Functional differentiation between cities and the characteristics of their inter-urban networks in the emerging knowledge-intensive service economy have attracted extensive attention in urban studies. However, research on urban networks generated by advanced producer services (APS) activities has focused either on the structures of the networks in general or on the patterns created by various service sectors. In comparison, whether advanced services originating from different regions might generate different inter-city networks is less well studied. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative methods, this paper explores how APS firms with headquarters in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), in mainland China or overseas impact the internal urban system and the external relations of the PRD through their business networks. The findings indicate that while cities in the PRD are connected with each other and with other Chinese cities primarily through the business networks of local and national APS firms, the region's linkages with overseas services centres are shaped predominantly by major international firms from the developed world. The variegated service geographies created by different types of APS firms within and outside China not only reflect the firms' different development histories, client orientations in specific markets and home regions' economic conditions, but they are also significantly shaped by China's unique regulatory environment and complex state–market relations.


The production and use of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) continues to grow in both developing and developed countries therefore increasing the amount of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) at its End-of-Life (EoL). This is exacerbated by the rapid growth and development in the Information and Communications Technology industry. The growth in WEEE has brought a number of challenges including introducing effective management practices that are environmentally sound to reduce its negative impact on human health and the environment as a result of pollution. Management of WEEE in most developing countries including Kenya is done through the informal sector and this poses a great challenge. There are a number of International conventions that have been formulated to deal with the issue of WEEE due to its hazardous nature. The main aim of this research was to establish the current trends, opportunity and challenges in the management of e-waste in Kenya and make recommendations on measures to be taken to effectively manage or mitigate the effects of WEEE proliferation in Kenya. The ICT industry in Kenya is growing at a very fast rate leading to drastic increase in WEEE. The greatest challenges facing Kenya in the management of WEEE include: low citizen awareness, lack of proper policy and legislative framework including public procurement and disposal laws, inadequate infrastructure for WEEE management; high cost of brand new EEE, absence of frameworks for End-of-Life (EoL) product take-back and implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).


Introduction: Accurate determination of working length (WL) is a critical factor for endodontic success. This is commonly achieved using an apex locator which is influenced by the presence or absence of the apical constriction. Hence, this study was done to compare the accuracy of two generations of apex locators in teeth with simulated apical root resorption. Materials and Methods: Forty maxillary central incisors were selected and after access preparation, were embedded in an alginate mold. On achieving partial set, teeth were removed, and a 45° oblique cut was made at the apex. The teeth were replanted and stabilized in the mold, and WL was determined using two generations of apex locators (Raypex 5 and Apex NRG XFR). Actual length of teeth (control) was determined by visual method. Statistical Analysis: Results were subjected to statistical analysis using the paired t-test. Results: Raypex 5 and Apex NRG was accurate for only 33.75% and 23.75% of samples, respectively. However, with ±0.5 mm acceptance limit, they showed an average accuracy of 56.2% and 57.5%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the accuracy between the two apex locators. Conclusion: Neither of the two apex locators were 100% accurate in determining the WL.


"Global Development and Human Security" explores the possibility of connecting all countries to the global economy while defusing the social tensions and managing the security risks that can result from exposure to a turbulent international system. The complex intersection between security and development policies has not been adequately mapped or explored. Frail and failing states that lack sound market and security institutions are the weak links in an interconnected global system. Yet, aid allocation principles discourage engagement with these "difficult partners," and the insular culture of development assistance hinders interaction with the security community. In a world beset by "problems without passport" (infectious diseases, environmental pollution, international crime, conflict spillovers, terrorism, etc.), a new paradigm should supplant the now obsolete development consensus. The authors took stock of current development practices through the prism of Sweden's Shared Responsibility bill, which addresses peace, security, opportunity, environmental conservation, human rights, and democracy. The resulting volume draws the implications of emerging threats to global peace and prosperity for development policy and practice. It seeks to build bridges of understanding between the development community and the security establishment by bringing together lessons of experience currently scattered in the literature. Each chapter is self-contained and includes policy findings and recommendations. Aimed at practitioners who need up-to-date knowledge about security and development issues, this book can also serve as an introductory text for security specialists with little knowledge of development or for development specialists with limited knowledge of security.


PD-1, a member of the CD28 family of immune regulatory molecules, is expressed on activated T cells, interacts with its ligands, PD-L1/B7-H1 and PD-L2/B7-DC, on other cells, and delivers inhibitory signals to the T cell. We studied the role of this pathway in modulating autoreactive T cell responses in two models of myocarditis. In a CD8+ T cell-mediated adoptive transfer model, we found that compared with Pd1+/+ CD8+ T cells, Pd1−/− CD8+ T cells cause enhanced disease, with increased inflammatory infiltrate, particularly rich in neutrophils. Additionally, we show enhanced proliferation in vivo and enhanced cytotoxic activity of PD-1–deficient T lymphocytes against myocardial endothelial cells in vitro. In experimental autoimmune myocarditis, a disease model dependent on CD4+ T cells, we show that mice lacking PD-1 develop enhanced disease compared with wild-type mice. PD-1–deficient mice displayed increased inflammation, enhanced serum markers of myocardial damage, and an increased infiltration of inflammatory cells, including CD8+ T cells. Together, these studies show that PD-1 plays an important role in limiting T cell responses in the heart.


In this paper, we propose an approach for learning task specifications automatically, by observing human demonstrations. Using this approach allows a robot to combine representations of individual actions to achieve a high-level goal. We hypothesize that task specifications consist of variables that present a pattern of change that is invariant across demonstrations. We identify these specifications at different stages of task completion. Changes in task constraints allow us to identify transitions in the task description and to segment them into subtasks. We extract the following task-space constraints: 1) the reference frame in which to express the task variables; 2) the variable of interest at each time step, position, or force at the end effector; and 3) a factor that can modulate the contribution of force and position in a hybrid impedance controller. The approach was validated on a seven-degree-of-freedom Kuka arm, performing two different tasks: grating vegetables and extracting a battery from a charging stand.


Recent developments in the application of zeros (of the analytically continued spectrum of a compact two-dimensional image) in solving deconvolution and phase retrieval problems are reviewed. New algorithms for use in the presence of noise are described and demonstrated. These include algorithms for deconvolution where the point-spread function is approximately known, for ensemble blind deconvolution (such as is required for ensembles of astronomical speckle images), and for phase retrieval (itself a special case of blind deconvolution). Many of the ideas embodied in the algorithms were foreshadowed by Bates et al. [ J. Opt. Soc. Am. A7, 468 ( 1990)]. Simulated images are employed in the examples shown, except for phase retrieval, where successful recovery of the phase error in the aperture of a radio telescope is demonstrated.


In 1990, the International Society for Technology (ISTE) affiliated with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). NCATE is the only body officially sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit schools of education. ISTE has developed guidelines for programs in computer education and technology specialty areas that have been approved by NCATE for use in evaluating professional education units.[1] ISTE's association with NCATE has already resulted in a significant impact on the way computer and technology education is viewed in the United States. Educators are now reporting instances where the combined power of the ISTE standards and NCATE recognition have contributed to successful efforts to develop programs and promote change within the educational structure. In this article, the NCATE accreditation process is explored, case studies of successes linked to these standards are presented, and future efforts are identified. * NCATE's Role NCATE provides standards for the evaluation of professional education units (entire colleges or education departments) to determine the overall quality of all teacher preparation programs within the institution. In addition, NCATE relies on "learned societies," to develop standards for specialty areas within the professional unit. Institutions seeking NCATE accreditation must document overall quality and must further prepare specialty-area folios that address standards developed by the affiliated societies and approved by NCATE. Accreditation is given for the entire professional unit and not separate programs within the unit. Individuals cannot submit a specialty program to NCATE unless the entire unit is seeking accreditation. * ISTE Guidelines for Ed. Tech. ISTE has developed guidelines for four programs within the educational computing and technology specialty area: * Basic Computer/Technology Literacy Endorsement Programs, for teachers of computer literacy or applications courses; * Advanced Educational Computing and Technology Master's Program, for computer coordinators with emphasis on leadership roles; * Secondary Computer Science Education Endorsement Program, for teachers who will add computer science as an additional teaching field to an existing credential; and * Secondary Computer Science Education Bachelor's Degree Program, for teachers seeking primary certification in computer science. * The first two programs were approved by NCATE in September, 1991.[2,3] The last two were adopted in October of 1992.[4] At the core of the ISTE programs is a set of foundation skills for all teachers.[5] These skills are fundamental and must also be addressed by those submitting programs within the ISTE specialty areas. While not imposed on the unit-at-large or other specialties, the skills do represent sound, research-based fundamentals reflecting the level of preparation needed for all teachers to function effectively in the technology-enriched schools of the future. Models for the global community, the skills have quickly been recognized as "de facto" standards by educational leaders worldwide. * Benefits of Formal Status Through recognition by NCATE, an organization acknowledged as the leader in teacher-preparation standards and policy, ISTE has formalized the discipline of educational computing and technology within the field of education. Far-reaching implications include: * Formal Disciplines Defined - Disciplines such as educational computing and computer science education are defined and distinguished formally within the NCATE framework. * Mark of Professionalism - The quality control of accreditation is a part of most professions. These standards provide much-needed professional status recognition to many individuals and programs. * Curriculum/Program Enhancements - Curriculum guidelines are used to evaluate existing teacher preparation programs, to promote changes and enhancements in programs, and to encourage development of new programs. …


Computer usage is once again going through changes. Leaving behind the experiences of mainframes with terminal access and personal computers with graphical user interfaces, we are now headed for handheld devices and ubiquitous computing; we are facing the prospect of interacting with electronic services. These network-enabled functional components provide benefit to users regardless of their whereabouts, access method, or access device. The market place is also changing, from suppliers of monolithic oAE-the-shelf applications, to open source and collaboratively developed specialized services.
It is within this new arena of computing that we describe Individual Service Provisioning, a design and implementation that enables end users to create and provision their own services. Individual Service Provisioning consists of three components: a personal service environment, in which users can access and manage their services; ServiceDesigner, a tool with which to create new services; and the provisioning system, which turns end users into service providers.


