According to the general wisdom in the finance literature, the bid-ask spread on a security is viewed as a form of transaction cost faced by security traders. In both floor and screen markets, traders are willing to pay this transaction cost in order to obtain immediacy in the execution of their transaction. The dealer sets his ask and bid prices on the basis of the expected conditions of the market and the marketability of the specific security, thus providing immediate liquidity to potential buyers and sellers. Dealers generally set the ask and bid prices around the actual price, expecting profits from the random orders of buyers and sellers. Given the specific function of the dealers, the theoretical finance literature has identified three main determinants of the bid-ask spread in a competitive market. Namely, the spread represents a measure of the price of the dealer's services given (a) the operational efficiency of the trading system (operational efficiency formulation); (b) the degree of a security's marketability (inventory hypothesis); and (c) the presence of private information of the traders (adverse information hypothesis). This comment considers the impact of different methods of trading (and different levels of anonymity in trading) on the operating costs and adverse selection costs. The paper presents an interesting case of bilateral adverse selection, analyzing it from a theoretical perspective. (A) Traders' Adverse Selection. The first form of adverse selection depends on the traders' use of superior private information. The effects of this form of adverse selection are not different from those of the lemons problem, a well-known asymmetric information problem considered by Akerlof (1970). Costs are imposed on dealers who react by adjusting the bid-ask spreads in the trading of the stock. This asymmetric information problem is related to the level of private information which is likely to be present. Likewise, the adverse selection problem increases with the percentage of traders that operate on the basis of superior private information. By assumption, dealers have greater ability to identify and discriminate between different types of traders in the floor market. Anonymity enhances the ability of traders to take advantage of private information that they possess, since dealers cannot differentiate between the two types of traders and cannot penalize information-driven traders in subsequent dealings. Floor trading attenuates these problems and thus dealers can afford to keep lower spreads to the benefit of the mass of liquidity-motivated traders. (B) Dealers' Adverse Selection. The presence of parallel screen and floor markets creates an opportunity for dealers to react to the traders' adverse information problem in ways that are different from the usual edging of potential losses with larger spreads. Dealers can engage in adverse selection on their part by choosing different spread levels in the two markets and consequently changing the relative market share of each stock in the two trading systems. Dealers thus respond to the traders' adverse selection by engaging in selective fixing of spread levels and, as a result, induce different choices of trading systems. In first analysis, the presence of bilateral adverse selection strategies would suggest the emergence of a separating equilibrium: information-motivated traders would generally prefer to trade in anonymous screen markets at higher spread costs, while liquidity-motivated traders would be less willing to pay the spread premium, since they draw no immediate financial benefit from the anonymous form of trading. This separating equilibrium, however, would likely encounter further adjustments. As a result of the initial matching of trader-type and market form, the density of information-driven traders in the two markets would change, rendering further increases of the bid-ask spread necessary. This will induce some of the information-driven traders to drop out of the screen market, since the higher spread costs are no longer justified by the limited private information that they possess. Only high private information traders would thus be willing to pay the increased spread costs in order to ensure anonymity. In a frictionless world, this bilateral adverse selection problem would unravel until all private information traders would drop out of the screen market entirely to avoid the yet higher spread costs imposed by dealers on anonymous traders. In a nutshell, the static adjustments would yield a selection of traders on the basis of their "information level" (or trading motivation). The result is a separating equilibrium where different types of traders will choose different markets according to whether the expected profit from the use of private information justifies the higher premium (i.e., higher bid-ask spread). Alternatively, dynamic adjustments would yield an unraveling such that, in equilibrium, only one market would be utilized for each type of stock. In a world of perfect mobility, however, the bilateral adverse selection dynamic described above would naturally lead to corner solutions where each market would ultimately dominate for the trade of a specific category of stock. Interestingly, the presence of bilateral adverse selection problems has partially offsetting effects, so as to minimize the total social cost of trading.


The introduction of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) as a system for education delivery presents opportunities and challenges. In our context, the driver to develop a MOOC was the promise of addressing the international deficit of quality evidence-based dementia education, as well as the lack of research into international perspectives on dementia. Dementia is a condition of the brain caused by many diseases; the trajectory of most age-related dementias is progressive mental and, ultimately, physical degeneration, leading to death. The work of the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre (Wicking Centre) is committed to the integration of research and education and framed by the concept of 'quality of life across the trajectory of dementia.' With dementia emerging as the public health issue of the 21st century, lack of dementia education at multiple levels, professional and non-professional, is increasingly recognised as an emergency. The disruptive character of MOOCs, with associated risks and uncertainties, warranted a research-oriented project management approach, investing resources in gathering and analysing data to underpin each phase of decision-making. This paper describes the Wicking Centre's method of iterative investigation and analysis of three dynamically interacting components to realise a final MOOC design: 1) the Wicking Centre's expertise in dementia knowledge and dementia education; 2) the Centre's desire to take a cohort-centric approach to design and delivery, and 3) models and designs for MOOCs currently promoted, discussed and reported in the higher education discipline. We used a design-based research approach incorporating the concept of life-cycle of an e-learning design (Phillips et al. 2012). The realised structure for the Understanding Dementia MOOC meets multiple objectives through integrating education and research using a hybrid xMOOC and cMOOC approach. The paper reports on the decision-making process for the initial design and the outcomes of the limited release pilot that informed the first full offering of the MOOC. The course design provided expert content to participants and also opportunities for reflecting on the content in discussion, producing a context for collaborative learning that is evidence-based. Participant interactions constitute a rich dataset of international experiences and perspectives that is at the level of individuals, communities and cultures.


Global financial crises of 2007-2011 have created tremendous impact on Swedish organisations, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In such a context, study of organisational resilience, to survive and thrive, becomes increasingly significant. Key to economic resilience is upheld by crisis management (CM), business continuity planning (BCP) and growth perspectives. Thus crisis strategic planning (CSP) becomes fundamental in underpinning resilience. The study categorises resilient and less resilient SMEs in terms of their financial performance, and identifies what strategies differentiate them. Resilient firms showed better short-term CM through higher operational flexibility, while the less resilient firms lacked strategic readiness. Resilient firms showed more long-term strategies through BCP and growth strategies through market penetration, diversification and transformational initiatives. Multi-strategic initiatives help to develop CSP model, categorising firms along different resilience types, characterised by low and high degrees of planning and adaptation, respectively. Resilient Swedish SMEs mostly showed planned resilience in financial crises.


In this richly entertaining and accessible book, Alex Bellos explodes the myth that maths is best left to the geeks. Covering subjects from adding to algebra, from set theory to statistics, and from logarithms to logical paradoxes, he explains how mathematical ideas underpin just about everything in our lives. Alex explains the surprising geometry of the 50p piece, and the strategy of how best to gamble it in a casino. He shines a light on the mathematical patterns in nature, and on the peculiar predictability of random behaviour. He eats a potato crisp whose revolutionary shape was unpalatable to the ancient Greeks, and he shows the deep connections between maths, religion and philosophy. Alex weaves a journey from primary school to university level maths, from ancient history to the computing frontline, and from St Louis, Missouri, to Braintree, Essex. He meets the world's fastest mental calculators in Germany, consults a numerologist in the US desert, meets a startlingly numerate chimpanzee in Japan, and seeks advice from a venerable Hindu sage in India. An unlikely but exhilarating cocktail of history, reportage and mathematical proofs, Alex's dispatches from 'Numberland' show the world of maths to be a much friendlier and more colourful place than you might have imagined.


The prevailing geographic model for high-technology industrial organization has been the "nerdistan," a sprawling, car-oriented suburb organized around office parks. This seems to contradict a basic insight of urban theory, which associates dense urban centers with higher levels of innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity. This article examines the geography of recent venture capital finance startups across U.S. metros and within a subset of them by neighborhood. It concludes that the model is changing. The suburban model might have been a historical aberration, and innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship are realigning in the same urban centers that traditionally fostered them.


We study acceleration of current-carrying string loops governed by the presence of an outer tension barrier and an inner angular momentum barrier in the field of Schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes. We restrict attention to the axisymmetric motion of string loops with energy high enough, when the string loop can overcome the gravitational attraction and escape to infinity. We demonstrate that string loops can be scattered near the black hole horizon, and the energy of string oscillations can be efficiently converted to the energy of their linear motion. Such a transmutation effect can potentially represent acceleration of jets in active galactic nuclei and microquasars. We give the conditions limiting energy available for conversion onto the jetlike motion. Surprisingly, we are able to show that string loops starting from rest can be accelerated up to velocities v\simc even in the field of Schwarzschild black holes, if their angular momentum parameter is low enough. Such loops could serve as an explanation of highly relativistic jets observed in some quasars and active galactic nuclei. The cosmic repulsion becomes important behind the so-called static radius where it accelerates the linear motion of the string loops up to velocity v=c that is reached at the cosmic horizon of the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetimes independently of the angular momentum parameter of the strings.


