Nucleation of calcium carbonate on microbial cell material may have been the dominant mode of microbial carbonate formation during most of Earth's history. Current knowledge predicts that nucleation takes place on the cell surface or on extracellular polymeric substances. However, the initial nucleation steps have not been described in detail and the process remains elusive. Here we describe the bacterial nucleation of calcium carbonate at the nanometer scale. In our precipitation experiment with sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB), the bulk of calcium carbonate precipitates on hundreds of individual globules 60– 200 nm in diameter. Globules originate from the SRB cell surface but calcify significantly only when released to the culture medium. Similar globules have been observed, albeit at a much larger scale, in other bacterial precipitation experiments and in many natural microbial carbonates, suggesting that the process we describe could be an important step in microbial calcification.


Given (i) a Boolean function, (ii) a set of arrival times at the inputs, and (iii) a gate library with associated delay values, the exact delay synthesis problem asks for a circuit implementation which minimizes the arrival time at the output(s). The exact delay synthesis problem, with given input arrival times, relates to computing the communication complexity of a Boolean function, which is an intractable problem. Input arrival times are variable and can take any value, thereby making the exact delay synthesis search space infinite. This paper presents theory and algorithms for exact delay synthesis. We introduce the theory of equioptimizable arrival times, which allows us to partition all arrival time patterns into a finite set of equivalence classes. Thanks to this new theory, we create for the first time exact delay circuit databases covering all Boolean functions up to 5 variables and all possible arrival time patterns. We describe further arrival time compression techniques which enable the creation of larger databases. We propose an enhanced delay synthesis flow capable of dealing with large circuits, combining exact delay logic rewriting and Boolean optimization techniques, attaining unprecedented results. We improve 9/10 of the best known results in the EPFL arithmetic delay synthesis competition, outperforming previous best results up to 3x. Embedded in a commercial EDA flow for ASICs, our exact delay synthesis techniques reduce the total negative slack by 12.17%, after physical implementation, at negligible area and runtime costs.


Until now, progress in laser ablation micromachining has been significantly limited with respect to feature miniaturization and output yield by ablation-generated debris. Gas-jetting techniques have proven to be inadequate and vacuum environments are unwieldy in an industrial setting. To this end, a controlled geometry for both the optical interfaces of a flowing liquid film can be provided by a closed flowing thick-film filtered water immersion technique. This ensures repeatable machining conditions and allows control of liquid flow velocity. To investigate the impact of this technique on etch rate, bisphenol A polycarbonate samples have been machined using KrF excimer laser radiation passing through a medium of filtered water flowing at a number of flow velocities that are controllable by modifying liquid flowrate. A mean increase in etch rate of 8.5 per cent when using a turbulent flow velocity regime immersed ablation over ablation in ambient air was recorded. However, use of laminar flow velocities resulted in a mean loss of 26.6 per cent in etch rate compared to ablation in ambient air. Plotting the recorded etch rate achieved with respect to flow velocity gives support for previously proposed flow—plume interactions: the primary cause of a 37 per cent variance in etch rate over a 72 per cent change in laminar flow velocity was a shift in the ratio between the refresh rate of liquid volume over the feature and laser repetition rate. The small variance of etch rate achieved by modification of turbulent regime flow velocity indicates that laser etching provided the dominating contribution to the total etch rate measured. This work demonstrates that this technique developed for ablation debris control does not reduce the efficiency of laser etching with respect to that achieved with established gas media laser ablation machining. Therefore, this process shows great promise for industrial implementation development.


ABSTRACT The Late Pliocene Capo Mannu D1 Local Fauna (Mandriola, W Sardinia, Italy) produced remains of five amphibians and at least nine reptiles: Salamandrina sp., cf. Ichthyosaura sp., Discoglossus sp., cf. Bufo gr. B. viridis Laurenti, 1768, Hyla gr. H. arborea (Linnaeus, 1758), Gekkonidae indet., Dopasia sp., Lacerta gr. L. viridis (Laurenti, 1768), Lacertidae indet. (small size), Amphisbaenia indet., Eryx cf. E. jaculus (Linnaeus, 1758), Colubrinae indet., Natrix sp., and Vipera sp. The Capo Mannu D1 assemblage partly fills a chronological gap in the knowledge of the Sardinian herpetofauna because well-diversified herpetofaunas have been retrieved only in the Early Miocene of Oschiri and in the Pleistocene of Monte Tuttavista. It has an intermediate taxonomic composition and still shows a high rate of taxa which are now extinct on the island (Salamandrina sp., cf. Ichthyosaura sp., Dopasia sp., Lacerta gr. L. viridis, Amphisbaenia indet., Eryx cf. E. jaculus, and Vipera sp.). Some taxa (both extinct and extant) are present in the three localities but none is exclusively shared by Oschiri and Monte Tuttavista. The remains of Salamandrina from the Capo Mannu D1 Local Fauna testify for a prolonged permanence in Sardinia of this taxon (already known from Oschiri). The absence of remains unambiguously referable to the previously reported ranids could suggest that these anurans never reached the island by natural dispersal (without human intervention). The taxonomic composition of the Capo Mannu D1 Local Fauna is overall similar to that of other west Mediterranean Pliocene herpetofaunas, and it confirms the previously reported pattern of evolution of European herpetofaunas.


Aberrant splice variants are involved in the initiation and/or progression of glial brain tumors. We therefore set out to identify splice variants that are differentially expressed between histologic subgroups of gliomas. Splice variants were identified using a novel platform that profiles the expression of virtually all known and predicted exons present in the human genome. Exon-level expression profiling was done on 26 glioblastomas, 22 oligodendrogliomas, and 6 control brain samples. Our results show that Human Exon arrays can identify subgroups of gliomas based on their histologic appearance and genetic aberrations. We next used our expression data to identify differentially expressed splice variants. In two independent approaches, we identified 49 and up to 459 exons that are differentially spliced between glioblastomas and oligodendrogliomas, a subset of which (47% and 33%) were confirmed by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). In addition, exon level expression profiling also identified >700 novel exons. Expression of approximately 67% of these candidate novel exons was confirmed by RT-PCR. Our results indicate that exon level expression profiling can be used to molecularly classify brain tumor subgroups, can identify differentially regulated splice variants, and can identify novel exons. The splice variants identified by exon level expression profiling may help to detect the genetic changes that cause or maintain gliomas and may serve as novel treatment targets.


The idea of hidden taxes is as old as John Stuart Mill, but convincing evidence of their existence is new. In this Article, I survey and critique recent studies that claim to show that there are some taxes that can go unnoticed by those who pay them. I also develop the array of unanswered theoretical questions and policy implications that potentially follow from the studies' results. Probably the central question for hidden taxes is whether they might enable government to raise revenue without also distorting the economy. If so, I argue, they have the potential to radically refashion the architecture of redistributive government. But, as I also show, whether that is true turns on the cognitive mechanisms that might permit taxes to go unnoticed. For example, if hidden taxes are caused not by rational ignorance but by cognitive shortcomings, then it is likely that the burden of a hidden tax will be borne disproportionately by poorer taxpayers, and vice-versa. Thus, I attempt to integrate with the tax literature some recent developments in our understanding of bounded rationality in consumers more generally. [This version revises and substantially extends the earlier working paper, "Do Hidden Taxes Increase Welfare?"]


It has been widely documented that Generation Y (GenY) is different to previous generations but little on how to manage them (Twenge, Campbell, Hoffman and Lance, 2010). This research considers GenY using the Resource Based View of the Firm (RBV) (Wright, Dunford and Snell, 2001). This view has been commended for recognising the value employees bring to organisations (Farnham, 2010).

Employees are particularly important in professional service firms as their knowledge and skills are what the company is providing to clients (Hein, 2013).
The aim and objectives of this research were attained using a literature review of previously conducted research in this field and qualitative, semi-structured interviews with GenY and their managers. This research sought to increase the understanding of GenY as they are substantially different from GenX to warrant further unique research (Smola and Sutton, 2002). This study conducted interviews with two samples; GenY, and their managers. Key findings uncovered a sense of entitlement they are bringing to the workforce. GenY only want to stay in a role as long as they are developing professionally and view their managers as mentors. If not, they will use it as a springboard.

This research ascertained how managers currently attract, motivate and retain GenY and makes recommendations for improvements. There are similarities and differences in what GenY want versus what managers think they want. This primary and secondary research allowed the researcher to conclude that the RBV model is no longer the most suitable framework. GenY don't want to be perceived as a resource a company holds. They seek customization and managers must recognize that GenY expects more personal gain in return for the value they bring.

It is suggested that further quantitative research should be conducted across a wider sample, ensuring external validity (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Recommendations could then be generalized across organisations and allow for the creation of a new framework for managers to follow.


Importance
When evaluating surgeons in the operating room, experienced physicians must rely on live or recorded video to assess the surgeon's technical performance, an approach prone to subjectivity and error. Owing to the large number of surgical procedures performed daily, it is infeasible to review every procedure; therefore, there is a tremendous loss of invaluable performance data that would otherwise be useful for improving surgical safety.

Objective
To evaluate a framework for assessing surgical video clips by categorizing them based on the surgical step being performed and the level of the surgeon's competence.

