position which has extended their roles into information facilitation, thus repositioning accountants as knowledge professionals rather than accounting technicians. This in turn suggests a need for a greater emphasis on incorporating components of emotional intelligence in accounting education.

However, as accounting students are generally not aware of this expanded role, those who are attracted into accounting courses may not possess the appropriate aptitude that would provide a good foundation for developing the skills now required in the professional accounting environment. Therefore, it is important that the teaching of accounting should incorporate strategies that enable students to understand and the need for developing these necessary, but often missing, competencies.

This paper reports on two independent studies conducted at an Australian university which suggest that incorporating emotional intelligence skills into the education of accounting students, by providing a variety of learning environments and tasks, may be beneficial to accounting graduates as they seek employment.


In this position paper, we present our vision on the future of the logistics business domain and the use of information technology (IT) in this domain. The vision is based on extensive experience with Dutch and European logistics in various contexts and from various perspectives. We expect that the vision also holds for logistics outside Europe. We build our vision in a number of steps. First, we make an inventory of the most important trends in the logistics domain - we call these mega-trends. Next, we do the same for the information technology domain, restricted to technologies that have relevance for logistics. Then, we introduce logistics meta-concepts that we use to describe our vision and relate them to business engineering. We use these three ingredients to analyze leading concepts that we currently observe in the logistics domain. Next, we consolidate all elements into a model that represents our vision of the integrated future of logistics and IT. We elaborate on the role of data platforms and open standards in this integrated vision.


When Indians migrated from India to Natal in the mid-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries as both indentured and free Indians, women were an important component of the newcomers. The lives of indentured women have only recently begun to gain critical attention in South African historiography. The narratives of free or 'passenger' Indian women have largely been narrated from the vantage point of 'passenger' males in the context of their arrival and settlement in Natal. The inclusion of their narratives into the history of Indian South Africans will stimulate a rethinking of the gendered experiences of Indian immigrants in the context of concomitant differences among ethnic groups, social mobility and the processes of acculturation and integration. Moreover, it will bring to the fore a category of immigrant women whose histories have yet to be fully explored and documented


Abstract The often highly complex and fluid nature of displacement on the ground makes coverage of IDPs' needs a difficult task, and a flexible response is required to fit different contexts. The ICRC's humanitarian response is guided by the vulnerability and the needs of all people affected by armed conflict and violence – including, of course, IDPs, whose vulnerability is often (but not automatically) exacerbated by their particular situation. The protection and assistance of IDPs therefore naturally lies at the heart of the ICRC's mandate and activities. In identifying and responding to needs, the ICRC looks at the whole context in which internal displacement occurs, as well as all the people affected. The aim is to promote self-reliance among vulnerable communities so as to avoid displacement, or to strengthen their capacity to host IDPs. Nevertheless, where needed, the ICRC also fills gaps by providing emergency aid in IDP camps, coordinating with other international organizations in order to optimize response.


PURPOSE
To investigate and optimize the effects of the number of projection views for minimal noise level in cone bream breast CT.

METHODS
An Anrad flat panel detector was used on a bench top experimental CBCT system with fixed exposure. A wax phantom simulating a breast was used to study the reconstruction artifacts. A Lucite phantom with uniform structure was used to study the variation of the noise level with the number of views. The phantoms were scanned with 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1200 and 1400 evenly spaced projection views over 360° while keeping the total exposure at a level corresponding to a mean glandular dose (MGD) of 7.2 mGys. Each image set was reconstructed with Feldkamp's backprojection algorithm using a ramp filter. Two regions of interest (ROIs) were selected in the reconstructed images, one at the center and the other near the edge. Mean values and standard variations were measured in ROIs and plotted as the function of the number of projection views.

RESULTS
The mean values for the wax phantom were found to peak at 300 projection views. The standard variation was lowest with 400 projection views for both Lucite and wax phantoms.

CONCLUSION
For the detector and exposure level used, 400 projection views resulted in lowest noise level, indicating optimal combination of reconstruction artifacts from projection view sampling and image noises, which tend to decrease and increase with the number of projection views, respectively. This work was supported in part by grants CA139830, CA138502 and CA124585 from the NIH-NCI.


The examination of racism as a determinant of health is an emerging area of research. This paper examines and expands on existing research approaches in relation to three levels at which coherence and conceptual clarity can be improved: in defining and theorizing racism, in conceptualizing how racism may relate to health and in characterizing racism as an exposure that can be operationalized and measured. A definition of racism in relation to the broader concept of privilege/oppression is detailed along with a discussion of the implications of this definition in relation to the concept of power, the perpetration of privilege/oppression, intention vs. effect and objective vs. subjective racism. This is followed by a conceptualization of the relationship between racism and health, which incorporates both previous approaches in health research and pertinent social theory and is designed to aid in organizing and synthesizing knowledge, defining concepts and variables, generating specific research questions and determining appropriate analytical approaches. The range of dimensions across which perceived racism (as experienced by oppressed racial groups) can be characterized, operationalized and measured as a health-risk condition is then detailed. It is hoped that through improved conceptual and theoretical tools this nascent area of study will be better equipped to explain how racism relates to the distribution and determinants of population health. Such improved knowledge will better guide policies and actions aimed at improving the health of those who suffer from this invidious phenomenon.


The structured after-school space has long demonstrated educational benefits (Gerber, Cavallo, & Marek, 2001; Tamir, 1990). After-school settings typically provide homework support, helping youth build self-confidence (Beck, 1999). They are safe places for socializing and forming relationships with caring adults (Payton et al., 2008). While there is sufficient evidence that youth may learn science through non-school science programs (Cantrell, Pekcan, Itani, & Velasquez-Bryant, 2006; NRC, 2009; Sadler, Coyle, & Schwartz, 2000), there is a lack of research on determining what academics youth might learn in engineering design-based afterschool settings. When the after-school curriculum encompasses engineering design, the challenge is great due to the difficulty in assessing intangibles such as design and deep conceptual knowledge. Additionally, ideal learning outcome measures differ between formal school settings and informal, after-school ones, as traditional academic measures do not capture the range of ways youth demonstrate learning in informal settings (NRC, 2009). In this study we designed an after-school experience in a studio setting, using research-validated engineering design-based curriculum (Schnittka, 2009; Schnittka, Bell, & Richards, 2010; Schnittka & Bell, 2011; Schnittka, Brandt, Jones, & Evans, 2012) and gave the youth different opportunities and methods to demonstrate what they learned through the process. In this study we examined three after-school settings for 8 weeks focusing on storyboarding, chatting on a social network site, videotaped conversations with volunteer facilitators, presentations the youth made at the end of the program, and structured interviews with researchers to look for evidence of learning in afterschool spaces.


