It is sobering to witness one of the greatest cities in the world slip, despite its deceptively placid surface, into a state of premodernity. Traffic lights in this metropolis of 12 million people still turn from red to green, newspapers in the kiosks report the latest bad news and Argentines occupy cafe tables, smoke a lot and shake their heads in disgust as they have for centuries. But money has ceased to exist. Oh, there are coins and bills, and cash still manages to facilitate exchange—except when the peso's value oscillates by 40 percent in three days, as it did in March. But money as the basis of a modern, capitalist economy, money that can be lent and borrowed, created or liquidated by central banks, money as the lubricating oil of investment and production—that has disappeared. In normal times, María Esperanza Alvarez, 63, could be fairly considered a bit eccentric, if not a nut case. Standing outside the Spanish consulate where her niece is trying to get papers in order to abandon the country, she confides that for the past thirty years she has kept her savings in a box—thousands of dollars (which were always available) accumulated from her clothing business, which once employed twenty-three seamstresses. Having defied all common and expert sense for three decades, María Esperanza now deserves an Einstein award: She never for a moment believed the banks' basic pledge that they would give her back her money when they promised to do so. And she was right. Lisandro Orlov, by contrast, was more trusting, perhaps in keeping with his professional outlook as a Lutheran pastor. Engaged for years in projects aimed at reintegrating social outcasts—street dwellers, drug users, people facing AIDS-related discrimination—the 59-year-old Orlov lost his pension fund in the December bank freeze-up. Like many Argentines, Orlov assumed that the austere entities in cavernous downtown palaces like HSBC, Citibank and BankBoston would honor their commitments. Now he's fighting in court to regain access to his dollars, already forcibly converted to 1.4 pesos each, or less than half the 3-to-1 rate the greenback now commands on the street. In December of last year, Argentina's decade-long and highly celebrated experiment as the poster child of monetarist orthodoxy came to a crashing halt. While the International Monetary Fund is not the only responsible party, its spokespeople have now conveniently forgotten their laudatory worship of the main architect of the project, former President Carlos Saúl Menem, and the fund's gleeful funding of it throughout the 1990s. The IMF is now forcing Argentines to pay the price of its decadelong collusion with what it now says was a flawed performance all along.


One of the strongest climate impacts on human societies has and will come from the sea level
change. In this study, the sea level change under warm climate conditions, e.g. the Eemain, the
mid-Holocene and the future, are examined using the coupled Earth system models including the
atmosphere, the ocean, sea ice, land surface cover, a dynamic-thermodynamic ice sheet model,
as well as a geophysical model of surface deformation and the Earth's gravitational field. The
latter is an integral of mass changes, providing a convenient way to assess spatial variability of
imbalances. These can counteract or enhance sea level change impacts along shores
significantly, especially in the North Hemisphere. The chosen model approach enables studying
the integration of the climate components in their full complexity with respect to climate boundary
conditions, orography and ice extent. With the coupled Earth system model we will simulate the
evolution of the ice sheets, the ocean overturning and atmospheric circulation for past and future
climate scenarios, part of which will be severed as input to the next IPCC report (A5).
As one particular aspect, the impact of self-gravitational impacts on the dynamical flow regime in
respect to sea-level and ice mass changes will be investigated. As a consequence of changes in
the ice-ocean mass balance, masses within the Earth are redistributed and therefore deviations
from the Earth's equilibrium figure resulting from glacial isostatic adjustment and contemporary
melting are still observable today. According to our knowledge, it is the first time that a climate
model will be coupled to a geophysical model in order to investigate the full range of impacts on
global sea level changes.


Abstract The Pieniny Klippen Belt contains thickening and coarsening upwards synorogenic sedimentary successions witnessing the collision of the Oravic ribbon continent with the Central Carpathian orogenic wedge after the closure of the Vahic Ocean in the Late Cretaceous to Early Palaeogene. The sedimentary record of this event is represented by flysch/wildflysch deposits of the Maastrichtian–Lower/Middle Eocene Jarmuta–Proč Formation. We present results of the provenance study of these deposits, based on the framework petrography, heavy mineral analysis and mineral chemistry. Turbiditic sandstones were classified as quarzolithic to lithic arenites. Lithic fragments are predominantly composed of carbonate rocks and low- to medium-grade metamorphic and occasional mafic volcanic rocks. The heavy mineral association is composed of both first-cycle derived and recycled ultrastable ZTR, garnets and Cr-spinels. The chemistry of the detrital tourmalines and garnets suggests a derivation from various low- to medium-grade metamorphic rocks. High-pyrope garnets, observed in the eastern part of the PKB, which were derived from high-grade granulites and eclogites, represent probably lower crustal complexes exhumed during rifting of the Vahic Ocean. The Cr-spinels show a mixed harzburgitic and lherzolitic provenance. The harzburgitic Cr-spinels might have been recycled from older exotic conglomerates of the Klape Flysch, thereby representing ophiolitic detritus of the Meliata Ocean. The lherzolitic Cr-spinels might represent a new contribution of ophiolitic detritus delivered from the exhumed subcontinental mantle forming the Vahic oceanic floor.


This dissertation is concerned with the distribution of power within the Conservative
Party, but specifically how power manifests itself. Following the devastating 1997 defeat,
the party embarked on a programme of organisational change, which brought together the
individual components of the party, underpinned by a written constitution. A more formal
approach to organisation ensued. It was deemed the route to party renewal, in line with
the Labour Party's central command model. As such, it was a direct challenge to the
traditional autonomy enjoyed by the constituency parties. The research thus examines
how the party responded organisationally to defeat and the attendant impact on local
autonomy. The methodology employed is qualitative in nature and takes the bottom-up
perspective. Interviews were conducted with local constituency officers, area officers,
agents and regional officials. These were supported by statistical and documentary data.
Three centrally-orientated themes emerged: the right of political determination, the
development of political capability and the approach to party management. These were
synthesised into a new framework to explain the evolution of the Conservative Party
organisation: the managerial-network model. This recognises the move to greater central
administration and control, but equally to local rights of self-organisation, as local
autonomy is now conceived. Moreover, it incorporates the increasing engagement of
outside supporter networks and expertise at the local level; this is an extension of the
national practice. The model is appraised against the `oligarchy' and `party evolution'
literature. Oligarchy has been strengthened by managerialism, thereby re-enforcing
McKenzie's (1963) argument, but in a wider organisational context. The party evolution
literature was found to be too narrowly focused, as it did not satisfactorily address
organisation. Hence, the managerial-network model builds upon the electoralprofessionalm
odel of Panebianco( 1988), but is more comprehensive and flexible. It also
suggests that the notion of `membership party' is no longer applicable as there is a
noticeable political deficit locally. It has been replaced by a local network in which the
local association is the foundation. This has resulted in the blurring of its boundaries. The
new organisational settlement is a logical and sustainable response to the changing
political environment that the Conservative Party leadership was confronted with, but one
that offers room for further development.


Large business enterprises, from the railroad barons of nineteenth century America to Amazon and Google today, are often perceived as important for economic performance and, at the same time, as potential abusers of their political and economic power. In this study, we compare the experiences of four countries that implemented policies to curb the influence of one type of large corporate entities â?? pyramidal business groups: The US in the 1930s; Japan during the American occupation (1945-1952); Korea following the Asian crisis (late 1990s); and Israel in the last decade (2010-2018). Novel regulatory measures, applied consistently in the US and Japan, where the extreme political circumstances were very favorable to economic reform, led to the demise of pyramidal business groups in these countries. Israel, where the reforms did not follow a severe crisis, also used specifically-designed regulatory tools over a decade-long period, resulting in a significant decline in the number and size of business groups. Korea, after experimenting with variety of regulatory measures, chose to rely primarily on corporate governance-focused reforms to curb the influence of the chaebol, but with limited effects; groups continue to dominate the Korean economy. Our findings point to the importance of specifically-designed regulatory tools, applied consistently over time, against the backdrop of a pro-reform political climate.


Background: Folic acid and vitamin B12 play key roles in one-carbon metabolism. Disruption of one-carbon metabolism may be involved in the risk of cancer. Our aim was to assess the long-term effect of supplementation with both folic acid and vitamin B12 on the incidence of overall cancer and on colorectal cancer in the B Vitamins for the Prevention of Osteoporotic Fractures (B-PROOF) trial. Methods: Long-term follow-up of B-PROOF trial participants (N = 2,524), a multicenter, double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial designed to assess the effect of 2 to 3 years daily supplementation with folic acid (400 μg) and vitamin B12 (500 μg) versus placebo on fracture incidence. Information on cancer incidence was obtained from the Netherlands cancer registry (Integraal Kankercentrum Nederland), using the International Statistical Classification of Disease (ICD-10) codes C00–C97 for all cancers (except C44 for skin cancer), and C18–C20 for colorectal cancer. Results: Allocation to B vitamins was associated with a higher risk of overall cancer [171 (13.6%) vs. 143 (11.3%); HR 1.25; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.00–1.53, P = 0.05]. B vitamins were significantly associated with a higher risk of colorectal cancer [43(3.4%) vs. 25(2.0%); HR 1.77; 95% CI, 1.08–2.90, P = 0.02]. Conclusions: Folic acid and vitamin B12 supplementation was associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. Impact: Our findings suggest that folic acid and vitamin B12 supplementation may increase the risk of colorectal cancer. Further confirmation in larger studies and in meta-analyses combining both folic acid and vitamin B12 are needed to evaluate whether folic acid and vitamin B12 supplementation should be limited to patients with a known indication, such as a proven deficiency.