Different approaches have been used to simulate leaf area index (LAI) in soybean ( Glycine max L. Merr). Many of these approaches require genotype-specific calibration procedures. Studies modeling LAI dynamics under optimal growth conditions with yields close to the yield potential of soybean have remained scarce. A sink-driven approach was developed and evaluated for LAI simulation in soybean under near-optimal environments. The rate of change in expanding leaf area was simulated using the first derivative of a logistic function accounting for plant population density, air temperature, and water deficit. The rate of change in senescing leaf area was also simulated using the first derivative of a logistic function, assuming monocarpic senescence that began at the flowering stage (R1). Phenology was simulated as a function of temperature and photoperiod. Data for model development and evaluation were obtained from irrigated field experiments conducted at two locations in Nebraska, where agronomic management was optimized to achieve growth at a near yield potential level. LAI simulation with the proposed model had average RMSE of 0.52 m 2 m −2 for independent data at the two locations. The proposed model has minimum input requirements. Interactions between leaf growth and source-driven processes can be incorporated in the future, while maintaining the basic physiological assumptions underlining leaf expansion and senescence.


This study aims to explore modulation of the connectivity pattern when people perform left hand versus right hand motor imagery and probe the feasibility of adopting connectivity information to discriminate these tasks. Nine subjects were recorded with 16-channel EEG system, covering sensorimotor cortex. Non-normalized directed transfer function (DTF) is used to obtain the brain connectivity between EEG electrodes. The results demonstrate that the modulations of intrahemispheric and interhemispheric information flows are not identical during left and right hand motor imageries. Particularly, the mu rhythm is highly modulated in intrahemispheric brain interactions, whereas the high frequency bands are more related with distant interhemispheric brain interactions. Furthermore, classification results suggest that the DTF features bring additional informative features for the classification between two tasks.


In lucid dreams the dreamers are aware that they are dreaming and can use this state for a variety of different purposes. In an online survey, 528 respondents, of whom 386 were lucid dreamers, were asked how often have they used different applications of lucid dreams lately and how did this influence their mood upon awakening. According to the reports, wish fulfilment was the most frequent application used by 83% of lucid dreamers on 42.8% of occasions, followed by solving waking problems (57% of lucid dreamers; 14.5% of occasions), overcoming fears/nightmares (47%; 10.8%), spiritual experiences (43%; 8.1%), physical/mental healing (40%; 11.4%), and training motor skills (31%; 4.2%), with meditation being the least popular application (11%; 1.3%). Younger participants, as well as men, were more likely to engage in wish fulfilment, whereas more mature and more experienced lucid dreamers more used their lucid dreams for inner work (solving waking problems, physical/mental healing, meditation). Women were more likely to use their lucid dreams for overcoming fears/nightmares and healing. All applications influenced mood upon awakening positively to neutrally, with the most positive moods being after wish fulfilment, which helps to elucidate why it is the most popular application of lucid dreams.


A family consisting of parents and their 6 sons were investigated to elucidate the relationship between a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, musculoskeletal abnormalities and mental subnormality. The proband was diagnosed as having definite hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and the remaining family members were shown to have a spectrum of hypertropic non-obstructive cardiomyopathy. Mild muscle weakness was present in 3 sons. All the subjects except for 1 son showed definite signs of electromyographic abnormality, whereas sensory and motor conduction velocities were normal. All the EEGs except for that of the proband were normal. Testicular hypoplasia was present in 3 sons. The inheritance pattern appears to be polygenic autosomal recessive in type. Definite evidence of linkage between hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and HLA awaits further data.


India is a place of diversity in population having compa rative migration in the dynamic macroeconomics phenomena in the emerging Asia. Simultaneously it is pursuing the activities of brain gain and brain drain through migrating from one geographical phenomenon to a growing pick up subsistence level area. The main objectives of the paper are to structure the determinants and patte rns of the labour migration in Bijepur block of Bargarh district of Odisha. The primary data were collected from the two Gram Panchyats of the Bijepur Block name as Sanbausen and Talpadar through structured questionnaire. Purposive sampling method was used in collecting information. Data has been collected from 56 respondents' with the help of household interview schedule. Interview schedule contained both open ended as well as close ended questions. This study reveals that th ere are 55.36 % migrants who are from SC, 30.36% from OBC and 14.28% are from ST communities respectively. Among the youths 52% are unmarried. The migrants family average annual income is between Rs 30,000/ - to Rs 40,000/- only. The family of the 85.71% of the labour migrants is in possession of ration cards while 14.29% possess no ration card. The economic conditions of families of more than 90% of t he young migrants are not sound. For the settlement of path of divergent of labour migration, employment generation renounces wage rates, efficient and skilled labour should be employed to overcome the problems.


The World Intellectual Property Organization's Final Report on "The Management of Internet Names And Addresses: Intellectual Property Issues" is in many respects a substantial improvement on WIPO's Interim Report, RFC 3. The attempt to define "abusive registrations" represents a good-faith effort to define cybersquatting. While this new definition will no doubt benefit from public comment and discussion it has yet to receive, the proposal in the body of the report seems to hew closely to the definitions evolving in the various courts that have considered the issue. Once flaws in the formal expression of the policy in the Final Report's Annexes have been corrected, this proposal should represent an improvement over the current NSI dispute policy, one that will serve the legitimate interests of trademark and service mark holders without opening the door to "reverse domain hijacking". Unfortunately, the Final Report leaves essentially unchanged the proposals in the Interim Report regarding the proposed treatment of globally famous trademarks. It proposes a baroque, ad hoc, quasi-judicial procedure based on vague (and in one case prejudicial) criteria to define when a trademark is sufficiently internationally famous to be granted special privileges on the Internet, and proposes special privileges that trademarks do not currently have under law. At present there is no agreed definition of a globally famous mark, although WIPO-sponsored panels have been seeking to formulate a definition for years. Furthermore, the WIPO proposal rejects imposing any upper limit on the number of trademarks that may be declared "famous," perhaps because it is impossible to predict how many marks will qualify. As noted regarding the Interim Report, parties who lose their domain names under the proposed dispute resolution procedure and believe the arbitrator erred may find it difficult to find a court capable of hearing their claim. Because the Final Report restricts the dispute resolution procedure to a much narrower class of cases than did the Interim Report, one can expect that there will be many fewer such cases than initially feared – but not zero.In addition, there are a number of ambiguities and possible errors in material which appears for the first time in the Final Report. This material will benefit from public review; and in some cases some of this material may need revision. In particular, the procedural proposals in the Annex contain what appears to be a serious drafting error.While not strictly an intellectual property issue, and without wishing to minimize the complexity and importance of the real issues that remain to be determined, the Final Report provides a less ringing endorsement than one might have hoped for new global Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) and for the creation of a new privacy-enhanced gTLD for non-commercial uses.


Although the annual traffic accident statistics published by the national police is available in public, the detailed traffic accident data has not been released in Korea. Recently the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport recognized the importance of in-depth accident data to enhance road traffic safety and initiated a research project to establish a collection of the detailed accident data. The main objective of the project is a feasibility study to establish KIDAS (Korea In-Depth Accident Study). Within this project, three university hospitals which are located in mid-size cities have been selected to collect accident data. Annually, more than 500 cases of accidents have been collected from the in-patient's interviews and diagnosis. Unlike GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study), currently on-site investigation can't be performed by the Korean police. The only available data is patient medical records, patient's description of accident circumstances and the damaged vehicle. Occasionally the police provide the accident investigation reports containing very brief information on accident causation and vehicle safety. In a first step, the concept of KIDAS is to adopt the format of iGLAD (Initiative for the Global Harmonization of Accident Data) for harmonization. Since the currently collected accident information is extremely limited compared with GIDAS, the other sources of data and calculations such as KNCAP vehicle data, pc-crash simulations, vehicle registration information, insurance company data are utilized to complete the iGLAD template. Results from KIDAS_iGLAD and the cases of assessment of active safety devices such as AEBS, ESC, and LDWS will be evaluated. (A)


The limited availability of culturally appropriate psychological tests for the educational and psychological assessment of Indigenous students is a crucial issue for school psychologists in Australia's Northern Territory (NT). This has resulted in school psychologists and other educational practitioners relying primarily on mainstream assessment tools when evaluating Indigenous students' learning and psychological needs. This study sought to culturally adapt and abbreviate the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System –Second Edition Teacher Form (ABAS-II) for use in NT schools with children ages 5 to 14 years (Harrison & Oakland, 2003). The cross-cultural adaptation process followed internationally recommended practice, including forward translation, back-translation, revision by an expert committee, and a pilot trial. This involved a multiphase mixed-method study design and included semi-structured interviews with educators, teachers and teacher aides as respondents, school observations, and psychometric analyses of existing and newly collected NT student data. The newly adapted instrument was named the Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System: Indigenous Australian Adaptation Model (ABAS: IAAM). Teachers were trained in the use of the ABAS: IAAM and supported to assess the adaptive behaviour of 270 students (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) in NT schools. Test data on these students and qualitative evaluation of interviews with 56 adult informants were analysed to reach the study findings. The new measure was found to have good internal consistency for each of the adaptive domains and the overall composite score (Social Adaptive Domain, alpha=0.92; Conceptual Adaptive Domain, alpha=0.94; Personal Adaptive Domain, alpha=0.78; and General Adaptive Composite, alpha=0.94). Content and construct validity were investigated through consultations with the teachers and other subject experts. Age standardisation and Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to establish age specific thresholds scores for the instrument. This enabled investigation of concurrent validity by assessing how well the age specific ABAS: IAAM threshold scores differentiated students with and without special education support needs. The overall study findings confirm the cross-cultural inclusiveness of the Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System: Indigenous Australian Adaptation Model (ABAS: IAAM) for use in NT schools. The psychometric properties of the new instrument were found to be satisfactory for its valid and reliable to use in assessing the adaptive behaviour of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in the NT schools context. The study demonstrated that teachers and teacher aides were able to use ABAS: IAAM checklist and utilise its findings in designing individual learning plans for their students. Education Advisors were also able to use the ABAS: IAAM data in integrating culturally relevant information about the adaptive behaviour of their Indigenous clients and to identify students with specific education and social support needs, developing Education Adjustment Plans, and monitoring student progress. School psychologists were also able to use the ABAS: IAAM test results for additional assessment planning, diagnostic and referral purposes. While the ABAS: IAAM was developed, trialled and evaluated for use in the NT Indigenous schooling context, it is hoped to extend this in post-doctoral research using a larger sample more representative of the broader Australian Indigenous population. This will be necessary to establish the extent to which the study findings are more widely generalizable and to support the reliable and valid use of the instrument with students in other Australian states and territories.