The 1997 Kyoto Conference introduced emissions trading as a policy instrument for climate protection. Bringing together scholars in the fields of economics, political science and law, this book, which was originally published in 2005, provides a description, analysis and evaluation of different aspects of emissions trading as an instrument to control greenhouse gases. The authors analyse theoretical aspects of regulatory instruments for climate policy, provide an overview of US experience with market-based instruments, draw lessons from trading schemes for the control of greenhouse gases, and discuss options for emissions trading in climate policy. They also highlight the background of climate policy and instrument choice in the US and Europe and the foundation of systems in Europe, particularly the EU's directive for a CO2 emissions trading system.


This study is an empirical investigation of the empty nest syndrome, commonly understood as a situation where there are feelings of loss or loneliness for mothers and/or fathers following the departure of the last child from the family home. This investigation makes use of rich, longitudinal, nationally representative German data to assess whether there is evidence for such a syndrome. Furthermore, the analysis considers the role of two key economic variables: consumption and leisure via the standard economic concept of utility maximisation. The analysis highlights a conflict between what economic theory predicts - more disposable income and a gain of leisure time - and the psychological (and cultural) notion of the lonely, sad empty nester. This conflict is an empirical question and here it is resolved via an assessment of the change in life satisfaction that is reported when parents become empty nesters. Importantly, this investigation also tracks what the last child leaving the household goes on to do: The found reduced life satisfaction seems to be wholly moderated if the last child leaves the nest for the purposes of education, but not if for purposes of employment.


This study was conducted as part of the genetic research program on Norway spruce [ Picea abies (L.) Karst.] grown in Quebec. The objective of the study was to acquire more information on the wood density of Norway spruce grown in plantations and to determine whether the wood density could be used as a selection criterion for species improvement. To this end, 70-year-old commercial plantation-grown trees were first sampled in order to establish the wood density radial variation pattern and determine the existing relationships between the properties of juvenile wood and the average values of mature trees. Subsequently, the study of 22 provenances from central Europe introduced in Quebec was designed to verify the intra- and inter-provenance variation in wood density, determine the correlation between wood density and radial growth rates and origin, and estimate the impact of a selection of superior phenotypes on wood density. The study on 70-year-old trees showed that wood density declines from pith toward bark up to the eighth annual ring, stabilizes until the fourteenth annual ring, and increases thereafter. The simple regression equations calculated between the density of the juvenile wood and the mean density of the trees were significant with R 2 varying from 0.53 to 0.64. The study of the wood density of the trees in the provenance trial, 19 growing seasons after planting, showed the presence of a moderate negative correlation between radial growth rate and wood density. No significant difference was found among provenances with regard to the average density values of the juvenile wood. For the radial variation pattern of wood density and annual growth ring width, comparisons made it possible to identify significant differences between southwestern and northeastern European provenances. There is still, however, strong individual variability in these traits, with 65 to 85% of total variation being due to differences between trees from the same plot. A three-stage selection procedure would make it possible to maintain wood density, to reduce by half the deviation between the internal and external juvenile wood density, and to double the volume output, depending on the selection strategy chosen. These results confirm the potential for rapid growth and the excellent wood quality of Norway spruce provenances that are well adapted to the soil and climate conditions in Quebec.


For the phenomenon of high failure rate of traction converter control cabinet, on-site vibration test and analysis were carried out, it proved that the vibration of control cabinet installed base was too large was the main cause of the high failure rate. On this basis, the vibration reduction solution of control cabinet was proposed; simulation analysis and loading test verification were carried out. The simulation results agree well with the loading test results, the vibration reduction solution of control cabinet has good vibration isolation effect and engineering practical value, so that it is of high popularization value.


The poinsettia's species name pulcherrima means "most beautiful" and that it is! Poinsettia's brilliant red floral display held against rich green foliage has made this unlikely species a holiday favorite. Its appealing presentation of the traditional Christmas colors has so endeared poinsettia that it is now second only to the Christmas tree as the most popular holiday plant. Studies have shown that rooting substrate is one of the effective factors at rooting of hard rhizogenetic plant such as poinsettia. The purpose of this study is to determine an appropriate concentration of salicylic acid (SA) on rooting of poinsettia. Present study showed that there was a great variation in most of the measured characters at P< 0.05 percent level. The obtained results show that salicylic acid treatments have caused the increase of percent of rooting. The use of Salicylic acid caused a positive effect on rooting. The callus percentage was obtained in control and 400 treatments. This study shows that plant growth regulators salicylic acid have a profound influence on rooting of poinsettia.


Monitoring changes in the immune profile in blood samples can help identifying changes in tumor biology and therapy responsiveness over time. Immune-related gene expression profiles offer a highly reproducible method to monitor changes of the immune system. However, measuring gene expression profiles in whole blood samples can be complicated because of the high protein and enzyme abundancy that affect the stability and quality of the RNA. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are one the most commonly used source for immune cell RNA extraction, though, this method does not reflect all components of the peripheral blood. The aim of this study was to determine the differences in immune-related gene expression between RNA isolated from stabilized whole blood and RNA isolated from PBMCs. Whole blood samples from 12 pancreatic cancer patients were collected before and after chemotherapy (n = 24). Blood samples were collected in both EDTA tubes, and Tempus tubes containing an RNA stabilizer (total n = 48). PBMCs were isolated from EDTA samples using Ficoll and were snap frozen. Subsequently, immune-related gene expression was profiled using the PanCancer Immune Profiling Panel of NanoString technology. Gene expression profiles of PBMCs were compared to that of Tempus tubes using the Advanced Analysis module of nSolver software. Both types of samples provided good quality RNA and gene expression measurements. However, RNA isolated from Tempus tubes resulted in significantly higher gene counts than PBMCs; 107/730 genes were exclusively detected in Tempus samples, while under the detection limit in PBMCs. In addition, 192/730 genes showed significantly higher gene counts in Tempus samples, 157/730 genes showed higher gene counts in PBMCs. Thus, RNA isolated from whole blood stabilizing blood tubes, such as Tempus tubes, enable higher gene counts and more comprehensive measurements of gene expression profiles compared to RNA isolated from PBMCs.


We are investigating a new approach to modelling uncertainties in individual pixels of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) intensity (Stokes I, Q, U) images. Comparison of distributions of our calculated uncertainties for model sources with the results of Monte Carlo simulations shows that our method correctly reproduces the overall level and pattern of uncertainties in intensity images for model sources that are not too compact. Refinement of the approach to better reproduce uncertainties in compact sources is being studied. This new approach should ultimately provide a means to correctly estimate pixel-based uncertainties in the Stokes parameters I, Q and U, including the effect of correlations between values in different pixels.


We report the Magnetic Resonance Imaging of intracranial extramedullaryhematopoiesis in 21 years old β-thalassemic patient who presented to the Neurology Department of Civil Hospital Karachi with seizures. The MR exam revealed multiple intracranialextra-axial masses;isointense on T1W sequence and hypointenseon T1W, T2W, FLAIR, DWI sequence and ADC (b value= 1000 sec/mm2) with avid post contrast enhancement. Plain CT of the Head documented the presence of multiple hyperdenseextra-axial masses with mean value of 45 HU. Extramedullary hematopoiesis is the formation and development of blood cells in tissues outside of the medulla of the bone. The most common sites of involvement are the liver, spleen, and lymph nodes.Intracranial extra medullary hematopoiesis is a relatively rare manifestation of Thalassemia. There is paucity of literature for MR findings regarding intracranial EMH. It is essential to distinguish it from other central nervous system tumors, because treatment and prognosis are entirely different.


We investigated the germination requirements of a rare endemic plant species, Pedicularis olympica Boiss. (Scrophulariaceae), which grows in wet habitats on Uludag Mountain, Turkey. We studied the effects of scarification, moist chilling (+4 °C) for 15 days, different doses of gibberellic acid (GA3; 100, 150, and 250 ppm) and combined hormone and moist chilling treatments under dark (20 °C) and photoperiod (20/10 °C; 12/12 h, respectively) conditions. GA3 was able to break dormancy. The highest germination rate was found in the seeds treated with 250 ppm GA3; 64% of these seeds germinated when treated with moist chilling and incubated in the dark, while 75% germinated under photoperiod conditions. Moreover, mean germination times were significantly lower in the seeds treated with 250 ppm GA3. Significant differences in final germination percentages and mean germination times were found only for treatments under photoperiod conditions. Scarification also permitted germination; the highest germination rate (78%) was found with 15 min of scarification. Dormancy was not broken by moist chilling for up to 90 days. The germination requirements of dormant P. olympica seeds are found to be consistent with characteristics of its habitat. This can be considered an ecological advantage for the species' establishment and persistence.