Purpose: to investigate the life quality of subjects with mouth or oronasal breathing. Method: the sampling was composed of 49 volunteers distributed into 2 groups: mouth breathing subjects' group with 24 subjects and oronasal breathing subjects' group (mouth and nose) with 25 subjects, within the 18-38 age group, both genders. The WHOQOL-BREF (Portuguese version) protocol was used and the data analysis and recording were carried out using the Statistical Analysis System. Results: the obtained results underwent Mantel-Haenszel chi-square test and variance analysis. Life quality in oronasal breathing subjects was demonstrated to be better in environmental, physical and psychological domain in relation to mouth breathing subjects. Conclusion: considering the obtained differences, the study draws attention to the need for better investigating the profile of oronasal breathing subjects and its relevance, so that the conducts, such as disregarding the group of oronasal breathing subjects or gathering them as mouth breathing subjects, are not improperly adopted.


The purpose of this study is to systematically analyze the role played by kin states in neighboring secessionist conflicts involving their co-nationals. Ethnic kin states are typically those states which border or are close to the secessionist region and which contains co-nationals of the secessionists with whom the secessionists share and maintain strong ethnocultural and ethnoreligious bonds. Additionally, these co-nationals must be a homeland society (as opposed to a diaspora community) for the state to be classified as an ethnic kin state. The co-nationals could be either a numerical majority or a minority in the ethnic kin state. Further, they could be either a dominant or a subordinate ethnic group in the kin state. If the co-nationals are a numerical majority and control the kin state, then the secessionists may come to regard the kin state as their mother state. For instance, Russians living in Ukraine or Moldova will typically come to regard Russia as their mother state. Similarly, Serbs in Bosnia or Croatia consider Serbia to be their mother state.

Ch. I. The Role of Kin States in Ethnosecessionist Conflicts: A Theoretical Framework -- Ch. II. Kashmiri Secessionism in India and the Role of Pakistan -- Ch. III. The Secession of Bangladesh and the Role of India -- Ch. IV. The Role of Afghanistan and Iran in the Baluch Attempt to Secede from Pakistan -- Ch. V. 'Pakhtunistan' and the Role of Afghanistan -- Ch. VI. The Role of India in the Tamil Secessionist Movement in Sri Lanka -- Ch. VII. Conclusion


We investigate formation of sulfate aerosol in the marine troposphere from neutral and charged nucleation of H 2 SO 4 and H 2 O. A box model of neutral and charged aerosol processes is run on a grid covering the oceans. Input data are taken from a model of galactic cosmic rays in the atmosphere , and from global chemistry and transport models. We find a weak aerosol production over the tropical oceans in the lower and middle troposphere, and a stronger production at higher latitudes, most notably downwind of industrial regions. The strongest aerosol production however occurs in the upper troposphere over areas with frequent convective activity, in particular in the tropics. This finding supports the proposition by which non-sea salt marine boundary layer aerosol in tropical regions does not form in situ, but nucle-ates in the upper troposphere from convectively lifted and cloud processed boundary layer air rich in aerosol precursor gases, from where it descends in subsiding air masses compensating convection. Convection of boundary layer air also appears to drive the formation of condensation nuclei in the tropical upper troposphere which maintains the stratospheric aerosol layer in the absence of volcanic activity. Neutral nu-cleation contributes only marginally to aerosol production in our simulations. This highlights the importance of other mechanisms, including charged binary and ternary, and neutral ternary nucleation for aerosol formation. Our analysis indicates that the variation of ionization by galactic cosmic rays over the decadal solar cycle does not entail a response in aerosol production and cloud cover via the second indirect aerosol effect that would explain observed variations in global cloud cover. We estimate that the variation in radia-tive forcing resulting from a response of clouds to the change in galactic cosmic ray ionization and subsequent aerosol production over the decadal solar cycle is smaller than the concurrent variation of total solar irradiance.


Information security now is considered to be a cross-disciplinary and comprehensive field. It integrates the accumulation of knowledge in many disciplines like computer science, mathematics, communications, electronics, physics, etc. Thus, there has been an ongoing effort to improve the experiences in information security experimentation. Many international institutions are investigating enhanced approaches to provide hands-on learning and research environments. However, academic institutions are facing the difficult challenge of providing lab infrastructures that meet the increasingly growing needs of cybersecurity training. In this paper, we report on the necessity and importance of building an effective national testbed for cybersecurity experimentation. We also present a general top-level architecture for this testbed emphasizing the most important enabling technologies.


Abstract Flaviviruses encompass not only medically relevant arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) but also insect-specific flaviviruses (ISFs) that are presumably maintained primarily through vertical transmission in the insect host. Interestingly, ISFs are commonly found infecting important arbovirus vectors such as the mosquito Aedes aegypti. Cell-fusing agent virus (CFAV) was the first described ISF of mosquitoes more than four decades ago. Despite evidence for widespread CFAV infections in A.aegypti populations and for CFAV potential to interfere with arbovirus transmission, little is known about CFAV evolutionary history. Here, we generated six novel CFAV genome sequences by sequencing three new virus isolates and subjecting three mosquito samples to untargeted viral metagenomics. We used these new genome sequences together with published ones to perform a global phylogenetic analysis of CFAV genetic diversity. Although there was some degree of geographical clustering among CFAV sequences, there were also notable discrepancies between geography and phylogeny. In particular, CFAV sequences from Cambodia and Thailand diverged significantly, despite confirmation that A.aegypti populations from both locations are genetically close. The apparent phylogenetic discrepancy between CFAV and its A.aegypti host in Southeast Asia indicates that other factors than host population structure shape CFAV genetic diversity.


Electrospun microfibrous membranes comprised of poly(methyl methacrylate)–poly((2-diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) random copolymers (PMMA-co-PDEAEMA) of various chemical compositions blended together with a commercially available PMMA have been fabricated with diameters between 4.0–6.4 μm and further evaluated as adsorbents for bacteria removal from aqueous media. The morphology and thermal stability of the membranes were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. Tensile tests were also performed in order to investigate their mechanical properties. Membrane evaluation as adsorbents against two Gram-negative bacteria namely Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Advenella species revealed that the membranes containing the highest percentage of the cationic moieties (DEAEMA) exhibited the highest adsorption efficiency. The bacteria removal by the microfibrous membranes was studied by UV-vis spectrophotometry upon measuring the optical density (OD) of the microorganisms. The highest recorded bacteria removal percentages after 8 h were approximately 70% and 45%, for the Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Advenella species respectively, whereas in both cases complete (100%) bacteria removal was observed after 24 h of membrane immersion in bacteria-containing aqueous solutions. The experimental adsorption isotherms for P. aeruginosa and Advenella sp. were well-fitted with the Langmuir isotherm model indicating a monolayer adsorption process. SEM was also used to confirm the adhesion of the bacteria onto the electrospun microfibers. Most importantly, these materials exhibited great performance for the removal of microorganisms from urban wastewater as determined via the standard plating technique prepared by agar.


