Solution-focused coaching and solution-focused therapy are strengths-based approaches which emphasize people's resources and resilience and how these can be used in the pursuit of purposeful, positive change. The Solution-focused Inventory (SFI) is a 12-item scale with three subscales: Problem Disengagement, Goal Orientation and Resource Activation. Three studies in this article provide support for the validity of the SFI as a measure of solution-focused thinking. The SFI negatively correlated with psychopathology and positively correlated with measures of well-being, resilience and perspective taking. Test–retest reliability over 16 weeks was 0.84. Cronbach's α for the 12-item scale was 0.84. It also demonstrates sensitivity to purposeful change in that participation in a leadership development coaching intervention was associated with significantly increased scores on the SFI, whilst scores for the control group did not change.


Short-term memory binding is a memory function that underpins the temporary retention of complex objects (e.g. shapes with colours). In the verbal domain, this function has been found to be impaired in sporadic Alzheimer's disease. Whether short-term memory binding is also impaired in familial Alzheimer's disease, whether this impairment extends to the visual domain and whether it could be detected earlier than other cognitive deficits are issues yet to be investigated. Twenty two patients with familial Alzheimer's disease caused by the E280A single presenilin-1 mutation, thirty carriers of the mutation who did not meet Alzheimer's disease criteria (asymptomatic carriers) and 30 healthy relatives (non-carrier healthy controls) were assessed with a visual short-term memory task and a neuropsychological battery. The short-term memory task assessed the recognition of shapes, colours or shape-colour bindings presented in two consecutive arrays (i.e. study and test). Changes, which always occurred in the test array, consisted of new features replacing studied features (single feature conditions) or of features swapping across items (the binding condition). The neuropsychological battery comprised tests of associative and non-associative memory, attention, language, visuospatial and executive functions. Patients with Alzheimer's disease and asymptomatic carriers performed significantly worse than healthy controls in the feature binding condition only. Group comparisons between asymptomatic carriers and healthy controls on standard neuropsychological tasks revealed no significant differences. Classification and area under the curve analyses confirmed that the binding task combines more sensitivity and specificity for patients with Alzheimer's disease and most notably for asymptomatic carriers of the mutation than other traditional neuropsychological measures. This suggests that visual short-term memory binding deficits may be a preclinical marker for familial Alzheimer's disease.


»Zeit aufschreiben Raum nutzen. Das Aufschreibebuch eines Industriearbeiters bei Krupp ein Beispiel aus den 1920er Jahren«. This piece shall explore the use-value of ego-documents which are not in the focus of the recent surge of interest in these materials. At the center is an unpublished 'Aufschreibebuch' (not a diary but a notebook) of a Krupp-worker covering the 1920s into the late 1940s (with some addenda even into the 1970s). How did the writer try to 'keep time' in his recordings of his spending and using time? One of the striking features is the spatial 'simultaneity of registers' which the author pursued: politics, family and weather/gardening stand out, occasionally seasoned by local, national or global catastrophes. More generally, this spatial frame paralleled multiple activities and occurrences. Still, the writer followed their temporal sequence. In other words: the spatial recordings show the flipside of the 'timespace' (Jon May) the writer encountered and appropriated. Thus, temporality appears as the space of and for writing made visible and at the same time consumed by inscribing pages of paper. From this angle I want to re-set the question of 'acceleration' which has become a principal label of the modern era, esp. the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Here my take is that 'acceleration' is missing crucial practices (and experiences) of the historical actors. Rather, scrutiny of people's usage of space when writing time reveals various forms of intensification.


Researchers have theorized that cultural emphasis on education plays a major role in explaining Asian students' achievement. While Asian parents often view education as the main vehicle for upward social mobility, the social and cultural make-up of Asian societies and the context within which education is conducted in Asia often clash with the modern approaches and methodologies adopted into Asian classrooms. Contemporary approaches to education especially in relation to autonomous, learner-centred and online philosophies though theoretically supported and statistically proven successful in the west have been slow to capture Asian learners' interest and engagement. This paper discusses some of the reasons for the problems and challenges that need to be confronted prior to the introduction and effective implementation of autonomous online learning programmes. It further describes an attempt at confronting the above issues through a research project conducted by group of academics from the National University of Malaysia. The paper concludes by featuring some of the principles and strategies employed in the online programme developed for the research and the implication of their use on learner engagement to online autonomous learning programmes.


This thesis studies the coded aperture camera, a device consisting of a conventional camera with a modified aperture mask, that enables the recovery of both depth map and all-in-focus image from a single 2D input image. Key contributions of this work are the modeling of the statistics of natural images and the design of efficient blur identification methods in a Bayesian framework. Two cases are distinguished: 1) when the aperture can be decomposed in a small set of identical holes, and 2) when the aperture has a more general configuration. In the first case, the formulation of the problem incorporates priors about the statistical variation of the texture to avoid ambiguities in the solution. This allows to bypass the recovery of the sharp image and concentrate only on estimating depth. In the second case, the depth reconstruction is addressed via convolutions with a bank of linear filters. Key advantages over competing methods are the higher numerical stability and the ability to deal with large blur. The all-in-focus image can then be recovered by using a deconvolution step with the estimated depth map. Furthermore, for the purpose of depth estimation alone, the proposed algorithm does not require information about the mask in use. The comparison with existing algorithms in the literature shows that the proposed methods achieve state-of-the-art performance. This solution is also extended for the first time to images affected by both defocus and motion blur and, finally, to video sequences with moving and deformable objects. To Sobia, my strength . . .


Electrified vehicles, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs), have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from personal transportation by shifting energy demand from gasoline to electricity. GHG reduction potential depends on vehicle design, adoption, driving and charging patterns, charging infrastructure, and electricity generation mix. We construct an optimization model to study these factors by determining optimal design of conventional vehicles (CVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), PHEVs, and BEVs and optimal allocation of vehicle designs and charging infrastructure in the fleet for minimum lifecycle GHG emissions over a range of scenarios. We focus on vehicles with similar size and acceleration to a Toyota Prius under urban EPA driving conditions. We find that under today's U.S. average grid mix, the vehicle fleet allocated for minimum GHG emissions includes HEVs and PHEVs with ~30 miles (48 km) of electric range. Allocating only CVs, HEVs, PHEVs, or BEVs will produce 86%, 1%, 0%, or 13+% more life cycle GHG emissions, respectively. Unlike BEVs, PHEVs do consume some gasoline; however, PHEVs can power a large portion of vehicle miles on electrical energy while accommodating infrequent long trips without need for a large battery pack, with its corresponding production and weight implications. Availability of workplace charging for 90% of vehicles optimistically reduces optimized GHG emissions by 0.5%. Under decarbonized grid scenarios, larger battery packs are more competitive and reduce life cycle GHG emissions significantly. Future work will relax modeling assumptions and address life cycle cost and cost-effectiveness of GHG reductions.


This chapter offers a partial synchronic description of some features of Brunei English. This variety can be distinguished from closely-related Englishes in neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines through the study of the linguistic ecosystem that prevails in Negara Brunei Darussalam. The distinctiveness of the major in-group code choice of Bruneians, Brunei Malay, from other Malay varieties, is especially salient. Discussion of phonological features draws on recent work by Salbrina Haji Sharbawi (2006, 2009), and on earlier studies by Mossop (1996a, 1996b). The description of the syntax and morphology of Brunei English refers to the work of Cane (1994, 1996), whilst lexical and discoursal features are discussed with reference to work done separately and collaboratively by the authors.


Global economic ecosystem going through rapid developments that changes the way of doing businesses. From human rights awareness to improved average household earning, low cost countries are no longer remain low. In cost competitive global apparel industry, it changes the strategic planning of US apparel brands. This article highlighted those global changes by first providing the historical overview of decline of US manufacturing. Then discusses the current status of US apparel industry and the need of bringing back manufacturing to US followed by predictive future trends of reshoring jobs in US manufacturing industry in general and US Textile industry in particular. Finally the article proposes some steps that manufacturer and government needs to take to initialize sustainable manufacturing practices in US by concluding that it's not offshoring or reshoring but right shoring that matters depending on the strategic positioning of apparel brands.


Forest insects and pathogens are the most pervasive and important agents of disturbance in North American forests, affecting an area almost 50 times larger than fire and with an economic impact nearly five times as great. The same attributes that result in an insect herbivore being termed a "pest" predispose it to disruption by climate change, particularly global warming. Although many pest species have co-evolved relationships with forest hosts that may or may not be harmful over the long term, the effects on these relationships may have disastrous consequences. We consider both the data and models necessary to evaluate the impacts of climate change, as well as the assessments that have been made to date. The results indicate that all aspects of insect outbreak behavior will intensify as the climate warms. This reinforces the need for more detailed monitoring and evaluations as climatic events unfold. Luckily, we are well placed to make rapid progress, using software tools, databases, and the models that are already available.


PURPOSE
To determine whether whole-brain acetazolamide-induced changes in regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV) can be assessed on a conventional gradient 1.5-T MR system using 3-D dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced MR imaging.

METHODS
A 3-D frequency-shifted (FS) burst technique was used to assess the intravascular first pass of contrast agent. Changes in rCBV were calculated in 40 volunteers before and after acetazolamide (n = 30) or saline (n = 10) injection using customized analysis software on an independent workstation. A single-section gradient-echo technique with better spatial resolution was used in one additional volunteer to examine the effect of partial volume averaging on calculation of absolute rCBV.