Collaborative design in dispersed groups of engineers creates various kinds of challenges to technology, organization and social environment. This paper presents an approach to description and representation of the competences needed for a planned collaborative design project. The most important competence areas are identified starting from the nature of design work, problem solving in design teams, and working in distributed groups. The competence model is built structuring these areas according to three perspectives: general, cultural, and occupational competences. An ontological representation is proposed to implement the described model for collaborative design competence. Using an ontology language for representation of collaborative design competence models makes it possible to identify those individuals who are best suited for the collaboration by ontology matching. Furthermore, a software design team consisting of two persons was interviewed and competence profiles were created using the developed ontological representation. Modeling of the team members has confirmed that the proposed approach can be applied to modeling competences needed for collaborative design in engineering fields.


Using the Tennessee antievolution 'Monkey Law, ' authored by a local legislator, as a measure of how conservatives successfully resisted, co-opted, or ignored reform efforts, Jeanette Keith explores conflicts over the meaning and cost of progress in Tennessee's hill country from 1890 to 1925. Until the 1890s, the Upper Cumberland was dominated by small farmers who favored limited government and firm local control of churches and schools. Farm men controlled their families' labor and opposed economic risk taking; farm women married young, had large families, and produced much of the family's sustenance. But the arrival of the railroad in 1890 transformed the local economy. Farmers battled town dwellers for control of community institutions, while Progressives called for cultural, political, and economic modernization. Keith demonstrates how these conflicts affected the region's mobilization for World War I, and she argues that by the 1920s shifting gender roles and employment patterns threatened traditionalists' cultural hegemony. According to Keith, religion played a major role in the adjustment to modernity, and local people united to support the 'Monkey Law' as a way of confirming their traditional religious values.


This thesis is a study of the impact of place on the choices and decisions of released prisoners to desist from offending. It takes as its starting point recent research evidence that large numbers of prisoners in the US and UK are drawn from specific urban neighbourhoods to which they return after release only to reoffend and be re-imprisoned.
Rather than assume there is a direct equivalence between criminal behaviour and place, it investigates how place differences interact with individual differences to determine the pathways taken by prisoners over the life course. Thus, it assesses how both structural and agentic factors affect reoffending and/or criminal desistance in the places prisoners grow up, in prison, and the places to which they return after prison.
As well as criminological literature, the study draws on a wide range of social scientific materials on the importance of space, place and everyday life. Most prominently, it refers to geographical, sociological and psychological analyses which have explored the reciprocal
nature of people/place relationships. In particular, the perspective within human geography that `just as people construct places, places construct people' has informed the research design adopted for the study. This incorporates both a quantitative mapping exercise to show the geographical distribution of prisoners from Greater London and a qualitative account of the meanings, emotions and attitudes of a sample of prisoners towards the places
they inhabit, and the influence these have on reoffending and/or criminal desistance.
The main conclusions of the thesis are that most prisoners from Greater London are drawn from wards which are socially deprived. During childhood, a shared experience of specific
places shapes criminal behaviour which is interpersonal and fundamentally experiential in nature. Then, having enjoyed the thrill and excitement of `crime as play', persistent
offenders grow up to embrace `crime as a way of life'. Many prisoners profess an inclination to give up crime, but the different ways they respond to prison does not encourage them to `go straight'. Although the process of criminal desistance is not dependent on moving away from local criminogenic environments, it may be constrained
by social characteristics and social relations in the places most prisoners return to after release. The thesis ends by discussing the implications of this life course perspective for prisoner reintegration policy.


A novel tannin–formaldehyde resin was synthesized from Acacia nilotica fruit extract. The experimental factors controlling the resin synthesis were investigated and the obtained resin was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy analyses. The adsorption of manganese as Mn(II) was firstly demonstrated in distilled water solution. The subjected parameters studied for Mn(II) removal by using the resin were the effects of contact time, an initial Mn(II) concentration and the resin dose. The Mn(II) adsorption preceded very fast, and within 3 min the amount of adsorbed Mn(II) for three different initial manganese concentrations (5, 10, and 20 mg/L) approached 60–76% of the maximal uptake potential under the equilibrium conditions. The pseudo second-order equation explained the kinetic data well and the obtained adsorption isotherm data fitted the Langmuir isotherm model which gave high Langmuir capacity (15.54 mg/g) value. The mean adsorption energy (11.04 kJ/mol) computed from the Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm suggested the ion exchange mechanism for Mn(II) adsorption. Results of the resin application for treatment of natural ground water samples (Bani Mor and El-Fath areas, Assiut, Egypt) showed that reducing the Mn(II) level to minimum and the complete removal depended on the resin dose.


This study investigated the effects of two separate doses of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO 3 ) on 4 km time trial (TT) cycling performance and post-exercise acid base balance recovery in hypoxia. 14 club-level cyclists completed four cycling TT's, followed by a 40 min passive recovery in normobaric hypoxic conditions (FiO 2 = 14.5%) following one of either: two doses of NaHCO 3 (0.2 g . kg -1 BM; SBC2, or 0.3 g . kg -1 BM; SBC3), a taste-matched placebo (0.07 g . kg -1 BM sodium chloride; PLA), or a control trial in a double-blind, randomized, repeated-measures and crossover design study. Compared to PLA, TT performance was improved following SBC2 (p = 0.04, g = 0.16, very likely beneficial), but was improved to a greater extent following SBC3 (p = 0.01, g = 0.24, very likely beneficial). Furthermore, a likely benefit of ingesting SBC3 over SBC2 was observed (p = 0.13, g = 0.10), although there was a large inter-individual variation. Both SBC treatments achieved full recovery within 40 min, which was not observed in either PLA or CON following the TT. In conclusion, NaHCO 3 improves 4 km TT performance and acid base balance recovery in acute moderate hypoxic conditions, however the optimal dose warrants an individual approach.


Spaceborne deployable mesh reflectors are lightweight antennas made by a tensioned net supporting an RF reflecting mesh, which are deployed in orbit. The tensioned net is typically made by regular and periodic planar triangles that cause unwanted grating lobes in the pattern of the antenna. Here, we build on a recent study and propose an improved configuration using a so-called pentagonal arithmetic mesh of non-regular and non-periodic triangles and a shifted feed that modifies the reflector phase distribution and simultaneously provides excellent grating lobe reduction and lowered sidelobes. This configuration may pave the way for future space missions relying on large deployable mesh reflector antennas.


Abstract. This study investigates the prediction skill of sub-seasonal prediction models that vary based on the choice of two dynamical cores: the finite volume (FV) dynamical core on a latitude-longitude grid system and the spectral element (SE) dynamical core on a cubed-sphere grid system. Recent research showed that the SE dynamical core on a uniform grid system increases parallel scalability and removes the need for polar filters for mitigating uncertainty in climate prediction, particularly for the Arctic region. However, it still remains questionable whether the choice of dynamical cores can actually yield significant changes in prediction skill. To tackle this issue, we implemented a sub-seasonal prediction model based on the Community Atmospheric Model version 5 by incorporating the above two dynamical cores with virtually the same physics schemes. Sub-seasonal prediction skills of the SE dynamical core and FV dynamical core are verified with ERA-Interim reanalysis during the early winter (November–December) and the late winter (January–February) from 2001/2002 to 2017/2018. The prediction skills of two different dynamical cores were significantly different regardless of the similar physics scheme. In the ocean, the predictability of the SE dynamical core is similar to that of the FV dynamical core, mostly because our simulation configuration imposes the same boundary and initial conditions at the surface. Notable differences in the one-month predictability between the two cores are observed for the wintertime Arctic and mid-latitudes, particularly over North America and Eurasia continents. With a one-month lead, the SE dynamical core exhibited higher predictability over North America in late winter (r ≈ 0.45 in SE, r ≈ 0.10 in FV) whereas the FV dynamical core showed relatively higher predictability in East Asia and Eurasia in early winter (r ≈ 0.15 in SE, r ≈ 0.43 in FV). Therefore, we conclude that caution is needed when selecting the dynamical cores of sub-seasonal prediction models. Partially, these differences can be ascribed to the different manifestations of Arctic-mid-latitude linkage in the two dynamical cores; the SE dynamical core captures warmer Arctic and colder mid-latitudes relatively better than the FV dynamical core.


For nearly 800 years the writ of habeas corpus has been a bulwark against the unlimited exercise of executive power first in England, and later the United States. Throughout much of U.S. history, habeas corpus has continued the English tradition of being a check on executive power and thus bolstering the separation of powers. More recently, the writ of liberty has been threatened by the indefinite detention of alleged "enemy combatants" in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as part of the Bush Administration's "War on Terror" under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA). In Boumediene, the Court relied on a comparative analysis of the writ of habeas corpus in English and U.S. law that proved dispositive both to the future of the detainees at Guantanamo specifically, as well as the scope of habeas corpus as the writ of liberty generally. Despite its critical role, there has been little literature examining the great writ's convoluted history. This book review addresses this omission by summarizing and critiquing the only comprehensive, contemporary account of the evolution of habeas corpus in England and the United States entitled Habeas Corpus Writ of Liberty: English and American Origins and Development, by Robert Walker. It then moves on to focus on how Justice Kennedy's majority opinion in Boumediene, which came down after this book was published, upheld the finest traditions of habeas corpus as being a robust tool against unlimited executive power. The review concludes by arguing that procedural barriers must be lowered for the writ of liberty to reach its full potential as a guarantor of post-conviction relief for unlawful or arbitrary detention.