Satellite observations recently revealed trains of internal solitary waves (ISWs) in the off-shelf region between 16.0°N and 16.5°N in the southern Red Sea. The generation mechanism of these waves is not entirely clear, though, as the observed generation sites are far away (50 km) from the shelf break and tidal currents are considered relatively weak in the Red Sea. Upon closer examination of the tide properties in the Red Sea and the unique geometry of the basin, it is argued that the steep bathymetry and a relatively strong tidal current in the southern Red Sea provide favorable conditions for the generation of ISWs. To test this hypothesis and further explore the evolution of ISWs in the basin, 2D numerical simulations with the non-hydrostatic MIT general circulation model (MITgcm) were conducted. The results are consistent with the satellite observations in regard to the generation sites, peak amplitudes and the speeds of first-mode ISWs. Moreover, our simulations suggest that the generation process of ISWs in the southern Red Sea is similar to the tide-topography interaction mechanism seen in the South China Sea. Specifically, instead of ISWs arising in the immediate vicinity of the shelf break via a hydraulic lee wave mechanism, a broad, energetic internal tide is first generated, which subsequently travels away from the shelf break and eventually breaks down into ISWs. Sensitivity runs suggest that ISW generation may also be possible under summer stratification conditions, characterized by an intermediate water intrusion from the strait of Bab el Mandeb. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


In this work, we report a rich sequence of elastic transitions captured experimentally using a solution of polyethylene oxide in a water/glycerol mixture that exhibits shear-thinning and viscoelastic behavior. The experiments were carried out in a planar microfluidic channel with a sudden contraction followed by a smooth expansion, taking advantage of the distinctive conditions provided by microfluidic flows, i.e the capability of achieving high Deborah numbers (De) while concomitantly keeping the Reynolds numbers low enough so that inertia does not have a significant impact. We studied the effect of De on the flow patterns experimentally using epifluorescence long exposure photography and video, and were able to achieve a flow regime, at sufficiently high De, in which the flow becomes unsteady with the main vortices formed upstream of the contraction varying in size substantially and very rapidly resembling what Afonso et al. [J. Fluid Mech., in press] coined as the back-shedding regime. This process is accompanied by the formation of secondary vortices upstream of the main ones, which are shed in the upstream flow direction. Furthermore, the experimental results were compared with the numerical simulations obtained using our numerical code with both the Oldroyd-B and PTT constitutive equations and the results show good qualitative agreement.


Crassiangulina variacornuta sp. nov., a new distinctive species of acritarch, with a short stratigraphical range within the Telychian (Silurian), is recorded from low latitude areas of Balonia (Belgium, England and Sweden) and from high latitude areas of Gondwana (Algeria, Brazil, Libya and Saudi Arabia). Therefore, the new species has good potential to be an international biostratigraphic marker for the Upper Llandovery. It has so far only been recorded in depositional environments where the sediments settled below storm wave base. The genus Crassiangulina JARDINE et al., 1972 is emended to incorporate the new species and to include triangular and other polygonal acritarchs with solid processes. The emended genus includes the type species Crassiangulina tesselita JARDINE et al., 1972 emend., C. grotesca CRAMER et al. 1976 comb. nov. et emend. and C. variacornuta sp. nov. A biometric study of 138 specimens of C. variacornuta sp. nov. from two sections in England and one section in Belgium and its statistical treatment show the biological consistency of the studied population and point to differences between the mean measurements between the sections, because of taphonomic or environmental factors. This emphasises the need to unravel the morphological variations of acritarch species along the genotypic, ecophenotypic, chronotypic and taphonotypic axes of morphological variability.


Recent application studies have shown that many irregular applications have a generalized data parallelism that manifests itself as iterative computations over worklists of different kinds. In general, there are complex dependencies between iterations. These dependencies cannot be elucidated statically because they depend on the inputs to the program; thus, optimistic parallel execution is the only tractable approach to parallelizing these applications.
 We have built a system called Galois that supports this style of parallel execution. Its main features are (i) set iterators for expressing worklist-based data parallelism, and (ii) a runtime system that performs optimistic parallelization of these iterators, detecting conflicts and rolling back computations as needed.
 Our work builds on the Galois system, and it addresses the problem of scheduling iterations of set iterators on multiple cores. The policy used by the base Galois system is to assign an iteration to a core whenever it needs work to do, but we show in this paper that this policy is not optimal for many applications. We also argue that OpenMP-style DO-ALL loop scheduling directives such as chunked and guided self-scheduling are too simplistic for irregular programs. These difficulties led us to develop a general scheduling framework for irregular problems; OpenMP-style scheduling strategies are special cases of this general approach. We also provide hooks into our framework, allowing the programmer to leverage application knowledge to further tune a schedule for a particular application.
 To evaluate this framework, we implemented it as an extension of the Galois system. We then tested the system using five real-world, irregular, data-parallel applications. Our results show that (i) the optimal scheduling policy can be different for different applications and often leverages application-specific knowledge and (ii) implementing these schedules in the Galois system is relatively straightforward.


Francais en page 43

Girl: wu

Boy: feelin hot 2nite need 2 cu

Girl: k wanna c some pics ?

Boy: kool

Translation

Girl: What's up?

Boy: I am feeling hot tonight. I need to see you.

Girl: O.K. Do you want to see some pictures?

Boy: Cool.

What are these teens texting about? What 'pics' (pictures) are these teens referring to? These teens are 'sexting'. Sexting is the term used to describe sending and receiving sexually explicit messages, or nude or seminude photographs or videos electronically (primarily between cell phones, but can occur between any media-sharing device or technology – ie, e-mail or the Internet). Sexting has been a recognized occurrence for several years and is a global practice among teens and young adults. Despite its prevalence, we know very little about this phenomenon. This is partly because technology is changing rapidly, making it difficult to study. A PubMed search revealed that 'sexting' is nonexistent in the research literature. In fact, a search for "sexting" on PubMed generated the following result: "Your search for sexting retrieved no results".