RESULTS
A statistically significant increase in rCBV (gray matter = 23%, white master = 32.5%) was noted after acetazolamide compared with saline. Baseline fractional CBVs were 22% +/- 3% for gray matter and 12% +/- 2% for white matter. Partial volume averaging was probably responsible for a systematic but linear overestimation of absolute rCBV.

CONCLUSION
Acetazolamide-induced changes in rCBV can be assessed using 3-D dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced MR imaging with FS-burst on a conventional gradient 1.5-T MR system. Values obtained with this technique overestimate absolute rCBV but are systematically biased and can be used for intersubject and intrasubject ratio comparisons.


The emergence of high-speed networks such as those with ATM integrates large numbers of services with a wide range of characteristics. Admission control is a prime instrument for controlling congestion in the network. As part of connection services to an ATM system, the Connection Admission Control (CAC) algorithm decides if another call or connection can be admitted to the Broadband Network. The main task of the CAC is to ensure that the broadband resources will not saturate or overflow within a very small probability. It limits the connections and guarantees Quality of Service for the new connection. The algorithm for connection admission is crucial in determining bandwidth utilisation efficiency. With statistical multiplexing more calls can be allocated on a network link, while still maintaining the Quality of Service specified by the connection with traffic parameters and type of service.

A number of algorithms for admission control for Broadband Services with ATM Networks are described and compared for performance under different traffic loads. There is a general description of the ATM Network as an introduction. Issues to do with source distributions and traffic models are explored in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 provides an extensive presentation of the CAC algorithms for ATM Broadband Networks. The ideas about the Effective Bandwidth are reviewed in Chapter 4, and a different approach to admission control using online measurement is presented in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 has the numerical evaluation of four of the key algorithms, with simulations. Finally Chapter 7 has conclusions of the findings and explores some possibilities for further work.


6 Degrees Below the Horizon is a macabre and playful tale involving sailors, pimps, barflies, chorus girls and nightclub singers. In this startling and visually stunning new work the audience view the action through windows and moving frames to piece together a modern fable of failed dreams, lost love and the guilt of absent fatherhood.

Building on the recent successes of Hotel Methuselah and Kellerman, Leeds based imitating the dog create a memorable and immersive experience for the audience in this captivating fusion of cinema and theatre. Part French film, part Edwardian vaudeville and drawing on the works of Genet, Wedekind, and Brecht, 6 Degrees Below the Horizon takes its audiences on a delightful and twisted voyage into a shadowy world in which there are no certainties.


We use the BH masses deduced from the empirical relation of Kaspi et al. (2000) between the size of the Broad Line Region (BLR) of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and the optical luminosity, to compute their accretion rates in four samples of AGN, assuming that the optical luminosity is provided by the accretion disc. We show that Narrow Line Seyfert Galaxies 1 (NLS1s) accrete at super-Eddington rates, while their luminosity stays of the order of the Eddington limit. We take into account the possibility of a non-viscous energy release inversely proportional to the square of the distance in the gravitationally unstable region of the disc emitting a fraction of the optical luminosity. It leads to a smaller accretion rate and to a redder continuum than a standard disc, which agrees better with the observations. The observed bolometric luminosities appear to saturate at a few times the Eddington luminosity for super-Eddington accretion rates, as predicted by slim disc models. They favor a Kerr BH rather than a Schwarzschild one. Even when the accretion rate is super-Eddington, it stays always of the order of a few M� /yr, irrespective of the BH mass, indicating that the growing of the BH is mass-supply-limited and therefore regulated by an exterior mechanism, and not Eddington-limited. The mass of the BH increases by one order of magnitude in a few 10 7 years, a time smaller than that necessary for changing the bulge mass. This is in agreement with recent claims that the BHs of NLS1s do not follow the same black hole - bulge relation as other galaxies. Since they represent about 10% of AGN up to a redshift of 0.5, these "super-active" phases should play an important role in shaping the mass function of local BHs. We finally discuss the possibility that the masses could be systematically underestimated due to an inclination effect, and we conclude that this could indeed be the case, and that the accretion rates could thus be strongly overestimated in a small fraction of objects, possibly explaining the existence of apparently extremely high accretors.


Objectives There is no consensus on the aetiology and prevention of running-related injuries in runners. Preconditioning studies among different athlete populations show positive effects on the incidence of sports injuries. Hypothesis A 4-week preconditioning programme in novice runners will reduce the incidence of running-related injuries. Study design Randomised controlled clinical trial; level of evidence, 1. Methods Novice runners (N=432) prepared for a four-mile recreational running event. Participants were allocated to the 4-week preconditioning (PRECON) group (N=211) or the control group (N=221). The PRECON group started a 4-week training programme, prior to the running programme, with walking and hopping exercises. After the 4-week period both groups started a 9-week running programme. In both groups information was registered on running exposure and running-related injuries (RRIs) using an internet-based running log. Primary outcome measure was RRIs per 100 runners. An RRI was defined as any musculoskeletal complaint of the lower extremity or lower back causing restriction of running for at least a week. Results The incidence of RRIs was 15.2% in the PRECON group and 16.8% in the control group. The difference in RRIs between the groups was not significant (χ2=0.161, df=1, p=0.69). Conclusion This prospective study demonstrated that a 4-week PRECON programme with walking and hopping exercises had no influence on the incidence of RRIs in novice runners.


The current Australian Federal government has voiced a commitment to an "education revolution" and set targets for "closing the gap" in education attainment for Aboriginal people. Unfortunately, this revolution appears to have bypassed prison education altogether with no mention of it in the publicly available policy documents. This is regrettable given the large numbers of Aboriginal people in custody and begs the question "Are our incarcerated Indigenous citizens going to be excluded from any potential benefit of the ʻrevolution'?"

Education of incarcerated people is not often the subject of academic research. Furthermore, consideration of prisoner education from the viewpoint of Aboriginal prisoners reveals a research boundary that is seldom noted, let alone crossed. When referring to the issue of Aboriginal people and education in prisons, Semmens (1998: 1-2) laments that it "is probably the most persistently serious problem that the various governments of Australia have never faced with much resolve or dedication." After considering reports by the Western Australian Inspector of Custodial Services over the past decade along with the history of Aboriginal education in Western Australia it seems that little has changed since Semmens made his comments in 1998. This is also reflected in the voices of Aboriginal people with whom I have been yarning for my PhD project "Closing the Gap in Indigenous Prisoner Education". Overall, a picture is emerging of inadequate resources, lack of attention in practice to cultural needs and provision of training that is useless to prisoners upon release back to their own communities.

Considering these preliminary findings in the light of theories of critical whiteness and patriarchal white sovereignty, the paper raises more questions than it provides answers. It highlights the poor state of prisoner education in general and, more specifically, the situation for Aboriginal adults in Western Australian prisons.


Receptor tyrosine kinases are a diverse family of transmembrane proteins that can activate multiple pathways upon ligation of the receptor, one of which is the series of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascades. The MAPK pathways play critical roles in a wide variety of cancer types, from hematologic malignancies to solid tumors. Aberrations include altered expression levels and activation states of pathway components, which can sometimes be attributable to mutations in individual members. The V600E mutation of BRAF was initially described in 2002 and has been found at particularly high frequency in melanoma and certain subtypes of colorectal cancer. In the relatively short time since this discovery, a family of drugs has been developed that specifically target this mutated BRAF isoform, which, after results from phase I/II and III clinical trials, was granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in August 2011. Although these drugs produce clinically meaningful increases in progression-free and overall survival, due to acquired resistance they have not improved mortality rates. New drugs targeting other members of the MAPK pathways are in clinical trials or advanced stages of development. It is hoped that combination therapies of these new drugs in conjunction with BRAF inhibitors will counteract the mechanisms of resistance and provide cures. The clinical implementation of next-generation sequencing is leading to a greater understanding of the genetic architecture of tumors, along with acquired mechanisms of drug resistance, which will guide the development of tumor-specific inhibitors and combination therapies in the future. Clin Cancer Res; 19(9); 2301–9. ©2013 AACR.


Web 2.0 provides technologies for online collaboration of users as well as the creation, publication and sharing of user-generated contents in an interactive way. Twitter, CNET, CiteSeerX, etc. are examples of Web 2.0 platforms which facilitate users in these activities and are viewed as rich sources of information. In the platforms mentioned as examples, users can participate in discussions, comment others, provide feedback on various issues, publish articles and write blogs, thereby producing a high volume of unstructured data which at the same time leads to an information overload. To satisfy various types of human information needs arising from the purpose and nature of the platforms requires methods for appropriate aggregation and automatic analysis of this unstructured data. In this thesis, we propose methods which attempt to overcome the problem of information overload and help in satisfying user information needs in three scenarios.

To this end, first we look at two of the main challenges of sparsity and content quality in Twitter and how these challenges can influence standard retrieval models. We analyze and identify Twitter content features that reflect high quality information. Based on this analysis we introduce the concept of "interestingness" as a static quality measure. We empirically show that our proposed measure helps in retrieving and filtering high quality information in Twitter. Our second contribution relates to the content diversification problem in a collaborative social environment, where the motive of the end user is to gain a comprehensive overview of the pros and cons of a discussion track which results from social collaboration of the people. For this purpose, we develop the FREuD approach which aims at solving the content diversification problem by combining latent semantic analysis with sentiment estimation approaches. Our evaluation results show that the FREuD approach provides a representative overview of sub-topics and aspects of discussions, characteristic user sentiments under different aspects, and reasons expressed by different opponents. Our third contribution presents a novel probabilistic Author-Topic-Time model, which aims at mining topical trends and user interests from social media. Our approach solves this problem by means of Bayesian modeling of relations between authors, latent topics and temporal information. We present results of application of the model to the scientific publication datasets from CiteSeerX showing improved semantically cohesive topic detection and capturing shifts in authors" interest in relation to topic evolution.


