This comparative study examines approaches to large scale laboratory automation in two different healthcare organizations. It considers the acquisition, implementation and the use of the technology. The two organizations studied, NHS Tayside in Dundee, Scotland and Niagara Health in Niagara, Canada have similar population density, land area and healthcare systems. Each organization implemented laboratory automation systems at around the same time. The study examined laboratory configurations, processes, key performance indicators such as turnaround time, workflow and productivity and identified that the implementation of laboratory automation, together with the use of information technology enabled both laboratories improve their efficiencies. Our research identified key similarities and differences in the organizational approaches to laboratory automation; areas of mutual interest to both organisations were identified where continuing collaboration may be of value moving forward. This is enabled by comparison of key performance indicators, sharing best practices, and enhancing mutual learning. This research shows that both organizations managed to increase productivity and reduce turnaround time through introduction of automation. At the same time, NHS Tayside has taken advantage of technology to deliver additional benefit of increasing the effectiveness of laboratory services in patient care delivery by introducing new diagnostic pathways made possible by automation and associated information technology. Such approaches combined, with developments in the clinical applications of artificial intelligence, provide great future opportunity for Clinical Scientist and Clinical Engineers working together to transform the way modern clinical laboratory operate and impact positively on patient care and outcomes. Keywords— Laboratory automation, Middleware, Diagnostic techniques, Clinical Engineering.


The concept of good faith has existed for thousands of years in Western civilization. Indeed, it has been asserted that the concept is "one of the bases of our civilized society." The ancient Greeks recognized something similar to the notion of bona fides as "a universal social norm governing the relationships of its citizens." For their part, the Romans converted the notion into a basis for legal action; Roman jurists incorporated the notion into the essence of "a number of legal rules defining the obligations in . . . normal commercial transactions . . . ." The notion played an especially important role in the enforcement of informal consensual contracts in classical Roman law. The concept has also found its way into American commercial law. A majority of our jurisdictions recognize the concept as a matter of case law. Likewise, the American Law Institute included the doctrine in the Restatement (Second) of Contracts. The concept has a prominent role in the Uniform Commercial Code. Fifty of the 400 Code provisions expressly mention good faith. Article 2 of the Code, devoted to sales, includes 13 sections explicitly using good faith standards. The Code's general good faith provision, § 1-304, announces: "Every contract or duty within the Uniform Commercial Code imposes an obligation of good faith in its performance and enforcement." Moreover, if one can take the broad language in some of the judicial opinions at face value, the obligation has meaningful substantive content; many opinions contain sweeping language to the effect that the obligation precludes a contracting party from taking any action that would destroy or impair the other party's contractual rights or benefits. If anything, the obligation appears to be growing stronger. As originally adopted in 1952, the Code's general definition of good faith required only "honesty in fact." However, in 2003 that definition was amended to mandate "the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing" as well as honesty in fact. However, the thesis of this short article is that the Code's endorsement of good faith has not had the desired effect. The first part of the article describes the Code's initial adoption of good faith standards and the early, high hopes raised by that adoption. The second part details the controversy over good faith that arose shortly after the Code's adoption. This part reviews the debate that ensued over the meaning of "good faith" in contract enforcement. The third part surveys the modern case law on good faith. This part demonstrates that although there is a split of authority over the approach to good faith under the Code, the majority of jurisdictions have embraced a cautious, restrictive interpretation of "good faith." The fourth part explores the most plausible explanations for the courts' unwillingness to expansively construe good faith. The final part discusses the implications for transactional attorneys and counsel litigating cases under the Code.


The influence of the polymer matrix on the liquid crystal droplet configuration within a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film is studied with the use of infrared spectroscopy. With a change of the polymer from poly(n-butyl methacrylate) to poly(isobutyl methacrylate) with the use of E7 liquid crystal, the droplet configuration changes from bipolar to radial. For both of these PDLC systems with 80:20, 70:30, and 60:40 E7/polymer compositions, the LC droplets grow in diameter with time. The spectroscopic data monitoring the droplet growth are described exponentially. A transition temperature is observed as both types of PDLCs cool, forming droplets by the thermally induced phase-separation technique. The TN-I, transition for the E7/PBMA PDLC appears at 46°C and for the E7/PIBMA PDLC appears at 51°C. Index Headings: FT-IR spectroscopy; Polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLC).