In an effort to better understand the practice of sexting, the American National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, and CosmoGirl.com commissioned a survey (1) of teens and young adults to explore electronic activity. They surveyed 1280 young people – 653 teens (ages 13 to 19 years) and 627 young adults (ages 20 to 26 years) – about sexting during the fall of 2008. This study reported data on teens and young adults separately. According to the survey, one in five teens had sent or posted nude or seminude pictures or videos of themselves. Sexually suggestive messages (sent by text, e-mail or instant messaging) were even more prevalent than sexually suggestive images, with 39% of all teens sending or posting sexually suggestive messages and 48% of teens having received such messages. Approximately 71% of teen girls and 67% of teen boys who had sent or posted sexually suggestive content reported that they had sent or posted this content to boyfriends/girlfriends, and 21% of teen girls and 39% of teen boys reported that they had sent material to individuals they wanted to 'hook up' with. Forty-four per cent of teen girls and 36% of teen boys said that it is common for sexually suggestive text messages, and nude or seminude photographs to be shared with people other than the intended recipients. Teens admitted that sending or posting sexually suggestive content has an impact on their behaviour; 22% were more likely to use sexually suggestive words and images in text messages than in face-to-face communications, 38% admitted that exchanging sexually suggestive content makes dating or 'hooking up' with others more likely, and 29% of teens believed that it increases the likelihood that the parties involved will date or 'hook up'. The most common reason for male and female teens to send sexually suggestive content was that it was regarded as a 'fun or flirtatious' activity.

Why might teens be involved in sexting? Adolescence is an important time for the development of identity and independence. This period is characterized by an increased ability to reason abstractly; the development of a sense of perspective, compromise and limit setting; a greater need for privacy; the emergence of sexual feelings and sexual experimentation; and the development of one's own value system and refinement of moral and sexual values (2). Some experimentation and self-discovery occur through texting or sexting. Texting is a skill that allows teens to be sociable and interact with others, while providing distance from personal contact. Texting provides an electronic medium that allows teens to conceal who they are while expressing themselves and fostering personal relationships that might not otherwise occur face-to-face. For instance, shy, lonely and anxious people tend to find texting to be a less stressful and more comfortable way to express themselves, and an easier way to develop friendships than by a direct encounter (3). Peer pressure and peer expectations may play a role in why teens are sexting. According to the study mentioned above (1), 51% of teen girls felt pressure from teen boys to send 'sexy' messages. Further, 23% of teen girls and 24% of teen boys reported that they were pressured by friends to send or post sexual content. Although it can be challenging for teens to resist peer pressure, they should be encouraged not to do anything that makes them feel uncomfortable, even in cyberspace. Teens need to feel empowered to say 'no' to any request to send suggestive text, photographs or videos. We still have much to learn about where sexting behaviour comes from.

The obvious danger associated with sexting is that the material can be easily and widely disseminated. Once the message or image is in cyberspace, the sender loses control over the material and cannot assume that it will remain private (4). Teens need to understand that nothing in cyberspace ever really gets deleted. Friends, enemies, parents, teachers, coaches, police, strangers, sexual predators and potential employers may receive or find past postings. Even if the teen deletes the text or image, it can be copied and sent/posted elsewhere. Another important issue to consider is that the recipient's reaction to these messages may not be what the sender had originally intended it to be. For instance, four of 10 teen girls who had sent sexually suggestive content did so as a 'joke', and one-third of teen boys believe that girls who send such content are expecting to date or 'hook up' in real life (1). There are social, psychological and legal consequences to taking, sending or forwarding sexually suggestive images. Teens need to be aware that they can be arrested, charged and convicted for possessing and distributing child pornography, even when the pornography they are sending is of themselves (5). Unlike other countries, to date, no charges have been laid in connection with sexting in Canada. The bottom line is that nothing is anonymous in cyberspace.

In this digital world, parents need to become more knowledgeable about the technologies their children are using. They also need to be aware that many teens are sexting (1). Parents should be encouraged to ask their children, in a developmentally appropriate manner, what they know about sexting. Children and young teens with cell phones may not have heard the term 'sexting'. Therefore, parents can open discussion with them about sending or receiving pictures of naked kids, teens or adults. Further, parents can teach children that text messages should never contain pictures of kids, teens or adults with their clothes off or kissing or touching each other in a manner that makes the child feel uncomfortable. Regardless of age or developmental stage, it is important to listen to the teen's understanding of the issues, and then provide accurate and developmentally appropriate information. Parents need to have discussions with their child about safe and responsible online and cell phone activity. Parents need to reinforce that messages or pictures they send on their cell phones or online are not private or anonymous. Parents need to be transparent and explain to their teen that they will monitor online and cell phone activities, including who their kids are spending time with online and on the phone. As with other adolescent behaviours, parents should communicate to their teen what they consider to be responsible electronic messaging behaviours. Parents can help teens identify the possible consequences of behaviours, such as sexting, to help them come to their own conclusions about the potential outcomes of their actions. Schools may be another resource to help educate parents, teachers and students about the risks and consequences of their online and cell phone behaviours (4).

Health care professionals caring for teens should recognize that sexting is a public health issue. Health care professionals need to become better informed about the issue so that they can comfortably include questions about sexting in their teen health visits, and integrate discussions on safe and responsible online and cell phone activity. Using the HEADSS (Home, Education, Activities, Drugs, Sex and sexuality, and Suicide and mood) interview strategy can help health care professionals to organize their questions so that they can better explore the many issues that relate to sexting (6). Most importantly, health care professionals need to speak with teens and their families about the risks and potential consequences of sexting. Addressing these issues may prevent a teen from finding him- or herself in a compromising position.

Technology is here to stay and is evolving rapidly – children and teens will continue to use the current and new technologies. Health care professionals and parents need to develop novel approaches to keeping children digitally safe and responsible while influencing positive behaviours and good judgment in this technologically savvy world. We must do everything possible to prevent teens from making a mistake that could alter their life forever.


With the rise of television formats in global television, several studies have examined the economic, political, and cultural aspects of this media product's production and circulation. This study analyzes the complex path of a television drama series from a local critical and popular phenomenon to a global "quality" fiction format, focusing on the transnationalization process of the format of the Israeli program BeTipul from its arrival in the United States to its adaptation and reception in Canada, Argentina, Brazil, and Italy. The study emphasizes the cross-cultural dialogic attributes of the quality fiction format, which support a strategy comprising both mutual benefits and competition, as opposed to the allegedly "odorless" or "neutral" features of reality and game-show formats.


We examine a group (N = 88) of Swedish first-year engineering students, their motivation, self-efficacy, and beliefs about the nature of mathematics, and how these relate to their task performance in mathematics. In our data, engineering students who emphasized the exact reasoning in their view of mathematics performed significantly better in a set of mathematical tasks than those who emphasized the applications of mathematics. Similarly, the higher self-efficacy and the intrinsic and utility values of mathematics relate to better performance in the tasks. In general, the students' task performance was quite modest in relation to the expressed self-efficacy and motivational values.