This comment seeks to provide a conceptual framework for analysing the Banking Union's implications for private law. After discussing how and in what form the Banking Union can engender potentially relevant regulatory norms, it identifies the general ways whereby these can be recognised in private law and translated into private rights and/or duties. It then responds to a common argument against translation, namely, that the public nature of the regulatory regime's goals and concerns hinders its normative expansion in the realm of private law. On a more practical level, it provides a tentative catalogue of private legal relations likely to be affected by the Banking Union.


Title of Thesis: FLUENCY AND SPEECH RATE IN CHILDREN WITH LOCALIZATION-RELATED EPILEPSY: CORRELATIONS WITH FMRI PROFILES Mara Steinberg, Master of Arts, 2010 Thesis Directed By: Nan Bernstein Ratner, Ed.D, Professor, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences Fluency and speech rate were examined in children with epilepsy, a group known to demonstrate depressed language skills. We also sought possible functional markers of increased disfluency during speech production tasks regardless of group. Children with epilepsy had significantly more disfluencies in their narratives than their typicallydeveloping peers, while speech rate did not differ between groups. fMRI activation in working memory regions during a covert language processing task was significantly correlated with increased disfluency in another task involving narrative speech production. Additionally, there was a significant positive correlation between disfluency frequency and laterality of activation in the cerebellum. These results support the hypothesis that children with weaker language skills demonstrate increased levels of disfluencies in their narrative speech. Findings also suggest that children with higher rates of conversational speech disfluency may activate additional language and working memory regions when processing language, possibly reflecting the need for more midutterance incremental processing. FLUENCY AND SPEECH RATE IN CHILDREN WITH LOCALIZATIONRELATED EPILEPSY: CORRELATIONS WITH FMRI PROFILES


Based on collaborative research, this report examines the adoption of social media by BBC Arabic (BBCA) in one of its flagship interactive daily political TV programmes Talking Point, or Nuqtat-Hewar. It assesses the opportunities and constraints of social media for widening online participation in political debate and opening up new possibilities for intercultural dialogue. The research used an innvoative collaborative methodology combining production ethnography, discourse analysis and social media monitoring data. The findings suggest that the gap between the rhetoric and reality of social media adoption by international boradcasters like the BBC World Service remains wide. It presents further evidence of the narrow demographic of participants involved in social media debate, and the narrow foci of debates. It analyses the inherent structural and professional journalistic constraints that inhibit more creative and participatory uses of social media and sets out a series of specific recommendations for promoting uses of social media that can enhance deliberative debate and digital democracy that are applicable to other news organisations. The report has fed into policy debates at BBC World Service and effected some signficant changes in how BBC Arabic uses social media.


This is a proceeding of PKAW knowledge acqusition workshop

Table of Contents

Active Learning

Finding cue expressions for knowledge extraction from scientific text: 1
early results
Masashi Shimbo, Sayaka Tamamori and Yuji Matsumoto

Mining Diagnostic Taxonomy for Multi-Stage Medical Diagnosis 14
Shusaku Tsumoto

Constructing Compact Dual Ensembles for Efficient Active Learning 29
Huan Liu, Amit Mandvikar and Hiroshi Motoda

Ripple Down Rules: Incremental Knowledge Acquisition

Generalising Incremental Knowledge Acquisition 44
Paul Compton, Tri Minh Cao and Julian Kerr

Knowledge Acquisition Module for Conversational Agents 54
Pauline Mak, Byeong HoKang, Claude Sammut and Waleed Kadous

Personalized Web Document Classification using MCRDR 63
Sungsik Park, Yangsok Kim and ByeongHo Kang

Achieving Rapid Knowledge Acquisition in a High-Volume Call Centre 74
Megan Vazey and Debbie Richards

Acquisition of Articulable Tacit Knowledge 87
Peter Busch and Debbie Richards

Knowledge Acquisition Tools

Incremental Knowledge Acquisition using RDR for Soccer Simulation. 102
Angela Finlayson and Paul Compton

Domain Ontology Construction with Quality Refinement 116
Takeshi Morita, Yoshihiro Shigeta, Naoki Sugiura,
Naoki Fukuta, Noriaki Izumi and Takahira Yamaguchi

Developing an Intelligent Learning Tool 127
for Knowledge Acquisition on Problem-based Discussion
Akcell Chiang, Isaac Pak-Wah Fung and R. H. Kemp

View of Knowledge Acquisition / Evaluate Knowledge Acquisition methods

Towards Acquiring and Refining Class Hierarchy Design of 143
Web Application Integration Software
Naoki Fukuta, Mayumi Ueno, Noriaki Izumi and Takahira Yamaguchi

Consideration on 'Educationality' of Knowledge Acquisition 158
Support Systems
Toshiro Minami

A Comparative Study on Cost and Benefit of Capturing Design 172
Rationale
Yoshikiyo Kato and Koichi Hori

Knowledge Acquisition and Machine Learning

Using Neural Network to Weight the Partial Rules: 183
Application to Classification of Dopamine Antagonist Molecules
Sukree Sinthupinyo, Cholwich Nattee, Masayuki Numao, Takashi Okada
and Boonserm Kijsirikul

Future Directions in Adapting GAs using Knowledge Acquisition 196
J.P. Bekmann and Achim Hoffmann

Incremental Learning of Control Knowledge for Lung Boundary Extraction 211
Avishkar Misra, Arcot Sowmya and Paul Compton

E-Mail Document Categorization Using BayesTH-MCRDR Algorithm: 226
Empirical Analysis and Comparison with Other Document Classification Methods
Woo-Chul Cho and Debbie Richards

Detecting the Knowledge Frontier: An Error Predicting Knowledge 241
Based System
Richard Peter Dazeley and Byeong Ho Kang


This chapter examines Irish English in the perspective of world Englishes, takingthe word actually as a discourse marker for case study. The initial discussionfocuses on variation in the structural positioning of actually, and onthe possible differentiation between actually as an adverb and as a discoursemarker. Analysis proceeds on the working assumption that all uses of actuallyin contemporary English share potential as discourse markers, though clausemarginalposition is taken to illustrate an advanced structural position for thisfunction. Material from ICE-Ireland is used to illustrate a wide range of structuralpositions and discourse-marking functions for actually, while comparisonswith other ICE corpora suggest Ireland to be in a conservative position relativeto possible change in progress.


Business Intelligence aims at providing decision support based on available information and tailored to the recipient"s context due to the level of aggregation and form of delivery. The future internet will dramatically broaden both the spectrum of available information and the user"s possible contexts. Further, we do not only expect a quantitative dart but a qualitative switch which will require the application of new methods and paradigms. This paper"s aim is to systematically analyse implications of the future internet on Business Intelligence in order to identify possible perspectives, chances and risks for BI and vice versa by summarizing and categorizing current research.


Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the 8th human herpesvirus discovered in 1994. After primary infection, KSHV establishes latency and, in the context of immunosuppression, has been associated with specific malignancies: Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD). Seroepidemiological surveys suggest that KSHV is not a ubiquitous virus and several transmission routes and risk factors must exist to explain its global distribution. The increased risk of KSHV-associated cancers in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals, and the decrease of KS incidence after the introduction of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) in 1997 suggest that cellular immunity plays an important role in controlling KSHV. In this thesis, seroepidemiological studies were conducted in African, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean European and South American countries to determine the infection rate, and to determine risk factors and possible routes of KSHV transmission. A new quantitative real-time PCR method was developed to detect KSHV in clinical samples. This assay has diagnostic and prognostic implications for the management of KSHV-associated diseases. Anti-viral and immunological responses were measured and analysed, and cellular immune responses to KSHV were demonstrated in a cohort of HIV infected individuals undergoing HAART treatment. The interaction between KSHV and HIV was evaluated and the impact of HAART on KSHV immune reconstitution was investigated.


In spring 2010 the ESA Core Explorer Atmospheric Dynamics Mission, ADM-Aeolus is due for launch. Scientific preparations are being made in the area of campaigns, Cal/Val, and the development of an End-toEnd simulator, E2S, L1 and L2 wind profile processor. In this manuscript the focus will be on Aeolus performance in relation to atmospheric heterogeneities. Both in terms of processing and in terms of the distribution of vertical range gates (vertical processing levels) the characteristics of the atmosphere play an important role. High-resolution radiosondes, space lidar (CALIPSO), ECMWF model data and ground based measurement data sets are collocated to yield the combined optical and dynamical properties of the atmosphere that are relevant for Aeolus. The Aeolus mission will last three years. Studies have been conducted to develop user requirements for an Aeolus follow-on mission. From these studies wind profile coverage appears important rather than the measurement perspective in the extratropics, while in the tropics both the zonal and the meridional perspectives are important as well as wind profile coverage. A complement of a sideand back-looking Aeolus type instrument would fulfil the stated requirements.