Design, Setting, and Participants
This quality improvement study assessed 103 video clips of 8 surgeons of various levels performing knot tying, suturing, and needle passing from the Johns Hopkins University-Intuitive Surgical Gesture and Skill Assessment Working Set. Data were collected before 2015, and data analysis took place from March to July 2019.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Deep learning models were trained to estimate categorical outputs such as performance level (ie, novice, intermediate, and expert) and surgical actions (ie, knot tying, suturing, and needle passing). The efficacy of these models was measured using precision, recall, and model accuracy.

Results
The provided architectures achieved accuracy in surgical action and performance calculation tasks using only video input. The embedding representation had a mean (root mean square error [RMSE]) precision of 1.00 (0) for suturing, 0.99 (0.01) for knot tying, and 0.91 (0.11) for needle passing, resulting in a mean (RMSE) precision of 0.97 (0.01). Its mean (RMSE) recall was 0.94 (0.08) for suturing, 1.00 (0) for knot tying, and 0.99 (0.01) for needle passing, resulting in a mean (RMSE) recall of 0.98 (0.01). It also estimated scores on the Objected Structured Assessment of Technical Skill Global Rating Scale categories, with a mean (RMSE) precision of 0.85 (0.09) for novice level, 0.67 (0.07) for intermediate level, and 0.79 (0.12) for expert level, resulting in a mean (RMSE) precision of 0.77 (0.04). Its mean (RMSE) recall was 0.85 (0.05) for novice level, 0.69 (0.14) for intermediate level, and 0.80 (0.13) for expert level, resulting in a mean (RMSE) recall of 0.78 (0.03).

Conclusions and Relevance
The proposed models and the accompanying results illustrate that deep machine learning can identify associations in surgical video clips. These are the first steps to creating a feedback mechanism for surgeons that would allow them to learn from their experiences and refine their skills.


It is hypothesized that in diadromous fish, migrations may occur because of differences in the availability of food in marine and freshwater habitats. The benefits of migration to sea may be increased growth opportunities and reproductive output, while the costs may be increased mortality and increased energy use. Here we examine mortality rates of anadromous Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) in fresh water and at sea over a 25-year period to test these hypotheses. Daily mortality rates were 5–15 times higher at sea than in fresh water, with highest rates for first-time migrants, inferring a clear trade-off between increased mass gain and mortality risk during the sea migration. Descending smolts were caught in a trap at the outlet of the river, individually tagged, and thereafter recorded each time they passed through the trap on their annual migration between the river and the sea. Brown trout females seemed to benefit to a higher degree from migrating to sea than did female Arctic char, probably because of the higher growth rate at sea, and hence higher reproductive output.


INTRODUCTION AND AIMS
The dominant Thai alcohol companies have strategically employed brand advertising and brand sharing (using a very similar branding for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic products) to circumvent restrictive alcohol advertising regulations. As empirical evidence confirms that exposure to alcohol advertisements increases youth drinking, young Thais could be at risk of constant and incidental exposure to alcohol advertising, hence leading to increased alcohol consumption. This study aims to explore young people's perceptions of these alcohol branding strategies and to examine how exposure to such advertising strategies affect their attitudes towards alcohol use.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Seventy-two university students aged 20-24 years participated in 1.5-h semi-structured focus groups conducted in Bangkok and a peripheral province. Logos of two domestic alcohol brands were also used as part of projective techniques to elicit information. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data.

RESULTS
Despite a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic products under the same branding, participants associated the logos primarily with beer-the flagship product. Branding strategies seemed to successfully increase young people's brand familiarity and affected their brand recognition and brand awareness. Participants had a high awareness of the alcohol companies' commercial activities but regarded alcohol advertisements to be indifferent to advertisements of other ordinary products.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Brand advertising is a dynamic tool that affects young people's attitudes towards the advertised brands and alcohol use. Due to early exposure to the brands, brand sharing increases brand familiarity and, among other factors, potentially affects drinking attitudes and purchase intentions.


In 2010, the world's first Social Impact Bond (SIB) was launched at Peterborough Prison. It was used to fund an intervention – 'The One Service' – aimed at reducing the reoffending among prisoners discharged after serving a sentence of less than 12 months. Under the terms of the SIB, investors are paid according to how successful the One Service is in reducing reconvictions. If a minimum threshold of a 7.5% reduction in reconviction events is reached across the pilot, payment is triggered. Additionally, there is an option to trigger an early payment if a 10% reduction is noted in the number of reconviction events in individual cohorts.

A propensity score matching (PSM) approach was used to estimate impact. For cohort 1, the impact was estimated, by a previous team of independent assessors, to be a reduction in reconviction events of 8.4% (Jolliffe and Hedderman, 2014). Anders and Dorsett (2017) reviewed the PSM approach, prompted in part by the desire to understand the reasons behind the differences in reconviction rates between prisoners discharged from HMP Peterborough and prisoners discharged from other prisons. Following their review, Anders and Dorsett (2017) recommended that the cohort 1 approach be maintained for cohort 2. They also recommended an adjustment to the sample selection in Cohort 2. It is important to note that this recommendation was based on the analysis of cohort 1 data and was not informed by cohort 2 reoffending data. Matching was performed for cohort 2 using a dataset that excluded reoffending data.

We estimate that the One Service reduced the number of reconviction events among those discharged from HMP Peterborough by 9.7% for cohort 2. The reduction across both cohorts is estimated to be 9.0%, which reached the minimum threshold of 7.5% across all cohorts. This reduction is sufficient to trigger an outcome payment.


Title of Document: OPTIMIZED FUSION TECHNIQUE FOR FAULT DIAGNOSTICS. Surya Kunche, Master of Science, 2013 Directed By: Prof. Michael G. Pecht, Department of Mechanical Engineering Classification algorithms have been widely used to solve data-driven fault diagnostics problems. The number of classification algorithms used has been increasing in recent years. Each classification algorithm has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the accuracy of classifiers changes with the different features used for training. As a result, traditional methods of selecting an appropriate classification algorithm, including domain expertise and trial and error, are becoming complex and difficult to employ. Classifier fusion has been used to solve this problem of selecting an appropriate diagnostic algorithm, and it also improves the generalizability of an algorithm. The performance of a classifier fusion algorithm is governed by the combination rule adopted for fusing multiple classifiers and how the bias and variance are balanced by the combination rule. However, research still needs to determine which combination rule optimally balances the bias and variance during classifier fusion. Therefore, this research develops a fusion methodology that combines the classifiers by balancing the bias and variance. This methodology reduces the number of false negatives and positives, thereby improving the overall accuracy of the algorithm for fault detection. A cost function that considers bias and variance errors was developed to evaluate the performance of the algorithm. Sequential quadratic programming–based optimization was employed to find the optimal combination of classifiers and balance of bias and variance. The developed algorithm was used for fault diagnosis of analog circuits, and the results indicate that the developed fusion approach improved diagnostic accuracy over existing classifier fusion techniques. OPTIMIZED FUSION TECHNIQUE FOR DIAGNOSTICS


11 The "initial-dip" is a transient decrease frequently observed in functional neuroimaging signals, immediately after 12 stimulus onset, and is believed to originate from a rise in deoxy-hemoglobin (HbR) caused by local neural activity. It has been 13 shown to be more spatially specific than the hemodynamic response, and is believed to represent focal neuronal activity. 14 However, despite being observed in various neuroimaging modalities (such as fMRI, fNIRS, etc), its origins are disputed and 15 its neuronal correlates unknown. Here, we show that the initial-dip is dominated by a decrease in total-hemoglobin (HbT). 16 We also find a biphasic response in HbR, with an early decrease and later rebound. However, HbT decreases were always large 17 enough to counter spiking-induced increases in HbR. Moreover, the HbT-dip and HbR-rebound were strongly coupled to 18 highly localized spiking activity. Our results suggest that the HbT-dip helps prevent accumulation of spiking-induced HbR- 19 concentration in capillaries by flushing out HbT, probably by active venule dilation. during epoch II (p<10 -3 ; n=125; Š). In contrast, low spiking trials showed no significant modulation of HbR slopes during either epoch I or II (p>0.1; n=122; Š). G) Correlation of mean dips in HbT, HbO and HbR stimulus induced peaks in the power of various LFP frequencies bands and Spiking. Correlations with p>0.05 are greyed. Only high frequency bands showed a significant correlation with initial dips, with spiking activity eliciting the strongest relationship, that were marginally higher for HbT than HbO. H) Strength of the relationship between the HbT dip and spiking activity decreases with distance from the NIRS emitter. Strongest correlations are observed on tetrode closest to emitter (0.55mm away from emitter edge, 1.8mm from emitter center), whereas no correlations are observed on tetrode 2.95mm away (4.2mm from center). For each combination of DPFs, we observed strong dips in the HbO and HbT signals. We also observed an increase in the dip strength for HbT during high spiking trials. Low spiking trials failed to elicit a significant dip. The HbR signal also elicited a strong dip and rebound modulation in each case. For each combination of DPFs, the results were nearly identical and individually significant. Interestingly, the DFP combination 12,6 revealed increases in HbR within the 0-2s of trial onset. However, there was no difference in HbR concentration in high-spiking vs low-spiking trials (p>0.4; n=130/group, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). Furthermore, the strongest difference between high and low-spiking was still oberved in the HbT-dip (p<10 -5 ) than HbO-dip (p<10 -3 ). This reaffirms previous results 1 that, at least in the primary visual cortex, although the choice of DPF might alter the amplitude of the calculated change in concentrations of HbO, HbR and HbT, it does not alter their relationship to underlying spiking activity. Notches represent 95% confidence intervals. optical density for both imaging wavelenghts (760nm and 850nm) reveal an early decrease in chromophore concentration. A) Specific extinction coefficients for HbO and HbR as a function of wavelength. Although both HbO and HbR absorb light at both wavelengths, 760nm is more sensitive to HbR changes whereas 850nm is more sensitive to HbO changes. Changes in the observed optical density are proportional to changes in the chromatophores according to Beer's law. B) Mean changes in the optical densities at 760nm and 850nm across all 260 trials. Inset represents the changes between 0-3s. A decrease in optical density for both wavelenghts can be observed. C) Mean change in optical density between 0 and 1s for 760 and 850nm. The distributions are significanlty less than zero. D) Optical density changes for trials with high and low spiking activity. Inset represents the changes between 0-3s. Larger decreases in optical density are observed for the high spiking trials. E) Mean changes in optical density between 0-1s reveal significant decreases in optical density for high-spiking trials. The decrease in optical density for both chromatophores implies a decrease in both HbO and HbR concentrations. Since HbT is the sum of changes in HbO and HbR, simultaneous decreases in HbO and HbR would lead to larger decreases in HbT when changes in optical density are converted to changes in concentration. Surprisingly, we found mildly significant decreases in the optical density at 850nm for low-spiking trials. However, after conversion to concentration changes, none of the traces (HbO, HbR or HbT) revealed significant changes between 0-1s.