No Second Night Out Greater Manchester (NSNO GM) was set up in 2012 as part of a nationwide response to the Coalition Government's Strategy to end rough sleeping. NSNO GM works to prevent rough sleeping by targeting support at people who are new to rough sleeping. The NSNO GM outreach team – based with Riverside - assesses the needs of new rough sleepers and links them to emergency accommodation. In addition to NSNO GM, Riverside also run a peer mentoring service called Street Buddies, which focuses on entrenched rough sleepers with more complex needs, who are not appropriate for the NSNO support. Together, these two services provide a range of support to homeless individuals across Greater Manchester. In October 2013, Riverside commissioned the Sustainable Housing & Urban Studies Unit (SHUSU) at the University of Salford to carry out a rapid evaluation of NSNO GM and the Street Buddies peer mentoring service. The evaluation was undertaken by reviewing the following data sources: Existing secondary data relating to NSNO GM; Interviews with eight key stakeholders; and Interviews with 13 service users. The fieldwork took place over a four week period between December 2013 and January 2014. The report outlines some of the key findings drawing upon the issues central to the experience of service users and service providers of NSNO and Street Buddies.


We introduce the joint time-frequency scattering transform, a time shift invariant descriptor of time-frequency structure for audio classification. It is obtained by applying a two-dimensional wavelet transform in time and log-frequency to a time-frequency wavelet scalogram. We show that this descriptor successfully characterizes complex time-frequency phenomena such as time-varying filters and frequency modulated excitations. State-of-the-art results are achieved for signal reconstruction and phone segment classification on the TIMIT dataset.


The Health Service Executive (HSE) Palliative Care Programme Briefing Document (2012) identified the development of a Palliative Care Competence Framework as a key objective for the coming year.
The Health Service Executive's Palliative Care Programme convened a Project Steering Group to support, guide and oversee the development of the Palliative Care Competence Framework. The steering group comprises members from the Health Service Executive (HSE), All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC), the Irish Association for Palliative Care (IAPC) and the Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF).
The purpose of this project was to develop a Palliative Care Competence Framework for health and social care professionals working in various health care settings. The framework is intended to provide for core competences in palliative care whilst also detailing individual competences for each health and social care discipline. It is envisioned that the framework will inform academic curricula and professional development programs, and so will enhance the care of people with a life-limiting condition, fostering greater inter-professional and inter-organizational collaboration in palliative care provision.
The Palliative Care Competence Framework reflects a move to standardisation of undergraduate and postgraduate education in Europe and how this relates to the development of competence using the Tuning Approach. The Tuning Approach provides a guide for attainment of knowledge, skills and attributes for practice in the health and social care professions.
The Palliative Care Competence Framework was developed using the Tuning Approach which provided flexibility and autonomy to develop both core and discipline specific competences for generalist and specialist palliative care. The outcome is a clear framework for evidence-based, safe and effective palliative care for generalist and specialist practitioners irrespective of place of practice.


One hundred and one years have now passed since the writing of "Art as Technique" by Viktor Shklovsky and ostranenie has become widespread in literary study and analysis around the world. The conference organised by the University of Genoa offers an occasion to reflect upon the modernity of Shklovsky's concept and assess its legacy. What is left of ostranenie today? Can we use it within the field of gynocriticism? Can we read it from a sensory perspective? What does it mean to build a literary canon according to the principle of ostranenie?


When males of a species follow different reproductive strategies in different habitats, one might expect the strategy adopted to maximize fitness payoffs under particular ecological conditions. Striped mice (Rhabdomys pumilio) males in the moist grasslands of South Africa follow a roaming mating strategy, visiting several receptive females, and do not participate in parental care. In contrast, males in the arid succulent karoo are permanent members of social groups and help care for young. We predicted that paternal care leads to fitness benefits in striped mice from the succulent karoo but not from the grasslands. Experiments were conducted simultaneously in both locations under captive seminatural conditions to study offspring growth and survival to weaning in two experimental groups: father absent and father present. In the succulent karoo, offspring development was faster when the father was present, but the father's absence did not affect offspring growth in the grasslands. The significantly lower night temperatures in the succulent karoo compared to the grasslands negatively influenced offspring development during the first 3 days after birth, which in turn influenced offspring development until weaning. Exposure to low temperatures is energetically costly to free-living mice, as indicated by a greater loss of body weight during cold spring nights than warmer summer nights. We suggest that paternal care, particularly huddling of pups, improves offspring development in the succulent karoo, whereas the presence or absence of the father does not appear to directly influence offspring growth in the grasslands. Copyright 2005.


As a concert pianist and chapel organist, Beethoven rose to a fame in Vienna which allowed him patrons and friends who would support his compositions. One such patron was Count Waldstein, who claimed that Beethoven would inherit the spirit of Mozart in his famous prediction of Beethoven's success. To study composition Beethoven turned to two prominent Viennese composers: Haydn and Salieri. As his fame grew, his health decreased until he was diagnosed with deafness and moved to Heiligenstadt. Here Beethoven wrote a letter to his brothers called the Heiligenstadt Testament, which was never sent but expressed his troubled mental state. Beethoven composed his Eroica Symphony in a time in his life when, accepting the onset of his deafness, he also experienced the onset of depression. The Eroica Symphony has threads of Heroism running throughout it, and tells the story of life over death. But a question remains surrounding the work: Who is the Hero?


The original pasture ecosystems of southern inland Queensland ranged from treeless grasslands on cracking clays through grassy woodlands of varying density on a great range of soil types to those competing at the dynamic edges of forests and scrubs. Fire, both wild and aboriginal-managed, was a major factor, along with rainfall extremes, in shaping the pastures and tree:grass balance. Seedling recruitment was driven by rainfall extremes, availability of germinable seed and growing space, with seed availability and space being linked to the timing and intensity of recent fires and rain. The impact of insects, diseases, severe wind and hailstorms on recruitment should not be underestimated. The more fertile soils had denser grass growth, greater fire frequency and thinner tree cover than infertile soils, except where trees were so dense that grass growth was almost eliminated. The pastures were dominated by perennial tussock grasses of mid-height but included a wide array of minor herbaceous species whose abundance was linked to soil type and recent seasonal conditions. Many were strongly perennial with Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Cyperaceae and Goodeniaceae most common in an environment, which can experience effective rainfall at any time of year. The former grassland communities that are now productive farming lands are not easily returned to their original composition. However, conservation of remnant examples of original pasture types is very achievable provided tree density is controlled, prescribed burning and grazing are used and rigorous control of invasive, exotic species is undertaken. This should be done with a clear understanding that significant short-and medium-term fluctuations in botanical composition are normal.


By the analysis of the literature, it looks like the strive for new piglets' models of disease have prevaricated the necessity for a deeper knowledge of the physiology of the animal. It is well known how difficult it is to interpret obtained data when poor to none reference standards are provided and how hard it is to apply techniques borrowed from other models, no matter how similar they can look. The aim of the present work was to collect knowledge and information regarding the piglets by studying its physiology and to validating new techniques.
The experiments can be divided into two categories: physiological investigations and new techniques and future applications.
Blood and Cerebrospinal fluid were analyzed in a quali-quantitative manner in piglets. The studies, thanks to the extensive statistical analyses and the high number of sampled population, provide with important reference intervals that will allow for better understanding of several metabolic processes.
For the second category, technical experiments aimed to find easier and relatively pain free procedures for the collection of Cerebrospinal fluid and intrathecal administration in piglets, were performed. Operators' skills often are a limiting factor for the feasibility of experimental protocols, and easier techniques are the best way to break down these walls. Moreover, when leading to lower mortality and higher welfare, those techniques allow for better results and higher ethical standards.
The last experiment aimed to create a comprehensive map of CNS transduction upon intrathecal administration of Adeno-Associated Viral vector in piglets, and to evaluate their potential toxicity. The obtained result will help choosing the right serotype depending on the targeted cell population, thus avoiding preliminary studies reducing the number of enrolled animals.
In conclusion, this thesis represents an additional step toward the standardization of the physiological piglet model and its refinement and reduction in experimental protocols.


Second-harmonic generation from noble metal nanoparticles with a noncentrosymmetrical shape is theoretically investigated by using finite element method simulations. The relative weight of the dipolar and quadrupolar responses is investigated in terms of both light polarization and size dependence of the harmonic scattered intensity. It is shown that, even for small deformations as compared with purely spherical particles, the dipolar response dominates and scales as the nanoparticle surface area squared. The difference between gold and silver metal nanoparticles is also addressed.