Metiram is a non-systemically acting fungicide of dithiocarbamate group. It is used on food and ornamental crops to prevent crop damage in the field and to protect harvested crops from deterioration in storage or transport. The present work was conducted to evaluate the histological and histochemical effects of miteram in pregnant albino mice. Oral treatment of metiram to pregnant mice from the 2 day to 19 day of gestation induced many histological and histochemical alterations in the hepatic tissue and kidney cortex. The liver tissue showed congestion of blood vessels, leucocytic infiltrations, cytoplasmic vacuolization of the hepatocytes and fatty degeneration. The kidney cortex showed degeneration of renal tubules, atrophy of glomeruli and intertubular leucocytic infiltrations. Moreover, histochemical observations revealed reduction of total carbohydrates and total proteins in the hepatocytes and renal tubules. It is suggested that the histological and histochemical alterations observed in liver and kidney of pregnant mice by metiram may be mediated by depletion of antioxidants and elevation of lipid peroxidation. [Saber A. Sakr, Somya Y. Shalaby Metiram-induced histological and histochemical alterations in Liver and kidney of pregnant mice] Life Science Journal, 2012; 9(1):71-76] (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com.


This paper presents the initial results of our research effort to fully integrate a voltage regulator with a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) circuit in order to harvest maximum power from solar cells or panels. We take a novel approach to emulate the inductor in a buck-boost voltage regulator using a Generalized Impedance Converter (GIC), thereby eliminating the requirement for the grounded inductor which impedes full integration. LTSPICE™ models are developed to compare a traditional "inductive" voltage regulator with a "GIC" voltage regulator, and experimental results are discussed. Component size, switching frequency, and load-matching are optimized to achieve maximum efficiency; however, GIC operational-amplifier power consumption was an obstacle to high-efficiency operation.


This study examined the effect of adding cognitive and affective illustrations to online health information (vs. text only) on older adults' website satisfaction and recall of cancer-related information. Results of an online experiment among younger and older adults showed that illustrations increased satisfaction with attractiveness of the website. Younger adults were significantly more satisfied with the comprehensibility of the website than older adults, whereas older adults were more satisfied with perceived emotional support from the website than younger adults. Being more emotionally satisfied with the website led to greater recall of information for older adults, but not for younger adults. Illustrations can be used to enhance older adults' website satisfaction and consequently recall of online cancer-related information.


3GPP LTE specification is stable now in release 8. To meet much higher requirements than release 8, 3GPP has initiated the LTE-A (LTE-Advanced) study item. In LTE-A, CoMP (Coordinated multiple point transmission and reception) and CA (carrier aggregation) are two new features. CoMP is used to improve coverage and to increase cell-edge throughput. It is considered as an effective approach for ICIC (inter-cell interference coordination) in LTE-A due to inherent joint scheduling/processing at the coordinated cells. CA is used to improve the peak rate in LTE-A. It has been widely discussed in 3GPP RAN1. Generally, three kinds of CA are involved, namely the aggregations for continuous carriers, non-continuous intra-band carriers and non-continuous inter-band carriers respectively. In this thesis, under the case of CA, the problem of power allocation for eNBs in the CoMP cooperating set for downlink transmission is discussed, and we propose a power allocation algorithm. Based on the system simulation, the unite rate (bit/sec/Hz) and the corresponding SINR are compared. The possible method of the implementation for this scheme is discussed too.


Exoskeletons have the ability to improve locomotor performance for a wide range of individuals: they can improve the economy of normal walking, aid in load carriage for soldiers, assist individuals with walking disabilities, and serve as gait rehabilitation tools. Although it may seem obvious how exoskeletons should be developed to provide a benefit to the user, the complexity of the human neuromuscular system makes developing effective exoskeleton assistance strategies a challenge. Rather than using intuition to guide our attempts at the design and control of ankle exoskeletons, we need to garner a deeper understanding of how ankle exoskeletons affect locomotor coordination and utilize such findings to facilitate effective interaction between the device and the human. This thesis details an iterative approach towards the development of ankle exoskeleton assistance strategies. We first performed a controlled experiment to observe the human response to specific assistance techniques. We then sought to explain the reasons for the observed responses by estimating muscle-tendon mechanics and energetics at the assisted joint using simulations of a musculoskeletal model. Through experimentation and simulation we found that individuals change and adapt their coordination patterns when walking with ankle exoskeletons, often in unexpected ways. Based on these findings, we developed and tested a novel ankle exoskeleton assistance strategy that adjusts exoskeleton behavior online in response to measured changes in the user. Such individualized, adaptive control approaches seem promising for discovering effective exoskeleton assistance strategies. Eventually we want to apply such strategies to populations with gait disabilities, but only once we have a better understanding of the mechanisms driving gait impairments. To that end, we v designed and are conducting an experiment to investigate the relationship between features of post-stroke gait and energy economy. We expect our experimental findings to aid in the development of more accurate predictive models of human locomotion and to motivate new methods for developing assistive and rehabilitative techniques using robotic exoskeletons.


Environmental monitoring initiatives are typically conceived as strictly scientific affairs designed to provide support for managerial decision-making; as a consequence most initiatives are centered on a formal mandate or an overarching mission statement that provides direction for monitoring activity. But official frameworks tend to marginalize lay perspectives as experts pursue disciplinary rigor at the expense of public input, a situation not in keeping with the spirit of the biosphere reserve concept. This thesis argues that an alternative design approach that reaches beyond scientists and resource managers is necessary. Environmental monitoring under an ecosystem approach is subject to scientific, social, and bureaucratic demands that defy easy disentanglement. A medley of factors influence how data are collected, interpreted, and used; neglect of these 'soft' dimensions runs the risk of failing to win the enduring support of stakeholders. There is a need to coordinate activity and to partially align multiple perspectives—this is the 'soft underbelly' of integrated monitoring that gets short shrift in most designs. While there is much monitoring being done in and around the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve, there is little coordination among monitoring groups and no obvious way to combine disparate data sets in a meaningful way. This thesis describes the elements of a locally-sensible framework for monitoring practice that is mainly concerned with trying to make sense of confusing and ambiguous situations; it strives to integrate the why, what , and how of monitoring in as transparent a manner as possible by crafting 'boundary objects' that help to congeal understanding and provide centers of coordination. Using principles of participatory design in the soft-systems tradition, the overall intent is to primarily support sense-making, not decision-making; to generate searching questions, not final solutions; to facilitate learning, not control.


Liberalization of the European automobile distribution system in 2002 limits the ability of manufacturers to impose vertical restraints, leading to a substantial increase in competitive pressure among dealers. We estimate an equilibrium model of profit maximization to evaluate how dealers change their innovation adoption strategies following the elimination of exclusive territories. Using French data we evaluate the existence of complementarities between the adoption of software applications and the scale of production. Firms view these innovations as substitutes and concentrate their effort in one type of software as they expand their scale of production. Results are robust to the existence of unobserved heterogeneity. (JEL: C35, L86, O31).


The emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from inland waters are substantial on a global scale. Yet the fundamental question remains open which proportion of these CO2 emissions is induced by sunlight via photochemical mineralization of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), rather than by microbial respiration during DOC decomposition. Also, it is unknown on larger spatial and temporal scales how photochemical mineralization compares to other C fluxes in the inland water C cycle. We combined field and laboratory data with atmospheric radiative transfer modeling to parameterize a photochemical rate model for each day of the year 2009, for 1086 lakes situated between latitudes from 55°N to 69°N in Sweden. The sunlight‐induced production of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) averaged 3.8 ± 0.04 g C m−2 yr−1, which is a flux comparable in size to the organic carbon burial in the lake sediments. Countrywide, 151 ± 1 kt C yr−1 was produced by photochemical mineralization, corresponding to about 12% of total annual mean CO2 emissions from Swedish lakes. With a median depth of 3.2 m, the lakes were generally deep enough that incoming, photochemically active photons were absorbed in the water column. This resulted in a linear positive relationship between DIC photoproduction and the incoming photon flux, which corresponds to the absorbed photons. Therefore, the slope of the regression line represents the wavelength‐ and depth‐integrated apparent quantum yield of DIC photoproduction. We used this relationship to obtain a first estimate of DIC photoproduction in lakes and reservoirs worldwide. Global DIC photoproduction amounted to 13 and 35 Mt C yr−1 under overcast and clear sky, respectively. Consequently, these directly sunlight‐induced CO2 emissions contribute up to about one tenth to the global CO2 emissions from lakes and reservoirs, corroborating that microbial respiration contributes a substantially larger share than formerly thought, and generate annual C fluxes similar in magnitude to the C burial in natural lake sediments worldwide.


OBJECTIVE This study assessed the efficacy/safety of canagliflozin (CANA), a sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, plus metformin extended-release (MET) initial therapy in drug-naïve type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This 26-week, double-blind, phase 3 study randomized 1,186 patients to CANA 100 mg (CANA100)/MET, CANA 300 mg (CANA300)/MET, CANA100, CANA300, or MET. Primary end point was change in HbA1c at week 26 for combinations versus monotherapies. Secondary end points included noninferiority in HbA1c lowering with CANA monotherapy versus MET; changes in fasting plasma glucose, body weight, and blood pressure; and proportion of patients achieving HbA1c <7.0% (<53 mmol/mol). RESULTS From mean baseline HbA1c of 8.8% (73 mmol/mol), CANA100/MET and CANA300/MET significantly lowered HbA1c versus MET (median dose, 2,000 mg/day) by –1.77%, –1.78%, and –1.30% (–19.3, –19.5, and –14.2 mmol/mol; differences of −0.46% and –0.48% [–5.0 and –5.2 mmol/mol]; P = 0.001) and versus CANA100 and CANA300 by –1.37% and –1.42% (–15.0 and –15.5 mmol/mol; differences of –0.40% and –0.36% [–4.4 and –3.9 mmol/mol]; P = 0.001). CANA100 and CANA300 monotherapy met noninferiority for HbA1c lowering and had significantly more weight loss versus MET (–2.8, –3.7, and –1.9 kg [–3.0%, –3.9%, and –2.1%]; P = 0.016 and P = 0.002). Greater attainment of HbA1c <7.0% (50%, 57%, and 43%) and significantly more weight loss (–3.2, –3.9, and –1.9 kg [–3.5%, –4.2%, and –2.1%]; P = 0.001) occurred with CANA100/MET and CANA300/MET versus MET. The incidence of adverse events (AEs) related to SGLT2 inhibition (genital mycotic infections, osmotic diuresis– and volume depletion–related AEs) was higher in the CANA arms (0.4–4.4%) versus MET (0–0.8%). AE-related discontinuation rates were 1.3–3.0% across groups. The incidence of hypoglycemia was 3.0–5.5% in the CANA arms and 4.6% with MET. CONCLUSIONS Initial therapy with CANA plus MET was more effective and generally well tolerated versus each monotherapy in drug-naïve type 2 diabetes. CANA monotherapy demonstrated noninferior HbA1c lowering versus MET.