The central question of this research project may be stated as 'What are the beliefs about best practice whic influence non-specialist mainstream class teachers when teaching bilingual pupils and how have these beliefs been formed?' This thesis reports on an investigation into the influences on mainstream teachers' practice as they respond to the needs of bilingual children in primary classrooms in the area of Scotland which, until 1996, formed Strathclyde Region.

The research reported in this thesis derived from Smyth and McKee (1996) which found that newly qualifying teachers in Scotland did not feel equipped to support bilingual learners in the classroom. a multi-site case study was conducted in twelve classrooms in six education authorities using non-participant observation and interviews with class teachers.

The transcriptions of the interviews were analysed to find the cultural models which inform teachers' practice. This analysis found that the Master Model which informed teachers' practice in the context being researched was that 'bilingual pupils need to become monolingual to succeed'.

This master model helps to shape and organise the teachers' beliefs and leads to a number of related cultural models. This thesis discusses three of these:
- Parents who do not speak English hinder the child's academic progress, by definition, their ability to become monolingual;
- the role of schools and literacy events is to promote monolingualism;
- those bilingual learners who do not fit the 'Master Model' i.e. those who do not operate monolingually in the dominant language are problematic and require learning support.

The cultural models which were found to influence the teachers' practices were not exclusive to teachers in one school or of a certain length of experience, but were found to pertain across the sample of seventeen teachers, albeit with overlaps and internal contradictions. The subtractive view of bilingualism which was found to dominate the Cultural Models in the policy vacuum that exists as regards education for bilingual children in Scotland has been shown (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1981; Cummins, 1984; Gibbons, 1991; Thomas and Collier, 1997) to have long-term detrimental effects on bilingual children's educational achievement.


Great advances have been made in the last decade in quantifying and understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) with ground, atmospheric, and space observations. However, although global GPP estimates exist, each data set relies upon assumptions and none of the available data are based only on measurements. Consequently, there is no consensus on the global total GPP and large uncertainties exist in its benchmarking. The objective of this review is to assess how the different available data sets predict the spatiotemporal patterns of GPP, identify the differences among data sets, and highlight the main advantages/disadvantages of each data set. We compare GPP estimates for the historical period (1990–2009) from two observation‐based data sets (Model Tree Ensemble and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) to coupled carbon‐climate models and terrestrial carbon cycle models from the Fifth Climate Model Intercomparison Project and TRENDY projects and to a new hybrid data set (CARBONES). Results show a large range in the mean global GPP estimates. The different data sets broadly agree on GPP seasonal cycle in terms of phasing, while there is still discrepancy on the amplitude. For interannual variability (IAV) and trends, there is a clear separation between the observation‐based data that show little IAV and trend, while the process‐based models have large GPP variability and significant trends. These results suggest that there is an urgent need to improve observation‐based data sets and develop carbon cycle modeling with processes that are currently treated either very simplistically to correctly estimate present GPP and better quantify the future uptake of carbon dioxide by the world's vegetation.


Microscopic traffic-simulation tools are increasingly being applied to evaluate the impacts of a wide variety of intelligent transport systems (ITS) applications and other dynamic problems that are difficult to solve using traditional analytical models. The accuracy of a traffic-simulation system depends highly on the quality of the traffic-flow model at its core, with the two main critical components being the car-following and lane-changing models. This paper presents findings from a comparative evaluation of car-following behavior in a number of traffic simulators [advanced interactive microscopic simulator for urban and nonurban networks (AIMSUN), parallel microscopic simulation (PARAMICS), and Verkehr in Stadten-simulation (VISSIM)]. The car-following algorithms used in these simulators have been developed from a variety of theoretical backgrounds and are reported to have been calibrated on a number of different data sets. Very few independent studies have attempted to evaluate the performance of the underlying algorithms based on the same data set. The results reported in this study are based on a car-following experiment that used instrumented vehicles to record the speed and relative distance between follower and leader vehicles on a one-lane road. The experiment was replicated in each tool and the simulated car-following behavior was compared to the field data using a number of error tests. The results showed lower error values for the Gipps-based models implemented in AIMSUN and similar error values for the psychophysical spacing models used in VISSIM and PARAMICS. A qualitative "drift and goal-seeking behavior" test, which essentially shows how the distance headway between leader and follower vehicles should oscillate around a stable distance, also confirmed the findings.


Many restoration guidelines strongly recommend the use of local sources of seed in native plant revegetation projects. These recommendations are based on assumptions that the species used for revegetation are cross-pollinated and woody, as they were developed for overstorey vegetation from the northern hemisphere. Their validity is challenged with respect to replacing or enhancing the native Australian grass component of degraded ecosystems. First, far from being the dominant pollination mechanism, obligatory cross-pollination has not been recorded in any Australian native grasses except for a few dioecious species. Indeed, the common Australian native grasses so far studied have revealed complicated breeding systems that provide the evolutionary resilience necessary for coping with the variable Australian climate as well as with future climate change. It is suggested that a key feature of this flexibility is polyploidy and its implications for sourcing seed are discussed. Second, it is argued that the genetic dissimilarity among populations of a species is not proportional to the distance between them but is more related to the environmental stresses that have been placed on those populations in the past. This is illustrated by different scales of ecotypic variation that are often trait-dependent. Evidence for this can be found in several translocation experiments, where populations of native grasses from a great distance away survive and often perform better than local populations. It is concluded that there is little justification for the recommendation that only local sources of seed of Australian native grasses should be used for revegetation projects, and particularly in large-scale programs. Instead, it is argued that studies on Australian native grasses provide clear evidence that distinct adaptive advantages may be gained by sourcing non-local provenance seed, which is matched to the environment of the revegetation site, and which contains appropriate stress tolerance genes, or by mixing populations from several locations to increase the genetic diversity of seed sources. Some general guidelines are provided for deciding whether or not to use local provenances depending on the purpose of the revegetation, the degree of environmental modification of the site and the characteristics of the species of choice.


As mobile devices have become the personal information-processing interface of choice, many individuals seem to swiftly follow fashion. Yet, the literature is silent on how early adopters of mobile devices overcame uncertainties related to shifts in technology. Based on purposive sampling, this paper presents detailed insights into why and how five closely related individuals made the decision to adopt the iPhone before it was available through traditional supply chains. Focusing on the role played by social networks, we analyze how adoption threshold, opinion leaders, social contagion, and social learning shaped adoption behaviors and outcomes. The analyses confirm that network structures impacted the early decision to accept the iPhone; they show that, when facing uncertainty, adoption decisions emerged as a combined result of individual adoption reflections and major influences from the social network as well as behaviors observed within the network; and, they reveal interesting behaviors that differed from expectations. In conclusion, we discuss implications for both theory and practice.


Current solutions for managing distributed applications in the cloud, typically covered by PaaS (Platform as a Service) offers, remain domain specific and are only partially automated. In this context, the task consisting in automatically configuring distributed applications is still a difficult issue. In this paper, we present an application architectural model and a self-configuration protocol that automates the deployment of legacy distributed applications. Our protocol is decentralized and loosely coupled to avoid the need of a global synchronization between virtual machines (VMs) during the configuration stage. An evaluation reports the performances of the protocol when applied to deploy enterprise web applications on a private cloud platform.


Purpose: The present study identifies the professional skills profile that a Public Affairs (PA) practitioner of a major company or an organization representing the interests of various economic sectors should have in Spain. Design/methodology : The study uses a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology. The initial identification of the competences, as well as the general functions of the profile to be evaluated, has been carried out using the in-depth interview technique with the directors of APRI (Association of Professionals of Institutional Relations of Spain), who defined these competencies from their expert perspective. Subsequently, through a survey of seventy-two managers, sufficient data were obtained to statistically process the information and obtain significant results in the identification of such competences. This information has been processed, firstly, through factorial analysis, which has made it possible to synthesize these competences. Once the analysis of factors was carried out, a cluster analysis is added for the classification of the respondents or managers. Findings : The perception of the interviewed executives has been determined regarding the functions that an institutional relations practitioner must fulfill. It should be noted that this is a profession for which there is no clarity about the role and the legitimacy of its members, particularly in Spain. In fact, it is associated with a function that is seen as exerting undue pressure on political power. A field study was conducted to determine the opinion of these managers on the competences that a professional in institutional relations should have. Originality/value : This study provides a description of the job position of a person responsible for institutional relations in Spain. Moreover, it adds a typology of managers, according to the competences defined for the person responsible for institutional relations.