A sore throat (pharyngitis) is one of the most common conditions with which patients present in the pharmacy. Usually, a sore throat is the result of a viral or bacterial infection, which may cause symptoms such as discomfort, pain, or scratchiness in the throat. Generally, minor sore throats resolve on their own without any complications, although it is important to know when to seek medical attention.


The species of two genera in Insecta: Hemiptera: Adelgidae were investigated through the lenses of genetics, morphology, life cycle and host species. The systematics are unclear due to complex life cycles, including multigenerational polymorphism, host switching and cyclical parthenogenesis. I studied the hemlock adelgids, including the nonnative invasive hemlock woolly adelgid on the east coast of the United States, that are currently viewed as a single species. I used multivariate morphometric analyses to identify morphological differences among hemlock adelgid lineages. With principal component analyses and MANOVA, the six lineages that were used in this study were found to be significantly different from each other. The findings of this project provide evidence for taxonomic designation of different hemlock adelgid lineages, which will hopefully inform regulation of these distinct lineages, as these distinctions between the lineages of hemlock adelgids could equate to other biological differences, ex. cold tolerance, host specialization, fecundity and dispersal ability. I also investigated the relationship between species Pineus similis, Pineus abietinus through phylogeny, genetic distances, life cycle and host species. This was done through using three mitochondrial (COI, COII, cytB) and one nuclear (EF1a) gene, in Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses, along with genetic distance measurements. The P. similis and P. abietinus on Pinus could not be separated within the Bayesian analyses, and P. similis and P. abietinus on Abies had low calculated distance measurements (2.98%) compared to the average distance between species within the genus (28.07%). These two studies emphasize the current confusion within the Adelgidae family, and the results presented in this thesis stress the importance of using components of multiple species concepts to better understand the systematics of these lineages.


A systematic approach to manage project processes is often a necessity on large and complex quantitative surveys (Piskurich 2012; Weeks 2011). However, the use of a project management approach is not well documented on qualitative survey research projects. This is possibly because qualitative studies often do not involve a large sample and vary in the degree of structure. While less common than large quantitative studies, large and complex qualitative research studies are commissioned to provide an in-depth, ethnographic picture of topics that are not well understood by only looking at the "numbers." Our efforts to apply and integrate a project management approach on a large qualitative research study (276 qualitative interviews; large team of interviewers and recruiters; complex recruitment and processes) offer an opportunity to estimate the impact of these efforts on the success of the study and on data quality. We also provide recommendations on project management for future qualitative research studies.


The study empirically examines three main issues. First, the study examines the relationship between corporate governance and risk-taking. Second, the study investigates the association between corporate governance and credit rating. Third, the study examines the link between corporate governance and cost of capital. Corporate governance was represented in this study by the mechanisms of corporate governance index, ownership structure and board structure, and firm performance was represented by risk-taking, credit rating and cost of capital. Using a sample of 200 companies from 10 OECD countries over the 2010 to 2014 period and relying on a multi-theoretical framework, the findings are as follows. First, the results suggest that firms with good corporate governance are shown to engage less risk-taking. Second, the findings indicate that firms with good corporate governance generally have higher credit ratings than firms with poor corporate governance. Third, the results suggest that firms with good corporate governance generally have lower cost of capital than firms with poor corporate governance. Ownership structure and board structure, as representatives of corporate governance, all demonstrated similar results. Differences among firms were seen in terms of legal and accounting traditions, as well as in terms of culture. Yet, the findings appeared to be relatively consistent across Anglo-American and Continental European traditions, despite the fact that there was different emphasis placed on some corporate governance mechanisms, and despite different cultural characteristics. The findings are robust to endogeneity problems, alternative measures and estimation techniques used such as two-stage least squares, lagged reports and fixed effects reports. Overall, the findings have major implications for regulators, academics and practitioners.


The Model Legislative Provisions and the Legislative Guide on Public-Private Partnerships were prepared by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and adopted at its fifty-second session (Vienna, 8-19 July 2019). In addition to representatives of member States of the Commission, representatives of many other States and of several international organizations, both intergovernmental and non-governmental, participated actively in the preparatory work. The Model Legislative Provisions translate into legislative language the advice given in the recommendations contained in the Legislative Guide. The Model Legislative Provisions are intended to assist in the establishment of a legislative framework favourable to public-private partnerships (PPPs). The Model Legislative Provisions follow the corresponding notes in the Legislative Guide, which offer an analytical introduction with references to financial, regulatory, legal, policy and other issues raised in the subject area. The user is advised to read the Model Legislative Provisions together with the Legislative Guide, which provide background information to enhance understanding of the legislative recommendations. The Model Legislative Provisions deal with matters that it is important to address in legislation specifically concerned with PPPs. They do not deal with other areas of law that, as discussed in the Legislative Guide, also have an impact on PPPs. Moreover, the successful implementation of PPPs typically requires various measures beyond the establishment of an appropriate legislative framework, such as adequate administrative structures and practices, organizational capability, technical expertise, appropriate human and financial resources and economic stability.


This book serves as a compact introduction to the economic analysis of law and organization. At the same time it covers a broad spectrum of issues. It is aimed at undergraduate economics students who are interested in law and organization, law students who want to know the economic basis for the law, and students in business and public policy schools who want to understand the economic approach to law and organization. The book covers such diverse topics as bankruptcy rules, corporate law, sports rules, the organization of Congress, federalism, intellectual property, crime, accident law, and insurance. Unlike other texts on the economic analysis of law, this text is not organized by legal categories but by economic theory. The purpose of the book is to develop economic intuition and theory to a sufficient degree so that one can apply the ideas to a variety of areas in law and organization.


The Filchner‐Ronne Ice Shelf, the ocean cavity beneath it, and the Weddell Sea that bounds it, form an important part of the global climate system by modulating ice discharge from the Antarctic Ice Sheet and producing cold dense water masses that feed the global thermohaline circulation. A prerequisite for modeling the ice sheet and oceanographic processes within the cavity is an accurate knowledge of the sub‐ice sheet bedrock elevation, but beneath the ice shelf where airborne radar cannot penetrate, bathymetric data are sparse. This paper presents new seismic point measurements of cavity geometry from a particularly poorly sampled region south of Berkner Island that connects the Filchner and Ronne ice shelves. An updated bathymetric grid formed by combining the new data with existing data sets reveals several new features. In particular, a sill running between Berkner Island and the mainland could alter ocean circulation within the cavity and change our understanding of paleo‐ice stream flow in the region. Also revealed are deep troughs near the grounding lines of Foundation and Support Force ice streams, which provide access for seawater with melting potential. Running an ocean tidal model with the new bathymetry reveals large differences in tidal current velocities, both within the new gridded region and further afield, potentially affecting sub‐ice shelf melt rates.