We used seismic velocity as a proxy for serpentinization of the mantle, which occurred beneath thinned but laterally continuous continental crust during continental break up, prior to opening of the Atlantic Ocean. The serpentinized sub-continental mantle is now exhumed, beneath the Iberia Abyssal Plain and was accessed by scientific drilling on Ocean Drilling Program legs 149 and 173. Chromatographic modelling of the serpentinization front yields a front displacement (z) of 2197 ± 89 m. We ignored diffusive broadening of this front in the direction of fluid flow and used the shape of the front to constrain a Damkohler number (ND). This was scaled such that ND = t, where  is a rate constant for serpentinization in s-1 and t is time in s. We thus obtained ND = 6.0 ± 0.2. We then estimated values of  for (1) surface reaction as rate-limiting and (2) chemical transport as rate-limiting. Combining these values with our estimate of the Damkohler number yielded comparable timescales of 10,000 – 1,000,000 years for serpentinization. Combining this timescale with the front displacement yielded a time-averaged volumetric rate for serpentinization of 0.002-0.2 m3-serpentinite.m-2.yr-1.We then referred to the experimental results of Janecky and Seyfried (1986), which predicted that serpentinization by reaction with seawater probably occurs by a coupled set of reactions, with olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene dissolving independently and at different rates. Of this set of reactions, olivine dissolution is predicted to occur by the reaction:2(Mg,Fe)2SiO4 + 2H+ + H2O = (Mg,Fe)3Si2O5(OH)4 + (Mg,Fe)2+ (1)Because lizardite, which is the most abundant of the serpentine minerals typically contains no more than 5 wt. % FeO (Wicks & O' Hanley 1988), excess Fe2+ will preferentially (with respect to Mg2+) enter the solution. Oxidation of Fe2+ by H2O and CO2 can then produce magnetite and CH4 by the reaction:12Fe2+ + 14H2O + CO2 = 4Fe3O4 + 24H+ + CH4 (2)Fe3O4 (magnetite) can be used as a proxy for CH4 produced by reactions (1) and (2) and exiting the mantle. The average mode of magnetite in 16 samples of >95% serpentinized peridotite recovered by scientific drilling within the region of exhumed mantle is 4.5 vol. %. This is equivalent to 1000 mol-Fe3O4.m-3. Combining this value with the time-averaged volumetric rate for serpentinization, we obtain a time-averaged annual production rate for magnetite of 2-200 mol.m-2.yr-1. Finally, based on the stoichiometry of reaction (2), we thus obtain an annual flux rate for CH4 production of 0.5-50 mol.m-2.yr-1.


The annual net uptake of CO2 by a deciduous forest in New England varied from 1.4 to 2.8 metric tons of carbon per hectare between 1991 and 1995. Carbon sequestration was higher than average in 1991 because of increased photosynthesis and in 1995 because of decreased respiration. Interannual shifts in photosynthesis were associated with the timing of leaf expansion and senescence. Shifts in annual respiration were associated with anomalies in soil temperature, deep snow in winter, and drought in summer. If this ecosystem is typical of northern biomes, interannual climate variations on seasonal time scales may modify annual CO2 exchange in the Northern Hemisphere by 1 gigaton of carbon or more each year.


This article aims to demonstrate the positive effects of the Internet on the tourism industry in three main areas: planning travel, commerce and industry structure. The document highlight that the journeyers have several tools provided by the Internet to receiving, looking for and sharing information to plan their travels. Also, Global Distribution Systems via the Internet have provided a new distribution channel for the retail of touristic products and services. Finally, the Internet has affected each actor of the value chain in the tourism industry. For the suppliers the Internet is providing directly information of their customers helping to increase their sales. Finally, the intermediaries have realized that they have to adapt to the new environment.


In Egypt, the landowning class first arose in the early part of the nineteenth century from land grants given to extended family members and friends of the ruler Muhammad 'Ali. The development of capitalism and, with it, the evolution of law and social practice allowed these land grants gradually to take on the attributes of private property, a process that culminated in 1891 in land becaming a form of property like any other. From these developments a class of large landowners emerged and began to defend their interests, both economic and political. In two seminal Arabic works published in the 1970s, the authors Abbas and El-Dessouky traced the formation of this class, exploring the multiple factors that influenced the rise and power of landowners. Combined into one volume and translated into English for the first time, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of landownership and its effects on Egyptian society. The authors draw from extensive archival sources, successfully integrating in their work the competing forces of the state, the landlords, and the peasants. By moving beyond much of the familiar scholarship on landholders, this book presents a new interpretation of Egyptian politics and society.


I warmly thank Richard Ashcroft, Luc Bovens, Gerald Dworkin, Brynn Welch, and Alan Wertheimer for their insightful comments on my article.1 As I do not have the space to discuss all the questions they raise, I will focus on four concerns that run through my commentators' responses.

Wertheimer argues that my Choice-Set Preservation Condition is objectionable because it wrongly implies that any reduction of the choice-set is incompatible with the preservation of freedom of choice.2 He notes that removing unimportant options may enhance the influencee's 'deliberative capacities and, perhaps, her freedom'.

I agree with Wertheimer's substantive claim, although I do not think it is incompatible with my view. As Joel Feinberg argued, freedom of choice is undermined when fecund options are eliminated.3 Fecund options are options that lead to another array of options. For instance, the choice between several universities opens up different career prospects. Restricting those upstream choices has consequences on an unspecifiable number of branching downstream choices. However, restricting 'limited' options (eg, multiple toothpaste brands) that are not gateways to other options may actually facilitate decision-making and ultimately increase freedom. Cluttering our minds with trivialities would undermine the exercise of practical reason.

Welch's objections focus on my definition of easy resistibility.4 He claims that my definitions of easy resistibility and of the ability to resist an influence easily are inconsistent. Dworkin argues that the language of the 'ability to easily resist' overlooks the critical distinction between having a capacity and exercising it.5 While I stand by my understanding of nudges, I would like to rephrase my view in order to consolidate some of the definitions I offer, taking into account the comments of Dworkin and Welch.

I defend the thesis that an influence preserves freedom of choice if and only if it is …


We propose a set of modeling rules and a synthesis method for the design of asynchronous pipelines. To keep the circuit area and power dissipation of the asynchronous control network small, the proposed approach avoids the conventional syntax-directed translation approach. Instead, it employs a data-driven design style and a coarse-grain approach to the synthesis of asynchronous control, restricting asynchronous control to the implementation of communication channels commonly found in asynchronous pipelines and operations involving these channels. The proposed approach integrates well into conventional synchronous design flows because they are based on Verilog and SystemVerilog specifications, and generate register-transfer level models suitable for functional simulation and logic synthesis using existing computer-aided design tools. Using a 32-bit microprocessor, an interpolated finite-impulse-response filter bank, and a Reed-Solomon error detector as design examples, we show that the proposed approach is competitive with other comparable reported methods.


One of the crucial steps in building a scalable quantum computer is to identify the noise sources which lead to errors in the process of quantum evolution. Different implementations come with multiple hardware-dependent sources of noise and decoherence making the problem of their detection manyfoldly more complex. We develop a randomized benchmarking algorithm which uses Weyl unitaries to efficiently identify and learn a mixture of error models which occur during the computation. We provide an efficiently computable estimate of the overhead required to compute expectation values on outputs of the noisy circuit relying only on the locality of the interactions and no further assumptions on the circuit structure. The overhead decreases with the noise rate and this enables us to compute analytic noise bounds that imply efficient classical simulability. We apply our methods to ansatz circuits that appear in the variational quantum eigensolver and establish an upper bound on classical simulation complexity as a function of noise, identifying regimes when they become classically efficiently simulatable.