The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of lemon grass, citronella grass, Mexican-tea and noni essential oils on urediniospore germination of Olivea neotectonae, the agent responsible for rust in Teak (Tectona grandis L.f.); to evaluate the phytotoxic effect of these essential oils on teak seedlings; and to evaluate the use of essential oils to control rust in teak plants when preventively and curatively applied. We found that the noni and lemon grass essential oils inhibited 100% of urediniospore germination. On the other hand, the essential oils from noni and lemon grass caused phytotoxicity when applied to seedlings at concentrations of 2000 and 1500 μL L-1, respectively. The major constituents found in lemon grass essential oil were Geranial and Neral, while Octanoic Acid was found in noni oil. Lower values in the area below the rust progress curve were observed with the preventive application of lemon grass and noni essential oils.


The tragedy of Imam Husayn martyrdom (the son of Imam Ali (pbuh), the grandson of The Prophet, 10 Muharram in the year 61 AH (in AHc: October 9, and in AHt: October 10, 680 CE) occurred in Karbala plain, beside Forat river in Iraq. Yazid, the son of Moavie, the second Umayyad Caliphate sent his messengers to pay pledge/kneel and he didn't accept because of his deviation from Islam religion. The respected personality of Imam Husayn among the Muslims, the depth of the tragedy and telling the details of the event by the survivors namely his sister and son caused grief in important cities including Mecca, Medina and Kuffe and it was developed in all Islamic countries as the respect to this tragedy was prevalent in the Muslim culture namely Shia people. Shia people all over the world mourn the head of the martyrs to keep the sad event for ever and they applied some symbols in their mourning and they are held over the time in the form of special rites during Moharam and Safar. The frequency of the symbols indicates the deep effect of Ashura tragedy in Shia culture. The symbols have different names in different cultures of Islamic countries. The reasons and the method of the application of mourning symbols in various Islamic countries namely the pathology of the symbols in terms of negative effects on the principle of the aim of Imam Husayn are the main objective of the present study.


In this paper, the method of detecting a runaway reaction in a batch process using artificial neural network (ANN) model is proposed. From the safety point of view, it is difficult to investigate what the causes of runaway reactions in the chemical plants are, besides as the consequences of the accident cannot be so well investigated. In this study, the parameters of temperature, pressure, and level of the reactor that influence a runaway reaction are studied. Based on historical data of the parameters (temperature, pressure, and level of the reactor) for normal and runaway reaction, the ANN model and simulation of Polyvinyl Chloride plant has been developed. Analysis of the learning and results of the ANN algorithm and simulation are presented and discussed. It is established that by using this approach, we can observe and compare what's the dominant factor of the runaway reaction. Finally, we also can visualize the characteristic of runaway reaction so we can anticipate and isolate this kind of fault.


We use a novel nonparametric causality-in-quantiles test to study the effects of terror attacks on stock-market returns and volatility in G7 countries. We also use the novel test to study the international repercussions of terror attacks. Test results show that terror attacks often have significant effects on returns, whereas the effect on volatility is significant only for Japan and the UK for several quantiles above the median. The effects on returns in many cases become stronger in terms of significance for the upper and lower quantiles of the conditional distribution of stock-market returns. As for international repercussions, we find that terror attacks mainly affect the tails of the conditional distribution of stock-market returns. We find no evidence of a significant cross-border effects of terror attacks on stock-market volatility, where again Japan and the UK are exceptions as far as terror attacks on the US are concerned. Finally, our results continue to hold following various robustness checks involving model structure, lag-lengths and possible omitted variable bias.


Why do solute concentrations in streams remain largely constant while discharge varies by orders of magnitude? We used a new hydrological land surface and reactive transport code, RT‐Flux‐PIHM, to understand this long‐standing puzzle. We focus on the nonreactive chloride (Cl) and reactive magnesium (Mg) in the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory (SSHCZO). Simulation results show that stream discharge comes from surface runoff (Qs), soil lateral flow (QL), and deeper groundwater (QG), with QL contributing >70%. In the summer, when high evapotranspiration dries up and disconnects most of the watershed from the stream, Cl is trapped along planar hillslopes. Successive rainfalls connect the watershed and mobilize trapped Cl, which counteracts dilution effects brought about by high water storage (Vw) and maintains chemostasis. Similarly, the synchronous response of clay dissolution rates (Mg source) to hydrological conditions, maintained largely by a relatively constant ratio between "wetted" mineral surface area Aw and Vw, controls Mg chemostatic behavior. Sensitivity analysis indicates that cation exchange plays a secondary role in determining chemostasis compared to clay dissolution, although it does store an order‐of‐magnitude more Mg on exchange sites than soil water. Model simulations indicate that dilution (concentration decrease with increasing discharge) occurs only when mass influxes from soil lateral flow are negligible (e.g., via having low clay surface area) so that stream discharge is dominated by relatively constant mass fluxes from deep groundwater that are unresponsive to surface hydrological conditions.


Agave americana is an exotic plant, which is widely cultivated in the world for aesthetic purposes. It belongs to the family Agavaceae and in most varieties the leaf has a white or yellow marginal or central stripe from the base to apex. The Kenyan A. americana fibre has not yet been investigated as a textile fibre. The study aimed to investigate the potential of the fibre extracted from the Agave americana plant, and its quality for use as a textile fibre. This is essential since the United State (US) government has opened its market to Kenyan textiles products and other goods through the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). The Agoa Act requires that the beneficiary countries start growing other varieties of vegetable fibres to make fabrics instead of relying only on imported yarns and fabric and locally grown cotton. The soil conditions where the leaves were harvested was analysed and determined. The Agave americana fibres were extracted from the plant leaves and the physical and chemical properties determined. For the purposes of this study plant samples were purposively collected and subjected to retting process to obtain the fibres. The fibres were then randomly assigned for the experimental tests. The data analysis was both qualitative and quantitative. From the analysis the prevailing soil type is sandy clay loam and was also acidic. The fibres obtained were flexible, smooth and lustrous and had similar burning characteristics like other known cellulosic fibres. The fibres are significantly long with a mean length of 65.2cm and a mean diameter of 0.15mm. This implies that the fibre has good spinning quality. The fibre has a tenacity of 2.94g/d (35.96cN/tex) when dry and 2.3g/d (20.60 cN/Tex) when wet. Generally natural fibres are hydrophilic in nature and this was evident with the A. americana fibre with a moisture regain of 9.98% and moisture content of 9.19%. Yarns were spun from the fibres, dyed and samples of textile articles were made. The fibre disintegrated when exposed to strong acid and alkalis, but was resistant to weak acids and alkalis. From the findings of this research the fibre was found to qualify as a potential source of textile fibres and this could provide a secondary source of raw materials for textile products. Similarly the allied activities of cultivating and processing the plant could be a potential source of employment opportunities and income generation for many Kenyans. In Kenya the plant is grown as an ornamental outdoor and indoor plant and as a fence.


Limitations in the ability to temporarily represent information in visual working memory (VWM) are crucial for visual cognition. Whether VWM processing is dependent on an object's saliency (i.e., how much it stands out) has been neglected in VWM research. Therefore, we developed a novel VWM task that allows direct control over saliency. In three experiments with this task (on 10, 31, and 60 adults, respectively), we consistently found that VWM performance is strongly and parametrically influenced by saliency and that both an object's relative saliency (compared with concurrently presented objects) and absolute saliency influence VWM processing. We also demonstrated that this effect is indeed due to bottom-up saliency rather than differential fit between each object and the top-down attentional template. A simple computational model assuming that VWM performance is determined by the weighted sum of absolute and relative saliency accounts well for the observed data patterns.


Recently, some contradictory statements have been made concerning whether or not the Buddha taught free will. Here, a comparative method is used to examine what exactly is meant by free will, and to determine to what extent this meaning is applicable to early Buddhist thought. The comparative method reveals parallels between contemporary criticisms of Cartesian philosophy and Buddhist criticisms of Brahmanical doctrine. Although in Cartesian terms Buddhism promotes no recognizable theory of free will, it does promote a primitive theory of compatibilism, which shares some key features with Daniel Dennett's position on this issue. It is argued that the implicit Buddhist stance on freedom of the will allows the existence of choice and responsibility without calling upon an ultimate controlling agency that transcends causality.


In the 21st century and particularly during the 2010s, the Eastern Mediterranean acquired unprecedented attention and significance as a distinct geopolitical space with new international and security dynamics. This "new" Eastern Mediterranean geopolitical order was largely "constructed" by global and regional power shifts as well as local developments, such as the trajectory of Turkish foreign policy and the discovery of offshore hydrocarbon reserves. The result was a change in the region's patterns of interstate conflict and cooperation. On the one hand, countries such as Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, and Israel became part of an emerging network of cooperation and security architecture. On the other hand, owing to its problematic relations with these states, Turkey remained an outsider wanting to "deconstruct" this new state of affairs and change it to its own benefit. As such, the new Eastern Mediterranean was ushered in during a period of geopolitical polarization that is more conducive to crisis rather than peace and stability and often transcends its boundaries.