The objective of the paper was to illustrate using and usefulness of a joint AMMI and cluster analyses to assess the grain yield adaptive response of Polish and foreign 31 winter wheat cultivars in a range of 20 environments (locations) and across 3 years (2005-2007) under integrated crop management, using data obtained in the post-registration variety testing trials (called PDO trials), to identify those entries with specific and wide adaptation. Two-stage combined analysis of variance for data in the three-way GLY classification was carried out according to a mixed model (cultivar and location as fixed factors and years as random factor). GL repeated (across years) interaction effects were modeled by (a) joint regression and (b) additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI). The thirty one cultivar adaptive responses, expressed by nominal yields based on significant AMMI-1 model, accounting for 27.8% of SS for GL interactions, were divided into six homogenous groups by Ward's method of cluster analysis. Group-mean cultivar adaptive responses indicated clearly the wide adaptation of cultivars in groups 1 and 2 including mostly German and United Kingdom entries and also two Polish ones. Cultivars from group 6, including three Polish cultivars and three foreign ones, were among at most four top-ranking entries at all locations excluding one environment (Wyczechy at Pomerania region). Cultivars from group 3, including seven Polish cultivars and one from United Kingdom and France, showed extremely specific adaptation characterized by nominal yield responses being positively related to GL interaction PC 1 scores of the locations. However, cultivars from group 5, including five Polish ones and a French one were poor adapted to the growing area. Presented the joint AMMI and cluster analyses were effective to distinguish adaptive responses of studied cultivars on the basis of data from PDO trials and could be seen as a better alternative, based more on probability-approached methodology, to common pattern analysis.


In this paper, we consider the problem of expressing and computing queries on relational deductive databases in a purely declarative query language, called SHQL (Semi-Horn Query Language). Assuming the relational databases in question are ordered, we show that all SHQL queries are computable in PTIME (polynomial time) and the whole class of PTIME queries is expressible in SHQL. Although similar results have been proven for fixpoint languages and extensions to datalog, the claim is that SHQL has the advantage of being purely declarative, where the negation operator is interpreted as classical negation, mixed quantifiers may be used and a query is simply a restricted first-order theory not limited by the rule-based syntactic restrictions associated with logic programs in general. We describe the PTIME algorithm used to compute queries in SHQL which is based in part on quantifier elimination techniques and also consider extending the method to incomplete relational databases using intuitions related to circumscription techniques.


The security of a wireless sensor network is greatly increased with increasing levels of trustworthiness of nodes on the network. There are a number of trust models proposed that use various trust evaluation methods. The paper categorises trust evaluation methods for wireless sensor networks into socio‐inspired, bio‐inspired, and analytical methods. Biologically inspired methods and socio constructs are rarely used in the design of trust schemes as opposed to analytical methods (probability, agent based, fuzzy, etc). The paper discusses existing bio‐ and socio‐inspired–based trust schemes implemented for wireless sensor networks, viz quality‐based distance vector protocol, enhanced bio‐inspired trust and reputation model for wireless sensor network, bio‐inspired trust routing protocol, machine learning–based bio‐inspired trust and reputation model, socio‐psychological trust and reputation model, and finally reputation framework for sensor network. The contributions, trust evaluation methods and limitations of recent trust models (i.e. analytical based, biological and socio‐inspired models) are discussed in this paper. The pros and cons of analytical, socio, and biologically inspired algorithms for computing are outlined to easily ascertain the relevance of adopting either biological or socio‐inspired approaches for solving trust‐related problems in wireless sensor networks.


The ultimate goal of smart grid is digitalization, automation, interaction and informatization. If we want to establish smart grid, we must depend on advanced power electronics technology. With the development of the society and the progress of era, the development of economy and science and technology are also very rapid. Therefore, the demand for energy is growing, and the average power grid is aging fast. That leads to the high accident rate and based on the reasons above, in order to meet the needs of times development, our country must use the advanced smart grid, on the basis of the advanced sensing measurement and communication technology. The advanced power electronics technology is the key to smart grid construction. The construction of smart grid really plays an important role in society.


An exact, optimal ("maximum-accuracy") psychometric methodology for assessing inter-method reliability for measures involving ordinal ratings is used to evaluate and compare two emergency medicine triage algorithms—both of which classify patients into one of five ordinal categories. Ten raters independently evaluated the identical set of 200 patients, five with each algorithm. UniODA revealed moderate levels of inter-method agreement, which is theoretically consistent with recent findings of moderate inter-observer reliability for triage ratings derived using both algorithms.


This research dealt with the leaching of arsenic containing waste rocks from a proposed gold mine site at Ree:fion, New Zealand. Then it established the acidity and concentrations of Fe, sulfate, As(V) and As(III) released as a result of leaching experiments which simulated the weathering process. It also determined the arsenic concentrations that were released from old mine workings into the Devils Creek sediments catchment and concentrated into sediments. The Devils Creek catchment is located downstream from the proposed mine. Acid mme drainage (AMD) results from oxidation of sulfide bearing rocks and deposits (e.g. FeS and FeS2). It is characterised by elevated concentrations of sulfate and iron and low pH. As(V) and As (III) may also be a component in AMD from the oxidation of Fe AsS. Biologically As(III) is considered the more toxic form. Methods were developed for the measurement of arsenic species (As(V) and As(III)) in leachates derived from mine waste rocks. These were applied to freshwater samples and sediment extracts. These included: • A field method for the on-site fractionation of arsenic in fresh waters using XAD4 and Chelex-Fe(III) resins. In this two-step process the XAD-4 resin was used to isolate and pre-concentrate natural organic matter (NOM) and therefore the arsenic fraction associated with it through iron bound to the NOM. In the second step Fe(UI) modified Chelex 100 resin was used to selectively preconcentrate As(V) from water samples. Thus the combined method achieved discrimination between free and bound fractions of As(V) and the separation of As(V) from As(IU). • A flow injection analysis protocol based on spectrophotometric detection was modified to increase its sensitivity for measurement of arsenic species in leachates derived from waste rocks. The method was effective for the determination of arsenate. Arsenite was measured by prior oxidation with iodate. Study on the Devils Creek catchment established the existing baseline levels of arsenic in the fresh water and sediments. The water contains high levels of arsenic. Most ofthe arsenic in Devils Creek water is soluble. As(V) is the predominant species of which a minor fraction (13-28%) is bound to NOM. It was also established that arsenic was associated with Fe and Al rich phases in the Devils Creek sediments. Due to the high accumulated arsenic load in the sediments, further uptake of arsenic from the water column is no longer viable because potential binding sites in the sediments have been saturated. Leaching simulation on mine basic waste rocks (GB 13) and an acidic sandstone were conducted using a variety of leach ants applicable to the field, then quantifying the Fe, As(III), As(V), heavy metals and acidity in the leachates. It was established that the sandstone rock had the greater potential to produce acid mine drainage (AMD). Its leachates give a high acidity (pH 2.9-3.4) compared to leachates of the GB 13 waste rock which have a weakly basic pH of7.2. The dominant arsenic species in leachates of both rock types is As(V). The concentrations of arsenic, soluble Fe and heavy metals leached from the sandstone were greater than those leached from GB 13. The interactions of arsenate with other components of AMD and natural organic matter were examined. It was established that ferrihydrite semi-quantitatively and rapidly removes arsenate from solution. The arsenate adsorption is inhibited by competing ions in the following order: sulfate> FA ::= HA. Complexes of HA-Fe(III) and FA-Fe(III) bind arsenate as 1: 1 complexes through the Fe(III). Investigations were made on the use of limestone for the control of arsenic in mine waste rock leachates. It was established that where acidic leachate contacts limestone the pH rises as a result of neutralisation reactions. Subsequently there is a precipitation ofFe(III) and retention of As(V) on the Fe(OHh As(III) is oxidised by Fe3+(aq) and Fe(OHh On contact with the limestone surface, As(III) is also retained and oxidised. Fe(III) impurities in the limestone are responsible for the uptake of both As(V) and As(III). Insoluble calcium arsenates or arsenites are not formed.


Scott Walker and the Song of the One-All-Alone offers, in detailed interpretative commentaries of his best songs, a sustained assessment of the work and career of Scott Walker, one of the most significant and perplexing artists of the late 20th and 21st century. For Brian Eno, Walker was not only a great composer and a superlative lyricist but also a significant contemporary poet. Marc Almond goes further, 'an absolute musical genius, existential and intellectual and a star right from the days of The Walker Brothers'. As Almond suggests, Walker's work is marked by a continual engagement with existentialist philosophy informing his approach to art, politics and life. In particular, the device of the solitary figure or 'one-all-alone' evoked in his songs provides the basis for his lyrical exploration of the singularity of existence – in all its darkness as well as light. Through following his own path, Walker arrived at a unique sound according to his own method that produced a genuinely new form of song. Looking closely at these songs, this book also considers the wider political implications of his approach in its rejection of external authorities and common or consensual ideals.


Clearly articulating expectations from the
perspective of both the learner and teacher is
important within a learning context. As a
teacher, modelling behaviours that
demonstrate best practice techniques assist
learners to engage, apply and understand.
The environment in which a student is placed
has the potential to impact their learning.
Therefore understanding the needs of the
learner and the context in which you are
situated will assist you to achieve success.