Research in the information society is undergoing radical change. The new challenges make it necessary to rethink research and the ways of educating researchers so that they can cope with them. We show that research has to be considered as skilled practice, consisting of numerous component skills which have to be trained so that future knowledge workers can successfully deal with unstable, uncertain and complex situations. As a practical application of this argument, we outline a project for an integrated Internet service, called BASER Basic Support for Efficient Research.


This paper addresses the issue of Aboriginal title to land, and the relationship I see between Indigenous law and the common law in this context. In my understanding, there have been three judicial approaches to Aboriginal title: 1. A purely proprietary approach, based on occupation of land and the effect given to occupation by the common law (common law Aboriginal title). 2. An Indigenous law approach, whereby Aboriginal title arises from and is defined by pre-existing Indigenous law (Indigenous law title). 3. A territorial approach, whereby Aboriginal title is derived from both common law and Indigenous law and has governmental dimensions (territorial Aboriginal title). I am going to describe each of these, and then offer some critical comments on the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in R. v. Marshall; R. v. Bernard and the British Columbia Court of Appeal's more recent decision in William v. British Columbia (the Tsilhqot'in Nation case).


In today's information society internet usage and e-literacy become more and more important. However, inequalities in internet usage of different social groups become and stay observable. Here, especially elderly citizens, with an increasing share of population in western societies, are often included from benefits related to information technology and internet usage. One important aspect of local governments' policy is to bridge this so-called digital divide. However, up to now a thorough understanding of potential factors influencing private internet usage is not provided by the literature. Hence, this paper aims at identifying important influencing factors in order to explain senior citizens' private internet use. Thus, we develop a model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and digital divide research which is tested against comprehensive survey data (n=192). The combined model is able to explain more than 70% of the variation of private internet use. Major implications for future research and e-Inclusion practice are discussed.


tatorship to democracy? This paper contends that the White House will be gravely disappointed with the result of its effort to establish a stable liberal democracy in Iraq, or any other nation home to a large population of Muslims or Arabs, at least in the short to medium term. Why are Islamic (and especially Arab) countries' democratic prospects so poor? After all, in most Muslim countries a high level of popular support exists for the concept of democracy. In practice, popular support for democracy is a necessary, but is not a sufficient, condition for democratic institutions to emerge. Other factors are necessary. Hypothetical support for representative government, absent tangible support for liberal political norms and values and without the foundation of a pluralistic civil society, provides neither sufficient stimulus nor staying power for democracy to take root. That reality was borne out over the past generation in numerous countries where authoritarian regimes were displaced by newly democratic regimes but democratization failed because of shallow foundations. The building blocks of a modern democratic political culture are not institutional in nature. The building blocks are not elections, parties, and legislatures. Rather, the building blocks of democracy are supportive cultural values—the long-term survival of democratic institutions requires a particular political culture. Four cultural factors play an essential, collective role in stimulating and reinforcing a stable democratic political system. The first is political trust. The second factor is social tolerance. The third is a widespread recognition of the importance of basic political liberties. The fourth is popular support for gender equality. Paradoxically, a more democratic Iraq may also be a repressive one. It is one thing to adopt formal democracy but quite another to attain stable democracy. A successful democracy cannot be legislated. The White House is placing a very large political wager that the formation of democratic institutions in Iraq can stimulate a democratic political culture. On the contrary, political culture shapes democracy far more than democracy shapes political culture. Therefore, the American government may need to compromise its democratic ideals with a healthy dose of pragmatism. Democracy is an evolutionary development rather than an overnight phenomenon. Can Iraq Be Democratic?


Learn software engineering and coding best practices to write Python code right and error free. In this book youll see how to properly debug, organize, test, and maintain your code, all of which leads to better, more efficient coding. Software engineering is difficult. Programs of any substantial length are inherently prone to errors of all kinds. The development cycle is full of traps unknown to the apprentice developer. Yet, in Python textbooks little attention is paid to this aspect of getting your code to run. At most, there is a chapter on debugging or unit testing in your average basic Python book. However, the proportion of time spent on getting your code to run is much higher in the real world. Pro Python Best Practices aims to solve this problem. What You'll LearnLearn common debugging techniques that help you find and eliminate errors Gain techniques to detect bugs more easilyLearn techniques to keep your project under control Who This Book Is For Experienced Python coders from web development, big data, and more.


TLS, the product of a gene commonly translocated in liposarcomas (TLS), is prototypical of a newly identified class of nuclear proteins that contain a C-terminal domain with a distinct RNA recognition motif (RRM) surrounded by Arg-Gly-Gly (RGG) repeats. Its unique N terminus serves as an essential transforming domain for a number of fusion oncoproteins in human sarcomas and leukemias. In this study we use an in vivo UV crosslinking procedure to probe the interactions of TLS with RNA. TLS is found to bind RNA in vivo and the association of TLS with RNA is rapidly diminished by treating cells with transcriptional inhibitors. This suggests that the species bound by TLS turns over rapidly. Surprisingly, the RRM was found to be dispensable for RNA binding by TLS in vivo, suggesting that at any one time most of the interactions between TLS and RNA in the cell are not sequence specific. Analysis of inter specific heterokaryons formed between human and mouse or Xenopus cells revealed that TLS engages in rapid nucleocytoplasmic shuttling, a finding confirmed by the ability of anti-TLS antibodies to trap TLS when injected into the cytoplasm of HeLa cells. Cellular fractionation experiments suggest that TLS binds to RNA in both the nucleus and cytoplasm and support the hypothesis that TLS functions as a heterogeneous ribonuclear protein (hnRNP)-like chaperone of RNA. These findings are discussed in the context of the role altered forms of TLS play in cellular transformation.


I examine why states violate norms they embrace as members of international society. The rationalist answer, that norms are violated whenever they conflict with interests, is underspecified and empirically challenged. Constructivists cannot address violations well from their structural, sociological perspective. I argue from political psychology that violations stem from the motivated biases of actors who face a moral dilemma between personal desires and social constraints. These biases compel leaders to interpret norms and situations in a manner that justifies violation as socially acceptable. The ability to do so depends on the norm and the situation. The more parameters a norm possesses, and the more ambiguous those parameters are, the easier it is for actors to interpret them favorably to justify violation. Oftentimes norms are what states make of them. If the situation is plausible for states to claim exemption, they violate; otherwise they are constrained. The U.S. invasion of Panama illustrates these dynamics.


Chromatin plays an important role in the regulation of gene expression. Covalent modification of the tails of the histone proteins, which make up the nucleosome around which DNA is wrapped, can alter the response of a gene to the transcription machinery. For example, methylation of Lys9 in the tail of histone H3 results in epigenetic repression of gene expression. The chromodomain-containing protein HP1 binds to methylated Lys9, but it has not been clear why only a subset of chromodomain-containing proteins interact with chromatin. Jacobs and Khorasanizadeh have determined the structure of the HP1 chromodomain bound to a methylated H3 tail. The methylammonium group is recognized by a hydrophobic cage in HP1, and the H3 tail completes the β-sandwich architecture of the chromodomain. S. A. Jacobs, S. Khorasanizadeh, Structure of HP1 chromodomain bound to a lysine 9-methylated histone H3 tail. Science 295, 2080-2083 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Water-undersaturated partial melting at granulite facies conditions, followed by accumulation and upward migration of the resulting granitic melt, is one of the principle causes of crustal differentiation. Microfracturing caused by small, positive volume changes associated with water-undersaturated melting reactions may facilitate rapid extraction of melts from melting sites. We have successfully imaged annealed microfractures in residual quartz from three granulite facies migmatites. Annealed microfractures have been discovered in (1) quartz inclusions in peritectic garnet; (2) quartz inclusions in K-feldspar; and (3) quartz occurring as entrained grains. In the latter, oscillatory zoned quartz has overgrown fractures in the residual core, indicating that fracturing occurred prior to melt crystallization and that postanatectic volume changes are not responsible for the observed fracturing. Fractures are generally <5 µm wide, are parallel sided, and have low sinuosity. Crack densities are two to three times higher than experimental studies involving muscovite melting and approach theoretical interconnectivity thresholds for percolation, implying that reaction-induced microfracturing is a viable mechanism contributing to melt interconnectivity during anatexis under granulite facies conditions.


Minimal requirements for the induction of interleukin 2 (IL-2) responsiveness in purified subsets of murine T lymphocytes have been investigated. Whereas Lyt-2+ cells could be induced to IL-2-dependent growth by lectin, phorbol ester, or calcium ionophore, none of these stimuli was by itself sufficient for L3T4+ cells. The latter cells could, however, be induced to respond to IL-2 by combinations of lectin plus phorbol ester or ionophore plus phorbol ester (but not lectin plus ionophore). Under optimal conditions, growth of L3T4+ cells (like Lyt- 2+ cells) was independent of accessory cells and cell-cell contact.


Algorithmic entropy can be viewed as a special case of the entropy studied in statistical mechanics. This viewpoint allows us to apply many techniques developed for use in thermodynamics to the subject of algorithmic information theory. In particular, suppose we fix a universal prefix-free Turing machine and let X be the set of programs that halt for this machine. Then we can regard X as a set of 'microstates', and treat any function on X as an 'observable'. For any collection of observables, we can study the Gibbs ensemble that maximises entropy subject to constraints on the expected values of these observables. We illustrate this by taking the log runtime, length and output of a program as observables analogous to the energy E, volume V and number of molecules N in a container of gas. The conjugate variables of these observables allow us to define quantities we call the 'algorithmic temperature' T, 'algorithmic pressure' P and 'algorithmic potential' μ, since they are analogous to the temperature, pressure and chemical potential. We derive an analogue of the fundamental thermodynamic relation dE = TdS − PdV + μdN, and use it to study thermodynamic cycles analogous to those for heat engines. We also investigate the values of T, P and μ for which the partition function converges. At some points on the boundary of this domain of convergence, the partition function becomes uncomputable – indeed, at these points the partition function itself has non-trivial algorithmic entropy.