This paper presents the use of anti-sway angle control approaches for a two-dimensional gantry crane with disturbances effect in the dynamic system. Proportional-derivative (PD) and proportional-derivative (PD)-type fuzzy logic controller are the techniques used in this investigation to actively control the sway angle of the rope of gantry crane system. A nonlinear overhead gantry crane system is considered and the dynamic model of the system is derived using the Euler-Lagrange formulation. A complete analysis of simulation results for each technique is presented in time domain and frequency domain respectively. Performances of both controllers are examined in terms of sway angle suppression and disturbances cancellation. Finally, a comparative assessment of the impact of each controller on the system performance is presented and discussed.


This paper examines the macroeconomic and distributive impacts of a carbon pricing reform. We propose a comprehensive analytical framework encompassing modern macroeconomics, public economics of taxation and energy and environmental economics. We analyse an alternative widely debated for the use of carbon tax revenues: lump sum transfers vs. cuts in existing distortionary taxes. We provide new insights on the efficiency vs. equity trade-offs of carbon pricing policies in the context of an open economy with the case study of France. We show that the terms of the equity-efficiency dilemma and the hierarchy of the revenue recycling options crucially depend on the macroeconomic context and on the type of inequalities considered. We show that it is paramount to identify the most vulnerable households and to define the criteria used to award lump-sum transfers accordingly. We conclude that no revenue recycling option is universally superior to another, and more case studies should be carried out to account for specific macroeconomic and national contexts.


The concept of environmental justice is not new. While some scholars and activists trace its origins as part of the ongoing American Civil Rights Movement — a movement which emerged within the interdisciplinary connection of law and religion — this essay argues that the concept of environmental justice has deep origins in the Holy Bible. With a foundation in the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures, this essay combines the disciplines of law and religion by arguing that the Book of Revelation should be read ecologically as a clarion call to protect the environment in anticipation of the time the triune God will return to live on the planet earth, which will exist as a new heaven. To support the thesis that the Book of Revelation calls members of Judeo-Christian faith traditions to be protective stewards of planet earth, this Essay is organized into five interconnected parts, undergirded by religious views on the environment and the concept of environmental justice. Part I is an introductory overview, which lays a foundation for the matters related to law, religion, and ecological eschatology detailed herein. Part II builds upon Part I by transitioning into a substantive analysis of environmental justice as detailed by John in Revelation. Part III then moves in chronology from a time when Judeo-Christian morals influenced ecological eschatology, millennia before antiquity, by exploring the same influences on environmental justice in the post-modern era. Part IV outlines policy considerations related to the continuing environmental justice movement from a Judeo-Christian thought perspective. Finally, Part V of this essay is a synthesis and conclusion, where the author attempts to harmonize the themes and theories detailed herein, all at the proverbial intersection of law and religion.


Cooperatively planning for multiple agents has been proposed as a promising method for strategic and motion planning for automated vehicles. By taking into account the intent of every agent, the ego agent can incorporate future interactions with human-driven vehicles into its planning. The problem is often formulated as a multi-agent game and solved using iterative algorithms operating on a discretized action or state space. Even if converging to a Nash equilibrium, the result will often be only sub-optimal. In this paper, we define a linear differential game for a set of interacting agents and solve it to optimality using mixed-integer programming. A disjunctive formulation of the orientation allows us to formulate linear constraints to prevent agent-to-agent collision while preserving the non-holonomic motion properties of the vehicle model. Soft constraints account for prediction errors. We then define a joint cost function, where a cooperation factor can adapt between altruistic, cooperative, and egoistic behavior. We study the influence of the cooperation factor to solve scenarios, where interaction between the agents is necessary to solve them successfully. The approach is then evaluated in a racing scenario, where we show the applicability of the formulation in a closed-loop receding horizon replanning fashion. By accounting for inaccuracies in the cooperative assumption and the actual behavior, we can indeed successfully plan an optimal control strategy interacting closely with other agents.


We present and analyze an agnostic active learning algorithm that works without keeping a version space. This is unlike all previous approaches where a restricted set of candidate hypotheses is maintained throughout learning, and only hypotheses from this set are ever returned. By avoiding this version space approach, our algorithm sheds the computational burden and brittleness associated with maintaining version spaces, yet still allows for substantial improvements over supervised learning for classification.


Between 2002 and 2013, the Visualizing Cultures (VC) project at M.I.T. produced a number of "image-driven" online units addressing Japan and China in the modern world. Co-directed by John Dower and Shigeru Miyagawa, VC tapped a wide range of hitherto largely inaccessible visual resources of an historical nature. Each topical treatment—which can run from one to as many as four separate units—formats and analyzes these graphics in ways that, ideally, open new windows of understanding for scholars, teachers, and students. VC endorses the "creative commons" ideal, meaning that everything on the site, including all images, can be downloaded and reproduced for educational (but not commercial) uses.

Funding and staffing for VC formally ended in 2013, with around eight topical treatments still in the pipes. These will go online over the next several months. Overall, including the treatments to come, the project includes a total of fifty-five individual units covering twenty-six different subjects. The China-Japan division will be roughly equitable when everything is in place. (There will also be a two-part treatment of the U.S. and the Philippines between 1898 and 1912.) The full VC menu can be accessed at visualizingcultures.mit.edu.

Needless to say, the number of Asian countries and potential topics not covered by VC is very large. (Needless to say, as well, there are many other valuable image-rich web sites on Asia in the modern world—although tracking them down can be a challenge.) In any case, it remains for present and future researchers, students, and activists to take the production of critical image-driven scholarship and education to the next level conceptually, topically, and technologically.

VC is closing shop for the production of new units at a moment when it was just reaching a "critical mass" of subjects that invite crisscrossing among separate topical treatments. Western imperialist expansion beginning with the Canton trade system, first Opium War, and Commodore Matthew Perry's "opening" of Japan is potentially one such subject; comparing and contrasting Japanese and Chinese engagements with "the West" is another. The VC units draw vivid attention to political, cultural, and technological transformation in East Asia between the mid-19th and mid-20th century. Many of them highlight graphic expressions of militarism, nationalism, racism, and anti-foreignism. Because the visual resources tapped for these units range from high art to popular culture, and are especially strong in the latter, it is now possible to tap the site to explore the emergence of consumer cultures and mass audiences in Japan and China. This, in turn, calls attention to popular cultures and grassroots activities in general.

One example of the insights to be gained by approaching the VC menu with this comparative perspective in mind is the subject of popular protest in Japan. That is the common thrust of the four separate VC units introduced here. This is, of course, a pertinent subject today, when the mass media in the Anglophone world tends to portray Japan as a fundamentally homogeneous, consensual, harmonious, conflict-averse and risk-averse "culture" (a familiar rendering, for example, in the venerable New York Times).