Concern has been expressed about the use of e-cigarettes among young people. Our study reported e-cigarette and tobacco cigarette ever and regular use among 11–16 year olds across the UK. Data came from five large scale surveys with different designs and sampling strategies conducted between 2015 and 2017: The Youth Tobacco Policy Survey; the Schools Health Research Network Wales survey; two Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Smokefree Great Britain-Youth Surveys; and the Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey. Cumulatively these surveys collected data from over 60,000 young people. For 2015/16 data for 11–16 year olds: ever smoking ranged from 11% to 20%; regular (at least weekly) smoking between 1% and 4%; ever use of e-cigarettes 7% to 18%; regular (at least weekly) use 1% to 3%; among never smokers, ever e-cigarette use ranged from 4% to 10% with regular use between 0.1% and 0.5%; among regular smokers, ever e-cigarette use ranged from 67% to 92% and regular use 7% to 38%. ASH surveys showed a rise in the prevalence of ever use of e-cigarettes from 7% (2016) to 11% (2017) but prevalence of regular use did not change remaining at 1%. In summary, surveys across the UK show a consistent pattern: most e-cigarette experimentation does not turn into regular use, and levels of regular use in young people who have never smoked remain very low.


The book illustrates the important role that a contradiction between form and function plays in compositional strategies in architecture. The contradiction between form and function is seen as a device for poetic expression, for the expression of ideas, in architecture. The book contributes to the project of re-establishing architecture as a humanistic discipline.

Continuing the themes that have been addressed in The Humanities in Architectural Design and The Cultural Role of Architecture, this book illustrates the important role that a contradiction between form and function plays in compositional strategies in architecture. The contradiction between form and function is seen as a device for poetic expression, for the expression of ideas, in architecture.
Here the role of the terms "form" and "function" are analyzed throughout the history of architecture and architectural theory, from Vitruvius to the present, with particular emphasis on twentieth-century functionalism. Historical examples are given from Ancient, Classical, Islamic, Christian, Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist, and Neoclassical architecture, and from movements in the twentieth century to the present.

In addition philosophical issues such as lineamenti, Vorstellung, differance, dream construction, deep structure and surface structure, topology theory, self-generation, and immanence are explored in relation to the compositions and writings of architects throughout history.

This book contributes to the project of re-establishing architecture as a humanistic discipline, to re-establish an emphasis on the expression of ideas, and on the ethical role of architecture to engage the intellect of the observer and to represent human identity.


The Equator Principles are a set of voluntary environmental guidelines created to manage environmental degradation that results from large-scale developmental projects in the Third World. On June 4, 2003, ten private financial institutions adopted these guidelines, and by the end of 2006 this number had grown to forty. Moreover, in June 2006 the Principles were revised, raising the level of scrutiny for companies that adhere to these guidelines. At first blush, the adoption of the Equator Principles by private financial institutions appears to be a substantial step toward implementing environmental standards in developing countries that lack adequate regulations. However, three years after their inception, debate as to whether the Principles are actually spurring environmental change remains. This Note analyzes whether the Equator Principles are having a positive impact and achieving their stated goals related to the local environment in developing countries. This Note concludes that, despite a great deal of uncertainty regarding their real impact, the Equator Principles clearly have improved the situation by placing the private sector in a proactive environmental role and strengthening the public's ability to hold the financial sector accountable for its actions. 198 VANDERBIL TJOURNAL OF TRANSNA TIONAL LA W


Aim. We investigated the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) in hypertensive patients categorized according to the number of markers of organ damage (OD) in order to assess the value of a systematic search for cardiac and extra‐cardiac OD in the MS setting. Methods. A total of 3119 untreated and treated essential hypertensives included in the Evaluation of Target Organ Damage in Hypertension (ETODH), an observational registry of hypertension‐related OD, were considered for this analysis. All patients underwent extensive investigation for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) or LV concentric remodeling (cardiac OD), carotid plaques and/or intima‐media thickening (vascular OD) and microalbuminuria (MA) and/or increased serum creatinine (renal OD). Subjects were classified as: positive for none (group 0), one (group I), two (group II) or three markers (group III) of OD. Results. MS prevalence rates progressively rose across the groups stratified according to the OD score, reaching a 2.3‐fold increase in group III compared with their MS counterparts in group 0. The distribution of subjects with and without the MS across the groups was 15% vs 29% (group 0), 32% vs 38% (group I), 39% vs 26% (group II) and 14% vs 7% (group III), respectively. Thus, subjects having two or three markers of OD were 53% among those with MS and 33% (p<0.01) among those without it. Conclusion. Our findings indicate a strong association between the MS and OD by showing that a clustering of two or three markers of OD is the prevalent cardiovascular phenotype in MS hypertensives referred to a specialist center and call for a systematic evaluation of cardiac and extracardiac OD in this setting.


Synthetic peptide-based polymers represent a unique class of macromolecules able to mimic the properties of natural proteins in materials sciences since (1) they present the same macromolecular backbone as do proteins, (2) they can be obtained in large scale and in only one step by using the ROP (Ring-Opening Polymerization) methodology, and (3) they can fold into different secondary structures in the same way as do proteins. The control of this structuring ability paves the way to a wide range of applications in materials science, for which uses of natural proteins remain limited. In this review article, the fundamental principles of polypeptide polymer structuring are summarized. It is also highlighted here, how tuning the polypeptide secondary structure could be a key step to modulate various properties in advanced materials (size, rigidity, self-assembly, etc.).


This paper summarises some of the challenges to science that are posed by the search for sustainability. These challenges are not only technical ones, such as more affordable or reliable equipment for health care, water quality control and refrigeration. There are also fundamental empirical and methodological challenges, such as complexity, irreversibility and uncertainty over the long term, that must be faced for achieving better understanding of our environment and the planet's life-support systems. Finally, there are moral and procedural challenges for defining the roles of science-based knowledge and innovations for poverty reduction, for governance of technological and environmental risks, for sustainable ecosystems management, and for effective communication of scientific information to achieve these goals.


Lourdes Travieso-Parker The purpose of this qualitative case study was to analyze the impact of the policies of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) on the teaching and learning of 10 Latino English language learners (ELLs) in an urban high school in Virginia. Using ethnographic methodology, the researcher examined the nexus of the policy of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2001) with the pedagogy of the English as a Second Language (ESL) and content area teachers, and the practices employed by teachers to enable students to acquire a second language in an academic setting. This enabled the researcher to examine the contextual framework of a large urban school and factors converging to help Latino ELLs learn academic English to succeed in high school. By reviewing the policy, pedagogy, and practices used in this school, I observed the connectedness of an entire school and the relationships fostered by students and faculty to support a learning climate for ELLs. The findings of this study show that the sociocultural environment and the educational experiences play a significant role in the adaptive process of learning a second language for Latino English language learners. Pedagogy that was built on respect for the Latino English language learners' cultural identity, linguistic abilities, and critical thinking skills helped learners become actively engaged, and facilitated learning in the second language that was academically rigorous. The practices of caring teachers enabled them to serve as advocates for ELLs, helped forge relationships of respect and trust, and encouraged Latino ELLs to succeed academically as they navigated the high school environment.


Multiphysics simulation coupled with a 1-DOF (Degree of Freedom) system was carried out to improve the geometrical redesign of the linear control solenoid valve. Since the electromagnetic field is strongly coupled with the flow field, a multiphysics simulation coupled with a 1-DOF system could offer a considerably useful approach in the design and optimization of linear control solenoid valves. First, in order to maintain a constant electromagnetic force on plunger strokes with an external current flow, the electromagnetic component valve was improved through a magnetostaic simulation. Although the hydraulic feedback force widened the controllable pressure range of the linear control solenoid valve, the range of the spool stroke for the pressure control was still narrow for = 0.18~0.84 A. We employed the redesign II model, which improved the electromagnetic and the hydraulic components. The redesign II model was able to accurately control the pressure while the external current was = 0.18~1.0 A, at 68.3% of the total control range.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.24.3.20137


In the present paper, we have been synthesized a new salicylaldimine-based rod-like liquid crystal 4-((S)-3,7-Dimethyloctyloxy)-2-[[[4-(S)-2-methylbutoxyphenyl]imino]methyl]phenol (DMIP) exhibiting an enantiotropic Smectic A mesophase in the narrow temperature range. We have also evaluated the dielectric parameters of this liquid crystal DMIP as a function of temperature from 25 °C–50 °C and frequency range from 1 Hz to 1 MHz. It is observed that dielectric constant (ε′) and dielectric loss factor (ε″) depends on frequency and temperature. Relative dielectric parameters, such as the dielectric strength, relaxation times and absorption coefficient change at phase transition temperature of the DMIP have been analyzed from the dielectric data of the Cole-Cole equation. Molecular reorientation mechanism has been investigated in the Smectic A mesophase temperature range by Debye type relaxation behaviour.


Common wisdom tells that, regarding quality, prevention is better than appraisal. Although scholars and practitioners concur with that, firms in practice prioritise appraisal, leading to high non-conformance quality costs. To unravel this puzzle, we understand quality as the combined result of prevention, done by the firm's back office (e.g. production), and appraisal, done by the front office (e.g. marketing). We propose a game theoretic model for which quality expenditure is an equilibrium outcome that depends on the cost of technology, the customers' sensitivity to quality, and the distribution of (variable) incentives within the firm. We conjecture those conditions for the reported quality expenditures of several companies, and calculate their optimal quality investment policy. As advocated by experts, we find that prevention should more than double appraisal, and non-conformance costs should approach zero.