This article is an examination of Eastern ontologicalorganic objective soteriology. The study gives a definition and briefly describes the genesis of this movement in soteriology, its formation and development from the second century up until modern times (restoration and revitalization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries). The article also covers the main principles of this teaching and gives a biblical analysis of its vision, examining the strengths and weaknesses of Eastern soteriology. The main problem of the Eastern vision in the viewpoint of the author is discussed, namely the question of what kind of nature the Lord took upon Himself in the incarnation. It is also stated that the strongest side of this approach is the explanation of the work of Christ as the ontological transfiguration of our nature in Himself. The article presents the original ity of this view of salvation and points out that the Eastern vision can provide the basis for an evangelical understanding of atonement and justification, as well as the basis for the evangelical churches' apologetic of truth as an organic part of the redeemed Body of Christ. This article is useful for theology students studying historical, systematic, and comparative theology as an introduction to the doctrine of Eastern soteriology.


Written by leading experts in the field, The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation offers a wide-ranging treatment of the main aspects of Genesis study. Its twenty-nine essays fall under four main sections. The first section contains studies of a more general nature, including the history of Genesis in critical study, Genesis in literary and historical study, as well as the function of Genesis in the Pentateuch. In the second portion, scholars present commentary on or interpretation of specific passages (or sections) of Genesis, as well as essays on its formation, genres, and themes. The third part includes essays on the textual history and reception of Genesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The final section explores the theologies of the book of Genesis, including essays on Genesis and ecology and Genesis in the context of Jewish thought.


Recently, Dr. Jenine Harris and her colleagues examined the use of journals by state chronic disease prevention staff to stay up-to-date on public health evidence. We, at Frontiers in PHSSR, are pleased to be included among the journals listed in the survey. Online open-access journals are shifting the paradigm of scientific publication, allowing free and rapid exchange of information. Another illustration of Frontier's increasing utility is a forthcoming issue of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH). We are pleased that AJPH has agreed to publish selected abstracts from Frontiers in PHSSR in their regular issue with links to the full articles available in our online journal.


Abstract Detailed P-wave speed velocity structure beneath the Sunda arc has been successfully imaged by applying a non-linear approach to seismic tomography. Nearly one million compressional phases from events within the Indonesian region have been used. These include the surface-reflected depth phases pP and pwP in order to improve the sampling of the upper-mantle structure, particularly below the back-arc regions. We have combined a high-resolution regional inversion with a low-resolution global inversion to minimize the mapping of distant aspherical mantle structure into the study region. In this paper, we focus our discussion on the upper mantle structure beneath the eastern part of the Sunda arc. The tomographic images confirm previous observations of a hole in the subducted slab in the upper mantle beneath eastern Java. The images also suggest that a tear in the slab exists below the easternmost part of the Sunda arc, where the down-going slab is deflected in the mantle transition zone. In good agreement with previous studies, the properties of the deflected slab show a strong bulk-sound signature.


Aerosol light attenuation on quartz fibre filters has been measured since February 1989 at the Mace Head Atmospheric Research station near Carna, Co. Galway, Ireland, using an Aethalometer. The frequency of occurrence of the hourly averaged aerosol absorption data is found to be bimodally distributed. The two modes result from clean marine air and anthropogenically polluted continental air both being advected to the station dependent on the prevailing wind direction. The hourly averages of the marine portion of the aerosol light absorption are found to follow closely a lognormal distribution with a geometric mean of 0.310 Mm -1 . The hourly averages of continental sector aerosol absorption are neither normally nor lognormally distributed and have an arithmetic mean of 6.36 Mm -1 , indicating the presence of anthropogenic sources for BC east of the Mace Head station. The time series of the monthly averaged attenuation coefficient σ att of both marine and continental sector aerosol shows an increase from 1989 to 1997 and a levelling off thereafter. The monthly maximum of marine sector σ att is found in May. Trend and seasonal characteristics of the clean marine aerosol attenuation coefficients observed at Mace Head appear to be driven by meteorological factors, as indicated by rainfall data and by trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) indices. The observed increasing trends of the continental sector σ att from 1989 up to 1997 are possibly related to changes in BC emissions over Ireland, calculated from UNSTAT (2002) fuel consumption data.


We study performance of Islamic and conventional indices of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the wake of financial crisis of 2008 and test whether Islamic indices were less risky than conventional indices. We make use of data of the six GCC markets as well as the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index GCC. The mean and variance of each of the indices are analyzed based on augmented GARCH models. The results show that the financial crisis impacted on the mean returns of Bahrain, the other indices remained unaffected. The financial crisis, however, impacted volatility in three GCC markets (Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE), while the impact on the remaining markets (Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar) and the Islamic index was insignificant. More interestingly, we show that the Islamic index did not exhibit lower volatility than its conventional counterparts.


Abstract:ABSTRACTThis article reports on the excavation of Archaic houses (6th-early 5th century b.c.) in 2005 and 2006 at Azoria in eastern Crete. Five houses are discussed: four on the South Acropolis on the periphery of the civic center, and one on the North Acropolis. Well-preserved floor deposits provide evidence for room functions and permit a preliminary analysis of domestic space. The houses fill a lacuna in the published record of the 6th and early 5th centuries b.c. and contribute to our understanding of the form of Archaic houses in the Aegean and the integration of domestic space into an urban context.


We consider a problem of blind signal extraction from noisy multivariate data, in which each datum represents a system's response, observed under a particular experimental condition. Our prototype example is multipixel functional images of brain activity in response to a set of prescribed experimental stimuli. We present a novel multivariate analysis technique, which identifies the different activity patterns (signals) that are attributable to specific experimental conditions, without a priori knowledge about the signal or the noise characteristics. The extracted signals, which we term the generalized indicator functions, are optimal in the sense that they maximize a weighted difference between the signal variance and the noise variance. With an appropriate choice of the weighting parameter, the method returns a set of images whose signal-to-noise ratios satisfy some user-defined level of significance. We demonstrate the performance of our method in optical intrinsic signal imaging of cat cortical area 17. We find that the method performs effectively and robustly in all tested data, which include both real experimental data and numerically simulated data. The method of generalized indicator functions is related to canonical variate analysis, a multivariate analysis technique that directly solves for the maxima of the signal-to-noise ratio, but important theoretical and practical differences exist, which can make our method more appropriate in certain situations.


When a company becomes subject to winding-up proceedings, it is widely thought to lose beneficial ownership of its property. The property is held, instead, on a 'statutory trust' to discharge the company's liabilities. The attribution of this 'proprietary' effect to the commencement of winding-up has, however, created significant confusion. Faring particularly poorly is our understanding of the status of those of the company's assets in which others held proprietary rights prior to this point, notably, assets the company's title to which is encumbered by security interests. The confusion takes many forms and infects several areas of analysis. First, the House of Lords has recently ruled that property subject to a floating charge is to be regarded, not as the company's assets, but instead, as part of a 'fund' beneficially owned by the secured creditor to the extent of the amount secured. Their Lordships' conclusion appears to be based on the proprietary nature of the floating charge as they understand it. Second, courts and commentators over the last several decades have asserted that encumbered assets do not fall in the statutory trust of the debtor company's property. This too appears to have been endorsed by the House of Lords decision mentioned above. Third and in what is put forward as a different explanation of their Lordships' ruling, it has been claimed that, at the point at which the company enters winding-up, the 'hindsight principle' of insolvency law causes beneficial ownership of encumbered assets to vest in the secured creditor. Fourth and finally, it has also been contended that the very notion of 'fund' as invoked by their Lordships supports the same conclusion. This paper takes issue with each of these propositions. Firstly, it finds cause to highlight one of the many confusions surrounding insolvency law's (in)famous pari passu principle. A key reason for the problems that beset our understanding of the status of encumbered assets is the assumption that to distribute pari passu is to pay each claimant the same proportion of their debt as each other claimant. The argument here draws on long established case law and distinguished scholarship to point out that in fact, the principle requires merely that those classified by the general (pre-insolvency) law as being on par with each other be treated equally. This seemingly minor correction to our understanding of the requirement of pari passu distribution has far-reaching implications. Second, it is argued that the very nature of a security interest precludes the possibility that, at one and the same time, an asset would be beneficially owned by the secured creditor and yet be held by that creditor to secure the debtor's obligations. Third, the paper undertakes a fresh analysis of the origins and nature of the statutory trust to show that, on any reasonable view, assets subject to floating security fall in the statutory trust of the debtor's property, and further, that it is strongly arguable that the same is true of assets subject to fixed security. The fourth part of the argument demonstrates that, properly understood, insolvency law's hindsight principle simply cannot move the beneficial ownership of encumbered property to the secured creditor. Fifth and finally, certain elements of the theory of property law are analysed. The aim is to show that, on pain of the fallacy of equivocation, the relevant concept of 'fund' must be understood such that the encumbered and unencumbered assets of a company undergoing liquidation form one fund out of which both secured and unsecured claims are met in appropriate order of priority.