This report describes SDPpack Version 0.9 Beta for Matlab 5.0. This version extends the previous release for semidefinite programming (SDP) to mixed semidefinite--quadratic--linear programs (SQLP), i.e.\ linear optimization problems over a product of semidefinite cones, quadratic cones and the nonnegative orthant. Together, these cones make up all possible homogeneous self-dual cones over the reals. The main routine implements a primal--dual Mehrotra predictor--corrector scheme based on the XZ+ZX search direction for SDP. More specialized routines are also available, one to solve SDP''s with diagonal constraints only, and one to compute the Lov\''asz $\theta$ function of a graph, both using the XZ search direction. Routines are also provided to determine whether an SQLP is primal or dual degenerate at its solution and whether strict complementarity holds there. Primal nondegeneracy is associated with dual uniqueness and dual nondegeneracy with primal uniqueness, though these conditions are not equivalent if strict complementarity fails to hold. A routine is also provided to compute the condition number of an SQLP. The Matlab code calls mex files for improved performance; binaries are available for several platforms. Benchmarks show that the codes


The discontinuation of the functioning of Modern Greek Chairs in Universities outside Greece during the last five years is a fact which undoubtedly has resulted in the decline of the studies of Modern Greek language and civilization. This article examines - from a Greek point of view - the issues regarding the conditions and circumstances in which Modern Greek Chairs were or can be founded and maintained as well as the support systems which can be applied by the Greek State for their function. The aim of this study is to identify the causes which created this situation and propose applicable solutions for the relevant problems.


Establishing regional landslide chronologies is necessary to advance from hazard recognition to risk assessment, and to understand the evolution of landslide-prone terrain. Despite recent advances in landslide mapping due to the availability of high-resolution lidar imagery, estimating the timing of slope failures remains a challenge. Here we present a new integrated approach to dating landslides on a regional scale by augmenting quantitative surface roughness analysis with radiocarbon dating and numerical landscape modeling. We calibrate a roughness-age curve, which we use to date 25 deep-seated landslides in glacial sediment surrounding the catastrophic A.D. 2014 Oso landslide along the North Fork Stillaguamish River in Washington State (USA). Lidar bare-earth images show a high density of long-runout landslides in this region. Using our roughness-age curve, we estimate an average Holocene landslide frequency of 1 every 140–500 yr, and show that the 2014 Oso landslide was the latest event in an active history of slope failures throughout the Holocene. With each landslide, substantial sediment is delivered to the North Fork Stillaguamish River, driving shifts in the active channel that ultimately affect the pattern of landslides across the valley. The high frequency of landslides in this area, where river incision and isostatic uplift rates have dropped dramatically since peaking soon after ice retreated from the region, shows that landscapes inundated by glacial sediment do not require dramatic changes in base level to remain highly unstable for tens of thousands of years.


An investigation has been made on heavy ion‐acoustic (HIA) nonplanar shocks and solitons in an unmagnetized, collisionless, strongly coupled plasma whose constituents are strongly correlated adiabatic inertial heavy ions, weakly correlated nonextensive distributed electrons and Maxwellian light ions. By using appropriate nonlinear equations for our strongly coupled plasma system and the well‐known reductive perturbation technique, a modified Burgers (mB) equation and a modified Korteweg‐de Vries (mK‐dV) equation have been derived. They are also numerically solved in order to investigate the basic features (viz. polarity, amplitude, width, etc.) of cylindrical and spherical shock/solitary waves in such a strongly coupled plasma system. The roles of heavy ion dynamics, nonextensivity of electrons, and other plasma parameters arised in this investigation have significantly modified the basic features of the cylindrical and spherical HIA solitary and shock waves. The findings of our results obtained from this theoretical investigation may be useful in understanding the nonlinear phenomena associated with the cylindrical and spherical HIA waves both in space and laboratory plasmas. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