This Article examines the decision by the ICTY Prosecutor not to investigate NATO's bombing campaign during the Kosovo war - and the Prosecutor's unusual decision to publish an Inquiry explaining its reasons. Many scholars have examined the Inquiry, but all have focused on its substantive legal analysis. This Article takes a different approach: It focuses on how the Prosecution reached the conclusion not to investigate. Using rhetorical analysis, it examines the Prosecution's decision-making mindset to see what that indicates about the shape of future international prosecutorial decision-making, including at the ICC. There is no evidence that the Prosecution succumbed to direct pressure. But the question we must consider is this: Is an international court institutionally capable of asking the questions about law-in-politics that it must if it is to fulfill the promise of international legal justice? This Article argues that the Inquiry raises serious concerns about the Prosecution's compliant attitude toward NATO's liability, especially in the face of changing technology in war. It makes an original contribution to debate about the ICC through a case study of the overlooked, but troubling, effects of a prosecutor's discretion not to act. But more, it argues that the Inquiry's structure and style entrench a worrisome immaturity in our approach to international justice. The Inquiry is evidence that an international justice's prospects are limited; our aspirations and strategies may have to be adjusted accordingly, because a court that produces answers—even right answers—for the wrong reasons may never fulfill its promise.


The Lee-Campbell Group has spent forty years constructing and analysing individual-level datasets based largely on Chinese archival materials to produce a scholarship of discovery. Initially, we constructed datasets for the study of Chinese demographic behaviour, households, kin networks, and socioeconomic attainment. More recently, we have turned to the construction and analysis of datasets on civil and military officials and other educational and professional elites, especially their social origins and their careers. As of July 2020, the datasets include nominative information on the behaviour and life outcomes of approximately two million individuals. This article is a retrospective on the construction of these datasets and a summary of their findings. This is the first time we have presented all our projects together and discussed them and the results of our analysis as a single integrated whole. We begin by summarizing the contents, organization, and notable features of each dataset and provide an integrated history of our data construction, starting in 1979 up to the present. We then summarize the most important results from our research on demographic behaviour, family, and household organization, and more recently inequality and stratification. We conclude with a reflection on the importance of data discovery, flexibility, interaction and collaboration to the success of our efforts.


The EU is working towards providing 2 MW, coaxial-cavity, CW, 170 GHz gyrotrons for ITER. Their design is based on results from an experimental pre-prototype tube in operation at FZK for several years, having a pulse length of several milliseconds. The first industrial prototype tube is designed for CW operation, but, in a first phase, will be tested out to Is at the European Gyrotron Test Facility in Lausanne, Switzerland as part of a phased testing/development program (1s, 60 s, CW). It is known that RF beam profile shaping, stray radiation handling, and collector cooling at these high power levels are three issues for the gyrotron. The gyrotron, magnet and body power supply have been delivered and successfully installed at the test stand, hosted by the CRPP. The main high voltage power supply delivery is delayed, so one of the power supplies dedicated to 3 of 9 gyrotrons in the TCV EC system is being used as a backup power source (all 3 TCV power sources can be interfaced with the test stand). Cathode conditioning began in November 2007 followed by collector conditioning in December. Parasitic low frequency oscillations have not hindered operation, and the tests have progressed to conditioning out to 0.14 s pulses by March 2008. During this period, the performance concerning microwave generation has been characterised and the RF beam profile has been measured at several planes to allow reconstruction of the phase and amplitude profile at the gyrotron window and to provide the necessary information permitting proper alignment of the compact RF loads prior to pulse extension. The power will be measured, according to the pulse length, using either a very-short pulse (<0.01 s) load on loan from FZK, or short-pulse (<0.2 s) or long-pulse (CW), spherical, calorimetric loads developped as part of this program by CNR. This paper presents the preliminary results of these operations.


When subjects monitor a single spatial location, target detection depends on the pre-target phase of an ~8 Hz brain rhythm. When multiple locations are monitored, performance decrements suggest a division of the 8 Hz rhythm over the number of locations. This suggests that different locations are sequentially sampled. Indeed, when subjects monitor two locations, performance benefits alternate at a 4 Hz rhythm. These performance alternations followed a reset of attention to one location. Although resets are common and important events for attention, it is unknown, whether in the absence of resets, ongoing attention operates rhythmically. Here, we examined whether spatially specific attentional sampling can be revealed by ongoing pre-target brain rhythms. Specifically, visually induced gamma-band activity plays a role in spatial attention and therefore, we hypothesized that performance can be predicted by a theta-rhythmic gamma modulation. Brain rhythms were assessed with MEG, while subjects monitored bilateral grating stimuli for a unilateral target. The corresponding contralateral gamma-band responses were subtracted from each other to isolate spatially-selective, target-related fluctuations. The resulting lateralized-gamma activity (LGA) showed opposite 4 Hz phases prior to detected versus missed targets. The 4 Hz phase of pre-target LGA accounted for a 14% modulation in performance. These findings suggest that spatial attention is an ongoing theta-rhythmic sampling process, with each sampling cycle implemented through gamma-band synchrony. This extends previous findings by demonstrating that in the case of distributed attention, gamma-band synchrony is shaped by the slower sampling rhythm that governs performance benefits.


US refusal to allow the appointment of new judges (or members) to the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body—a key component of its renowned dispute settlement system—has pushed the organization into an existential crisis. The Appellate Body no longer has the requisite number of members to hear new cases on appeal. The terms of two of the three remaining members have expired, leaving the WTO without an appeal function. US officials charge that certain Appellate Body decisions on WTO dispute panel rulings have expanded WTO obligations and constrained WTO rights—what trade lawyers call "judicial overreach"—and so they have blocked the appointment of new Appellate Body members until other WTO countries address US complaints. Schott and Jung analyze the WTO cases brought against the United States and find that the problem of judicial overreach seems to surface primarily in a subset of US losses in antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) cases that target specific methods of calculating dumping margins. They warn that disabling the whole appellate system is a disproportionate response to the specific problem. It will weaken enforcement of WTO obligations and undermine prospects for negotiations to update the WTO rulebook, thus corroding the rules-based trading system, one that has been modeled on US law and practice. A better approach would be to exempt AD/CVD cases from appellate review (while still subjecting them to dispute panel rulings). This targeted change in the WTO Appellate Body process, coupled with procedural reforms already advanced in proposals that have been widely supported by WTO members, could mitigate US concerns and allow the Appellate Body to be repopulated.


In recent decades, technology development and use have proliferated societies across the world (Cole et al., 2009). Technology is defined as innovative equipment with specific functions that people use to achieve a goal (Parasuraman, 2000). In general, technology advancements have become an integral part of North Americans' daily routines (Duggan, & Brenner, 2013; Rainie, 2010; Smith, 2012). As a result, technology influences the structure and processes of intimate relationships (Hertlein, 2012; Hertlein & Blumer, 2014). Hertlein and Blumer (2014) developed the Couple and Family Technology framework to explain the impacts of technology on intimate relationships. According to this framework, technology has transformed individuals' interactions including the initiation, maintenance, and termination processes within romantic relationships. The relationship between technology and intimate relationships, however, is multifaceted. Partners' uses of technology can impact their relational intimacy, and couples' pre-existing relationship dynamics can impact how they use technology in their intimate relationships (Campbell & Murray, in press; Hertlein, 2012; Hertlein & Ancheta; Lanigan, 2009; Murray & Campbell, in press). Therefore, couples are confronted with negotiating patterns of technology use in order to become satisfied with ones' own and ones' partners' technology use behaviors. Current literature trends indicate that positive and negative impacts of technology on couples' intimacy are evident (Hertlein & Ancheta, 2014; Hertlein & Blumer, 2014; Murray & Campbell, in press). To date, however, minimal research has been done to identify the individual and relational characteristics that influence technology use on relational intimacy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify individual and relational background characteristics that impact how partners view and use technology, as well as examine the impact partners' use has on their relational intimacy. Specifically, this study was used to determine if there are identifiable groups of people based on the following characteristics: Technology readiness (TR), couple communication, and uses of technology that enhance or reduce couples' intimacy. In addition, the impact of participants' personal and relational background characteristics (i.e., age, gender, relationship duration, and relationship satisfaction) were examined to inform clinicians about different types of technology engagement that can positively or negatively impact couples' intimacy. In this study, it was found that four clusters existed based on scores of TR, communication, intimacy-enhancing and intimacy-reducing uses of technology. Each group was provided with an identification descriptive label (i.e., Secure, Pursuer, Dismissive, and Fearful) based on the unique combination of variables of each group. Group differences were most relative to the newly developed variables of couple communication (CC) and technology-mediated intimacy (TMI). The demographic variables of age, relationship duration, and gender also contributed to differences among the clusters. A final finding of this study was that partners' intimacy-enhancing and intimacy- reducing uses of technology were significant predictors of relationship satisfaction. The clinical implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.