The objective of this work is to simulate global images that would be provided by a theoretical ocean color sensor on a geostationary orbit at longitude 0, in order to assess the range of radiance value data reaching the sensor throughout the day for 20 spectral bands similar to those of the Ocean and Land Color Imager (OLCI). The secondary objective is to assess the illumination and viewing geometries that result in sunglint. For this purpose, we combined a radiative transfer model for ocean waters (Hydrolight) and a radiative transfer model for atmosphere (MODTRAN) to construct the simulated radiance images at the sea surface and at the Top-Of-Atmosphere (TOA). Bio-optical data from GlobColour level 3 products are used as input maps in the ocean radiance model. The first result of this study is the radiance dynamic range of the scene during the day. The second result indicates the angular limit to avoid the sun glint phenomenon ( and ), where the viewing zenith angle, the solar zenith angle and the relative azimuth angle. We have also shown that a significant signal from water is measured when the ratio is higher than 3%, i.e., when is lower than 90, with a limit of 60 for the two angles.


The Myra Falls Minesite on Vancouver Island, British Columbia contains a relatively large waste rock pile built against a valley wall and having a lateral extent of 800 meters by 300 meters with a height of up to 40 meters. The waste rock dump has been generating acid for at least a decade. Acid-base accounting of 230 borehole samples has shown that the most active areas of oxidation occur within a 10 meter depth of exposed surfaces of the waste rock dump and in deeper zones where relatively high contents of sulfide minerals are located. Water moving through the waste rock dump originates from infiltration of precipitation and lateral groundwater discharge from the valley wall. During periods of significant rainfall, the shallow acid-generating zones are flushed with water and acidic water appears beneath the water table. During periods of negligible rainfall, neutral-pH water is present beneath the water table. However, general calculations suggest that a significant portion of the annual production of acidity is retained in the dump and therefore remains available for flushing. As a result, remediation and decommissioning planning must address the neutralization of this acidity or the control of infiltration and water-table variation. Various approaches to preventing acid mine drainage were evaluated. The most promising approach was the development of a cementitious solidification mixture incorporating mine waste materials for use as a waste rock dump surface sealant and grouting matrix. Mine waste water sludge and mine tailings were used as principal components of the solidification mixtures. A field assessment program was also carried out to evaluate the application and durability of the test mixtures on waste rock test piles. The solidified materials prepared have achieved similar properties to construction concrete in terms of compression strengths, setting times, workability and durability as measured by freeze/thaw testing. In addition, the solidification mixtures can be prepared at costs less than costs associated with other surface sealants such as high density polyethylene.


HDL cholesterol activates endothelial cell production of the atheroprotective signaling molecule NO, and it promotes endothelial repair. In this issue of the JCI, Besler et al. provide new data indicating that HDL from stable coronary artery disease (CAD) or acute coronary syndrome patients inhibits rather than stimulates endothelial NO synthesis and endothelial repair. This may be related to decreased HDL-associated paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity. These observations support the concept that the cardiovascular impact of HDL is not simply related to its abundance, and the translation of the present findings to prospective studies of CAD risk and to evaluations of HDL-targeted therapeutics is a logical future goal.


The emergence of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology provides the capability for increasing the bandwidth of synchronous optical network (SONET) rings by grooming low-speed traffic streams onto different high-speed wavelength channels. Since the cost of SONET add-drop multiplexers (SADM) at each node dominates the total cost of these networks, how to assign the wavelength, groom the traffic and bypass the traffic through the intermediate nodes has received a lot of attention from researchers recently. Moreover, the traffic pattern of the optical network changes from time to time. How to develop dynamic reconfiguration algorithms for traffic grooming is an important issue. We propose two cases (best-fit and full-fit) for handling reconfigurable SONET over WDM networks. For each approach, an integer linear programming model and heuristic algorithms (based on the tabu search method) are given. The results demonstrate that the tabu search heuristic can yield better solutions but has a greater running time than the greedy algorithm for the best-fit case. For the full-fit case, the tabu search heuristic yields competitive results compared with an earlier simulated annealing based method and it is more stable for the dynamic case.


The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the electroclinical features and pathophysiological findings, as well as the neuropsychological characteristics of absence epilepsies. Absence seizures are primary generalized, non-convulsive seizures. The classical clinical manifestations of typical absence seizures are a transient impairment of consciousness (with abrupt onset and offset) accompanied by staring, blinking and various forms of head/limb automatism. Atypical absence attacks are characterized by a milder beginning and end of the attack, more expressed changes in muscular tone, less severe disorders of consciousness, and longer duration compared to typical attacks. EEG findings in absence epilepsies have a characteristic pattern, demonstrating generalized spike and wave complexes that are typically 2.5-4 Hz. Treatment depends on the type of epilepsy, but usually includes valproic acid and ethosuximide. Because of their benign nature and lack of clinical presentation that resembles "real" epilepsy, absence attacks are often interpreted as daydreaming or simply a lack of attention, and therefore often the first signs of the disease are often not recognized. Conclusion : A better understanding of absence epilepsies is very important in order to develop strategies that will improve these children's quality of life.


In 1921, despite the passing of legislation intended to ease the consequences of illegitimacy for children (Children of Unmarried Parents Act), reformers in Ontario made no effort to improve the status of unwed mothers. Furthermore, the reforms that were passed served as models for legislation in other provinces and even in some American states, institutionalizing, in essence, the prejudices evident throughout. Until now, historians have not sufficiently studied these measures, resulting in the marginalization of unwed mothers as historical subjects. In Misconceptions, Lori Chambers seeks to redress this oversight. By way of analysis and careful critique, Chambers shows that the solutions to unwed pregnancy promoted in the reforms of 1921 were themselves based upon misconceptions. The book also explores the experiences of unwed mothers who were subjected to the legislation of the time, thus shedding an invaluable light on these formerly ignored subjects. Ultimately, Misconceptions argues that child welfare measures which simultaneously seek to rescue children and punish errant women will not, and cannot, succeed in alleviating child or maternal poverty.


Mealiness of 'Forelle' pear during ripening is a problem for the South African fruit export industry. The aim of this work was to investigate differences in cell wall polysaccharides between mealy and non-mealy 'Forelle' pears. Fruit were harvested at optimum maturity (62.8 N), cold stored for 3 to 21 weeks at -0.5°C, and ripened at 15°C for 0, 4, 7 and 11 days during which samples were taken for cell wall analysis. Only dates where mealiness occurred were used for cell wall analysis. Cell walls (CW) were extracted and de-starched with 90% DMSO and uronic acid (UA) content measured. Samples were sequentially extracted with water, CDTA, Na 2 CO 3 , 1 M KOH and 4 M KOH to determine differences in binding strength of the cell wall constituents between mealy and non-mealy tissues. UA content was measured for each of these fractions. The UA content of the water soluble fraction was lower in mealy tissues after 6 weeks of cold storage plus 11 days of ripening, and 9 weeks of cold storage plus 7 and 11 days of ripening. In the CDTA soluble fraction, UA content was also lower in mealy tissues of fruit that were cold stored for 6 weeks and ripened for 11 days. Mealy and non-mealy cell walls of 'Forelle' showed compositional differences. The lower water soluble pectin and CDTA soluble pectin without a substantial increase in the Na 2 CO 3 soluble pectin for mealy tissues suggests a more broken down cell wall in mealy tissues.


This article discusses the first round of implementation of the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) in the form of the drawing up of National Allocation Plans (NAPs). Three key EU greenhouse gas emitters are focused upon: Germany, Spain and the UK. As these countries have a varying pre-existing climate policy mix and hence a seemingly varying institutional fit with the instrument of emissions trading, can such differences shed light upon differing NAP implementation and performance among these three countries? To some extent, but a main finding is that the real issue is much more one of 'varying degrees of misfit' than one of fit versus misfit. For instance, German industry's favouring of voluntary agreements, the UK's differently designed domestic ETS, and the lack of pre-existing Spanish climate policy undoubtedly complicated the processes in these countries and reduced the time and ability to consult with other Member States. This may indicate the need for a slowdown of the tempo in EU ETS policy-making in order to improve institutional fit and transnational communication and learning.


Invasive species may have a range of negative effects on native species in the region invaded. The invasive green alga Caulerpa taxifolia has invaded several temperate regions worldwide and now occurs in 9 estuaries in temperate eastern Australia. Despite the threat posed by C. taxifolia, virtually nothing is known of its effects on native estuarine infauna. In the present study, we investigated the distribution and abundance, habitat choice and predation of recruits (post-set juveniles) of the native Sydney cockle Anadara trapezia at 2 sites invaded by C. taxifolia in Lake Conjola, New South Wales, Australia. Recruitment of A. trapezia was significantly higher in C. taxifolia (both with sparse [30 %] and with dense [100 %] cover) than in Zostera capricorni and bare sediment. Up to 680 recruits m-2 were observed in C. taxifolia, with the highest recruit densities occurring at intermediate C. taxifolia densities. However, in habitat choice experiments, recruits showed no preference for C. taxifolia over the seagrasses Z. capricorni and Halophila ovalis, but a strong preference for adult A. trapezia over all macrophytes when A. trapezia were included as treatments in experiments. Field data showed that adult A. trapezia in bare sediments had very few recruits attached to them (<0.07 recruits adult-1) compared to adults found within C. taxifolia (0.95 ± 0.25 and 1.23 ± 0.31 recruits adult-1 at the 2 sites). Given that recruits displayed a strong preference for adults, but were rare on adults living in bare sediments, we tested whether C. taxifolia provided a refuge from predation. Recruits on adults placed into a bare sediment habitat were all consumed by predatory fish within 15 min, whereas none of the recruits on adults in an adjacent C. taxifolia habitat were eaten. Our results show that recruits do not reject C. taxifolia as a recruitment substratum despite showing preference for adult conspecifics, and that C. taxifolia may, by providing recruits with a refuge from predation enhance the recruitment of A. trapezia compared to uninvaded sediment. Although the long-term consequences of this enhanced recruitment are unknown, our study demonstrates that, contrary to commonly held views, the effects of C. taxifolia are not always negative. © Inter-Research 2006.