More than half the states in this country have legislation on sex offenders that distinguishes between those whose offense is incidental to other offenses ("felony" sexual offenders), and those who engage in "repetitive, habitual, or compulsive" sex offenses ("criminal sexual psychopaths"). This second category is the subject of this book. The legislation specifies that criminal sexual psychopaths must be treated, not punished. But treatment is problematic; the literature on various approaches finds uncertainty about the effectiveness of treatment. Pallone asks the difficult question of whether there is a prospective right to effective treatment, and notes the political and ethical questions involved in potentially more effective Clockwork Orange approaches. The ethical burden on mental health clinicians is heavy; despite the fact that the category "sexual psychopath" is essentially a legal, not a psychiatric category, judges tend to follow professional recommendations as to categorization. Pallone emerges with some surprising but convincing conclusions. If the distinction between felony and psychopathic sexual offender is essentially empty, as the profession feels it is, it should be abandoned. All criminal sexual offenders should be punished, except those who opt for treatment and who are certified by mental health professionals as likely to benefit. And for those few so identified, society should be prepared to commit significant resources to their treatment. This speculation on the past, present, and future of criminal sexual deviation comes from a psychologists with a broad command of the literature and deep professional experience in the area. Combining a broad-ranging overview of the legal, criminological, and psychiatric literature on these questions, Rehabilitating Criminal Sexual Psychopaths raises important questions. Legal experts, criminologists, mental health professionals, and all those concerned with public policy will find it significant.


The papers presented in this thematic set evolved from the 1993 annual two day meeting of the Volcanic Studies Group, held at the Open University. The papers are dedicated, as was the meeting, to the memory of Richard Thorpe who tragically died whilst on fieldwork on Lundy during August 1991. The meeting shared the title of this thematic set and included a session on magmatic processes at destructive plate margins and one on within-plate magmatism. These two broad subjects were chosen to reflect Richard's wide-ranging interests in petrological and geochemical problems and this is also reflected in the subjects of the following six papers. An obituary to Richard Thorpe appeared in the 1991 Annual Report of the Geological Society and it is not my purpose to repeat what was said about Richard there. However, he will probably be best remembered for his edited book entitled Andesites and related rocks and an unusual but topical aspect of the petrology of andesites is the subject of the first paper in this thematic set. Matthews et al. investigate the influence of sulphur redox reactions on the oxygen fugacity of calc-alkaline magmas from Lascar in Chile and Pinatubo in the Phillipines. Both of these volcanoes are known for the presence of primary igneous anhydrite, implying unusually oxidizing conditions during crystallization and high concentrations of sulphur in the parental basaltic magma. They conclude that large quantities of SO2 gas are liberated during mixing between basaltic and more silica-rich magmas. Observed T-fo2 relationships in both volcanoes


This study was carried out to design a system for the inexpensive treatment of ash pond effluent or leachate. Twelve different coals were burned in three different types of coal fired boilers to determine the influence of coal composition, ash fusion temperatures, boiler additives, combustion conditions and co-firing of natural gas or oil with the coal, on the composition of the fly ash and bottom ash as well as the leaching and sorbate characteristics of the fly ash produced. The trace elemental analysis consisting of Ti, Cd, Sn, Ni, Pb, Mo, Cu, Cr. Zn, Mn, Ba, and V in the twelve coals and their respective fly and bottom ashes. In addition, the leaching characteristics of the fly ashes with respect to pH, Cd, B, Sn, Ni, Pb, Mo, Cu, Cr, Zn, Mn and Fe have been defined. The results indicate that in the combustion of low ash fusion coals, the Sn, Ni, Mo, Cu, Cr and Mn tend to concentrate in the bottom ash, whereas the Ti, Zn and Ba tend to concentrate in the fly ash. For the high fusion coal, Sn, Cd, Pb, Mo, Cu, Cr, Ba and V in the parent coal concentrate in the bottom ash and Ti, Ni, Zn and Mn in the fly ash. An increase in boiler temperatures were observed to favor lower concentrations of the above trace elements in fly ash particles produced from low ash fusion coals. Also, smaller fly ash particles were found to contain higher concentrations of the above trace elements when compared to that present in larger fly ash particles produced from the same coal. ii The addition of the additive LPA-40 (which contains sulfur compounds to alter the sensitivity of the fly ash) to the combustion gases appears partially responsible for the amount of sulfur found on the surface of the fly ash particles. Leaching of Cd, B, Sn, Ni, Pb, Mo, Cu, Cr, Zn, Mu and Fe from the fly ash was found to be directly proportional to (1) the amount of these trace elements present in the fly ash, (2) decrease in pH, (3) decreases in boiler temperatures and (4) increases in ash fusion temperatures. Fly ash particles which in general leached the least amount of the above elements exhibited the best sorbate characteristics. LEACHATE TREATMENT TECHNIQUE UTILIZING FLY ASH AS A LOW COST SORBENT


the premier European event in the field of microelectronics packaging and integration. The conference will be held 13th – 16th of September, 2016, at the World Trade Center in Grenoble, France. This international event brings together both academic as well as the industry leaders to discuss and debate about the state-of-the-art and future trends in packaging and integration technologies.