Automatic non-native accent assessment has many potential benefits in language learning and speech technologies. The three fundamental challenges in automatic accent assessment are to characterize, model and assess individual variation in speech of the non-native speaker. In our recent work, accentedness score was automatically obtained by comparing two phone probability sequences obtained through instances of non-native and native speech. In this paper, we build on the previous work and obtain the native latent symbol probability sequence through the word hypothesis modeled as a hidden Markov model (HMM). The approach overcomes the necessity for a native human reference speech of the same sentence. Using the HMMs trained on an auxiliary native speech corpus, the proposed approach achieves a correlation of 0.68 with the human accent ratings on the ISLE corpus. This is further interesting considering that the approach does not use any non-native data and human accent ratings at any stage of the system development.


Abstract. We advance the achievements of Interball-1 and other contemporary missions in exploration of the magnetosheath-cusp interface. Extensive discussion of published results is accompanied by presentation of new data from a case study and a comparison of those data within the broader context of three-year magnetopause (MP) crossings by Interball-1. Multi-spacecraft boundary layer studies reveal that in ∼80% of the cases the interaction of the magnetosheath (MSH) flow with the high latitude MP produces a layer containing strong nonlinear turbulence, called the turbulent boundary layer (TBL). The TBL contains wave trains with flows at approximately the Alfven speed along field lines and "diamagnetic bubbles" with small magnetic fields inside. A comparison of the multi-point measurements obtained on 29 May 1996 with a global MHD model indicates that three types of populating processes should be operative: large-scale (∼few RE) anti-parallel merging at sites remote from the cusp; medium-scale (few thousandkm) local TBL-merging of fields that are anti-parallel on average; small-scale (few hundredkm) bursty reconnection of fluctuating magnetic fields, representing a continuous mechanism for MSH plasma inflow into the magnetosphere, which could dominate in quasi-steady cases. The lowest frequency (∼1–2mHz) TBL fluctuations are traced throughout the magnetosheath from the post-bow shock region up to the inner magnetopause border. The resonance of these fluctuations with dayside flux tubes might provide an effective correlative link for the entire dayside region of the solar wind interaction with the magnetopause and cusp ionosphere. The TBL disturbances are characterized by kinked, double-sloped wave power spectra and, most probably, three-wave cascading. Both elliptical polarization and nearly Alfvenic phase velocities with characteristic dispersion indicate the kinetic Alfvenic nature of the TBL waves. The three-wave phase coupling could effectively support the self-organization of the TBL plasma by means of coherent resonant-like structures. The estimated characteristic scale of the "resonator" is of the order of the TBL dimension over the cusps. Inverse cascades of kinetic Alfven waves are proposed for forming the larger scale "organizing" structures, which in turn synchronize all nonlinear cascades within the TBL in a self-consistent manner. This infers a qualitative difference from the traditional approach, wherein the MSH/cusp interaction is regarded as a linear superposition of magnetospheric responses on the solar wind or MSH disturbances. Key words. Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers) – Space plasma physics (turbulence; nonlinear phenomena)


Decades of feminist scholarship documents the persistence of gender inequality in work organizations. Yet few studies explicitly examine gender inequality in collectivist organizations like worker cooperatives. This article draws on the "theory of gendered organizations" to consider how gender operates in a worker-recovered cooperative in contemporary Argentina. Based on ethnographic and archival research in Hotel B.A.U.E.N., this article finds that although gender remains a salient feature of the workplace, the cooperative has also adopted policies that take steps toward addressing gender inequality. It concludes by offering an updated theoretical framework for the future study of "gendered organizations."


In its 2011 ruling in Turner v. Rogers, the Supreme Court held that a nonpaying child support obligor may not be incarcerated in a civil contempt proceeding if he did not have the ability to pay the ordered support or the purge necessary to regain his freedom. The Turner case arose in South Carolina, a state in which civil contempt proceedings are a routine part of the child support enforcement process. The author observed child support contempt proceedings in South Carolina both before and after the Turner decision to assess the extent to which indigent obligors were being held in contempt and incarcerated despite their apparent inability to make the court-ordered payments. Findings from this study confirm that incarceration of indigent child support obligors such as Mr. Turner was common in South Carolina prior to the Supreme Court's decision, and indicate that judicial treatment of indigent child support obligors remained essentially the same after the Turner decision was handed down.
Turner did contribute to a reduction in the incarceration of indigent obligors in South Carolina, but this reduction was due to an administrative response to the decision rather than a judicial one. Pre-screening procedures that were promoted by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement following Turner had the effect of averting judicial hearings for large numbers of indigent obligors, thus avoiding for those individuals any possibility of incarceration. Further reductions in the number of indigents going before the court should result from new OCSE regulations requiring steps to assure that child support awards more closely reflect obligors' ability to pay, thus reducing noncompliance and contempt referrals.


Economics as a subject matter has been given a variety of definitions over the last 200 years, however all the definitions have a similar concept that they lean towards, a general principle one can say. The definitions are not wrong, this paper does not seek to prove that they are wrong, but only to show they where right for their time, a subject matter like economics, though studied over the centuries only formally became a discipline in its own right in the last two centuries, and as such is fairly young and as we know more there perhaps is a time to seek a definition for economics for the twenty first century. This paper seeks to give such a definition in light of the increased understanding of economics or at the least we have access to greater information concerning the discipline economics than say Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall or Hayek. Take the definition by Samuelson, "Economics is the study of how societies use scarce resources to produce valuable commodities and distribute them among different people", though correct, is the definition sufficient for the twenty first century and beyond, that is all this paper seeks to answer, for it is the definition of a discipline that guides the readers thoughts. The objective of this paper is to simply reaffirm the modern definition of what is economics given we know so much more than 100 years ago.


Visualisation of complex datasets is often designed to assist communication and to make that data more visually accessible (Friendly and Denis, 2006). In some recent approaches to data visualisation, the goal of visualising datasets is not to reveal a single underlying 'truth' that hides in complex data, but rather to visualise the structure of the data itself, to 'show everything' and see what emerges (Jones, 2009).

The latter approach is particularly useful in the visualisation of large digital heritage collections, which present challenges for conventional data visualisation because they are often polymorphous and idiosyncratic. Interactive tools for exploring heritage datasets can enable people to explore and play with potential relationships between parts of the collection and to learn about the collection itself and thus better understand the material it contains and how that material has been organised.

This paper provides a tangible demonstration of this approach and how it has been embraced in two recent interactive heritage collection visualisation projects: Whitelaw's Visible Archive (which visualises the collection of the National Archives of Australia) and Hinton and Whitelaw's Flickr Commons Explorer (which visualises nearly 40 photographic collections comprising more than 20,000 images available through Flickr).


This article compares two extended interactions that took place recently on the Internet, one from a recreational Internet Relay Chat (IRC)channel, and the other from an academic listserv discussion group. The two interactions exhibit similar gender dynamics, which can be characterized as harassment of female by male participants. This harassment takes different forms, in keeping with the possibilities inherent in the two modes of computer-mediated communication. Whereas female participants on IRC are kicked off the channel, in the discussion group harassers must rely exclusively on language to intimidate and silence. This "rhetoric of harassment" crucially invokes libertarian principles of freedom of expression, constructing women's resistance as "censorship." A rhetorical analysis of the two harassment episodes thus sheds light on the means used to construct and maintain asymmetrical gender and power dynamics in different modes of CMC.


Abstract. The Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem) is modified to include a volatility basis set (VBS) treatment of secondary organic aerosol formation. The VBS approach, coupled with SAPRC-99 gas-phase chemistry mechanism, is used to model gas-particle partitioning and multiple generations of gas-phase oxidation of organic vapors. In addition to the detailed 9-species VBS, a simplified mechanism using 2 volatility species (2-species VBS) is developed and tested for similarity to the 9-species VBS in terms of both mass and oxygen-to-carbon ratios of organic aerosols in the atmosphere. WRF-Chem results are evaluated against field measurements of organic aerosols collected during the MILAGRO 2006 campaign in the vicinity of Mexico City. The simplified 2-species mechanism reduces the computational cost by a factor of 2 as compared to 9-species VBS. Both ground site and aircraft measurements suggest that the 9-species and 2-species VBS predictions of total organic aerosol mass as well as individual organic aerosol components including primary, secondary, and biomass burning are comparable in magnitude. In addition, oxygen-to-carbon ratio predictions from both approaches agree within 25 %, providing evidence that the 2-species VBS is well suited to represent the complex evolution of organic aerosols. Model sensitivity to amount of anthropogenic semi-volatile and intermediate volatility (S/IVOC) precursor emissions is also examined by doubling the default emissions. Both the emission cases significantly under-predict primary organic aerosols in the city center and along aircraft flight transects. Secondary organic aerosols are predicted reasonably well along flight tracks surrounding the city, but are consistently over-predicted downwind of the city. Also, oxygen-to-carbon ratio predictions are significantly improved compared to prior studies by adding 15 % oxygen mass per generation of oxidation; however, all modeling cases still under-predict these ratios downwind as compared to measurements, suggesting a need to further improve chemistry parameterizations of secondary organic aerosol formation.