Abstract The Order Lagenida is a monophyletic group of calcareous foraminifers that originated in Middle Pennsylvanian time via acquisition of hyaline-radial wall structure and loss of microgranular wall structure, the latter being characteristic of the close sister group and likely ancestor, the Fusulinida. Early lagenides are delineated into subgroups on the basis of presence or absence of partitioning within their tests, and among partitioned forms, on continuous versus discontinuous growth styles. Partitioned, discontinuously growing forms may be further delineated on the basis of test symmetry and on modifications to chamber shape and apertural complexity. Early lagenides underwent rapid taxonomic differentiation during late Moscovian and early Kasimovian time. Taxonomic differentiation was accompanied by rapid dispersal from the presumed center of origin in the midcontinent-Andean area to tropical and subtropical shelves worldwide. By Early Permian time certain lagenides were adapted to cool water paleoenvironments, as evidenced by their occurrences in high paleolatitudes and even in glaciomarine basins. Early Permian lagenides do not exhibit marked provincialism, but there is evidence for paleolatitudinal control on assemblages. The midcontinent-Andean and present Arctic areas contain similar, diverse faunas from low- to mid paleolatitudes along the western margin of Pangaea. These faunas share many elements in common with faunas from the tropical and subtropical eastern margin of Pangaea (Paleotethys). In contrast, the Europe-Urals, Siberian and Australian areas are characterized by a slightly different faunal association from mid- to high paleolatitudes in both hemispheres. Panthalssan faunas are less well known, but seemingly contain only cosmopolitan taxa.


This paper assesses the LAC's import substitution response to the recent wave of currency devaluations. For this purpose, this document uses both descriptive data and a simple econometric model to establish the short-term relationship between exchange rate movements and import penetration (total and within manufacturing sector) in the region, with a special focus on those countries that had experienced the largest depreciations. The results suggest that there is a significant relationship between depreciation and the decrease in import penetration, indicating that a 1% increase in the local currency depreciation reduces the IP by 0.41% to 0.69% and varies in those sectors with a stronger presence of domestic production.


The purpose of this study was to compare American and Cyprus secondary education, in regard to purposes, content, organization and presentation in an attempt to arrive at unbiased generalizations whereby the two systems might be viewed more critically. In order to obtain reliable information on the American and Cyprus secondary education the following procedures were adopted: 1. Fourteen American states were selected, two from each of the s even divisions as listed in the Research Bulletin of t he National Education Association entitled Trends in City School Organization. A letter was sent to the superintendent of public instruction in each state requesting him to recommend ten public high schools. An information blank was then mailed to the administrative officers of the recommended schools, seeking information pertinent to the purpose of the investigation. 2. Three secondary schools were selected from Cyprus from the classification in terms of type of curriculum, as cited in the Report of the Department of Education, 1951- 1952. A wide range of educational literature relative to the problem was consulted. It was ascertained that in the United States schools seek to attain the democratic ideals through, (1) social-civic, economic, vocational and individualistic-avocational activities, (2) emphasis on the functional present and (3) training in how to think. The theories subscribed to by the greatest number of schools were that, (1) education should be concerned with adjustment of students to meet changing conditions, (2) truth is pragmatic, 3) students should be trained in a general education and a specific vocational pursuit, (4) each student should be regarded as a unique individual and (5) the fundamentals should be emphasized more than the other course offerings. In regard to the curriculum it was found that in the majority of the schools, (1) it is broad and varied to suit different needs and interests, (2) it is society-centered with due regard to children€™s interests and abilities, (3) offerings and method of presentation are largely organized into separate subjects especially in the senior high schools , (4) co-curricular activities are emphasized as indispensable requisites in the wholesome integration of the child, (5) the methods of classroom instruction are largely the recitation method and the resource unit method, (6) evaluation implies not mere testing of factual information, but also growth in attitudes, skills, mental processes, interests and so forth, (7) disciplinary problems are handled through self-analysis techniques and co-operation with the parents, (8) the administration seeks large cooperation with the staff in program and policy matters, (9) the pupils have some part in the determination of curriculum content, and (10) the administration seeks some pupil co-operation in program and policy matters. The findings indicated that in Cyprus secondary education is based on the principles that, (1) preparation for present and future life is achieved through a study of values and learning as established by the great thinkers of the past, (2) the function of the school should be to discipline its students to conform to and to acquire the values and learning of the past especially those of ancient Hellas and the Greek Orthodox Church, (3) a general education in the humanities and the sciences is indispensable for man's adaptation to life, and (4) the training of the body although important for intellectual development should be secondary to the mental development and be carried out on classical lines. In line with tm foregoing principles the majority of schools in Cyprus offer a rigid curriculum mostly of the academic type with very limited vocational offerings. The method of classroom instruction is largely the lecture method, offerings are organized into separate subjects and students have to conform to a strict disciplinary code. In view of the comparative study of the American and the Cyprus secondary education the following broad generalizations were formulated: 1. There should be equality of educational opportunities for every youth. 2. Values are both subjective and objective; they are not pragmatic. 3. A school should provide opportunities for individual and social integration but neither should be overemphasized at the expense of the other. 4. A general education should be the primary aim of the school with the provision of a vocational environment. 5. Close co-operation among the administration, the staff, the pupils and the community is essential in all aspects of the educational process. 6. The curriculum content should be presented in wholes not parts. 7. The school should have a varied extra-curricular program.


Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) are meta-heuristic algorithms used for optimization of complex problems. Cultural Algorithm (CA) is one of the EA which incorporates knowledge for optimization. CA with multiple population spaces each incorporating culture and genetic evolution to obtain better solutions are known as Multi-Population Cultural Algorithm (MPCA). MPCA allows to introduce a diversity of knowledge in a dynamic and heterogeneous environment. In an MPCA each population represents a solution space. An individual belonging to a given population could migrate from one population to another for the purpose of introducing new knowledge that influences other individuals in the population. In this thesis, we provide different migration strategies which are inspired from game theory model to improve the quality of solutions. Migration among the different population in MPCA can address the problem of knowledge sharing among population spaces. We have introduced five different migration strategies which are related to the field of economics. The principal idea behind incorporating these strategies is to improve the rate of convergence, increase diversity, better exploration of the search space, to avoid premature convergence and to escape from local optima. Strategies are particularly taken from the economics background as it allows the individual and the population to use their knowledge and make a decision whether to cooperate or to defect with other individuals and populations. We have tested the proposed algorithms against CEC 2015 expensive benchmark problems. These problems are a set of 15 functions which includes varied function categories. Results depict that it leads a to better solution when proposed algorithms used for problems with complex nature and higher dimensions. For 10 dimensional problems the proposed strategies have 7 out 15 better results and for 30 dimensional problems we have 12 out of 15 better results when compared to the existing algorithms.


European Annaliste historians interpreted social history by focusing on the life of one individual as told through a revealing biographical document. An 1859 obituary of antebellum industrialist Robert Findlay provides the beginning point for a rare in-depth analysis of Findlay's life. To tell Findlay's story is also to recount Macon's rise from a frontier commercial and transportation center to an important manufacturing city of the Old South. Macon's history, in turn, reveals important social aspects of the development of heavy industry in Georgia and the deep South. This new study provides a social history of Macon in the Annaliste format, focusing on the career of industrialist Robert Findlay. Scottish-born and Northern-trained, Findlay (1808-1859) became one of the few genuinely successful industrialists of the Old South. Taking advantage of the market for agricultural technology, he helped develop Macon, Georgia, into one of the Old South's few machinery manufacturing cities and the center of the region's largest railroad and river transportation network. Davis gracefully blends biography with the social history of Macon and the first major manufacturing in Georgia. Manufacturing in the antebellum South came into being to meet the needs of the Cotton Kingdom. In the lifespan of the Findlay Iron Works, one learns of its owner's and heavy industry's struggles against the prejudices of some Southerners and the geographic shortcomings of the Old South.


Today a wide range of technologies exist that support learning and teaching, ranging from learning management systems (LMS) to general social media platforms, such as Facebook and blogs. However, teaching with such tools and platforms can create various obstacles for teachers. Within the Go-Lab project, we aim to engage school pupils with STEM topics by bringing online laboratory experiments into the classroom. Since it can be a hurdle for teachers to use such technical software and implement these experiments into the pedagogical flow of their lessons, we have identified the need to support and tutor teachers on using online laboratories and their pedagogical implementation in the classroom. The Go-Lab Tutoring Platform offers teachers peer assistance for expertise sharing related to online labs, pedagogy, the Go-Lab learning system and portal. Teachers, lab owners and scientists can help each other and share their skills and knowledge. To sustain this tutoring platform, we aim to build a community of practice and apply various social media techniques. This paper elaborates on the design, the first prototype and an early evaluation of the Go-Lab social tutoring platform. Furthermore, the business model is discussed and realisable via a credit system, ranging from social rating to payment mechanisms.


This chapter in a forthcoming book on the New Intellectual Property of Health explores how certification marks might impact public health via consumer choice rather than by government mandate. Labeling and marking devices such as certification marks could provide greater information to consumers about health-related individual choices, but their full public health impact will be affected by the same factors that throw into question the effectiveness of other forms of disclosure, such as mandatory disclosure of nutrition labeling. These behavioral factors include consumer understanding of the information as well as consumer purchasing responses to this information. Another significant factor affecting their ultimate impact is the capacity of institutions to create and educate consumers about these marks as well as to maintain their informational integrity in the context of powerful countervailing market forces. Reliance upon market forces to promote better public health outcomes does not obviate the role of the state, which plays a crucial role in guarding and shaping core public interest goals, not only to encourage creative solutions to challenging public health problems, but also to constrain regulatory capture by private, market-based stakeholders.


The search for entities is the most common search type on the web beside navigational searches. Whereas most common search techniques are based on the textual descriptions of web pages, semantic search approaches exploit the increasing amount of structured data on the Web in the form of annotations to web-pages and Linked Data. In many technologies, this structured data can consist of factual assertions about entities in which URIs are used to identify entities and their properties. The hypothesis is that this kind of structured data can improve entity search on the web. In order to test this hypothesis and to consistently progress in this eld, a standardized evaluation is necessary. In this work, we discuss an evaluation campaign that specically targets entity search over Linked Data by the means of keyword queries, including both queries that directly mention the entity as well as those that only describe the entities. We also discuss how crowd-sourcing was used to obtain relevance assessments from non-expert web users, the participating systems and the factors that contributed to positive results, and how the competition generalizes results from a previous crowd-sourced entity search evaluation.