Francoise de Graffigny's Lettres d'une Peruvienne has been both praised in recent years and despised at the time of publication, for the innovation in the creation of a new social and economic position for its heroine. Feminist readings have highlighted Zilia's position-with a "house of her own"-to read Graffigny's novel as a critique of contemporary constructions of female identity.2 These readings suggest new avenues of analysis that question the discourses that enable the construction of such an identity. In particular, Zilia's position as property owner invites an investigation of the discursive systems that enable such a depiction of property and ownership.Within Graffigny's novel, the Western discourses of property rights, ownership, and transfer combine with narratives of identity to reveal the paradoxes and inconsistencies in early modern conceptions of culture-both foreign and one's own. Graffigny's novel at once reinscribes and challenges the "order of things," as she weaves together multiple Enlightenment discourses of economics, aesthetics, epistemology, and psychology. Of particular concern in this analysis will be the relationship between identity and property that the novel enacts.Drawing from James Clifford's questioning of the Western desire to collect both art and cultural objects, I seek to demonstrate the profoundly Western vision of subjectivity that emerges in and through Zilia's reconfiguration of self within French culture. Ultimately, I shall argue that Graffigny's novel comments critically not only on the Western practices that it explicitly denounces-in Zilia's letters that offer ethnographic accounts of French culture-but also on Western constructions of subjectivity that are wholly dependent on notions of property and ownership.I. THE PHENOMENON OF COLLECTINGIn his provocative essay "On Collecting Art and Culture," James Clifford sketches a brief history of collecting in the West.3 He suggests that underlying the desire to collect, and regulating its practice, is the law of property (217). With reference to C. B. Macpherson's seminal study, Clifford draws a parallel between the "possessive individual" self described by MacPherson, and the practice of collecting art, cultural objects, and other curiosities either in private collections or for museums.4According to Macpherson's analysis, the possessive individual, who appears in the political philosophy of Hobbes and Locke, reflects a historically specific set of circumstances particular to seventeenth-century England. In this historically contextual reading, Macpherson argues against the universality or general, abstract quality of the claims made about human nature in Hobbes and Locke. For Macpherson, it is the historical circumstances of a competitive and even antagonistic social arrangement that necessitate the self-interested and acquisitive vision of human nature that emerges in these foundational texts of social contract theory. But clearly this vision extends beyond its early modern context of origin. Possessive individualism is equally a characteristic of humans under late capitalism who respond in similar ways to a competitive, even antagonistic, economic and social environment. The high value placed on the acquisition of property is common to both historical settings.Acquiring property (understood as both land and moveable goods, including money) in seventeenth-century England, and in eighteenth-century France, meant a number of things.5 First, and basically, it meant securing a comfortable life for oneself and one's family. second, it meant ensuring a comfortable life in the future for one's children. Third, in a society increasingly tending toward more flexible class categories, acquiring property meant the possibility of ascending the social ladder. Property could even mean entrance into the aristocracy through the landed gentry in England and through the purchase of titles among the noblesse de robe in France. …


Julia Driver's Uneasy Virtue offers a theory of virtue and the virtues without being an instance of virtue ethics. It presents a consequentialist challenge to recent virtue ethics, but its positive views – and especially its interesting examples – have great significance in their own right. Driver's defence of 'virtues of ignorance' has force despite all the challenges to it that have been mounted over the years. But there are also examples differing from those Driver has mentioned that favour the idea of such virtues. Perhaps certain virtues of religious faith and the virtue necessary for dealing as best one can with moral dilemmas both require ignorance. However, some of the examples Driver does discuss raise the question whether virtue status is based solely on consequences, rather than perhaps having (in addition) a motivational component.


This doctoral thesis contains two parts: a critical exegesis in English and a scholarly translation in Spanish. With the latter comprising a book-length collection of essays from Contrary Notions. The Michael Parenti Reader (2007), this study seeks to contextualize Parenti's work within the global translation market; additionally, it examines the researcher's translation of Russell Crandall's Gunboat Democracy: U.S. Interventions in the Dominican Republic, Grenada and Panama (2006), published in Spanish as Democracia a la fuerza. Intervenciones estadounidenses en la Republica Dominicana, Granada y Panama (2011). Involving process- and product-oriented issues in two English-to-Spanish book translations in the social sciences, this study focuses on the rendering of metaphor and other stylistic devices, while delving into the role of the translator in replacing, via a text-holistic strategy of compensation, sentence-level loss with book-length gains. Additionally, in the context of the researcher's own second-language (L2) translations, it seeks to challenge underlying assumptions regarding first-language (L1) translation and the privileged status it holds with regard to directionality and argues that, when it comes to identifying L1 and L2 proficiency in the context of translation, the intricacies involved require nuanced approaches, leaving little or no room for facile prescriptions of a binary nature. Further, this study examines the translator's agency and collaborative-intervenient role as writer and researcher in producing, with authorial consent, bibliographically-expanded texts to meet target-culture expectations regarding scholarly work with local implications. Drawing from this researcher's extensive communications with publishers in relation to the Crandall source and target texts, this study also examines, within the framework of agency, the translator's role as de-facto literary agent from project conception and proposal submissions to peritextual production and rights-related negotiations. In short, this thesis represents a practice-led case study on translating scholarly non-fiction—challenges posed, strategies developed and agency wielded in creating Spanish versions of two books in the social sciences.


According to the traditional view, the shareholders own the corporation. Until relatively recently, this view enjoyed general acceptance. Today, however, there seems to be substantial agreement among legal scholars and others in the academy that shareholders do not own corporations. In fact, the claim that shareholders do own corporations often is dismissed as merely a "theory," a "naked assertion," or even a "myth." And yet, outside of the academy, views on the corporation remain quite traditional. Most people - not just the public and the media, but also politicians, and even bureaucrats and the courts - seem to believe that the shareholders do, in fact, own corporations. Why this disconnect? I believe that contemporary scholarship has done a better job of critiquing shareholder ownership than of disproving it. In this Article, I provide a defense of the traditional view by evaluating many of the arguments commonly raised against shareholder ownership and showing how they fall short. I then explain why the issue matters. As a theoretical matter, the issue of ownership is necessary to a proper understanding of the nature of the corporation and corporate law. As a practical matter, it is an important consideration in the allocation of rights in the corporation: if shareholders are owners, then the balance of rights will tip more heavily in their favor, and against others, than if they are not. Ownership may not settle any specific question of corporate governance, but it will make a significant difference in the analysis. Because the issue of ownership has the potential to shape all of corporate law and direct the very purpose of corporations, it is of utmost importance.


In recent years, the responsibilities of designers in industry have drastically shifted. One of these developments is that designers are increasingly growing into jobs where they need to facilitate innovation in multidisciplinary teams [1]. Correspondingly, educators advocate for an adaptation of design education in relation to the advances in industry and society [2], [3]. The question therefore is how to design the future of design education, and to what extent can we continue with existing practices when re-modeling education? How can we scrutinise curriculum reforms for developing resilience to the challenging future world circumstances? Traditionally, university curricula are changed by slowly introducing new knowledge through disciplinary research. By researching into and about design, the extent of specialized knowledge grows and alters the content of university curricula. Under this standard practice, programs update one course at a time for the related users (current students and faculty members), but hardly any other stakeholders are involved [4]. Moreover, most curricula reforms are designed at the course or department level and mostly neglect a strategic, holistic, and multidisciplinary approach [5]. By reviewing universities' practices towards reforming their curricula worldwide, it was found that design programs can in fact benefit from incorporating design research methodologies into those procedures, specifically, empathising, benchmarking, questionnaires, design probes, focus groups, personas, prototyping, and the application of an iterative mindset. In other words, it was suggested that a designerly way of thinking was needed. The term 'designerly', articulated in the 1980s by design theorist Nigel Cross [6], hints at the use of design specific ways to know things and find knowledge. Already, Umea Institute of Design (UID) in Sweden and Aalto University in Finland, utilised this approach to handling their curricula reform by prototyping solutions and making future decisions based on these prototypes [5]. In addition, by implementing a more human-centred approach in which all relevant stakeholders get involved in developing design propositions, this research wants to point out at the potential benefits of a designerly way of developing curricula. By re-considering traditional approaches regarding curricula reform practices, this paper presents recommendations for designing design education to define future university study programs. [1] T. A. Bjorklund, T. Keipi, and H. Maula, 'Crafters, explorers, innovators, and co-creators: Narratives in designers' identity work,' Des. Stud., vol. 68, pp. 82–112, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.destud.2020.02.003. [2] D. A. Norman, 'When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It: The Future of Design*,' She Ji, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 343–348, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.sheji.2017.07.003. [3] L. Justice, 'The Future of Design Education,' Des. Manag. Rev., vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 33–37, 2019, doi: 10.1111/drev.12159. [4] M. Gibbons, 'What Kind of University ?,' Lancet, 1997, doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(70)90419-8. [5] A. Valtonen, 'Designing Universities of the Future,' DRS2016 Futur. Think., vol. 2, pp. 1–16, 2016, doi: 10.21606/drs.2016.205. [6] N. Cross, 'Designerly Ways of Knowing : Design Discipline,' Des. Stud., vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 221–227, 1982, [Online]. Available: https://larossa.co/cross_1982_designerlywaysofknowing.pdf.


The secure operation of the routing protocol is one of the major challenges to be met for the proliferation of the Mobile Ad hoc Networking (MANET) paradigm. Nevertheless, security enhancements have been proposed mostly for reactive MANET protocols. The proposed here Secure Link State Routing Protocol (SLSP) provides secure proactive topology discovery, which can be multiply beneficial to the network operation. SLSP can be employed as a stand-alone protocol, or fit naturally into a hybrid routing framework, when combined with a reactive protocol. SLSP is robust against individual attackers, it is capable of adjusting its scope between local and network-wide topology discovery, and it is capable of operating in networks of frequently changing topology and membership.