The historical and theoretical bases of contemporary high-performance text-to-speech (TTS) systems and their current design are discussed. The major elements of a TTS system are described, with particular reference to vocal tract models. The stages involved in the process of converting text into speech parameters are examined, covering text normalization, word pronunciation, prosodies, phonetic rules, voice tables, and hardware implementation. Examples are drawn mainly from Berkeley Speech Technologies' proprietary text-to-speech system, T-T-S, but other approaches are indicated briefly.<<ETX>>


This article introduces a novel communication scheme, termed coded compressed sensing, for unsourced multiple-access communication. The proposed divide-and-conquer approach leverages recent advances in compressed sensing and forward error correction to produce a novel uncoordinated access paradigm, along with a computationally efficient decoding algorithm. Within this framework, every active device partitions its data into several sub-blocks and, subsequently, adds redundancy using a systematic linear block code. Compressed sensing techniques are then employed to recover sub-blocks up to a permutation of their order, and the original messages are obtained by stitching fragments together using a tree-based algorithm. The error probability and computational complexity of this access paradigm are characterized. An optimization framework, which exploits the tradeoff between performance and computational complexity, is developed to assign parity-check bits to each sub-block. In addition, two emblematic parity bit allocation strategies are examined and their performances are analyzed in the limit as the number of active users and their corresponding payloads tend to infinity. The number of channel uses needed and the computational complexity associated with these allocation strategies are established for various scaling regimes. Numerical results demonstrate that coded compressed sensing outperforms other existing practical access strategies over a range of operational scenarios.


The presence of outliers and influential cases can dramatically change the magnitude of regression coefficients and even the direction of coefficient signs (i.e., from positive to negative or vice versa). When researchers ignore abnormal observations, especially with respect to dependent variables, their empirical results can be misleading. Unfortunately, the fact remains underappreciated in studies of political science. To expound upon the outlier issue, I reexamine an empirical study that reports on two opposing effects of democratic institutions on inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI). In doing so, I illustrate the way influential outliers can drastically affect the substantive results of regression analysis. After properly reanalyzing outlying countries, I conclude that democratic countries attract more FDI than authoritarian countries.


The journal article was published in an edited journal on architect's travels. It sets Rem Kolhaas' essay "The Generic City" (1996) in relation to the condition of its production – the author's constant state of travelling – and uses Koolhaas' own references, given in the glossary of the essay, to investigate the questions of how the state of being on the move and foreign influenced his writing of contemporary culture and how the essay originated through being in foreign cultures. Koolhaas' relation to travelling seems very obvious. The diagram 'OMA Travel Behaviour' (1993) states that the Dutch architect at the time spent 305 nights per year in a hotel, almost every night except Sundays, and travelled a distance of 360.000 km a year, roughly 1.000 km per day. Travelling seemed to have become an everyday experience for him. What are the consequences of this state of constant travelling for the theoretical work of Koolhaas, particularly for his writings on contemporary culture, city and architecture? The journal article takes his seminal essay "The Generic City" (1996) as a case study. What happens if we read the essay, equally represented in image and text, as a travelogue of a tourist in a fictional city, put together from notes made in different cities along the journey? What image of contemporary culture is shaped and represented in this process? What can we reveal if we apply the logic of travelling to the content, creation and effect of Koolhaas' essay? The paper gives answers to these questions.


This study examines consumer willingness to consume genetically modified food products with clearly stated benefits and risks. Results suggest that male; white, Southerners, and those with some college education are more likely to consume genetically modified fruits and vegetables. Trust in government, biotech industry, and medical professional on matters relating GM foods also have a positive impact on the willingness to consume GM foods; such trust allays fears associated with risks posed by GM technology. Conversely, risk seems to negatively influence the willingness to consume GM products. Once the respondents are well informed of the risk of the product, this greatly diminished their willingness to consume such products. Older respondents (age above 55 years), those taking time to read food labels, and those with either high or low score on actual knowledge of GM based on a simple scientific quiz, are less enthusiastic toward GM foods. Income, religion and political affiliation did not play any significant role on influencing the willingness to consume GM fresh fruits and vegetables.


The key goal of this paper consists of a theoretical and an experimental performances analysis of a photonic microwave mixer used as a signal down- and up-converter based on cross-gain modulation in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). We give, by a small-signal analysis approach, the analytical equations of the output optical power carrying the down- and up-converted signal. Simplified formulas are developed, relating the mixing conversion gain to the modeling parameters of the SOA. The efficiency of the photonic microwave mixer based on an SOA has been evaluated in terms of mixing conversion gain, third-order input intercept point, and electrical phase noise. In addition, a subcarrier modulated by a QPSK, a 16 quadratic-amplitude modulation (QAM) and a 64 QAM at a data rate of 270 ksymb/s has been down converted from 1 GHz to 100 MHz with a low error vector magnitude of about 3.5%.


Data from 255 Thais with chronic pain were collected at Chiang Mai Medical School Hospital. After the patients self-rated their level of pain, a smartphone camera was used to capture faces for 10 s at a one-meter distance. For those unable to self-rate, a video recording was taken immediately after the move that causes the pain. The trained assistant rated each video clip for the pain assessment in advanced dementia (PAINAD). The pain was classified into three levels: mild, moderate, and severe. OpenFace© was used to convert the video clips into 18 facial action units (FAUs). Five classification models were used, including logistic regression, multilayer perception, naïve Bayes, decision tree, k-nearest neighbors (KNN), and support vector machine (SVM). Out of the models that only used FAU described in the literature (FAU 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 25, 26, 27, and 45), multilayer perception is the most accurate, at 50%. The SVM model using FAU 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 20, 25, and 45, and gender had the best accuracy of 58% among the machine learning selection features. Our open-source experiment for automatically analyzing video clips for FAUs is not robust for classifying pain in the elderly. The consensus method to transform facial recognition algorithm values comparable to the human ratings, and international good practice for reciprocal sharing of data may improve the accuracy and feasibility of the machine learning's facial pain rater.


This paper overviews the early history of the euro and argues that the euro was suboptimally designed, without monetary sovereignty of Eurozone (EZ) Member States, in order to comply with political goals set by wealthier Member States. Given this constraint, the euro architects designed a single currency in which its irreversibility is achieved through the EZ banking system, with recourse to the TARGET2 payment system. This allowed the banking systems of deficit Member States to fund large cumulative current account deficits in the first decade of the euro. The euro crisis led EZ policy makers to define new far more demanding fiscal rules and a new Banking Union to constrain the ability of EZ banking systems to fund sovereigns and current account deficits. Thus, the euro at twenty has become more fragile.


A proposed shift away from the SCC is ill advised In the context of climate change, the application of cost-benefit analysis to inform mitigation policies can help to achieve the best outcomes and avoid the worst: spending trillions of dollars but failing to get the job done (1). The costs of a climate policy are the abatement costs of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) (or other greenhouse gases). The standard measure of the benefits of a climate policy is the social cost of carbon (SCC), which measures the avoided economic damages associated with a metric ton of CO2 emissions. Recently, however, there have been calls for an alternative approach to policy evaluation that ignores the benefits of avoided climate damages and instead focuses only on minimizing the compliance costs of a given, politically determined climate objective (2, 3). We argue here that a shift from use of the SCC and cost-benefit analysis to an alternative approach for evaluating policy that focuses on costs alone would be misguided. Rather than advocate for alternative approaches, now is the time to support efforts to update the SCC and its application to official climate policy evaluation.


Many software developers often confuse requirements engineering with software specification and, as a result, build unusable systems, despite meeting specifications. Bringing together all the techniques needed by the modern software developer, here is a practical handbook to requirements engineering and systems specification for developers building systems within a service oriented architecture. It introduces the concepts of SOA and relevant standards and technology, such as Web services and ESBs, and then presents a range of modern requirements engineering techniques.


Background: As increased outdoor activities of people, they are more exposed to UV radiation, which causes harmful effects on skin. Silymarin has protective potentials against DNA damage and non-melanoma skin cancers, and also it has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune regulation characteristics. Nano formulation of plant material showed to be more effective than common ones. Objective: In present study, nano-formulated silymarin was used in a cream, and its effects were investigated against destructive effects of UV rays. Methods: Silymarin standardized extract was prepared, nano formulated in cream base, and applied to skin of the animals. Four groups of animals (n=15) were examined; Group 1; without any treatment (control), Group 2; Vaseline, Group 3; nano-formulated silymarin extract cream, and Group 4; silymarin-carnosine. UV was radiated on the shaved area of the four groups for 45 minutes with dose of 180 mJ/cm 2 . Dermal scaling, skin irregularity, erythema, skin hyperpigmentation, and edema were evaluated in animals. Histopathological observation was done on the skin samples of the animals. Results: silymarin nano-formulation was effective in decreasing both physical damages and histopathological injuries significantly. Conclusion: from the observed results, it can be concluded that the cream containing nanoformulated silymarin can prevent UV radiation lesions better than pure silymarin.