Polyethylene (PE) and isotactic polypropylene (iPP) account for nearly two-thirds of the world's plastic—adding up to $200 billion in annual sales worldwide. When melted together, PE and iPP are immiscible and form a brittle material. So they tend to get recycled into lower-value products because of the expense associated with sorting them from one another. Now, researchers led by Cornell University's Geoffrey W. Coates, Anne M. LaPointe, and James Eagan, along with the University of Minnesota's Frank S. Bates, have come up with a way to turn a mix of PE and iPP into a more valuable plastic (Science 2017, DOI: 10.1126/science.aah5744). They found that adding a small amount—about 1% by weight—of a tetrablock copolymer made from PE and iPP will transform a blend of PE and iPP into a mechanically tough material. The copolymer essentially acts like glue and holds the two immiscible plastics together. The researchers make the


Ponds are important elements of green areas in cities that help counteract the negative consequences of urbanization, by providing important habitats for biodiversity in cities and being essential nodes in the overall landscape-scale habitat network. However, there is relatively little knowledge about the impacts of pond management intensity, function and environmental variables on urban pond biodiversity. In this study we addressed this gap by investigating which factors were correlated with the level of biodiversity in urban ponds, indicated by species richness of aquatic insects, in Stockholm, Sweden. Our study did not confirm any direct link between the perceived intensity of management or function of ponds and overall biodiversity. However, it seems that management can influence particular groups of species indirectly, since we found that Trichoptera richness (Caddisflies) was highest at intermediate management intensity. We suggest that this is caused by management of vegetation, as the amount of floating and emergent vegetation was significantly correlated with both the overall species richness and the richness of Trichoptera (Caddisflies). This relationship was non-linear, since ponds with an intermediate coverage of vegetation had the highest richness. Interestingly, the amount of vegetation in the pond was significantly affected by pond function and pond management. The overall species richness and richness of Trichoptera were also positively correlated with pond size. Since we found that the pattern of relations between species richness and environmental variables differed between the insect groups we suggest that it will be difficult to provide overall design and management recommendations for ponds in urban green areas. Therefore, it is recommended that to provide high aquatic diversity of species in urban areas one should aim at promoting high diversity of different types of ponds with differing management and environmental factors that shape them. ors. P © 2016 The Auth


In popular culture, the memory of war is often appropriated through a process of trivialization, diminishing war so that it becomes familiar and desirable rather than ominous and frightening. With a focus on the Swedish author and illustrator Ossian Elgstrom (1883–1950), the article suggests that the process of trivialization is central to the understanding of play in boy's literature published at the beginning of the twentieth century. Through the fictional representation of children playing at war, the patriotic soldier not only becomes a quintessentialfigure of masculinity. The play elements trivialize war and uphold a specific form of hegemonic masculinity characterized by courage and honor as well ashumor, fair play and camaraderie in contrast to the adult world. Both narrative structure and shifting of focalization prove to be important in relation to theprocess of trivialization and the imagining of boyhood masculinity in Elgstrom's books. In connection with the war play motif, the article ends with a discussionof Elgstrom's interwar engagement in national socialist activities.


SUMMARY Inversion of geodetic site displacement data to infer surface mass loads has previously been demonstrated using a spherical harmonic representation of the load. This method suffers from the continent-rich, ocean-poor distribution of geodetic data, coupled with the predominance of the continental load (water storage and atmospheric pressure) compared with the ocean bottom pressure (including the inverse barometer response). Finer-scale inversion becomes unstable due to the rapidly increasing number of parameters which are poorly constrained by the data geometry. Several approaches have previously been tried to mitigate this, including the adoption of constraints over the oceanic domain derived from ocean circulation models, the use of smoothness constraints for the oceanic load, and the incorporation of GRACE gravity field data. However, these methods do not provide appropriate treatment of mass conservation and of the ocean's equilibrium-tide response to the total gravitational field. Instead, we propose a modified set of basis functions as an alternative to standard spherical harmonics. Our basis functions allow variability of the load over continental regions, but impose global mass conservation and equilibrium tidal behaviour of the oceans. We test our basis functions first for the efficiency of fitting to realistic modelled surface loads, and then for accuracy of the estimates of the inferred load compared with the known model load, using synthetic geodetic displacements with real GPS network geometry. Compared to standard spherical harmonics, our basis functions yield a better fit to the model loads over the period 1997‐2005, for an equivalent number of parameters, and provide a more accurate and stable fit using the synthetic geodetic displacements. In particular, recovery of the low-degree coefficients is greatly improved. Using a nine-parameter fit we are able to model 58 per cent of the variance in the synthetic degree-1 zonal coefficient time-series, 38‐41 per cent of the degree-1 non-zonal coefficients, and 80 per cent of the degree-2 zonal coefficient. An equivalent spherical harmonic estimate truncated at degree 2 is able to model the degree-1 zonal coefficient similarly (56 per cent of variance), but only models 59 per cent of the degree-2 zonal coefficient variance and is unable to model the degree-1 non-zonal coefficients.


Drawing on various modern linguistic models, including cognitive linguistics, frame semantics, and construction grammar, this book presents a new, integrated approach to lexical semantic analysis of biblical Hebrew, applying it in a detailed study of words related to "exploring."


This study aimed at verifying if beak-trimming methods in Japanese quail pullets could optimize production by decreasing stress caused by cannibalism. A total number of 816 day-old Japanese quails was distributed in a completely randomized experimental design in a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement, with two beak-trimming ages (14 and 21 days of age) and three beak-trimming sizes (not trimmed, 1/3 trimmed, or 1/ 2 trimmed), and 4 replicates of 34 birds per replicate. Birds were submitted to the same management and feeding conditions. Weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and mortality were evaluated. There was no significant effect of age at beak trimming on the evaluated parameters (P>0.05), as well as no significant interaction between age at beak trimming, and beak-trimming method. There was a significant effect (P<0.01) of trimming size on performance, with the best performance observed in birds not submitted to beak trimming or had 1/2 of the beak trimmed. When the beak was more aggressively trimmed (1/2), parameters were worse. According to the obtained results, it is recommended to trim 1/3 of the beaks, which can be performed either at 14 or 21 days of age.


This paper uses fixed effects analyses to estimate differences in student performance under online versus face-to-face course delivery formats in the California Community College system. On average, students have poorer outcomes in online courses in terms of the likelihood of course completion, course completion with a passing grade, and receiving an A or B. These estimates are robust across estimation techniques, different groups of students, and different types of classes. Accounting for differences in instructor characteristics (including through the use of instructor fixed effects) dampens but does not fully explain the estimated relationships. Online course-taking also has implications for downstream outcomes, although these effects are smaller. Students are more likely to repeat courses taken online, but are less likely to take new courses in the same subject following courses taken online.


Knowledge Graphs (KGs), as one of the key trends which are driving the next wave of technologies, have now become a new form of knowledge representation, and a cornerstone for several applications from generic to specific industrial use cases. However, in some specific domains such as law enforcement, a real and large domain-oriented KG is often unavailable due to data privacy concerns. In such domains it is necessary to generate a synthetic KG which mimics the properties of a real KG in the domain. Although during the last two decades, a variety of graph data generators has been proposed to achieve the generation of different kinds of networks, the state-of-the-art synthetic graph data generators are not feasible to generate a realistic and synthetic KGs because KGs always contain data characteristics with specified semantics. In this work, we propose a schema-driven synthetic KG generation approach with extended graph differential dependencies ( $GDD^{x}$ ), which is an extension of the recently developed graph entity/differential dependencies that represent formal constraints for graph data to enable the generation of desired graph patterns in synthetic KG. Next, we develop an effective KG generation algorithm that employs the schema and the pre-defined $GDD^{x}\text{s}$ . Finally, we evaluate our synthetic KG generator and compare with several state-of-the-art synthetic graph generators. The results from the experiments show that our KG generation method can generate KGs that exhibit the desired graph patterns, node attributes and degree distributions associated with each entity type in the graph's schema.


This thesis examines the experiences and political subjectivity of women who engaged in workplace protest in Britain between 1968 and 1985. The study covers a period that has been identified with the 'zenith' of trade-union militancy in British labour history. The women's liberation movement also emerged in this period, which produced a shift in public debates about gender roles and relations in the home and the workplace. Women's trade union membership increased dramatically and trade unions increasingly committed themselves to supporting 'women's issues'. Industrial disputes involving working-class women have frequently been cited as evidence of women's growing participation in the labour movement. However, the voices and experiences of female workers who engaged in workplace protest remain largely unexplored.

This thesis addresses this space through an original analysis of the 1968 sewing-machinists' strike at Ford, Dagenham; the 1976 equal pay strike at Trico, Brentford; the 1972 Sexton shoe factory occupation in Fakenham, Norfolk; the 1981 Lee Jeans factory occupation in Greenock, Inverclyde and the 1984-1985 sewing-machinists' strike at Ford Dagenham.