No serious historian of modern Japan would endorse these canards, which carry echoes of the "beautiful customs" nostrums of Japan's own nationalistic ideologues. At the same time, however, it cannot be denied that the past four decades or so have seen nothing comparable in intensity or scale to the popular protests in prewar Japan, or the demonstrations and "citizens' movements" (shimin undō) that took place in postwar Japan up to the early 1970s. How can we place all this in perspective?

The image-driven VC explorations of protest in Japan begin in 1905 and end with the massive "Ampō" demonstrations against revision of the U.S.-Japan mutual security treaty in 1960. The four treatments that will be reproduced in The Asia-Pacific Journal beginning in this issue are as follows:

1. Social Protest in Imperial Japan: The Hibiya Riot of 1905, by Andrew Gordon.

2. Political Protest in Interwar Japan: Posters & Handbills from the Ohara Collection (1920s~1930s), by Christopher Gerteis (in two units).

3. Protest Art in 1950s Japan: The Forgotten Reportage Painters, by Linda Hoaglund.

4. Tokyo 1960: Days of Rage & Grief: Hamaya Hiroshi's Photos of the Anti-Security-Treaty Protests, by Justin Jesty.

VC and the Asia-Pacific Journal are committed to bringing the highest quality visual images to the classroom. In establishing this partnership, we anticipate publishing the subsequent units on protest every two weeks. We hope to follow this up with new units in preparation and projected.


Structural anti-quality characteristics are physical plant traits that reduce the performance and productivity of herbivores and quality of their agricultural products. Most structural anti-quality characteristics of plants affect the rate at which herbivores gather and ingest forages, reducing the total amount of food obtained or increasing the time necessary to obtain food. Structural anti-quality can substantially influence searching time (e.g., plant crypticity, distribution), cropping time (e.g., plant fibrousness, tensile and shear strength), and bite size (e.g., plant canopy structure, spinescence). Plant structural characteristics can also reduce digestion (e.g., silica), cause injury (e.g., spines, awns, burrs, calluses), or reduce the quality of animal products, such as wool (e.g., propagules). The effects of structural antiquality characteristics depend on the morphology of the herbivore, especially its size, the morphology of the focal plant, and their context within the habitat. Integrated grazing management plans should consider options to reduce the negative effects of structural anti-quality. Carefully selecting appropriate livestock species with previous experience, and the appropriate season of grazing can minimize anti-quality on rangelands. Because structural anti-quality may actually promote sustainability of grazing systems by preventing severe defoliation, or by providing refuges for highly desirable forages, it may not be desirable to completely counteract their effects. DOI:10.2458/azu_jrm_v54i4_laca


In the late 1990s, the internet was heralded as a global opportunity for new ventures. One aspect of this opportunity was the innovation of including small firms and consumers in seamless 'business webs.' The second aspect was the distance insensitivity and internationality of the internet. New ventures appeared in different countries responding to this seemingly global opportunity. In Germany, this response appeared especially strong against the background of years of slow development of the domestic information technology (IT) sector. This thesis examines the role of national government policy in a world being transformed by technology. 'Network thinkers,' following Schumpeter's concept of 'creative destruction,' believed the internet represented a global innovation opportunity. They emphasised the independence and self-governance of globally networked market players, arguing that the territorial basis of national government policy has eroded. The problematique guiding this research effort has emerged from this thinking. Can the concepts associated with network thinking account for the apparently strong entrepreneurial response to the internet in Germany. A detailed study of the development of internet ventures in Germany was carried out to examine this guiding question. The study was supported by quantitative data supplied through a 123-firm survey conducted in the Spring of 1998. This research revealed that the entrepreneurial response in Germany was much weaker than it appeared to contemporary observers. New ventures had to adopt a 'mixed-play' approach which placed them on a less innovative and less international, slower growth trajectory. Two key policy arenas were identified which constrained the development of German internet ventures: (I) The course of telecommunications liberalisation and (2) the initial lack of venture capital. Practitioners have long been aware of the importance of these two determinants for internet development. The main contribution of this thesis has been to add to the understanding of how these two factors have operated in a national environment conditioned by distinctive institutions.


The present work is one of the first to focus on the role of emulsified water droplets on the crystallisation behaviour of water-in-cocoa butter emulsions under quiescent conditions (i.e. absence of any externally applied force). Cocoa butter (CB) systems were designed to progressively increase the number of heterogeneous nuclei within the CB matrix, and the crystallisation behaviour was studied at four temperatures (5 C, 10 C, 15 C and 20 C). Information on the crystallisation kinetics and polymorphism was obtained by pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance and differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. This work provides evidence that dispersed water droplets have two key effects on the phase transition of the continuous fat phase: (1) increase the crystallisation rate and (2) enhance the polymorphic evolution. Emulsions crystallised faster (larger Avrami kinetic constant) than the bulk phase at intermediate-low levels of supercooling, although the mechanisms of nucleation did not change across systems. Moreover, at all temperatures, emulsified CB evolved faster towards more stable polymorphs. In these systems, a mechanism of 'interfacial heterogeneous templating' seems unlikely considering that the emulsifier (polyglycerol polyricinoleate) does not crystallise. This result was attributed to the presence of an emulsifier liquid-like layer surrounding the water droplets where the polymorphic evolution could be locally enhanced by the structural re-arrangement of CB triglycerides. ã 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).


Abstract. We present vertical profiles of the aerosol extinction coefficient retrieved from ground-based Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) measurements at Tsukuba, Japan (36.1° N, 140.1° E), from November 2006 to March 2007. Retrievals utilizing absorption by the oxygen collision complex O 4 are first made at two wavelengths, 354 and 476 nm. A robust assessment of the MAX-DOAS aerosol data is then made using coincident lidar measurements throughout the period. Agreement between aerosol extinction coefficients measured by MAX-DOAS and the lidar tends to be better at the longer wavelength and at lower altitudes. At 476 nm, the best agreement, to within 30%, is found at altitudes of 0–1 km, confirming results from a literature assessment for a two-month measurement period. These findings are supported by comparisons between aerosol optical depths derived from MAX-DOAS and sky radiometer measurements and are further explained by differences in the altitude-dependent measurement sensitivity to the aerosol extinction coefficient between 354 and 476 nm. Thus, uncertainty in MAX-DOAS aerosol measurements is well quantified and characterized, providing a basis for quantitative studies using MAX-DOAS measurements.