Working collaboratively with Indigenous populations necessitates a focus on partnerships at the core of sharing, implementing and disseminating Indigenous knowledge. The Tri-Council Policy 2 ISSN: ISSN 1837-0144 © International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies Statement (CIHR, 2010) notes that respectful, reciprocal and ethical research standards must be applied to research with Indigenous communities. Metis collaborators identified that relationships must be regarded as the central focus of sharing Metis knowledge. Utilizing an investigation on the health benefits of participating in cultural activities, specifically harvesting, we demonstrate how applying mixed methods meets and informs these research standards and creates a unique, participatory Indigenous research method relevant for Metis people. Building from these research standards, this collaboration developed a method of investigation that shares Indigenous knowledge of population health. This method promotes a sustainable research relationship, moving beyond fragmented research projects and making relational connections between people, data sources and findings


Quantifiable life-cycle models of the service life of pavement markings are essential for a cost-efficient pavement marking management system. A study was conducted to develop an analysis procedure for typical pavement marking retroreflectivity inspection data. Retroreflectivity data collected by the National Transportation Product Evaluation Program on water-based paints in 2002 on a Pennsylvania test deck were used. Those data were considered interval-level duration data, and a Weibull analysis was performed. A Weibull analysis is a typical method in reliability engineering in which Weibull scale and shape parameters are estimated from failure data for making objective maintenance decisions. Results of the Weibull analysis indicated that the water-based paints had shape and scale parameters of 1.42 (±0.05), and 601.67 (±17.73) days, respectively, for skip line areas and 2.38 (±0.08) and 227.41 (±4.48) days, respectively, for left wheelpath areas. It was also determined that the probability of 2-year water-based paints lasting above 100 mcd/m2/lx varied from 0% to 27%. The lower limit corresponds to the left wheelpath, and the upper limit corresponds to the skip line area. The left wheelpath markings failed to stay above 100 mcd/m2/lx after approximately a year, while skip line markings could maintain 100 mcd/m2/lx ratings or higher for more than 1,000 days. White markings were found to last longer than yellow markings for the same exposure. This study used data from a single site in Pennsylvania. A multisite analysis accounting for time and space variations is recommended before adopting this method for minimum pavement marking retroreflectivity standard assessment.


The thesis discusses how to make a harmonious place with nature, keeping the spirit of place which we call "Genius Loci", and using phenomenological analysis to understand the meaning of place through its structure. Symbolization and concretion are also discussed as they are used to transform natural landscape to architecture, and orientation and identification are used to prove the existence. This thesis also connects place to man's image with social and cultural aspects, and seeks a way to keep continuity in history. Therefore a humanistic place should have agreements with essence of place, human demand, and historic continuity.


Reacting against the inadequacy of traditional cognitive theory to explain how learning occurs, many educational researchers have turned to a socio-cultural, situated model of learning within which to conduct their research. However, this model has, in its turn, failed to account for some of what is observed when students work with complex, computersupported simulations of natural environments, referred to as "artificial environments." What is more, traditional cognitive theory has continued to evolve and, considered together with systems theory and cognitive neuroscience, is now in a better position to provide an adequate account of learning. This article brings together three ideas to form a conceptual framework for studying learning in artificial environments. These are the ideas that cognition is embodied in physical activity, that this activity is embedded in a learning environment, and that learning is the result of adaptation of the learner to the environment and the environment to the learner. The conceptual framework assumes that embodiment, embeddedness and adaptation are completely interdependent. These ideas are illustrated from research on artificial environments, particularly those that use virtual reality technologies.


Use this guide as a starting point for information on Graphic Novels @FIU Libraries... Includes information on the Graphic Novel Collection, Juvenile Collection, Databases, and Internet sources.


BACKGROUND: HIV-related stigmatizing attitudes are persistent concerns in developing countries and have been shown to fuel the spread of the epidemics. The purpose of this study is to provide a comparative analysis between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in regards to the population's attitude towards People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). METHODS: Cross-sectional data from the Demographic Health Surveys involving 15,715 Haitians and 55,170 Dominicans from 2005 to 2007 were used. A score of attitudes was established from six items such as the willingness to care for infected relatives, the willingness to buy vegetables from an HIV infected vendor, the perception that HIV patients should be ashamed of themselves, the agreement to blame and force them to keep their serostatus secret and finally the agreement to allow infected teachers to continue their jobs. Descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate analyses of selected socio-demographic variables were obtained by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). RESULTS: Logistic regression models showed that female Dominicans and male Haitians, respondents of higher socio-economic status and with more accurate HIVrelated beliefs were significantly more tolerant towards PLWHA (p<.001). Furthermore, the Dominican Republic's data analysis suggested that those aged between 30 and 44 years old, living in urban areas and married expressed more tolerance for the HIVinfected individuals. Overall, the attitudes and beliefs of the Haitians adjusted for socio-demographic variables did not differ markedly from the Dominicans. CONCLUSION: The attitudes towards PLWHA seem to be associated with the nature of the HIV-related beliefs in some vulnerable groups. The findings of this study should guide the design of appropriate programs aimed at the education of targeted populations.


Angiogenesis, the formation of new vessels, has been demonstrated to be a potent and independent indicator of prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer patients. The extent of differentiation of the tumor vessels may affect access of peripheral white cells and egress or invasion of tumor cells. This has not been assessed in relation to tumor microvessel density or other variables and may be a marker of vascular remodeling. LH39 is a monoclonal antibody recognizing an epitope located at the lamina lucida of mature small veins and capillaries but not in newly formed vessels. We examined the ratio of mature:immature vessels in 81 non-small cell lung carcinomas and correlated the vascular maturation index (VMI) to different clinicopathological variables including angiogenesis. Mature vessels were defined by staining with antibodies to both LH39 and to CD31, using double immunohistochemistry, whereas immature vessels stained only for CD31. VMI was defined as the percentage fraction of mature vessels (LH39 positive)/total number of vessels (CD31 positive). The median VMI in lung carcinomas was 46% (range, 15-90%). There was a significant inverse correlation between high VMI and low thymidine phosphorylase expression (P = 0.0001), high VMI and nuclear p53 negativity (P = 0.01), high VMI and low angiogenesis (P = 0.0001), as well as between high VMI and absence of nodal involvement (P = 0.01). Low angiogenesis and high VMI were associated with a significantly better outcome (P = 0.0001 and P = 0.02, respectively). These findings show that there is a wide variation in the differentiation of tumor vasculature in lung carcinomas, and VMI gives new information on the degree of active tumor vascular remodeling independently from microvessel quantitation.


The paper provides an integrated analysis of globalization effects on the inflation-output tradeoff and monetary policy in the New-Keynesian framework. The prediction of the analysis is threefold. First, labor, goods, and capital mobility flatten the Phillips curve, the tradeoff between inflation and activity. Second, the same globalization forces lead the welfare-based monetary policy to be more aggressive with regard to inflation fluctuations, and at the same time, more benign with respect to the output-gap fluctuations. Third, the equilibrium response of inflation to supply and demand shocks is more moderate, and the response of the output gap to these shocks is more pronounced, when the economy opens up; under such welfare-based monetary policy.


Once a very important crop, the cultivation of hemp has seen a significant reduction in Europe for a long time, but it is now subject to direct payments and promotion initiatives. Italy used to be an important producer and exporter of hemp textiles until the Second World War but currently information is lacking regarding the hemp production chain and legislation on the issue is often misunderstood by producers. Moreover, there has been an important development of economic activities connected with hemp, such as the so-called "hemp shops" or "grow shops" and the market of a product called "cannabis light", the dried inflorescences of industrial hemp. The aim of the study was to investigate 30 Italian hemp farms in order to identify the characteristics of the production chain and the uses of the crop. Some considerations on this sector in the Italian economic and legislative contest are made and an anonymous web survey on the commercial activities associated with hemp (grow shops) was conducted. Most farms are multifunctional, 83% have been set up recently (in the last ten years) and directly as hemp producers. They are run by young entrepreneurs (57% holders under 35) and allow the use of marginal abandoned territories (43% of the farms). The 30 farms cultivate 460 ha of hemp and the extension of the field crops is very variable, from small patches in the mountains of 0,001 ha to more than 100 ha farms in the plains (in particular in Campania region). Almost all the farms use the crop to produce more than one end-product (seeds, flour, decorticated seeds, hemp-beer, seeds for animal nutrition and food oil from seeds, seeds and inflorescences harvested for cosmetic use, herbal use and extraction of active ingredients). In some cases, "technical use" linked to selling of the dry top inflorescences of industrial hemp for smoking was declared and it was found that there has been a significant increase in grow shops in Italy, from 4 in 2002 to more than 700 in 2018. As emerges from the analyses of European and Italian legislation, there is a need for clear regulations and a system of control by regulatory organizations considering the actual criticalities. At the same time, the renewed appeal of this crop derives from the multiple possibilities of use of the plant and from growing consumer demand for eco-compatible and sustainable products.


Large scale nonlinear model reduction based on smooth orthogonal decomposition (SOD) is presented. SOD is a multivariate time series analysis tool that provides optimal, low-dimensional representation of time series that are as smooth in time as possible. SOD is used to identify linear subspaces containing linear and nonlinear normal modes and span by smooth orthogonal modes (SOMs). Large finite element model (FEM) of a vibrating cantilever beam in a two-well potential is used to illustrate the model reduction. The SOMs of the simulated unforced, undamped FEM are used for model reduction. The performance of damped, forced FEM is then compared with three and five SOM based reduced-order models for various forcing parameters and close agreement is observed even for three SOM based reduced order model.