Drawing upon a combination of oral history and written sources, this study contributes a fresh understanding of the relationship between feminism, workplace activism and trade unionism during the years 1968-1985. In every dispute considered in this thesis, women's behaviour was perceived by observers as novel, 'historic' or extraordinary. But the women did not think of themselves as extraordinary, and rather understood their behaviour as a legitimate and justified response to their everyday experiences of gender and class antagonism.

The industrial disputes analysed in this thesis show that women's workplace militancy was not simply a direct response to women's heightened presence in trade unions. The women involved in these disputes were more likely to understand their experiences of workplace activism as an expression of the economic, social and subjective value of their work. Whilst they did not adopt a feminist identity or associate their action with the WLM, they spoke about themselves and their motivations in a manner that emphasised feminist values of equality, autonomy and self-worth.


Objective To estimate the economic burden of diseases and deaths attributable to bidi smoking in India for persons aged 30–69 years. Methods The National Sample Survey data on healthcare expenditures, data on bidi smoking prevalence from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey and relative risks of all-cause mortality from bidi smoking are used to estimate the economic burden of diseases and deaths attributable to bidi smoking in India using a prevalence-based attributable-risk approach. Costs are estimated under the following heads: (1) direct medical expenditure of treating diseases; (2) indirect morbidity costs and (3) indirect mortality costs of premature deaths. Findings The total economic costs attributable to bidi smoking from all diseases and deaths in India in the year 2017 for persons aged 30–69 years amount to INR805.5 billion (US$12.4 billion), of which 20.9% is direct and 79.1% is indirect cost. Men bear 93.7% of the total costs. Conclusion The total annual economic costs of bidi smoking amount to approximately 0.5% of India's gross domestic product, while the excise tax revenue from bidi is only half a per cent of its economic costs. The direct medical costs of bidi smoking amount to 2.24% of total health expenditure. Since the poor bear a disproportionately large share of the economic costs of bidi smoking, the unregulated use of bidi would potentially push more households in India, which incur heavy out-of-pocket expenditures on healthcare, into poverty.


It is all too common to find commentaries that miss the forest for the trees, commentaries that get so caught up in the minutiae of scholarly controversies that they miss what God is saying for His church today. This is especially evident when it comes to the book of Habakkuk. The Teleioteti Old Testament Commentaries series is an attempt to attain theological depth, to pay attention to the forest, without neglecting the details of the text, without missing the trees. To do this, a Teleioteti Old Testament Commentary seeks to bring scholarly rigour and thoughtfulness together with faithful attention to the purpose and significance of each book for God's people today. It strikes a balance between technicality, working through the Hebrew text and its difficulties, and practicality, applying each major section of the text to contemporary needs. Habakkuk is a book that especially needs such an approach. After an extensive introduction discussing the significant issues and laying the groundwork for interpreting Habakkuk, this commentary walks through the text stanza by stanza and line by line. With a balance of theological reflection and exegetical depth, a wide variety of readers will find something to take away. Habakkuk is a book of discipleship, a book written to bring its reader to a deeper faith in Yahweh in the presence of His unthinkable deeds. In the midst of oppressive evil at the hands of their Judahite brothers, the righteous of Judah cry out to God for salvation. His response is the invasion of fearsome Chaldea. What appears to be horrid judgment is actually His plan to save those who trust in Him. All His people are called to extraordinary faith, to believe Him when His deeds are unbelievable. In this way, and only this way, will they be delivered from their oppressors and enjoy God's blessings: only by faith can they have life.


In recent years, the nature of conflict has changed. Through asymmetric warfare radical groups and weak state actors are using unexpected means to deal stunning blows to more powerful opponents in the West. From terrorism to information warfare, the Wests air power, sea power and land power are open to attack from clever, but much weaker, enemies. In this clear and engaging introduction, Rod Thornton unpacks the meaning and significance of asymmetric warfare, in both civilian and military realms, and examines why it has become such an important subject for study. He seeks to provide answers to key questions, such as how weaker opponents apply asymmetric techniques against the Western world, and shows how the Wests military superiority can be seriously undermined by asymmetric threats. The book concludes by looking at the ways in which the US, the state most vulnerable to asymmetric attack, is attempting to cope with some new battlefield realities.


The development of new areolae on the marginal hypothallus of the lichen Rhizocarpon geographicum (L.) DC was studied after complete or partial removal of the central areolae. New areolae developed slowly on the isolated hypothalli over two years. Development was similar when the areolae were completely removed and when the central areolae were separated from the marginal hypothallus by 'moats' 2 to 5 mm in width. However, in intact thalli, the marginal areolae developed rapidly during Jan. – June 1986 but showed periods of retreat from the margin during Oct. - Dec. 1985 and July – Sept. 1986. These results suggested that primary areolae may develop from free-living algal cells trapped by the hypothallus while secondary areolae may develop from zoospores produced by the thallus. Complete removal of the areolae resulted in no measurable radial growth of the marginal hypothallus over 18 months. Removal of the central areolae to within 1 and 2 mm of the hypothallus significantly reduced growth. These results suggest that the areolae may supply the hypothallus with carbon for growth. When the marginal hypothallus was experimentally removed a new hypothallus developed within one year. Regeneration occurred initially by retreat of the marginal areolae and later by new hyphal growth. The concentration of ribitol, arabitol and mannitol was measured in the areolae and marginal hypothallus on four occasions in 1985/6 in a population growing on a steep south facing rock surface. The three carbohydrates were present in significantly higher concentration in the areolae than in the hypothallus. Hence, the slow growth of this species may result from inhibited transport of carbohydrate from areolae to hypothallus.


The thesis proposes an holistic customer satisfaction model that can be used as a metric for marketing performance evaluation. The hypotheses aim to develop an integrated customer satisfaction model that synthesizes customer satisfaction antecedents and consequences. The rationale behind this thesis and its relevant hypotheses is multi-faceted. Chiefly, customer satisfaction is considered as marketing's sine qua non; often cited, in the first pages of most of the best-selling marketing books, as the ultimate purpose of the marketing function and even as the short definition of marketing. As such, if there is one metric by which marketing performance should be evaluated with, it should be against its scope and how well it fulfils its goal. Customer satisfaction measurement is not an exact science by default mainly because it deals with human beings and their behaviour that is not only difficult to surface but also difficult to measure. This challenge translates into a plethora of customer satisfaction definitions, antecedents and consequences leading to reluctance to employ customer satisfaction formally for such a serious matter such as marketing performance evaluation and control. Thus, the thesis is a synthesis of prominent customer satisfaction models in an effort to integrate them into one, since the evaluation activity does take an holistic perspective whereas partial models pose the risk of losing synergies that may form in the whole. A multi-method approach is employed to arrive at the integrated customer satisfaction model to be used as a marketing performance metric, commencing with a rigorous review of available models in the literature, continuing with in depth interviews with company managers to understand the industry utilised for the research and content analysis of customer-completed questionnaires and also documents of voluntary expressed free-flow voice of customer (availa1?le online where customers rate companies). The latter consists of elaborate questionnaires completed by customers regarding the different elements of the model. Structural Equation Modelling is deployed to build and test the holistic model as it is the only technique that can simultaneously deal with antecedents and consequences. The first (literature review) and second (in-depth interviews with managers and content analysis of customers' reviews and opinions regarding their purchase experience) phases of the research revealed a massive 25-construct model for customer satisfaction with thirteen antecedents (expectations, performance, disconfirmation, service quality, value, dissonance, emotions/affect, equity, regret/rejoice, assimilation/contrast, attribution, recovery and justice) and eleven consequences (stated loyalty, switching, price tolerance, repurchase, share of wallet, trust, complimenting, complaining to the firm, complaining to a third party, positive and negative word of mouth). In order to test the model, in phase three, a survey questionnaire was designed and calibrated to collect data for analysis using LISREL. Thorough and strict CFA and SEM revealed that thirteen (eight antecedents: performance, disconfirmation, service quality, value, dissonance, emotions/affect, equity, regret/rejoice, and four consequences: trust, repurchase and positive and negative word of mouth) constructs constituted the holistic customer satisfaction model empirically verified in the present thesis.


Introduction Diesel is a mixture of various hydrocarbons that is produced during the fractionated distillation of crude oil. Its boiling interval is in the range of 150 to 390° C. Diesel is used mainly as fuel for automobiles. It can contain traces of organically bound chlorine, sulfur and nitrogen originating either from natural sources or from additives. During combustion of the fuel, these compounds form environmental pollutants. As these pollutants are hazardous to the human health and the environment, their content (N, S, Cl) should be kept as small as possible. To ensure the product quality and adhere to legal limit values a permanent quality control is essential.


Congenital malaria is a public health concern globally. This report reviews publications on congenital malaria in the last two decades (1990-2010) with the view to establishing the current global epidemiological trends and the public health implications. A Medline Entrez-PubMed search was performed and published studies on congenital malaria in the last two decades (1990–2010) were identified. A combination of key words "congenital malaria" were used for the search which yielded 180 publications as of December 2010. Of the 180 publications, 93 were within the period 1990 to 2010. Bibliographies of all publications selected were checked for additional relevant references and were obtained and included in the review. The critical issues identified and discussed include the (i) current global trends of congenital malaria; (ii) controversies associated with the frequency of occurrence of congenital malaria; (iii) mechanism and clinical features; (iv) role of maternal HIV infection (v) effects of congenital malaria on infants; (vi) diagnostic challenges; and (vii) treatment considerations. Operational research into various aspects of congenital malaria is essentially lacking as many unresolved issues requiring urgent scientific investigation abound. Public health policy on malaria control should integrate guidelines on congenital malaria management and control.