Information graphics, such as bar charts, grouped bar charts, and line graphs, are an important component of multimodal documents and cannot be ignored. When such graphics appear in popular media, such as magazines and newspapers, they generally have an intended message. We argue that this message represents a brief summary of the graphic's high-level content, and thus can serve as the basis for more robust information extraction from multimodal documents. The paper describes our methodology for automatically recognizing the intended message of an information graphic, with a focus on grouped bar charts.


Dogs and cats are the animals that owners most frequently seek assistance for potential poisonings, and these species are frequently involved with toxicoses due to ingestion of poisonous food. Feeding human foodstuff to pets may prove itself dangerous for their health, similarly to what is observed in Allium species toxicosis. Allium species toxicosis is reported worldwide in several animal species, and the toxic principles present in them causes the transformation of hemoglobin into methemoglobin, consequently resulting in hemolytic anemia with Heinz body formation. The aim of this review is to analyze the clinicopathologic aspects and therapeutic approach of this serious toxicosis of dogs and cats in order to give knowledge to veterinarians about Allium species toxicosis, and subsequently allow them to correctly diagnose this disease when facing it; and to educate pet owners to not feed their animals with Allium-containg food in order to better control this particular life-threatening toxicosis.


In Jane Austen and Representations of Regency England, Roger Sales looks at Jane Austen's entire oeuve, and views her historically as a Regency writer voicing concerns on the condition of England. Examining Austen's literary works; her letters - in the context of those of other Regency women; as well as contemporary texts such as television adaptations of her work, Jane Austen and Representations of Regency England reconstructs the breadth of Jane Austen's writing. It also examines: * her representations of dandyism and masculine identities * the events of the Regency crisis of 1810-12 * the way in which Austen engaged in topical debates such as healthcare in both Emma and Persuasion.


One of the key aspects in 3D-image registration is the computation of the joint intensity histogram. We propose a new approach to compute this histogram using uniformly distributed random lines to sample stochastically the overlapping volume between two 3D-images. The intensity values are captured from the lines at evenly spaced positions, taking an initial random offset different for each line. This method provides us with an accurate, robust and fast mutual information-based registration. The interpolation effects are drastically reduced, due to the stochastic nature of the line generation, and the alignment process is also accelerated. The results obtained show a better performance of the introduced method than the classic computation of the joint histogram.


Action prediction on a partially observed action sequence is a very challenging task. To address this challenge, we first design a global-local distance model, where a global-temporal distance compares subsequences as a whole and local-temporal distance focuses on individual segment. Our distance model introduces temporal saliency for each segment to adapt its contribution. Finally, a global-local temporal action prediction model is formulated in order to jointly learn and fuse these two types of distances. Such a prediction model is capable of recognizing action of: 1) an on-going sequence and 2) a sequence with arbitrarily frames missing between the beginning and end (known as gap-filling). Our proposed model is tested and compared with related action prediction models on BIT, UCF11, and HMDB data sets. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of our proposal. In particular, we showed the benefit of our proposed model on predicting unseen action types and the advantage on addressing the gapfilling problem as compared with recently developed action prediction models.


We investigate the generation of waves in the lower hybrid frequency range by density gradients in the near plasma environment of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. When the plasma is dominated by water ions from the comet, a situation with magnetized electrons and unmagnetized ions is favourable for the generation of lower hybrid waves. These waves can transfer energy between ions and electrons and reshape the plasma environment of the comet. We consider cometocentric distances out to a few hundred km. We find that when the electron motion is not significantly interrupted by collisions with neutrals, large average gradients within tens of km of the comet, as well as often observed local large density gradients at larger distances, are often likely to be favourable for the generation of lower hybrid waves. Overall, we find that waves in the lower hybrid frequency range are likely to be common in the near plasma environment.


Recent years have witnessed increasing interest in the topics of religion and spirituality in social work, including a small body of texts focusing on social work with Muslims. Alongside this, statistical evidence such as the 2001 Census has documented the socio-economic disadvantage experienced by many Muslims communities in Britain. However, there is a paucity of empirical research exploring grassroots initiatives developed by these communities to address welfare needs. There is also a dearth of research analysing the perspectives of Muslim service users. It is this lack of inquiry which this thesis addresses.
This research centres on a case study of an Islamic organisation providing services including Islamic counselling, advocacy, khul divorces, mediation and chaplaincy. The study explores the construction of the organisation's Islamic approach to social work, their everyday practices and areas of particular on-going negotiation. It draws on interviews with individuals working at the organisation, Muslim service users who have accessed the services and also external professionals who have referred individuals to the organisation. An exploration of the potential benefits for Muslim service users focuses on the counselling services provided to young women and asylum seekers in particular. The findings of the study highlight the opportunities and challenges experienced in the process of professionalising internal forms of support amongst British Muslim communities.
This research has implications for three key areas of academic debate. Firstly, it contributes to the sociological study of religion, specifically to the field of British Muslim studies. Secondly, the thesis informs current discussion within the social work discipline, particularly regarding the role of spirituality when working with minority service users. Thirdly, this study contributes to contemporary debate regarding the role of faith groups providing welfare services. Overall, this research gives an original insight into the development of professional Islamic social work in contemporary Britain.


In some acoustic applications, it may be desirable to make a shorter standing wave tube operate like a longer tube at the same driving frequency. The basic idea is to reduce the length of a long tube, and replace the removed section with a secondary driver. The problem is then to match the acoustic impedance at the boundary where the secondary driver is installed to that of the original system. Two control formulations were investigated for this problem: a two-input-two-output (TITO) and a single-input-single-output (SISO) formulation. The TITO formulation directly tracks the two acoustic variables associated with the desired acoustic impedance, while the SISO formulation minimizes the impedance matching error. The desired impedance containing a very lightly damped mode is embedded in the augmented plant for feedback control design. In addition to the balance realization method, the Schur method was used for model reduction for the high-order plant. Since the standing wave tubes are driven by tonal signals, repetitive control was incorporated into the control frameworks to achieve the desired performance. Good performance of impedance matching was obtained for both formulations. The SISO formulation yielded slightly wider bandwidth of good impedance matching than the TITO. The TITO formulation offered additional control to individual signals related to the acoustic impedance of interest.


Winter cover crops may increase soil organic matter (SOM) and improve soil structure in intensively managed summer vegetable cropping systems. Our study examined the influence of three cover crop treatments (fallow, cereal, and legume within a summer crop rotation of sweet corn and broccoli) on microbiological properties associated with five soil aggregate-size classes (<0.25, 0.25 to 0.5, 0.5 to 1.0, 1.0 to 2.0, and 2.0 to 5.0 mm) of a Willamette silt loam (Pachic Ultic Argixerolls), The distributions of total organic C (TOC), total Kjeldahl N (TKN), soil microbial biomass C (SMBC), readily mineralizable C and N, and two enzyme activities (β-glucosidase and fluorescein diacetate [ FDA] hydrolysis) were compared among aggregate-size classes of surface (0-20 cm) soils at seedbed preparation (June 1996) and after harvest of either broccoli (September 1995) or sweet corn (September 1996). Although cover cropping did not significantly influence aggregate-size distribution, TOC, nor TKN on any sampling date, it did significantly (P < 0.05) influence SMBC in September 1995, mineralizable C and N and FDA hydrolysis and β-glucosidase activities in June 1996, and levels of mineralizable C and N and β-glucosidase activity in September 1996. Significant (P < 0.01) interactions occurred among the cover crop treatments and aggregate-size classes for SMBC in September 1995, and among mineralizable C and N and FDA hydrolysis in June and September 1996. Mineralizable C and N and FDA hydrolysis differed (P < 0.01) among aggregate-size classes between June and September 1996: these changes were significantly (P < 0.01) affected by cover crop treatment. These studies identified focal points for further research on the effects of aggregate-size classes and cover cropping on the activities and dynamics of their respective microbial communities.


Using longitudinal data collected from a subsample (N = 92) of subjects surveyed five years earlier by Shoemaker et al. (1977), the present study assesses the relative utility of two distinctly different approaches to the study of occupational and organizational commitment. The first is the structural investments or side-bet approach made famous by Becker (1960); the second, the attitudinal or social psychological perspective used by Ritzer and Trice (1969), among others. Based on regression analyses of data, for the two time periods studied and for changes across time, structural variables appear to be slightly better predictors of commitment than do attitudinal variables. Of particular note, however, are the changes in predictive power of each approach, relative to both occupational and organizational commitment, when comparing two distinct stages in the worker career of employees represented by the five-year span of the study.


A tangible floating display that can provide different perspective views without special glasses being introduced. The proposed system can display perspective floating images in the space in front of the system with the help of concave mirrors. In order to avoid wearing special equipment to interact and deliver the sense of touch, the proposed system adopted an ultrasound focusing technology. For providing an immersive experience to the viewers, the proposed system consists of a tangible floating display system and a multiple-view imaging system for generating three lenticular displays in front of the users.


Viewed in the light of basic legal principle, the Sectional Titles Act has introduced three radical innovations into the South African law of property. If we are to grasp the nature and scope of these innovations fully, it is essential to examine them against the background of our common law concepts (a) of ownership; (b) of co-ownership; and (c) of land as the object of such ownership. However, before attempting to fill in the necessary background, this article begins by formulating and analysing the innovations themselves so as to give a preliminary overall view.