We report on the response of liquid xenon to low energy electronic recoils below 15 keV from beta decays of tritium at drift fields of 92  V/cm, 154  V/cm and 366  V/cm using the XENON100 detector. A data-to-simulation fitting method based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo is used to extract the photon yields and recombination fluctuations from the experimental data. The photon yields measured at the two lower fields are in agreement with those from literature; additional measurements at a higher field of 366  V/cm are presented. The electronic and nuclear recoil discrimination as well as its dependence on the drift field and photon detection efficiency are investigated at these low energies. The results provide new measurements in the energy region of interest for dark matter searches using liquid xenon.


Using the results of recent seismic investigations of the upper continental lithosphere within the Caledonian–Variscan fold belt in SW Ireland a geological model is developed for the late Caledonian–early Devonian accretion history of the crust. It is suggested that this geological model can explain a variety of geological phenomena. These include the origin of the 'Newer Granite' series in Britain and Ireland, the partial preservation of lower Devonian 'Lower Old Red Sandstone' rocks, within the braided Caledonian fault network and the relatively low metamorphic grade of the Caledonian basement rocks, into which many of the granites are intruded. The proposed model involves a process called 'incipient delamination', in which the mantle part of the lithosphere did not detach completely from the accreted crust during the late Caledonian to Acadian orogenic events.


This research indicates that in order for retailers to achieve their primary objective of increasing the amount of customer traffic into their stores, some powerful, highly effective and strategic tools that retailers possess need to be utilised in an effective manner – in order to meet their objectives. This research has been developed to examine the strategies that retailers can utilise – in order to influence the customers' preference to shop in their stores. From the multitude of strategic choices available for each decision, a retailer can choose any combination. A survey was conducted, in order to collect data on customer behaviour, recruiting, store design, retail marketing, Supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM) – as well as a few other criteria – in the South African retail sector. This descriptive study establishes whether a retailer who makes an initial choice about which strategy to implement, complies with the existing understanding on the customers' preferences. Patterns and trends were detected when studying the determinants of various strategic retail combinations for retailers. The data indicated asymmetric evaluations of choices, in combination with a few distinct patterns. Additionally, a few associations between store preferences and price were identified with specific locations for the customers. Some combinations are more alike than others; and a concern exists that the pricing strategy in isolation fails to portray a complete picture. The study reveals that retailers should be more customer-focused; while at the same time, providing the requisite skills to their employees, in order to retain their existing customers, and to attract new customers.

 Key words: Retailers, customers, merchandise, retail management, consumer behaviour.


Domestic abuse is a pervasive global problem. Here we analyze two approaches to reducing violent DA recidivism. One involves charging the perpetrator with a crime; the other provides protective services to the victim on the basis of a formal risk assessment carried out by the police. We use detailed administrative data to estimate the average effect of treatment on the treated using inverse propensity-score weighting (IPW). We then make use of causal forests to study heterogeneity in the estimated treatment effects. We find that pressing charges substantially reduces the likelihood of violent recidivism. The analysis also reveals substantial heterogeneity in the effect of pressing charges. In contrast, the risk-assessment process has no discernible effect.


High frequency transformer (HFT) is being widely used in several modern applications. Most of the conventional HFT uses ordinary winding topology for which the magnetic core saturates without ensuring possible maximum power transfer. To overcome this technical problem, this article proposes a new distributed winding topology (DWT) which can significantly increase the power transfer capability with the same magnetic core and turn number. Before applying the proposed DWT, the magnetic core is optimized in terms of shape and size. Various shapes including toroidal, rounded rectangle, circular shape, hexagonal cross section, square, and rectangular cross-sectional area of the core are considered for analysis. Amorphous alloy based material is considered for magnetic core of HFT for its extraordinary properties. Electrical and magnetic properties of different types of the design for optimization are presented extensively. Finite-element analysis is used by ANSYS/Maxwell for simulation. It is found that, circular shape and rectangular cross-sectional magnetic core with 24-segmented DWT exhibits the best performance. Magnetic analysis shows that, flux density, and field intensity are well distributed in the whole core that restricts the core from being saturated. Finally, the proposed optimized DWT-based HFT is experimentally tested in the laboratory, which transfers 48.37% more electrical power than the conventional one. It is expected that the proposed novel DWT-based HFT would introduce a new design directory to the next generation HFT.


This article examines the implications of incorporating Islamic law in a modern democratic constitutional context. The new Iraqi constitution's designation of Islamic law as "a source of law" placed the issue of Islamic law's role in new democracies at the forefront of the debates on "Islamic constitutionalism" - governing structures characterized by written constitutions that incorporate Islamic law. With its incorporation of both Islamic law and democratic/human rights provisions, the Iraqi constitution establishes a scenario where the government must legislate or adjudicate with respect to a set of dual norms. What challenges does the government face in attempts to legislate and adjudicate vis-a-vis an ostensibly religious legal system? Must it delineate a relationship between its traditional three branches and Islamic law's traditional interpreters (the jurists)? This article takes up these questions, positing that the role of Islamic law in an Islamic constitutional regime revolves around issues of interpretation and the institutional relationship between the government and the jurists. Taking the debates about family law reforms as a case study, the article assesses ways in which sentiments about Islamic law play out in discussions of popular sovereignty ("we the people"), juristic input ("we the jurists"), and legal reform. By comparing Iraq to existing models for Islamic constitutionalism, the article shows how the prospects for progressive laws and legal reform in Iraq depend on the form of Islamic constitutionalism adopted. More generally, the article offers insights in the areas of Islamic law and legislation in contemporary contexts of democracy - building, legal reform, and rule-of-law.


OBJECTIVE--To determine the advantages and disadvantages of endometrial resection and abdominal hysterectomy for the surgical treatment of women with menorrhagia. DESIGN--Randomised study of two treatment groups with a minimum follow up of nine months. SETTING--Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading. SUBJECTS--51 of 78 menorrhagic women without pelvic pathology who were on the waiting list for abdominal hysterectomy. TREATMENT--Endometrial resection or abdominal hysterectomy (according to randomisation). Endometrial resections were performed by an experienced hysteroscopic surgeon; hysterectomies were performed by two other gynaecological surgeons. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Length of operating time, hospitalisation, recovery; cost of surgery; short term results of endometrial resection. RESULTS--Operating time was shorter for endometrial resection (median 30 (range 20-47) minutes) than for hysterectomy (50 (39-74) minutes). The hospital stay for endometrial resection (median 1 (range 1-3) days) was less than for hysterectomy (7 (5-12) days). Recovery after endometrial resection (median 16 (range 5-62) days) was shorter than after hysterectomy (58 (11-125) days). The cost was 407 pounds for endometrial resection and 1270 pounds for abdominal hysterectomy. Four women (16%) who did not have an acceptable improvement in symptoms after endometrial resection had repeat resections. No woman has required hysterectomy during a mean follow up of one year. CONCLUSION--For women with menorrhagia who have no pelvic pathology endometrial resection is a useful alternative to abdominal hysterectomy, with many short term benefits. Larger numbers and a longer follow up are needed to estimate the incidence of complications and the long term efficacy of endometrial resection.


This essay replies to contributions by Brian Galle and Mark Seidenfeld and by Gillian Metzger to the Duke Law Journal's 2008 Administrative Law Symposium. Professors Galle and Seidenfeld are willing to entertain arguments that modern administrative agencies are, in fact, better vessels of democratic values than Congress, and to acknowledge the claims of federalism only if and to the extent that decentralizing authority furthers some sort of public policy value. Similarly, Professor Metzger accepts the value of federalism but argues that it should be protected through the operation of ordinary principles of administrative law. Both articles seek to shift the focus of federalism doctrine from the structures established by the Constitution to the structures established by the administrative state. Our own view is that contemporary American lawyers must maintain continuity with - make some sense of - the constitutional vision of separation of powers and federalism notwithstanding the profound changes to that structure since 1789. By elevating administrative agencies to the primary role, our interlocutors shatter the fragile constitutional compromises that maintain that crucial continuity with the traditional Constitution. For us, the touchstone of any analysis must be what Congress intended, not what agencies can do to improve on Congress. This might not be as conducive to optimal policymaking as the alternative focus proposed by Galle, Seidenfeld, and Metzger. But a constitutional discourse that allows lawyers and judges simply to disregard the traditional constitutional constraints is too close, for our tastes, to Robert Frost's famous criticism of free verse - that is, such an approach amounts to "play[ing] tennis with the net down."