Ascorbic acid contents of some fruits locally available were determined by titrimetric method using 2, 6-dichlorophenol-indophenol. The results obtained confirmed the presence of ascorbic acid in these fruits. The highest percentage yield was obtained from Guava, followed by Paw paw, Orange, Ugiri, Pineapple, Red fruit (Terminalia Catapa), and Apple. The fruits are thus of medical importance and their acidity can be employed in several activities. The reducing action of ascorbic acid on silver and gold salts to give the metals is so effective that the action has been recommended as an analytical method for their determination. Ascorbic acid is incorporated in beverages, drugs and chemicals.


The future of the aerospace industry in large part relies on two factors: (i) development of advanced damage tolerant materials and (ii) development of advanced smart sensors with the ability to detect and evaluate defects at very early stages of component service life. Laminated composite materials, such as carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP), have emerged as the materials of choice for increasing the performance and reducing the cost and weight of aircrafts, which leads to less fuel consumption and therefore lower CO2 emissions. However, it is well known that these materials exhibit fragile behaviour, poor resistance to impact damage caused by foreign objects and require a relatively slow and labour intensive manufacturing process. These factors prevent the rapid expansion of composite materials in several industrial sectors at the current time. Inspired by the use of rope throughout history and driven by the necessity of creating a lean manufacturing process for composites and enhancing their impact properties, the first part of this work has shown that enhanced damage tolerance and pseudo-ductile behaviour can be achieved with standard CFRP by creatively arranging the fibres into a 3D twisted helical configuration. Through an extensive experimental campaign a new method to arrange fibre reinforcement was presented and its effect investigated. The second part of this PhD work focused on developing a new smart sensor. A spiral passive electromagnetic sensor (SPES) for damage detection on CFRP and glass fibre reinforced plastics (GFRP) is presented in this work. A range of defect types in glass and carbon composite has been considered, such as delamination, perforated holes and cracks. Furthermore, throughout this work, the SPES has been exploited as a multi-sensing device allowing the ability to detect temperature and humidity variation, presence of ice and act as an anti/de-icing device.


Transform-based coding methods are popular in data compression. In the paper, an easily implemented method is proposed for the weighting factors of Gabor decomposition. The method is based on the leastmean- squares error (LMSE) approach. The solution of the LMSE problem shows that the weighting factors can be extracted by simple multiplication between a matrix and the vector of data. If the set Gabor functions are chosen to be independent of the test images, this matrix is constant. Images are reconstructed by multiplying the matrix of Gabor functions and the vector of weighting factors. The choise of Gabor functions in the decomposition allows that the resulting decomposition has a pyramidal structure. In the paper is proposed simple codec system for pyramidal Gabor expansion for image compression.


This article presents the dynamics of excitons in a-plane (Al,Ga)N/GaN single quantum wells of various thicknesses grown on bulk GaN substrates. For all quantum well samples, recombination is observed to be predominantly radiative in the low-temperature range. At higher temperatures, the escape of charge carriers from the quantum well to the (Al,Ga)N barriers is accompanied by a reduction in internal quantum efficiency. Based on the temperature-dependence of time-resolved photoluminescence experiments, we also show how the local disorder affects the exciton radiative lifetime at low temperature and the exciton non-radiative lifetime at high temperature.


This longitudinal study examined how a multimethod (youth report, parent report, direct observation) assessment of family relationship quality (cohesion and conflict) in adolescence (age 16-17) predicted growth and maintenance of effortful control across ages 17, 22, and 23 years old, and, ultimately, subjective well-being, emotional distress, and aggressive behavior in emerging adulthood (23). A diverse sample of 792 youth at age 17 and their families, and youth at ages 22 and 23, were studied to examine family cohesion and conflict and the growth and maintenance of effortful control as predictors of emerging adult social and emotional health. Results indicated that family cohesion and conflict during late adolescence and mean-level effortful control at age 22 each served as unique pathways to emerging adult adjustment. These findings underscore the importance of family functioning during adolescence and the maintenance of effortful control into emerging adulthood for understanding adjustment during the emerging adulthood period.


In this thesis, interaction of ferritin with transition metal ions and chelates is studied. First, a simple method for synthesizing gold nanoparticles stabilized by horse spleen apoferritin (HSAF) was reported using NaBH4 or 3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid (MOPS) as the reducing agent. The average particle diameters were 3.6 and 15.4 nm for NaBH4-reduced and MOPS-reduced Au-HSAF, respectively. NaBH4-reduced AuHSAF was much more effective than MOPS-reduced Au-HSAF in catalyzing the reduction of 4-nitrophenol by NaBH4, based on the greater accessibility of the NaBH4-reduced gold particle to the substrate. Methods for studying ferritin-gold nanoparticle assemblies may be readily applied to other protein-metal colloid systems. Second, the binding interactions between HSAF and three recombinant apoferritins and two commonly employed gadolinium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents were investigated. The anionic Gd(DTPA)2complex was undetectable in apoferritin solutions after dialysis, indicating little proteinbinding interaction. However, the non-ionic Gd(DTPA-BMA) complex bound to all apoferritins tested, producing remarkable relaxivity enhancements as well as inhibition of iron mineralization. Serum ferritin binding and dysregulation of iron mineralization may have medical significance, particularly in patients with impaired kidney function. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Chemistry First Advisor Ivan J. Dmochowski


Background Exercise is a major nonpharmacological treatment for hypertension, but its underlying mechanisms are still not completely elucidated. Irisin, a polypeptide containing 112 amino acids, which is secreted mainly by skeletal muscle cells during exercise, exerts a protective role in metabolic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus and obesity. Because of the close relationship between irisin and metabolic diseases, we hypothesized that irisin may play a role in the regulation of blood pressure. Methods and Results Blood pressures of male Wistar‐Kyoto (WKY) rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) were monitored through the carotid artery. Our study found that acute intravenous injection of irisin reduced blood pressure in SHRs, but not WKY rats. Irisin, by itself, had no direct vasorelaxing effect in phenylephrine‐preconstricted mesenteric arteries from SHRs. However, irisin augmented the acetylcholine‐induced vasorelaxation in mesenteric arteries from SHRs that could be reversed by Nω‐nitro‐l‐arginine‐methyl ester (L‐NAME; 100 μmol/L), indicating a role of nitric oxide (NO) in this action. Indeed, irisin increased NO production and phosphorylation of endothelial nirtic oxide synthase (eNOS) in endothelial cells. 5′‐AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) was involved in the vasorelaxing effect of irisin because compound C (20 μmol/L), an AMPK inhibitor, blocked the irisin‐mediated increase in phosphorylation of eNOS and protein kinase B (Akt) in endothelial cells and vasodilation in mesenteric arteries. Conclusions We conclude that acute administration of irisin lowers blood pressure of SHRs by amelioration of endothelial dysfunction of the mesenteric artery through the AMPK‐Akt‐eNOS‐NO signaling pathway.


A common belief of the global community is that Income inequality in Brazil has decreased. This paper analyses the composition of income inequality in Brazil through the effects of neoliberal policies on the relationship between capital flows and income inequality from the 1980s to 2015. The neoliberal policy that will be the focus of this paper, is the Washington Consensus which was introduced in the early 1990s. The historical analysis situates the Consensus in the context of Brazil. Hyman P. Minsky's theory of financial instability applied to Brazil reveals the flaws within standard neoclassical trade theories underlying the Consensus, i.e. Stolper-Samuelson Theorem and the Factor Price Equalization Theorem. These standard theories provide further understanding of the relationships between income inequality and capital flows, capital controls and financial liberalization. Which can be applied and compared to the actual trajectory of income inequality after the Washington Consensus was introduced to Brazil. The effect of capital flows on income inequality in Brazil, was for the most part negative. High volumes of inflows contributed to economic recessions and crises in, exacerbating the income inequality that already exists. The result is the Middle 40 percent income shares are being squeezed out, from the increase in income of the Bottom 50 percent and the stagnation of the Top 10 percent. The decline in the inequality is derived from the movements of the Bottom 50 percent shares and the Top 10 percent shares which can be partially attributed to Brazil's successful conditional cash transfer program, the Bolsa Família. A conclusion that comes from Minsky's theory, a lesson posed as a counterfactual of the crises is, that capital flows should be regulated and there should be restrictions on the volume of inflows. The future for Brazil's inequality is unknown. With the worst recession in history and without careful consideration of both domestic policies and those concerning trade, there is the possibility of a relapse in the progress made in the income distribution. JEL codes: F6, G01, N36, N26, N76, O54,


The problem of partitioning is NP hard and has been studied extensively for several reasons including vulnerability to obtain local optima. For partitioning problems in combinatorial optimization, several works have proposed the inclusion of heuristics in order to achieve global optima. There have been made many efforts to solve the partitioning problem and find good solutions when the discrete optimization process optimizes a single objective. However, the partitioning problem with more than one goal has not been addressed due to the difficulty of obtaining the set of efficient optimal and non-dominated solutions. This paper presents the multi-objective partitioning problem with two objectives: minimization of distances and of census variables. The designed partitioning algorithm is an extension of the geographic cluster that optimizes only one objective. In this work, we used Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) to escape local optima, and to obtain the set of non-dominated solutions, our methodology takes advantage of the properties of the set Maxima.