Olefin cross-metathesis (CM) has been shown to be a versatile, mild, modular, and efficient approach to polysaccharide modification. One issue with regard to this approach is the susceptibility of the initial α,β-unsaturated CM derivatives to H-atom abstraction in the γ-position, followed by radical recombination that leads to insoluble, crosslinked products. In our original approach, we resolved this problem through removing the offending unsaturation by hydrogenation. In the current study, we describe a method to exploit these reactive conjugated olefins, by post-CM thiol-Michael addition, thereby appending additional functionality. CM substrates and thiols bearing various functional groups were combined and reacted, employing amine catalysis. Up to 100% conversion was achieved under proper conditions (e.g. catalyst and reaction time), with minimal side reactions observed. The combination of the two modular reactions creates versatile access to cellulose derivatives equipped with a wide diversity of functional groups.


A self-taught architect, Tadao Ando combines the influences of Japanese building traditions with the elegance of modernism. His projects encourage contemplation and demonstrate a reverence for essential forms. Respected for his powerful, meditative spaces and his sensual yet refined use of ordinary materials--wood, steel, concrete, glass--Ando's work resonates with profound intelligence, unpretentious elegance, and an almost palpable sense of harmony. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is comprised of five pavilions that seem to float on a pool of water. Inside, diffuse and reflected natural light bathe the interior and the art in an even glow. This book thoroughly and luxuriously documents Ando's most recent masterpiece with glorious new color photography of the building, the reflecting pools, the grand interior spaces, and the galleries.


In practice, there are two basic ways to invest in the contractual right to the contractual land management for equity interest. The first involves the dynamic equity system, which complies with the "voluntary joint investment with the land contract and operation right on a voluntary basis to engage in cooperation agriculture production," provided under the Law on Land Contract in Rural Areas. The other is to invest such a right as the contribution for the establishment of a company or a cooperative. Current legislation prohibits the investment of a contractual right to land management for the establishment of a company. Making the investment for equity interest is an important way to circulate the right to land management contractually and could bring real benefits to peasants. Under the premise of governing and guiding relevant activities, it would be advisable to loosen the restrictions on such investments and to distinguish the different ways of equity investment, i.e., to fully promote the first way and actively develop the second. Based on the differences between a company and a cooperative, it would be better to promote the investment with the right to contractual land management under cooperative equities.


The two-dimensional problem for a half space is considered within the context of the theory of thermoelasticity with two relaxation times under the action of body forces and heat sources that permeate the medium. Laplace and exponential Fourier transform techniques are used to obtain the solution in the transformed domain by a direct approach. The inverse double transform is evaluated numerically. Numerical results are computed for the temperature, displacement and stress distributions then presented graphically.


To realize the design of mobile 4G gateway of ZigBee wireless sensor network (WSN), a scheme of wireless remote monitoring based on ZigBee and general packet radio service (GPRS) WSN gateway system is proposed. The scheme combines the advantages of short distance, low power consumption, low cost and long distance popular communication of ZigBee technology, and uses the system architecture of ZigBee + GPRS + Android. On this hardware platform, the transplantation of Android system and the development of related hardware device drivers are designed and implemented, so as to build the software platform of the system. Based on the software and hardware platform of the system, the related applications are designed and realized according to the function requirements of the system, and the software and hardware platform and the application program are tested and analyzed. The test results show that the system runs steadily and has good performance. To sum up, the hardware platform has the advantages of low energy consumption, high performance and scalability. Keywords—ZigBee, GPRS, wireless sensor, gateway


Media in all its forms can have a strong influence over people's decisions and decision-making processes. This has become more widely recognised in recent times in relation to tourism and the choices people make on where they will travel to and spend their leisure time. Films (in their cinematic role) and television programmes and series have become fundamental to what many people now base their travel decisions on. Authors such as Butler examined this influence as far back as 1990 even though such forms of media have arguably been influencing people for much longer. This paper identifies the impact of television induced tourism on destinations, which have become popular tourist destinations as a result of their featuring in a television series. The purpose of this paper is to consider the influence of television induced tourism on a small rural based community in Ireland and how it can actually influence tourist development to a destination. This subject is now becoming even more popular as a research discipline in the tourism and management fields; Mordue (1996), Riley and Van Doren (1992), Gartner (1993), Bolan and Davidson (2005), Tooke and Baker (2002), Grihault (2003), Beeton(2005) and O'Connor (2000, 2005). Few studies to date have examined this phenomenon and its impact in Ireland however. Something this study does for the area of Avoca in Wicklow, the setting for the fictional village of Ballykissangel in the television series of the same name. The impact of the series and the role it has played in development of the area are examined here in the overall context of television induced tourism.


The enormous tragedy of bushfires with significant loss of life, destruction of property, and differential recovery resulting in community division-that is, 'cleavage planes'-has become an all too common feature of the Australian experience. Research on the communication aspects of emergencies has tended to focus on preparedness and response with little in-depth analysis of the role of the media and communication strategies relating to the recovery process. In this paper, focusing on the Canberra 'firestorm' of 2003 and the aftermath recovery process, we report on a study seeking survivors' views on the functions of communication in the recovery process. The key points were that the media played a significant role in affecting the recovering community-both positively and negatively-in their recovery, that multiple sources of information were needed, that individuals experiencing post-disaster stress absorb information differently, and that the timeliness of the information to individuals was important. A very powerful message was that political and legal issues arising from the aftermath of the fire greatly affected people's recovery. The research demonstrates that it is important for the media to acquire a degree of sensitivity regarding the effect its reporting has on a seriously damaged community and provide an accurate portrayal without sensationalism. It also suggests that communities seek agency in their own recovery and that government involvement can assist or hinder this process.


The dose dependence of the urinary excretion of acrylonitrile (ACN) metabolites was studied after oral administration of [2,3-14C]ACN to male F-344 rats (0.09 to 28.8 mg/kg) and male B6C3F1 mice (0.09 to 10.0 mg/kg). Urine was the major route of excretion of ACN metabolites (77 to 104% of the dose), with less than 8% of the dose excreted in the feces. Reverse-phase HPLC analysis of urine from treated animals indicated five major components (1 through 5 in order of elution) that accounted for 75 to 100% of the total urinary radioactivity. Component 4 was observed in the urine of ACN-treated mice but was only present in trace amounts in the urine of ACN-treated rats. Components 1, 2, and 3 were present in the urine of animals administered [2,3-14C]cyanoethylene oxide (CEO), indicating that these components were derived from the epoxide metabolite of ACN. The ACN urinary metabolites were isolated by HPLC and identified by chromatographic and mass spectral analysis. Component 5 was N-acetyl-S-(2-cyanoethyl)cysteine and component 4 was S-(2-cyanoethyl)thioacetic acid, both derived from the glutathione (GSH) conjugate of ACN. Component 3 contained N-acetyl-S-(2-hydroxyethyl)cysteine, N-acetyl-S-(carboxymethyl)cysteine, and N-acetyl-S-(1-cyano-2-hydroxyethyl)cysteine. Component 2 was thiodiglycolic acid. These urinary metabolites are derived from catabolism of the GSH conjugates of CEO. The polar component 1 was not identified. These results demonstrate that GSH conjugation is the major disposition pathway of ACN. The excretion of metabolites derived from CEO was an approximately linear function of dose in both species, whereas the excretion of N-acetyl-S-(2-cyanoethyl)cysteine increased nonlinearly with dose. This nonlinearity indicates the presence of a saturable pathway competing with glutathione for ACN, most likely the cytochrome P450-dependent oxidation of ACN. Thiodiglycolic acid was formed 10-fold more in mice than in rats, but this species difference in the oxidative processing of GSH conjugates is probably not of toxicological significance. The ratio of ACN epoxidation to GSH conjugation was 0.50 in rats and 0.67 in mice. This species difference in ACN oxidation could have important toxicological implications, since CEO is believed to mediate the carcinogenic effects of ACN.


To solve the pattern recognition problem, a method of synthesized phase objects (SPOmethod) is suggested. The essence of the suggested method is that synthesized phase objects are used instead of real amplitude objects. The former is object-dependent phase distributions calculated using the iterative Fourier transform algorithm. The method is experimentally studied with an optical-digital Vanderlugt and joint Fourier transform 4F-correlators. The development of the SPO-method for the rotation invariant pattern recognition is considered as well. We present the comparative analysis of recognition results with the use of the conventional and proposed methods, estimate the sensitivity of the latter to distortions of the structure of objects, and determine the applicability limits. It is demonstrated that the SPO-method allows one: (a) to simplify the procedure of choice of recognition signs (criteria); (b) to obtain one-type δ-like recognition signals irrespective of the type of objects; and (c) to improve the signal-to-noise ratio for correlation signals by 20–30 dB on the average. To introduce recognition objects in a correlator, we use SLM LC-R 2500 and SLM HEO 1080 Pluto devices.