One main obstacle to facade integration of solar thermal collectors lies in the formal characteristics and low flexibility of available products. Major problems are the black and irregular appearance of their absorbers, their low dimensional flexibility and large size at the facade scale, and finally the lack of dummy elements. This paper presents a revolutionary though simple solution to all these problems, consisting in a novel coloured glass, able to mask absorber and piping while letting the solar energy pass through. Different colours can be produced and combined with different diffusing surface treatments on the glass outer side, finally offering a broad palette of novel glazing. These resulting glazing not only hide the black colour of the absorber and its imperfections, but can also be used as facade cladding on the non exposed areas of the building envelope, opening the way to the concept of active solar facades and offering a new level of freedom to architects


This paper concentrates on official statistics on household income, poverty, and wealth. It characterizes the main research questions in this field, and it presents an overview of the available statistics and Scientific Use Files produced by the four Research Data Centers (RDC) in Germany. (RDC of the Federal Statistical Office; RDC of the Statistical Offices of the German states; RDC of the German Labor Office; RCD of the German Pension Insurance). We support the recommendations of a peer review group for the Federal Statistical Office based on the European Statistics Code of Practice, and suggest peer reviews for all data producing bodies including ministries. We repeat a recommendation of a former Commission to find ways of distributing Scientific Use Files to reliable foreign research institutes. Special recommendations refer to the improvement of survey methods and extended questionnaires of the Income and Consumption Survey (EVS) and the German contribution to the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU SILC). We also recommend a harmonization of the administrative statistics on the various minimum benefit programs, and the development of a single Scientific Use Files for all minimum benefit recipients.


At last an article1 in the BJGP reflecting the concerns of a large number of GPs. How can we stop the current politics? How can we move away from the needs for points towards the needs of patients? How can we spend more time in patient care and less in practice-based commissioning? Thanks again for publishing this leading article. Lets hope it is read by PCT chiefs, politicians and a pang of conscience is raised in the pro-marketeers.


In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, home appliances, motor vehicles, air travel, air conditioning, and television transformed households and workplaces. With medical advances, life expectancy between 1870 and 1970 grew from forty-five to seventy-two years. Weaving together a vivid narrative, historical anecdotes, and economic analysis, The Rise and Fall of American Growth provides an in-depth account of this momentous era. But has that era of unprecedented growth come to an end? Gordon challenges the view that economic growth can or will continue unabated, and he demonstrates that the life-altering scale of innovations between 1870 and 1970 can't be repeated. He contends that the nation's productivity growth, which has already slowed to a crawl, will be further held back by the vexing headwinds of rising inequality, stagnating education, an aging population, and the rising debt of college students and the federal government. Gordon warns that the younger generation may be the first in American history that fails to exceed their parents' standard of living, and that rather than depend on the great advances of the past, we must find new solutions to overcome the challenges facing us. A critical voice in the debates over economic stagnation, The Rise and Fall of American Growth is at once a tribute to a century of radical change and a harbinger of tougher times to come.


Is terrorism an effective method for achieving political goals? And why do scholars provide such different answers to this question? This article shows that the current debate on the effectiveness of terrorism turns on a definitional disagreement. It makes the case for a conceptualisation focused on terrorist groups' clandestine nature and inability to control territory. Three quantitative analyses are then performed which show the political ineffectiveness of terrorist groups relative to guerrilla organisations. Our analysis indicates that the main variable accounting for violent group success is control over territory, and not target selection as previous research has suggested. This finding raises some hypotheses for further research concerning the effects of western military intervention or support for local military action against violent sub-state groups.


Abstract Soft-decision decoding is an NP-hard problem of great interest to developers of communication systems. We show that this problem is equivalent to the problem of optimizing Walsh polynomials. We present genetic algorithms for soft-decision decoding of binary linear block codes and compare the performance with various other decoding algorithms including the currently developed A* algorithm. Simulation results show that our algorithms achieve bit-error-probabilities as low as 0.00183 for a [104,52] code with a low signal-to-noise ratio of 2.5 dB, exploring only 22,400 codewords, whereas the search space contains 4.5 × 10l5 codewords. We define a new crossover operator that exploits domain-specific information and compare it with uniform and two-point crossover.


Over the years, inquiring about the role of financial advisors and their value has led to numerous studies that have somehow produced conflicting results. The industry generally has a more positive viewpoint than most academic papers do. Along with the increased visibility of advisors' fees made mandatory by regulatory authorities, the recent focus on gamma factors rather than the usual alpha and beta benchmarks has, nonetheless, contributed to a more positive assessment of the profession of financial advisor. A report from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada highlights that, on average, investors who work with financial advisors have nearly three times the net worth and four times the investable assets of those who do not. This observation holds across all age groups and income levels. When asked, 61% of advised investors strongly agreed that their advisor had a positive impact on the value of their investments and their investment returns. An econometric analysis of the data gleaned from a major, original Canadian survey carried out in 2009–2010 showed that a financial advisor added significant value to a household's financial assets relative to a comparable household having no financial advisor. Two key elements underlie this positive effect: financial advisors raise households' savings rates and encourage households to behave in a more disciplined manner when the stock market drops significantly. That study has received extensive exposure in general and specialized media. It has been presented at numerous conferences, and an academic version has been published (see Montmarquette & Viennot-Briot, 2015). A second Canadian survey, conducted in 2013–14, confirmed the previous results. This second survey avoided the problem of causality in this type of study, that is, determining whether wealth attracts advisers or whether financial advisors affect the financial wealth of households. As in our previous study, the discipline imposed by a financial advisor on the financial behavior of households, and the increase in their savings rates are the dominant factors that help increase the value of their assets relative to comparable households without an advisor. Also, focusing on a subset of participants in both surveys, we found that the loss of a financial advisor between 2010 and 2014 was costly: households that retained their advisor saw the value of their assets increase by 16.4%, versus only 1.7% for the assets of households that abandoned their advisor during this period. Thus, the value of financial advice far exceeds the traditional alpha and beta measurements discussed in the literature. This study has also been widely distributed by the industry and has been published in the same scientific journal as the previous study: Montmarquette & Viennot-Briot (2019). In the two previous studies, we emphasized a potential limitation on the estimation of the extent of the financial advisor's effect. Although we control for many factors, we have recognized that the positive effect of a financial advisor's services, notably on additional savings, may be overestimated due to the lack of measurable characteristics regarding a household's desire to save and invest. A third survey, 2017–2018, conducted under similar conditions as the previous ones, afforded us another opportunity to validate the robustness of our initial results in a new financial and economic context. Furthermore, new questions helped us to gain a better understanding of the intrinsic willingness of survey respondents to invest with or without the help of a financial advisor. In short, we hoped to correct any potential bias described in the previous paragraph. Associated topics on the use of a financial advisor and its impact were also studied: The determinants of choosing a specific type of advisor and evaluating the impact differentially on wealth due to the different types of financial advice (advice in a bank branch vs. broker vs. individual advisor vs. automated advisor, etc.). The determinants of choosing a financial advisor and the impact on the value of assets by the level (broad category) of annual household income. Does a financial advisor's impact depend on the level of initial financial wealth? From a subset of respondents who replied to both the 2014 and 2018 surveys, how did changing the household situation concerning the involvement or not of an FA affect the value of the household's financial assets (referred to as the survival principle in the 2014 survey). For example, was there a difference in asset values between households who retained their advisor relative to households who dropped their advisor over that period? Has increased fee transparency (CRM2 - Client-Consumer Relationship Model regulation) in recent years affected the use of a financial advisor? We refer readers to our previous studies for an exhaustive review of the literature on the impact of a financial advisor in general. Further references will be added as we proceed with the current study. The associated topics mentioned earlier should be regarded as breaking new ground in the literature on financial advice, as was the case of the survival principle in the second study. Following the introduction, Section 2 discusses the 2018 survey and presents the updated results (the determinants of having a financial advisor and the impact of a financial advisor on the value of assets). In Section 3, we replicate in part the analysis of Section 2 by type of financial advisor. We follow a similar pattern in Section 4 by examining the impact of a financial advisor by level of annual household income. In Section 5, we investigate the impact of the initial investment (financial wealth) at the time the household began working with an FA on the 2018 value of assets held by households. In Section 6, we revisit the survival principle by looking at household investment behavior and the consequences of respondents' use or not of the services of a financial advisor between 2014 and 2018. In Section 7, we explore whether an increase in fee transparency (client-customer relationship model regulation, or CRM2) in recent years has affected the use of a financial advisor. Section 8 sets out our conclusions. In short, households in all income groups benefit from having a financial advisor. The impacts of FA involvement depend on the economic and financial contexts. Gamma factors continue to play their role.


In many modern machine learning applications, the outcome is expensive or time consuming to collect whereas the predictor information is easy to obtain. Semi‐supervised (SS) learning aims at utilizing large amounts of 'unlabelled' data along with small amounts of 'labelled' data to improve the efficiency of a classical supervised approach. Though numerous SS learning classification and prediction procedures have been proposed in recent years, no methods currently exist to evaluate the prediction performance of a working regression model. In the context of developing phenotyping algorithms derived from electronic medical records, we present an efficient two‐step estimation procedure for evaluating a binary classifier based on various prediction performance measures in the SS setting. In step I, the labelled data are used to obtain a non‐parametrically calibrated estimate of the conditional risk function. In step II, SS estimates of the prediction accuracy parameters are constructed based on the estimated conditional risk function and the unlabelled data. We demonstrate that, under mild regularity conditions, the estimators proposed are consistent and asymptotically normal. Importantly, the asymptotic variance of the SS estimators is always smaller than that of the supervised counterparts under correct model specification. We also correct for potential overfitting bias in the SS estimators in finite samples with cross‐validation and we develop a perturbation resampling procedure to approximate their distributions. Our proposals are evaluated through extensive simulation studies and illustrated with two real electronic medical record studies aiming to develop phenotyping algorithms for rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.