This study investigates business-to-business interpersonal trust formation (trust that develops between boundary spanning individuals from different organizations) during the price determination stage of the supplier selection process. We first investigate whether trust can form at this stage. Then we examine two factors that may affect trust formation: the communication channel employed by the buyer and the amount of complexity involved in the purchase. Hypotheses are tested with a behavioral experiment (N=117) comparing three communication media (face-to-face, email, and Internet reverse auctions) and two levels of procurement complexity. Results show that trust formation does occur at the price determination stage; however, the degree to which trust grows depends on the communication channel employed and on the level of procurement complexity. Our study enhances managerial understanding of the possibility of developing (or eroding) trust early in the buyer-seller relationship, and it sheds light on the appropriateness of various supplier selection tools under various conditions. In addition, this research contributes to the supply chain management field by complementing the existing trust literature which typically focuses on interorganizational trust that is formed or eroded later in the supply relationship.


The collapse of the class basis of party choice in Britain since the 1980s has been assumed to result from the diminishing distinctiveness of social classes in the postindustrial world. We argue instead that class dealignment results from the impact of an ideologically restricted choice set on the electoral relevance of values concerning inequality and redistribution. As these values provide a mechanism through which class divisions translate into differences in party choice, their declining relevance produces a concomitant decline in the effect of class position. These propositions are tested using British survey data covering the period from 1983 to 2010. We show that a supply-side constriction in the choices presented to voters, rather than the weakening of class divisions, accounts for the declining political relevance of redistributive values and the class basis of party choice. The politics of class influences class voting, not vice versa.


Re-use of patients' health records can provide tremendous benefits for clinical research. One of the first essential steps for many research studies, such as clinical trials or population health studies, is to effectively identify, from electronic health record systems, groups of well-characterized patients who meet specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. This procedure is called cohort exploration. Yet, when researchers need to compile specific cohorts of patients, privacy issues represent one of the major obstacles to accessing patients' data, especially when sensitive data, such as genomic data, are involved. Because of this, cohort exploration could become extremely difficult and time-consuming. In this joint paper between the Ecole Polytechnique F ´ ed´ erale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Lausanne University Hospital ´ (CHUV), we address the challenge of designing and deploying an efficient privacy-preserving explorer for genetic cohorts. Our solution is built on top of i2b2 (informatics for integrating biology and the bedside), the state-of-the-art open-source framework for cohort exploration, and exploits on cutting-edge privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) such as homomorphic encryption and differential privacy. To the best of our knowledge, our proposed solution is the first of its kind to be successfully deployed in a real operational environment within a hospital. Especially, it has been tested as one of the services of the clinical research data-warehouse of CHUV. Solutions involving homomorphic encryption are often believed to be costly and still immature for use in operational environments. In this paper, we prove the opposite by describing how actually, for specific use cases, this kind of PETs can be very efficient enablers.


Social-health psychology has made substantial contributions to health psychology and is poised to make many more in the future. Some new developments will come from empirical progress in theoretical and empirical social psychology that can elucidate the psychological mechanisms whereby social variables affect health. Others will come from technological advances, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, that will uncover mechanisms that underlie effects of stress, coping, persuasive communications, and other factors on health. Progress will also come from social psychologists' increasing comfort with biological processes and measures, including genetics and neuroendocrine mechanisms. As such, social-health psychology will not only continue to enrich both health psychology and social psychology, but increasingly be able to speak to intervention possibilities. Moreover, by virtue of its emphasis on psychobiological mechanisms, social-health psychology leads the way for an expanding role of social psychology in the integrative science of the future.


State governments in India have executed approximately half of the world's known network shutdowns – large-scale, deliberate disruptions of Internet connectivity, cell phone service, or social media. India is also a hotbed of collective action with widely varying degrees of organization and coordination, which are partially determined by the identities of the primary participants. However, no independent assessment of the effects of such information vacuums on the strategy and structure of collective action exists, for India or any other state. In this study, I expand on a previously formulated theory of disconnective action by examining how structural and strategic characteristics affect collective action responses during a network shutdown in an extreme case via statistical analysis. Shutdowns are found to be much more strongly associated with increases in violent collective action than with non-violent mobilization. However, a breakdown of the structure of individual protest events reveals weak effects for both organized and 'leaderless' collective action during a shutdown. On the other hand, the co-occurrence of state violence with a shutdown is found to encourage non-violent action. The findings imply that information blackouts compel participants in collective action in India to substitute non-violent tactics for violent ones that are less reliant on effective communication and coordination. While they may sometimes disrupt structured and non-violent protest, this effect is highly inconsistent. The analysis creates a precedent for other subnational studies of digital repression and adds to the discussion on extreme means of controlling (dis)information flows online.


In many legal contexts, homes are given more legal protection than other types of property. This additional protection can be divided into three categories. First, possessory rights in a home might be given more protection than possessory rights in another kind of property. For example, a legal system might make it more difficult for a creditor to force the sale a home to satisfy a debt than it would be for the creditor to force the sale of another type of property (say, a commercial office building) to satisfy that same debt. Second, a legal system might economically favor ownership or possession of a home over ownership or possession of another type of property. For example, ownership of a home might be subsidized where ownership of other types of property is not. Third, a home might be given special treatment when issues of privacy, freedom, or security are at stake. For example, a legal system might require the government to have a stronger justification for searching a home than is required for searching a commercial property.This short encyclopedia entry focuses on the first category – those legal protections that give special protection to possessory rights in a home. It first elaborates on the distinction between rules favoring possession and the other two types of special legal protections given to homes. It then discusses various types of legal rules that give additional protection to possession of a home, including homestead rules favoring homeowners over creditors and tenure rules favoring renters over their landlords. Finally, it discusses theoretical issues related to the protection of possessory rights in homes, and considers open questions about whether this special protection is justified.


Barrow in Furness is a town in the north west of England with a history of iron ore,
shipping and shipbuilding but needs investment and planning to continue growth.
Barrow and the local people relied heavily on the shipyard for jobs and income but
over the past 5 years demand for vessels and submarines have been decreased.
Leaving people in Barrow without jobs and prospects, without any changes to the
town it will continue on a downward spiral. A new dockland development is planned
for the town with mixed land use ranging from a business park and housing marina
village. The dockland waterfront development is hoped to help the town and trigger
further changes within the town. Local people will have views on the changes to the
town and the impact that it can have on the people and future generations.
This research analyses public perceptions of age and gender of people in Barrow.
By gathering local opinions an understanding can be made of how people will take to
or reject the developments that are to be put in place. 140 questionnaires out of an
aimed 160 were completed by local people these were broken down by 20 people in
each age group and gender to give well rounded views. Interviews were also under
taken with people implementing the developments and a public meeting was
attended to make observations and gather opinions