This paper analyzes optimal linear and non-linear taxes on capital and labor incomes in a life-cycle model of human capital investment, financial savings, and labor supply with heterogenous individuals. A dual income tax with a positive marginal tax rate on not only labor income but also capital income is optimal. The positive tax on capital income serves to alleviate the distortions of the labor tax on human capital accumulation. The optimal marginal tax rate on capital income is lower than that on labor income if savings are elastic compared to investment in human capital, substitution between verifiable and non-verifiable inputs in human capital formation is difficult, and most investments in human capital are verifiable so that education subsidies can directly reduce the tax wedge on learning. Numerical calculations suggest that the optimal marginal tax rate on capital income is substantial.


In Scott v. Harris (2007), the Supreme Court granted summary judgment on a Fourth Amendment excessive-force claim brought by a motorist injured when a pursuing law-enforcement officer terminated a high-speed pursuit by bumping the plaintiff's car. The Court relied almost exclusively on a video of the chase captured from the officer's dash-mounted camera and disregarded witness testimony that contradicted the video. In granting summary judgment in this circumstance, the Court fell sway to the myth of video evidence as able to speak for itself, as an objective, unambiguous, and singularly accurate depiction of real-world events, not subject to any interpretation or subjective analysis. For the majority, there was no need for a fact-finder to review the video or to compare the video with the competing testimony of eyewitnesses, because what the majority saw in the video was true. The reality, however, is that video evidence is not so singularly objective or definitive in its meaning and message; instead, video presents one perspective on events and is subject to the interpretation and close analysis reserved for the jury at trial. This essay critiques the Court's approach in Scott, both the immediate decision and with an eye on the increasing use of video recording of encounters between police and the likelihood that video will be an increasingly common element of civil rights litigation.


Over the years, traffic volumes on roads have increased considerably. Henceforth, traffic congestion continues to worsen producing longer commute times, increased energy consumption and air pollution, besides robbing people of a precious commodity-their time. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have emerged as a worldwide solution to handle these problems. Like any other transportation system, building a good intelligent transportation system requires considerable planning and financial resources. Developed countries like USA, Canada, Japan, UK, Australia and Germany, which have embarked upon ITS, do not have scarcity of funds and framework. But developing countries, which face considerable financial and framework constraints, require ITS user services, which are cost effective, efficient and compatible with the present level of development in the country in the related areas. This paper tries to explore the existing ITS and possibilities for further applications of ITS in these countries.


This article challenges the historical existence of the 'Johannine community' – a hypothesized group of ancient churches sharing a distinctive theological outlook. Scholars posit such a community to explain the similarities of John to 1, 2 and 3 John as well as the epistles' witness to a network of churches. Against this view, this article calls attention to evidence of literary contact between the four texts and the presence of dubious authorial claims in each. Taken together, these features cast John, 1 John, 2 John and 3 John as unreliable bases for historical reconstruction, whose implied audiences and situations are probably fabrications. The article proceeds to develop a new history of the Johannine texts. Those texts represent a chain of literary forgeries, in which authors of different extractions cast and recast a single invented character – an eyewitness to Jesus' life – as the mouthpiece of different theological viewpoints.


The fragmentation and lack of coordination of health care may result in less efficient and more costly care and lead to poorer outcomes. There has been increasing interest in examining cancer outcomes among persons who are dually enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid. Previous studies have identified disparities in the quality of cancer treatment according to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and source of health insurance. This article, which is based upon bibliographic searches in PubMed, reviews the literature on dual enrollment in Medicare and Medicaid and cancer survival and quality of cancer treatment. A total of 65 articles were identified. Of the 65 articles that were screened using the full texts or abstracts, 13 studies met the eligibility criteria, one cross-sectional study and 12 cohort studies. The results of this systematic review indicate that there is only limited evidence that dual enrollment in Medicare and Medicaid is associated with poorer survival or quality of cancer care. The number of studies that have looked for associations between dual Medicare-Medicaid status and survival and quality of cancer treatment is still small. Outcomes and cancer site(s) varied among the studies. Additional studies are needed to determine the replicability of findings reported to date. Of particular interest are studies of major forms of cancer (breast, prostate, lung, colorectal) that include adequate numbers of patients described by insurance status, race, comorbidity, stage, receipt of appropriate cancer therapy, and survival.


Internet telephony has had a tremendous impact on how people communicate.
Many now maintain contact using some form of Internet telephony.
Therefore the motivation for this work has been to address the quality aspects
of real-world Internet telephony for both fixed and wireless telecommunication.
The focus has been on the quality aspects of voice communication,
since poor quality leads often to user dissatisfaction. The scope of the work
has been broad in order to address the main factors within IP-based voice
communication.
The first four chapters of this dissertation constitute the background
material. The first chapter outlines where Internet telephony is deployed
today. It also motivates the topics and techniques used in this research.
The second chapter provides the background on Internet telephony including
signalling, speech coding and voice Internetworking. The third chapter
focuses solely on quality measures for packetised voice systems and finally
the fourth chapter is devoted to the history of voice research.
The appendix of this dissertation constitutes the research contributions.
It includes an examination of the access network, focusing on how calls are
multiplexed in wired and wireless systems. Subsequently in the wireless
case, we consider how to handover calls from 802.11 networks to the cellular
infrastructure. We then consider the Internet backbone where most of our
work is devoted to measurements specifically for Internet telephony. The
applications of these measurements have been estimating telephony arrival
processes, measuring call quality, and quantifying the trend in Internet telephony
quality over several years. We also consider the end systems, since
they are responsible for reconstructing a voice stream given loss and delay
constraints. Finally we estimate voice quality using the ITU proposal PESQ
and the packet loss process.
The main contribution of this work is a systematic examination of Internet
telephony. We describe several methods to enable adaptable solutions
for maintaining consistent voice quality. We have also found that relatively
small technical changes can lead to substantial user quality improvements.
A second contribution of this work is a suite of software tools designed to
ascertain voice quality in IP networks. Some of these tools are in use within
commercial systems today.


The specification for enhanced mail system status codes, RFC 3463,
establishes a new code model and lists a collection of status codes.
While it anticipated that more codes would be added over time, it did
not provide an explicit mechanism for registering and tracking those
codes. This document specifies an IANA registry for mail system
enhanced status codes, and initializes that registry with the codes so
far established in published standards-track documents, as well as
other codes that have become established in the industry. This
document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet
Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.


We study problems of allocating objects among people. Some objects may be initially owned and the rest are unowned. Each person needs exactly one object and initially owns at most one object. We drop the common assumption of strict preferences. Without this assumption, it suffices to study problems where each person initially owns an object and every object is owned. For such problems, when preferences are strict, the "top trading cycles" algorithm provides the only rule that is efficient, strategy-proof, and individually rational Ma (1994) [1]. Our contribution is to generalize this algorithm to accommodate indifference without compromising on efficiency and incentives.


Landslides triggered by large earthquakes in mountainous regions contribute significantly to overall earthquake losses and pose a major secondary hazard that can persist for months or years. While scientific investigations of coseismic landsliding are increasingly common, there is no protocol for rapid (hours-to-days) humanitarian-facing landslide assessment, and no published recognition of what is possible and what is useful to compile immediately after the event. Drawing on the 2015 M w  7.8 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal, we consider how quickly a landslide assessment based upon manual satellite-based emergency mapping (SEM) can be realistically achieved, and review the decisions taken by analysts to ascertain the timeliness and type of useful information that can be generated. We find that, at present, many forms of landslide assessment are too slow to generate relative to the speed of a humanitarian response, despite increasingly rapid access to high-quality imagery. Importantly, the value of information on landslides evolves rapidly as a disaster response develops, so identifying the purpose, timescales, and end-users of a post-earthquake landslide assessment is essential to inform the approach taken. It is clear that discussions are needed on the form and timing of landslide assessments, and how best to present and share this information, before rather than after an earthquake strikes. In this paper, we share the lessons learned from the Gorkha earthquake, with the aim of informing the approach taken by scientists to understand the evolving landslide hazard in future events and the expectations of the humanitarian community involved in disaster response.


While acoustic phonetic studies have been carried out on all types of Englishes around the world, the second language variety spoken in Kenya has so far not been investigated acoustically. The present paper closes this gap by presenting an acoustic phonetic analysis of acrolectal Kenyan English. The data presented here consist of nine male speakers of acrolectal Kenyan English reading the "The North Wind and the Sun"-passage and were analysed using PRAAT (Boersma 2001; Boersma and Weenink 2008). As I will show, a careful visual and statistical analysis of the data unearthes several features of the Kenyan English vowel system that so far have gone unnoticed (e.g. a trend towards a seven vowel system with two front and two back mid vowels). Furthermore I will argue that some of these features can be traced back to the local L1 feature pool.