We introduce a world fertilizers model that is capable of producing fertilizer demand projections by crop, by country, by macronutrients, and by year. For each crop, the most relevant countries in terms of production, consumption, or trade are explicitly modeled. The remaining countries are modeled, for each crop, within a regional aggregate. The nutrient coverage includes nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K). In this report we present the data and procedures used to set up the model as well as the assumptions made. The fertilizer model interacts with the yield equations of the FAPRI-ISU model (Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at Iowa State University), and by means of a set of production elasticities, projects each nutrient's application rate per hectare for each commodity and each country covered by the FAPRI-ISU model. Then, the application rates and the areas projected by FAPRI-ISU are used to obtain projections of fertilizer demand from agriculture on a global scale. With this fertilizer module, policies that directly affect fertilizer markets, such as input taxes or subsidies, quantity use restrictions, and trade restrictions, can now be explicitly formulated and evaluated. The effects of these policies on global agricultural markets and on greenhouse gas emissions can be evaluated with the FAPRI-ISU model and the Greenhouse Gas in Agriculture Simulation Model (GreenAgSiM). Also, any other policy affecting commodity markets such as input and output price shocks, biofuels mandates, and land-use change can now be evaluated with regard to its impacts on the world fertilizer markets.


Background : Stunting, wasting and under-weight have been conventionally utilized to assess the prevalence of under-nutrition among children. As these indices grossly underestimate this prevalence mainly due to overlapping of the children into multiple categories of anthropometric failure, there is a need for an appropriate single measure to assess this prevalence and identify the more susceptible individuals. The present study tries to ascertain whether the use of the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) is more appropriate than the conventional indices for the estimation of under-nutrition among children. Methods : The present cross-sectional study was undertaken to compare the prevalence of under-nutrition using both the conventional indices and the CIAF among 1143 children aged between 5 years to 11 years (565 boys; 578 girls) belonging to the Bengalee Muslim Population (BMP), and residing in the district of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. The children were selected using a multi-stage stratified random sampling procedure. The data was collected during the period from February 2009 to May 2010. Height and weight of the children were recorded using standard procedures. The conventional anthropometric indices and the CIAF were compared with the National Center for Health Statistics reference data to determine the prevalence of under-nutrition. A child having a value 2SD's below that of the reference median in any of these indices was classified as suffering from under-nutrition. All the necessary approvals and consents were obtained from the Gram Panchayets and school authorities, and the study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines for human experiments as laid down in the Helsinki Declaration of 2000. Results : Using the conventional indices, the prevalence of under-nutrition was observed to be 17.4% (wasting), 38.5% (stunting) and 47.0% (under-weight). However, with the use of the CIAF, this prevalence increased to 57.6% and included both single and multiple anthropometric failures. The prevalence of CIAF was observed to be higher among boys (60.4%) than girls (54.8%), although the differences were not statistically significant (chi-value = 0.96; d.f. 1, p> 0.05). Using the conventional indices too, boys were more affected than girls (stunting: chi-value = 0.20; d.f. 1, p> 0.05; wasting: chi-value = 1.94; d.f. 1, p> 0.05; under-weight: chi-value = 2.81; d.f. 1, p> 0.05). Conclusions : It is concluded that under-nutrition among BMP children is a serious health issue. According to our results, the majority of these childrenaged between 5 and 11 years were under-weight, followed by stunting and wasting. The use of the CIAF increased this prevalence. The potential advantage and appropriateness of using CIAF over conventional indices for evaluating child under-nutrition is discussed. Further studies are recommended for the comprehensive understanding of the scenario of under-nourishment in different Indian populations using CIAF. Nutritional intervention programmes are necessary to improve the nutritional status of the children covered in course of this study.


Among many genetically engineered crops being developed are a number modified to produce pharmaceutical compounds (none yet commercialized). Proponents say such plant-based proteins could be produced more cheaply than by conventional methods and economically benefit farmers. But critics see risks, such as potential environmental, food safety, and trade problems. Among the issues is whether the current system for regulating biotechnology is adequate. This report will be updated if events warrant.


For thousands of years history passed on orally from one generation to another. In ancient Greece, the poet Homerus created literary works of the Iliad, the heroic poem of the Trojan war, while Herodotus the historian narrates the Peloponnesian war but his work still mixed with the story of the gods. Thucydides was the first historical writer to attempt to eliminate all the elements of fiction and write facts of pure history, but to this day there are still many works of literature that have inspired or even entirely based on real stories in the past. Intertext Theory states that the authors create actions that are not wholly the product of their thinking, but mainly compile them from several earlier texts, blend them with life experiences, what they have ever read or seen and experience, and formulate them with the style and writing characteristic of their character, becomes a new work. Especially a novel / historical romance based on historical facts of the past. This research wishes to reveal that authentic learning, in addition to done through historical, scientific work, can also help through literary works based on ancient sources, especially for those who want to know history in the cultural and social context, as well as for those who do not want to study it scientifically pure. For that will done several classifications of novel / historical romance based on the level of truth truths disclosure rather than fiction, as well as benefit principles perceived history and non-history students in utilizing literary works to obtain historical knowledge.


We designed a single-arm, open label phase II study to determine the efficacy and toxicity of the combination of pazopanib with CapeOx (capecitabine and oxaliplatin) in metastatic /recurrent advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patients. Previously untreated AGC patients received capecitabine (850 mg/m2 bid, day 1–14) plus oxaliplatin (130 mg/m2, day 1) in combination with pazopanib (800 mg, day 1–21) every three weeks. Treatment was continued until progression of the disease or intolerable toxicity was observed. In all, 66 patients were treated with pazopanib plus CapeOx. The median age of the patients was 51.5 years (range, 23.0–77), and the median ECOG performance status was 1 (0–1). Among all 66 patients, one complete response and 37 partial responses were observed (overall response rate, 62.4%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 45.7–73.5% accounting for the 2-stage design of this trial). Stable disease was observed in 23 patients (34.8%), revealing a 92.4% disease control rate. The median progression free survival and overall survival were 6.5 months (95% CI, 5.6–7.4) and 10.5 months (95% CI, 8.1–12.9), respectively. Thirty-four patients (51.5%) experienced a treatment-related toxicity of grade 3 or more. The most common toxicities of grade 3 or more were neutropenia (15.1%), anemia (10.6%), thrombocytopenia (10.6%), anorexia (7.6%), nausea (3.0%), and vomiting (3.0%). There were no treatment-related deaths. The combination of pazopanib and CapeOx showed moderate activity and an acceptable toxicity profile as a first-line treatment in metastatic / recurrent AGC patients (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01130805).


In response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, companies around the world have suspended on-site jobs and adopted remote operations Education and training in some companies are also being carried out through web-based teaching In addition to bringing new challenges to traditional education and training, web-based teaching platforms also provide a wealth of information sources and application channels for corporate education and training This study targeted service staff in the service industry as subjects, and incorporated three types of teaching methods into the research design, namely video tutorial, computer-aided teaching and web-based teaching ANOVA and stepwise regression are then used to analyze the learning motivation, learning attitude and learning performance in an integrated comparison The results showed that in the service industry, using web-based teaching to conduct employee training for service staff had a substantial impact on improving their learning performance © 2020 by the authors;licensee CEDTECH by Bastas


Aflatoxine the major toxic metabolites of fungi which are able to induce chronic liver damages. The antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects of Ginseng extract and probiotic on Alfatoxin was investigated. Alfatoxicosis causes significant increase in liver enzyme SGOT and SGPT, Alkaline phosphatase activity and an increase in the level of cholesterol total lipid, decrease the level of total protein and haemoglobin and P.C.V. Moreover, the liver exhibited some clinicopathological changes and decreased body weight. Both Ginseng extract and probiotic reduced the development of hepatotoxicity by Aflatoxin. probiotic showed more improvement of all enzymes of kidney and liver, and also total lipid and cholesterol were reduced


An Inverse Almost Ideal Demand System is utilized to determine the effectiveness of Market Promotion Program (MPP) and Target Export Assistance (TEA) advertising and promotion expenditures in the Japanese market for meat. Using annual data, it is found that beef advertising and promotion has had a positive and significant effect on the demand for beef. There is insufficient evidence to conclude that pork and poultry advertising and promotion increased the demand for either commodity.


Discipline is often called "the soul of an army." If this is so, the United States military seems to be experiencing a spiritual crisis. Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice ("UCMJ") allows commanders to punish acts prejudicial to "good order and discipline," but the reach of this provision has been increasingly limited in recent years. Appellate courts have repeatedly overturned convictions of conduct charged as prejudicial to good order and discipline, and in recent years, the military's high court has issued a series of decisions limiting the reach of the UCMJ's "general article." Congress has also recently acted to dramatically scale back the scope of Article 134. The result is that while military leaders might talk about the criticality of maintaining good order and discipline, commanders' authority to actually punish behavior that detracts from good order and discipline is increasingly constrained. This Article ties the developments regarding Article 134 to a larger issue: the difficulty the military has demonstrated in defining what "good order and discipline" actually means. The term lacks an agreed-upon definition, and the military has not explored how changes in society and the military mission affect the term's meaning. In a series of policy reforms in recent decades, military leaders have generally cited "good order and discipline" as a basis for their opposition without defining the term or substantively exploring this concept. These reforms were ultimately enacted over military leaders' objections without any apparent impact on good order and discipline. As a result, Congress and the media have grown increasingly wary of the good order and discipline term, diminishing its rhetorical weight. The military must take a more orderly, disciplined approach to defining this term, and this Article proposes a definition as a first step toward igniting this discussion.