Crustal xenoliths embedded in lavas offer chances to provide information on the lithology of the volcano basement and the process occurring during magma ascent. In this work we studied seven xenoliths found among the scoriae ejected during several paroxysms occurred between 2011 and 2016 at the South East Crater (SEC) of Mount Etna volcano. These samples are characterized by massive presence of glass and vesicles resulting in a foam-like appearance of their texture. A detailed study of their textural and chemical features was carried out combining XRF, SEM-EDS, two-dimensional observation and Synchrotron X-ray microtomography (3D imaging). This multidisciplinary approach allowed us to identify and quantify the components of the samples, individuate the likely provenance rock, ascribable to the Numidian Flysch outcropping west of the Etnean edifice. 2D and 3D imaging were successfully applied to estimate the amount of the phases constituting the samples (grains + glass + vesicles) and the degree of partial melting that occurred during the interaction with the basaltic melt and gaseous phase. The sedimentary rocks underwent profound changes led by partial melting, gas fluxing, vesiculation and selective alkali enrichment. These processes could not be driven exclusively by the prolonged contact with the molten phase but must be considered as result of a significant contribution from the volatiles rising through the plumbing system and the sedimentary basement.


QSAR study of fluorovinyloxyacetamide has been made with the help of quantum chemical parameters such as absolute hardness (η) and electronegativity (χ). These two parameters have been derived with the help of density functional theory and used to correlate the structural features to the biological activities. The 3D modeling and geometry optimization of all the derivatives have been done with the help of PCMODEL software and semiempirical PM3 calculations performed with the help of WinMOPAC-7.21 software. The absolute hardness provides valuable information due to maximum hardness principle and used in the development of QSAR models. These QSAR models may be used to predict the biological activities of hypothetical derivatives of fluorovinyloxyacetamide.


1. The renal vascular response to intravenously administered dopamine was assessed in normal man by selective renal arteriography and xenon washout. Infusion of 3 μg min −1 kg −1 induced renal vasodilatation with an increase in the cortical component of blood flow. Arterial blood pressure was not influenced and a systemic effect was not demonstrable. Lower doses did not induce a renal response. Increasing dosage raised arterial blood pressure and induced subjective symptoms, but did not result in a further increase in renal blood flow. 2. Renal vascular resistance increased with increasing age in the normal subjects. A significant inverse relationship was found between the initial vascular resistance and the renal vasodilator response to dopamine. It thus appears that the vascular effects of increasing age (nephrosclerosis) may limit the dilator response to dopamine. 3. It is concluded that dopamine is an effective renal cortical vasodilator when administered intravenously at doses which are free from other systemic cardiovascular effects. The dose-response relationship must be considered in attempts at reversal of conditions characterized by renal vasoconstriction.


Social media such as Facebook and Twitter have become repositories for extremely large volumes of data representing for the most part, personal opinions and statements of individual users of these instruments for interpersonal communication. They provide a forum for discourse and debate. The strings of words broadcast by individuals are predominantly casual expressions reflecting personal attitudes or sentiments. Due to the pervasive nature of social media and the opinions they proliferate, it is assumed likely that these casual expressions are being relied on by some readers of the discourse, for their decision making influence. This paper describes how Change Point Analysis (CPA) can be used to bring some precision to the plethora of casually expressed sentiment sourced from social media databases. It is contended that where the conjunction of opinions expressed are related to a factual occurrence in time and space, a change point can be established, which indicates the potential reliability on a given sentiment as being a reliable influence factor for opinion formulation or other decision. When related to tourist destination data, the case study for Japan described here is convincing in its analytical result exposition.


In this paper, a new energy management strategy (EMS) for a dc distribution system in buildings is being proposed. The dc distribution system is considered as a prospective system according to the increase of dc loads and dc output type distribution energy resources (DERs) such as photovoltaic (PV) systems and fuel cells. Since the dc distribution system has many advantages such as feasible connection of DERs and electric vehicles (EVs), reduction of conversion losses between dc output sources and loads, no reactive power issues, it is very suitable for industrial and commercial buildings interfaced with DERs and EVs. The establishment of an appropriate EMS based on the economic point of view can reduce energy costs of buildings and provide benefits to participants in energy management. Applicable elements for the dc distribution system are identified and the real-time decision-making-based algorithm for minimizing operating costs is proposed in this paper. The EV service model for the EMS to offer incentive to EV owners who participate in battery discharging is described. To verify the performances of the proposed algorithm, computer simulation and economic analysis are being performed where the results show that the proposed EMS reduces energy costs, motivates EV owners, and can be applied to the dc distribution buildings.


Knowledge management, as an organisational management technique, aims to capture
the knowledge of the members of an organisation and to distribute it among those members
in a way which encourages new knowledge to emerge. Software, explicitly designed
to aid these goals, is seen as a useful tool for knowledge management. The core focus
in the design of such software is in creating structures which allow the knowledge being
captured to be represented in the software. However this ability to represent knowledge,
on its own, will only serve to make explicit what is already there and will not provide the
ability to capture new knowledge in different forms to the knowledge already represented.
This thesis examines the question of how best to resolve this apparent conflict through
the construction of an argument that rethinks the role of the end user and their relationship
to software design in knowledge management, along with the development of a knowledge
management-specific software development methodology. Through an in-depth analysis
of the 'eCognos' project, which aimed to provide knowledge management software for
the construction domain, the notion that a key aspect of knowledge management software
design must be the realisation that modelling specifically against a single domain will
lead to the development of software artefacts which fundamentally constrain their goal of
enabling knowledge management is explored.


The provision of water to the majority of South Africa has always been at the discretion of the government without
any say whatsoever by the beneficiary communities. This anomaly has led many communities to be without access to this essential commodity. The reasons were more political than socio-economical. The present democratically
elected government has gone a long way to reverse this deprivation of potable water to the majority of the people
of this country. This has been done through the introduction of progressive policies, legislation and procedures.
This paper is intended to discuss practical strategies of maximizing the benefits of such policies to the beneficiary communities through development facilitation. The Eastern
Cape water programme by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) in partnership with the Independent Development Trust(IDT) will be used as a reference.


The agricultural sector of Pakistan consumes 96 percent of the country's available fresh water resources. With a population of 187 million and increasing at an annual growth rate of 1.57 percent, the fresh water resources of the country will face severe stresses in the coming years, affecting its food security. At the same time, there is uncertainty prevailing in the region about climate change, timing and intensity of rainfall, flood and drought events, coupled with glacial melt and unresolved issues pertaining to trans-boundary water resource management. Under these circumstances, investment in agricultural practices that ensure crop productivity and water conservation are critical to Pakistan's food security. This study focuses on a sub-region of Punjab in Pakistan, where wheat is grown using flood irrigation. It examines whether an investment into water-saving irrigation options, such as canal lining, dredging, water saving irrigation technologies, and on farm water storage are feasible options to improve profits of the farmers. Irrigation in Pakistan is supplemented with low quality groundwater, which at times leads to very low yields per unit of water. By comparing the discounted cash flows under each of these options, this study investigates the best investment decisions on the part of the farmer and policy makers. This study also looks at the benefits of crop diversification and water markets, to examine whether these options would lead to higher profitability, hedging of risks and productivity in the study area. The economic analysis is complemented with real options analysis, and where applicable, sensitivity analysis to determine the minimum yield increases required to break even.


The decline of eastern box turtle populations is associated with habitat loss and fragmentation, lack of recruitment into breeding populations, removal of individuals from the wild for pets, and road mortality. Box turtle populations in many areas of the eastern United States may effectively be isolated as high traffic volumes on roads adjacent to turtle habitats prevent successful dispersal. If so, populations surrounded by heavily used roads may be less genetically diverse than those in relatively intact habitats. The author investigated whether populations in three Montgomery County, Maryland parks that were surrounded by roads were genetically differentiated relative to populations in two larger habitats in Maryland's Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties. Sampling was conducted between 2005 and 2008. She used 10 microsatellite markers to compare these populations, and sampled in an additional five sites (two in Maryland, and one each in Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and Florida), to better assess population structure. She found little evidence of genetic differentiation among central Maryland populations regardless of the extent of isolation. The author attributes these findings to the slow rate of change in turtle evolution; the observed similarities in genetic diversity may reflect past rather than present gene flow. She found moderate to great differentiation in populations separated by substantial distances. To determine whether road mortality exceeds additive mortality levels believed to be a threat to population persistence, she estimated population size in the three Montgomery County, Maryland, parks using markrecapture techniques, and compared these estimates to the number of dead, injured, and live turtles in or very near roads observed during walking and driving surveys conducted in 2006. Road-based morality rates fell within the range estimated to be inconsistent with population growth in one of the parks. Road mortality appeared to affect females out of proportion to their abundance in the population. Suggestions for reducing box turtle mortality in areas associated with high mortality rates are included.


It has become usual practice for the Australian Federal Government to shape the country's research priorities to better reflect and care for the needs of the economy, society and the physical environment where they exist. The funding mechanisms for university research and research training have also changed with the latest system being introduced since 2001. A new model, namely the Research Quality Framework (RQF) is being currently discussed, shaped along the lines of the British Research Assessment Exercise and the New Zealand's Performance Based Research Fund.
These are also times when the performance of Australian universities is being attacked with open calls for them to prove that they are worth the taxpayers' money. The paper analyses the productivity of the Australian academic sector between 1992 and 2005 in comparison with New Zealand and the UK (see Figure 1) and then uses the case study of the Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy (ISTP). Murdoch University to demonstrate the changes in research quality. Its main argument is that the constantly improving performance of the Australian universities is not being acknowledged and instead, a false public image of lack of productivity is being created. Data on research publications is used to show that Australia outperforms the UK and New Zealand whose systems are being used as the model for the proposed changes in Australia. The gap has in fact widened since their reforms were introduced.