"The result of five years of practice-based creative research focused on Nicole Garneau's UPRISING project, Performing Revolutionary presents a number of methods for the creation of politically charged interactive public events in the style of a how-to guide. UPRISING, a series of public demonstrations in eight locations in the United States and five in Europe, involved thousands of voluntary participants who came together to create radical change through performance art. Bringing together accounts by participants, writers, theorists, artists and activists, as well as photographs and critical essays, Performing Revolutionary offers a fresh perspective on the challenges of moving from critique to action." -- Publisher's website.


From a child rights perspective disaster impacts affect not only a child's basic right to survival and development, but cut across their right to participate and for decisions to be made in their best interests. Child-centred approaches recognise the role and rights of children as citizens and agents of change, seeking to engage them in DRR/CCA (Disaster Risk Reduction/Climate Change Adaptation) decision-making and accountability processes and supporting child-centred community-based programmes of action.

The research produced two papers, one on Undertanding Impacts of disasters on child welfare, and the second to identify the factors which create an enabling environment for children to engage in climate change and disaster risk reduction. This report synthesises the research outputs to produce a comprehensive report looking into the need both for child sensitive programmes to tackle disasters and climate change, but also at the need for child participation in programming and policy.


We present a virtual digital camera sensor, whose aim is to simulate a real (physical) image capturing sensor. To accomplish this task, the virtual sensor operates in two steps. First, it accepts a physical description of a given scene and simulates the entire process of photon sensing and charge generation in the sensor device. This process is affected by noise, mostly photon noise. Second, it adds to the image the noise that results from the electronic circuitry. We present a model for the different sources of noise relative to each sensor-based image formation step, and use measurements of real digital camera images to validate the model.


Forgotten Paths: Etymology and the Allegorical Mindset. By Davide Del Bello. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2007. Pp. xvi, 187. Illus. $64.95. This elegantly written, brilliantly conceived book provides a richly expansive definition of etymology and its relation to allegory. That definition is based on the neoplatonic philosopher Proclus's [ca. 412-485] coinage of the term etymegoreia or allegorical etymology. As Del Bello notes, Proclus expands theprovinceof etymology from a study of word origins to include both argumentation and hermeneutics: "The fact is that etymegoreia treads the fuzzy, contested, liminal zone between words and things, thought and language, eternity and history, spirit and matter" (p. 46). The later Isidore of Seville [560-636], whose Etymologiae was perhaps the most popular and significant text to appear in the middle ages, also provides a definition of etymology which combines formal analysis with interpretation": "Etymology is the origin of words, when the force of a word or name is determined through interpretation'" (p. 105). "Etymology," according to Del Bello, "proposes that we read allegory (diversiloquium) as the rhetorical analogue of a cognitive process whereby a person bundles or blends together several (diverse) aspects of experience into one model, script, or story" (p. 157). In contrast, the nineteenth and twentiethcentury "scientific" etymologists or "Neogrammarians equated etymology with the one-way, strictly chronological reconstructions of 'roots'" (p. 5). Allegory or "other speaking" (diversiloquium) cites a meaning outside of the text, but that meaning is ultimately based on the words in the text itself. Thus for Del Bello, "de facto, etymologies function as the linguistic pillars on which allegory builds its interpretative edifice" (p. 108). Del Bello admits he is swimming against the stream of so-called "scientific" etymology, which reduces the discipline of etymology to a formal, linear analysis of the origins of words, and ignores the historical and philosophical contexts of the words themselves, since these cannot be formally analyzed or accounted for. In effect, linguists are attempting "to formalize all figurative thought" (p. 162). This attitude is epitomized in the German historian Ernst Robert Curtius's dismissal of medieval etymologies as "foolish" and "insipid" (p. xiii). Moreover, the semiologist Ferdinand de Saussure's insistence on the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign (p. xv) renders the rhetorical and historical contexts of individual words inaccessible and frustrates any attempt to explore the richness of the words themselves. In fact, linguistics erred "in privileging form over meaning," and, "precisely because of its 'scientific' thrust, may have made opaque, or limited, the cognitive scope of meaning by reducing it to a series of formal features" (p. 9). Del Bello inveighs against the current attempt on the part of linguists to reduce etymology to mere derivation of words: "While acceptable from a linguistic viewpoint, this kind of etymology would more aptly be defined as an 'atomology/ for it cuts up and muddles the set of historical meanings and the constellation of rhetorical senses a word belongs to ... " (p. 163); ". . . linguistics cannot continue to gloss over one aspect of its subject just because it eludes systematic formalization" (p. 26). True etymology treats ". . . the symbolic, rhetorical, ideological, cognitive, and value-making aspects of human language that one-way scientism must disregard" (p. 32). If we agTee that "thought and speech are inseparably interwoven, both phy logenetically and ontogenetically, it must also be granted that an exclusively linguistic approach to language offers only a partial view" (p. …


The wave has crashed onto the shore and subsided. What Spanish newspapers dub the marea - tide - or avalancha swept the Canary Islands in 2006, bringing rickety wooden fishing boats from what seemed a faraway West Africa. The cayucos and pateras, with their gaudy paintwork and sea-battered timber, carried a dishevelled human cargo that was likened to an invading army; a wild, inexplicable armada arriving at the southernmost margins of the European Union and the very heart of western leisure migration, the playas of Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Now the horizon is clear. The wave has receded, leaving in its wake sodden piles of newspaper clippings and a growing crop of novels and books - not to mention enriched and emboldened aid organisations, a strengthened European 'myth of invasion' (de Haas 2007) and a nascent new security system for the EU's external borders.


This thesis presents the results from an investigation into the merits of analysing Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data in the context of dynamical systems theory. MEG is the study of both the methods for the measurement of minute magnetic flux variations at the scalp, resulting from neuro-electric activity in the neocortex, as well as the techniques required to process and extract useful information from these measurements. As a result of its unique mode of action - by directly measuring neuronal activity via the resulting magnetic field fluctuations - MEG possesses a number of useful qualities which could potentially make it a powerful addition to any brain researcher's arsenal. Unfortunately, MEG research has so far failed to fulfil its early promise, being hindered in its progress by a variety of factors. Conventionally, the analysis of MEG has been dominated by the search for activity in certain spectral bands - the so-called alpha, delta, beta, etc that are commonly referred to in both academic and lay publications. Other efforts have centred upon generating optimal fits of "equivalent current dipoles" that best explain the observed field distribution. Many of these approaches carry the implicit assumption that the dynamics which result in the observed time series are linear. This is despite a variety of reasons which suggest that nonlinearity might be present in MEG recordings. By using methods that allow for nonlinear dynamics, the research described in this thesis avoids these restrictive linearity assumptions. A crucial concept underpinning this project is the belief that MEG recordings are mere observations of the evolution of the true underlying state, which is unobservable and is assumed to reflect some abstract brain cognitive state. Further, we maintain that it is unreasonable to expect these processes to be adequately described in the traditional way: as a linear sum of a large number of frequency generators. One of the main objectives of this thesis will be to prove that much more effective and powerful analysis of MEG can be achieved if one were to assume the presence of both linear and nonlinear characteristics from the outset. Our position is that the combined action of a relatively small number of these generators, coupled with external and dynamic noise sources, is more than sufficient to account for the complexity observed in the MEG recordings. Another problem that has plagued MEG researchers is the extremely low signal to noise ratios that are obtained. As the magnetic flux variations resulting from actual cortical processes can be extremely minute, the measuring devices used in MEG are, necessarily, extremely sensitive. The unfortunate side-effect of this is that even commonplace phenomena such as the earth's geomagnetic field can easily swamp signals of interest. This problem is commonly addressed by averaging over a large number of recordings. However, this has a number of notable drawbacks. In particular, it is difficult to synchronise high frequency activity which might be of interest, and often these signals will be cancelled out by the averaging process. Other problems that have been encountered are high costs and low portability of state-of-the- art multichannel machines. The result of this is that the use of MEG has, hitherto, been restricted to large institutions which are able to afford the high costs associated with the procurement and maintenance of these machines. In this project, we seek to address these issues by working almost exclusively with single channel, unaveraged MEG data. We demonstrate the applicability of a variety of methods originating from the fields of signal processing, dynamical systems, information theory and neural networks, to the analysis of MEG data. It is noteworthy that while modern signal processing tools such as independent component analysis, topographic maps and latent variable modelling have enjoyed extensive success in a variety of research areas from financial time series modelling to the analysis of sun spot activity, their use in MEG analysis has thus far been extremely limited. It is hoped that this work will help to remedy this oversight.