Algorithms serve as gatekeepers and arbiters of truth online. Understanding how algorithms influence which information individuals encounter better enables them to properly calibrate their reception of the information. Yet, knowledge of platform algorithms appears to be limited and not universally distributed. In line with the long history of knowledge inequities, we suggest that algorithmic knowledge varies according to socioeconomic advantage. We further argue that algorithms are experience technologies in that they are more easily understood through use. Nevertheless, socioeconomic background continues to shape information and communication technology use, thereby further influencing disparities in algorithmic knowledge. Using data from a survey of a random sample of Internet users in the United States, we found support for the relationship between algorithmic knowledge and socioeconomic background in the context of online search. The findings provide preliminary evidence that extant structural inequalities underlie algorithmic knowledge gaps in this domain.


Fawley JA, Peters JH, Andresen MC. GABAB-mediated inhibition of multiple modes of glutamate release in the nucleus of the solitary tract. J Neurophysiol 106: 1833–1840, 2011. First published July 6, 2011; doi:10.1152/jn.00476.2011.—In the caudal portions of the solitary tract (ST) nucleus, primary sensory afferents fall into two broad classes based on the expression of transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) receptors. Both afferent classes (TRPV1 / ) have indistinguishable glutamate release mechanisms for ST-evoked excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs). However, TRPV1 terminals release additional glutamate from a unique, TRPV1-operated vesicle pool that is temperature sensitive and facilitated by ST activity to generate asynchronous EPSCs. This study tested whether presynaptic -aminobutyric acid (GABA)B receptors inhibit both the evoked and TRPV1operated release mechanisms on second-order ST nucleus neurons. In horizontal slices, shocks activated single ST axons and evoked the timeinvariant (latency jitter 200 s), glutamatergic EPSCs, which identified second-order neurons. Gabazine eliminated GABAA responses in all recordings. The GABAB agonist baclofen inhibited the amplitude of ST-EPSCs from both TRPV1 and TRPV1 afferents with a similar EC50 ( 1.2 M). In TTX, GABAB activation decreased miniature EPSC (mEPSC) rates but not amplitudes, suggesting presynaptic actions downstream from terminal excitability. With calcium entry through voltageactivated calcium channels blocked by cadmium, baclofen reduced mEPSC frequency, indicating that GABAB reduced vesicle release by TRPV1-dependent calcium entry. GABAB activation also reduced temperature-evoked increases in mEPSC frequency, which relies on TRPV1. Our studies indicate that GABAB G protein-coupled receptors are uniformly distributed across all ST primary afferent terminals and act at multiple stages of the excitation-release cascades to suppress both action potential-triggered and TRPV1-coupled glutamate transmission pathways. Moreover, the segregated release cascades within TRPV1 ST primary afferents represent independent, potential targets for differential modulation.


The communicative city is a construct that can be used to measure and recognize urban municipalities that provide or facilitate the creation and maintenance of a healthy communicative environment. Utilizing the criteria established through a series of interdisciplinary meetings, the Urban Communication Foundation introduced the Communicative City Award, honoring cities with the vision and skill to enhance communication in the interest of creating a healthy and humane social environment. The aim of this initiative is to advance the goal of underscoring the need for cities to place or foreground communication needs in the public agenda. An international jury composed of communication scholars and design and environment behavior scholars and practitioners evaluate the city's initiative with regard to criteria of communicative cities. These criteria are clustered into three major areas: places of interaction, infrastructure, and politics/civil society. Disqualifications have been articulated as part of the criteria as well. Ultimately, this initiative seeks to not only recognize and set a communication agenda for cities but directly benefit award-winning cities through communication research–based recommendations that address remaining challenges identified by municipal leaders.


Abstract This paper explores the genealogy of a form of collective intelligence that cultivates the democratic social character, understood as a style of subjectivity that is implicitly dedicated to the experience of living both individually and collectively in what H. Hermans has termed the "challenge" zone of "the dynamic interplay of I-positions within the self," and practiced in negotiating the boundary-crossings implicit in the "increasing heterogeneity of I-positions" that results from an ever-increasing "interface of globalization and localization" that is the post-modern situation. The historical emergence of a democratic psychoclass is linked with an emergent form of culturally mediated subjectivity that acts to "recover the continuum between our 'first nature' and our 'second nature', our natural world and our social world, our biological being and our rationality, leading to a society organized under a new reality principle. I then explore a form of education that has been present in latent or manifest form as long as democratic values and aspirations have been present in the Western social and political imaginary, and argue that it is intimately linked to the same impulse that this new reality principle represents. Its evolutionary potential is fed by what psychohistorian L. DeMause identified as a dialectical advance in childrearing "modes," whereby adults enter into dialogue with childhood forms of intentionality, resulting in the reinvention of school as an adult–child collective that acts as a facilitating environment for the emergence of a psychoclass dedicated to dialogue, democracy and ongoing personal and social reconstruction.


ChemoSpec[1] is a collection of functions for top-down exploratory data analysis of spectral data obtained via nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared (IR) or Raman spectroscopy. Includes functions for plotting and inspecting spectra, peak alignment, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal components analysis (PCA) and model-based clustering. Robust methods appropriate for this type of high-dimensional data are available. ChemoSpec is designed with metabolomics data sets in mind, where the samples fall into groups such as treatment and control. Graphical output is formatted consistently for publication quality plots. ChemoSpec is intended to be very user friendly and to help you get usable results quickly.


Andersonian theory for infinitesimal strains predicts that normal faults will form at high angles to the surface in extensional terranes. In contrast, low-angle normal faults are sometimes observed on which tens of kilometers of slip has occurred, and moderate-angle faults with slip of 5 to 15 km are common. A simple extension of the theory to account for the stresses required to drive finite deformation shows that low angles are preferred for large extension on individual faults. The formation of low-angle faults may require inhomogeneities in stress or material properties, but once slip begins on a low-angle fault it is likely to continue, whereas slip on high-angle faults is likely to end after modest slip, to be replaced by the formation of new high-angle faults.


Through narrative inquiry (NI), this dissertation investigates how boys and men with physical disabilities (BMPDs) come to embody particular subject positions as disabled and masculine subjects. Such a study is important given that disability is often perceived as being at odds with Western notions of masculinity (Connell, 2005) and that schools are a major site of masculinity formation (Connell, 2000). Furthermore, within the context of what has been identified as the "boy turn" in educational policy and research (WeaverHightower, 2003), a focus on boys with disabilities has not been included. Using Butlerian theories on performativity, materiality of the body and precarity as well as Foucauldian analytics of power, the NI examines how institutions such as schools inscribe ableist and masculine norms surrounding independence, bodily integrity, productivity and heteronormative relationships. A detailed analysis of personal narratives drawn from in-depth interviews of two participants illustrates how each negotiates his masculinity and humanness from locations of precarity within ableist systems that seek to render him invisible and abject. The participants respond in iterative and improvisational ways to sustain lives that are viable. Their stories contribute to a nuancing of the social processes of embodiment. As an alternative to ableist norms of independence and autonomy, their stories explore interdependence as an ethos. The dissertation also raises ethical questions pertaining to researcher/researched dynamics and argues for a need to engage in critical conversations with subjugated classes in order to open up fields of possibility for generating knowledge about disablility and ableism that refuses neocolonial appropriation of voice.


We comprehensively study non-equilibrium relaxation and aging processes in the two-dimensional random-site Ising model through numerical simulations. We discuss the dynamical correlation length as well as scaling functions of various two-times quantities as a function of temperature and of the degree of dilution. For already modest values of the dynamical correlation length $L$ deviations from a simple algebraic growth, $L(t) \sim t^{1/z}$, are observed. When taking this non-algebraic growth properly into account, a simple aging behavior of the autocorrelation function is found. This is in stark contrast to earlier studies where, based on the assumption of algebraic growth, a superaging scenario was postulated for the autocorrelation function in disordered ferromagnets. We also study the scaling behavior of the space-time correlation as well as of the time integrated linear response and find again agreement with simple aging. Finally, we briefly discuss the possibility of superuniversality in the scaling properties of space- and time-dependent quantities.


The purpose of this research was to examine how the level of covert and overt narcissism is connected to the frequency of the use of defense mechanisms such as denial, repression, regression, projection, compensation, projection, intellectualization, reaction formation, displacement, dissociation, and somatoform dissociation. We can distinguish healthy narcissism, an appropriate self-evaluation, from pathological narcissism, unrealistic self-evalutaion hiding sense of one's own unworthiness with self-idealization and grandiose thinking. When combined with low/no empathy and exploiting of others, one is diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder. In this research we focused on narcissism as a personality trait, keeping in mind that we can differentiate between more covert or overt form of narcissism. We also focused on defense mechanisms protecting an individual from stimuli that are either endangering self-esteem or produce anxiety. Although their use is often unconscious, recent findings support the thesis that an individual can observe and report them. Our sample comprised 203 women. We used Narcissistic Personality Inventory, The Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, The Life Style Index, The Dissociative Experience Scale, and Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire. Results indicated that women with higher levels of covert narcissism as a personality trait use defense mechanisms, especially regression on earlier developmental stage, compensation deficits on other areas, projection unwanted or unacceptable aspects, reaction formation, and dissociation (absorption, depersonalization and derealization) more often than women with higher levels of overt narcissism. The later use more compensation as a way of dealing with loss, intellectualization as a rational response instead of emotional one, and regression.