Rupture of a hydatid cyst may cause some unique problems in children and adult .The clinical presentation and the preoperative diagnosis and postoperative complications depend on whether the cyst is intact or ruptured. The aim of this study was to review the problems of the ruptured pulmonary hydatid cysts. Between 1996 and 2009, 58 patients with a total of 74 ruptured lung hydatid cysts were operated. The medical records for 58 patients of pulmonary hydatidosis were retrospectively investigated. Data related to symptoms, preoperative diagnosis and complications, surgical procedures, postoperative morbidity, hospitalization time, and cyst recurrence were collected. 42 patients (72.41%) were male. the median age of patients was 32 years (range, 4 to 69 years). Clinical symptoms were as follow: Productive cough in 47 patients (81%), Dyspnea in 42 patients (72.41%), chest pain in 31 patients (53.44%) and hemoptysis in 13 patients (22.41%). Assessment of clinical findings, chest roentgenograms, thoracic computed tomography, led to the correct preoperative diagnosis of pulmonary hydatid disease in 52 patients (89.65%). Right lower lobe was the most common location of cyst in the lungs (63%). In 42 cases (72.41%) rupture of cyst occurred into tracheobronchial tree and in 10 patients (17.24%) rupture of cyst occurred into pleural space. recurrent pneumonia occurred in 6 patients (10.34%). Postoperative complication was occurred in 20 patients (34.48%). Reoperation performed for bronchopleural fistula in 2 patients and bilo-pleural fistula in 1 patient. Recurrence occurred in 1 patient which treated with albendazol. Hospital mortality was not occurred. Surgery is the primary mode of treatment for patients with pulmonary hydatid disease. Complicated cases have higher rates of preoperative and postoperative complications and require longer hospitalization time and more extensive surgical procedures. Immediate treatment should be performed in any patient who is diagnosed with pulmonary hydatid cysts.


Despite the fact that the commitment to position South Africa as a developmental state has been part of the strategic policy objective for the transformation of the state and governance for some time now, the discourse on the concept is enmeshed in misconceptions. It is distorted and conflated with other concepts. Much of what is bandied about as signifying a developmental state is not consistent with the authoritative scholarship on the conceptualisation of the concept. The discourse largely lacks epistemological insight. It dangerously displays little understanding of the originative historical context of the concept. The paradigm from which the discourse on a developmental state is framed is porous, so much so that the concept is used to mean anything that its users want it to mean. A few examples of misconceptions inherent in the contemporary discourse on theorising South Africa as a developmental state are that it is a 'democratic state' - where the contention is that these concepts are synonymous - or is the antithesis of democracy, a 'service delivery state' or 'soviet-type socialism'. Some go even deeper in daring to suggest that all states are developmental. This thinking provides an opportunity for intellectual opportunism stretching the discourse to the extreme by exemplifying the apartheid state as a model of a developmental state. It ventures into the realm of speculation "merely [purporting] to take an interest in objective reality while it really operates outside the object which it pretends to deal with" (Mader, 2011:420) - meaning, for the purpose of this article, contradicting the "sequence of ideas" (Marx, 1975-2005:162) that undergird the conception and evolution of a developmental state.


This book describes the 14 sites in Fiji which are of global importance for bird conservation. These Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are priorities for conserving the natural heritage of Fiji for future generations. Fiji's rich natural heritage includes 11 threatened bird species and 27 endemic bird species. This book updates the status and conservation needs of all these special birds. This book is aimed at land-use planners, policy-makers, conservationists, forestry managers, researchers, birdwatchers and local land owners.


The term culture in its anthropological sense did not enter the American lexicon with force until after 1910 - more than a century after Herder began to use it in Germany and another thirty years after E. B. Tylor and Franz Boas made it the object of anthropological attention. "Before Cultures" explores this delay in the development of the culture concept and its relation to the description of difference in late nineteenth-century America. In this work, Brad Evans weaves together the histories of American literature and anthropology. His study brings to life not only the regionalist and ethnographic fiction of the time but also revives a range of neglected materials, including the Zuni sketch-books of anthropologist Frank Hamilton Cushing; popular magazines such as "Century Illustrated Monthly", which published Cushing's articles alongside Henry James's; the debate between Joel Chandler Harris, author/collector of the Uncle Remus folktales, and John Wesley Powell, perhaps the most important American anthropologist of the time; and Du Bois's polemics against the culture concept as it was being developed in the early twentieth century. Written with clarity and grace, "Before Cultures" will be of value to students of American literature, history, and anthropology alike.


Randy Barnett argues that the American political tradition, understood in its best light, features a "Republican Constitution." But Barnett's version of "republicanism" has relatively little to do with the historical tradition of republicanism, a tradition that celebrates the common good; seeks to inculcate civic virtue; opposes aristocracy, oligarchy, and corruption; understands liberty not as mere negative freedom but as non-domination; connects civil rights to civic duties; and demands a government which derives its powers from and is ultimately responsive to the great body of the people.Instead, Barnett's "Republican Constitution" is far closer to what most historians of the Founding would regard as the opposite or complement of the republican tradition. This is the tradition of natural rights liberalism, which begins with John Locke and evolves into classical liberalism in the nineteenth century. This tradition celebrates individual autonomy, views the state as organized to protect the natural rights of individuals, fears the tyranny of majorities, and treats liberty as a negative freedom — a protected space in which individuals, free from state control, may accumulate property and pursue happiness.Although Barnett identifies his "Republican Constitution" with the Founders, it is really a sympathetic restatement of late nineteenth-century classical liberalism, which combined dual federalism with police powers jurisprudence. Conversely, his constructed foil, which he calls the "Democratic Constitution," is really a version of early twentieth-century progressivism which arises in opposition to the Gilded Age. Barnett's imagined opposition between "Republican" and "Democratic" visions of the Constitution at the Founding is really an idealized version of the struggle between classical liberalism and progressivism at the beginning of the twentieth century. This is an important clash of values, and it had momentous consequences for the way we understand constitutional law today. But it is not an adequate account of Founding-era thought.By taking the word "republican" and pasting it onto the classical liberal tradition, Barnett has buried a truly important tradition in American constitutional thought — the actual historical republican tradition. This tradition is especially relevant today. Our contemporary politics is full of anxieties about republican themes: corruption, oligarchy, self-dealing, and lack of devotion to the public good. Barnett's classical liberalism is too thin to meet these contemporary concerns. By insisting that the central if not sole purpose of government is to protect natural rights — including, most prominently, the right to acquire and accumulate property — his account seems to talk past what concerns many people today about our political and constitutional system, not only on the left, but also on the right. It actually disables us from focusing on the important connections between democracy and political economy that the historical theory of republicanism was centrally concerned with.The American constitutional tradition, understood in its best sense, has always drawn on elements of both the republican and liberal traditions, and applied them to the problems and circumstances of the age. It has employed the best parts of each tradition to critique and transcend the blindnesses and limitations of the other. That is as true of the founding period as it is of the present. No reconstruction of the American constitutional tradition can afford to discard one-half of this dialectic.


This paper explores the role migration has played in development studies, and in debates on economic growth and poverty. It argues that, despite a recent surge of interest in international migration and remittances, research on human mobility particularly for labour within poor countries does not have the place it deserves, and that it used to have in the classical development literature. Review of the empirical literature suggests that in fact much is known about the migration–development relationship, provided we are careful with definitions, and allow for context-specificity to be a key component of analyses. Against this richness of empirical detail, the paper reviews theoretical models of migration, finding significant differences in understandings of migration and its role in shaping wellbeing, but also complementarities. This highlights the importance of interdisciplinarity, and institutional understanding of processes of economic growth. In particular, it stresses that development economics need to draw more strongly on the insights by and approaches of non-economist social sciences.


The dynamics of magnetic hysteresis, including the training effect and the field sweep rate dependence of the exchange bias, is experimentally investigated in exchange-coupled potassium split graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). We find that, at low field sweep rate, the pronounced absolute training effect is present over a large number of cycles. This is reflected in a gradual decrease of the exchange bias with the sequential field cycling. However, at high field sweep rate above 0.5 T/min, the training effect is not prominent. With the increase in field sweep rate, the average value of exchange bias field grows and is found to follow power-law behavior. The response of the exchange bias field to the field sweep rate variation is linked to the difference in the time it takes to perform a hysteresis loop measurement compared with the relaxation time of the anti-ferromagnetically aligned spins. The present results may broaden our current understanding of magnetism of GNRs and would be helpful in establishing the G...


In this paper I engage with the question of what place the Other and 'otherness' have in the so-called 'open space' of Social Forums? In doing so, I attempt to coax into the open some of the multiple experiences of being and becoming human that are excluded within and by the construction of these spaces, and by the discourses – the powerful knowledge-frames and their epistemologies – which to a
large extent they uphold. My hope is to open up the key terms of my title, namely representation, rationalism and romanticism, via a consideration of the cross-cutting domains of subjectivity, ontology and experience in contemporary resistance politics. I write as simultaneously part of, and co-opted by, the distributed society of control of Empire; and as othered by the assumptions of what it means to be human on which it seems based. My intention is to explore the possibilities for presence of such othernesses in Social Forums, and therefore of the potential for Social Forums to genuinely respond to its stated and radical desire for 'another possible world'.


The aim of this thesis is to discuss and explore the subject of organizing generalists and specialists. The purpose of this thesis is to explore and discuss different alternatives on organizational grouping from a generalists and specialists perspective. It will explore theories around organizational design, different organizational structures and give insight to the specialist and generalist function that can be found in most types of organizations. The aim is to be able to present different aspects of organizing generalists and specialists and to be able to answer the problem question: Is there a best organizational structure for specialist and generalist groups? The study is a qualitative study and the process of induction will be used. The epistemological standpoint is interprevistic and the ontological is more towards constructionism. The methods used are 1) the collection of and qualitative analysis of texts and documents and 2) qualitative semi-structured interviewing. The analysis is based on grounded theory method. The result and conclusions of the study is that generalists most likely do fit better in organizational forms such as simple structure, adhocracy and network organizations. Specialists tend to prefer bureaucracy or functional/unitary organizations. Keywords: generalists, specialists, organization, group structure