The 2016 conference continues a line of prestigious events since the birth of the conference in 2006 in Dresden, Germany. The ESTC conference program consists of technical short courses from the leading experts, invited keynote talks from industry leaders, panel discussions, technical sessions, and a technical exhibition.


Walter Connor shows how the seven decades since Stalin launched the First Five Year plan have changed Soviet workers from a disorganized mass of unskilled ex-peasants into something very much like a class--not the working class intended by Lenin and Stalin but a new and powerful "accidental proletariat, " produced by forces partly beyond the state's control. Does this new "proletariat" threaten glasnost and perestroika? To address that question, Connor examines the growth of the new "class" and its role in the crisis-ridden politics of Gorbachev's USSR. In this book, as in his earlier works, Connor focuses on the interplay of social and political forces. Do workers support economic reform, he asks, or oppose it? Are they beneficiaries or victims of Gorbachev's policies? Can a Soviet state already under severe ethnic and economic strains accommodate an emergent working-class politics? Connor probes these issues in a work that is essential reading for students of Russian politics, government officials faced with the uncertainties of a new Russia, and people seeking to do business in any economy previously isolated behind geographical, military, and institutional barriers.


Children see the world with different eyes. Through illustrated stories in children's books they learn about the world in which they live. The best picture books for children not only feature wonderful stories, but also tell them in a visually appealing way. Children are very critical readers who simply cast aside books they deem boring, overzealous, pedantic, or visually unimaginative. Thankfully, a rich selection of contemporary children's books is currently available. They deal with quite sophisticated topics and feature cuttingedge images. Despite, or because of, the ubiquity of televisions and computers, children's books have remained popular with kids and parents. These books have also not lost their appeal for illustrators and publishing houses?not least because a hit children's book can serve as the lucrative basis for TV programs, video games, toys, or other merchandising. Little Big Books showcases the best examples of illustration for children's books and documents current trends in their design. Reflecting a broad range of styles, methods, and materials, the images and concepts featured here provide an insightful overview of the most important aesthetic developments over the last several years. An introductory text puts the current work into the historical context of classic illustrated books for children. Little Big Books is a valuable resource for illustrators, publishing houses, parents, grandparents, and anyone who is looking for compelling illustrated children's books beyond teddy bears and kitty cats.


The 4D NURBS-based Cardiac Torso (NCAT) phantom was developed to provide a realistic and flexible computerized torso phantom to be used in medical imaging research. The organ shapes in the NURBS-based phantom are modeled with non-uniform rational b-splines or NURBS surfaces using the Visible Human CT data set as the basis for the formation of the surfaces. Since it is based on human data, the phantom has the ability to model organ shape and anatomical variations more realistically than phantoms based on simple geometric primitives. To this point, the NCAT phantom has been limited to simulating variations upon the anatomy of the Visible Male. The authors extend the abilities of the phantom to include simulation of female patients. Two breast models, simulating the prone and supine positions, were developed using 3D NURBS surfaces. As is the case with the other organs of the torso, the NURBS definition of the breasts allows a high degree of flexibility to model anatomical variations. The authors develop an interactive software application that will allow a user to modify the NURBS surfaces that define the different organs of the NCAT phantom in order to generate male and female patients with varying anatomy. The software application provides 3D and 2D views of the phantom and includes several transformations that can be used to alter the anatomy. It also includes the ability to import patient data from which the user can manipulate the organs of the phantom to match the specific patient anatomy. It is concluded that this software application is a useful resource in creating patients with varying anatomy to be used in medical imaging research studies that involve a population of patients.


Rites of passage practices have caught the attention of educators seeking better methods of teaching adolescents. The fascination with the rites of passage model (ROP) is especially strong among outdoor educators. Once Van Gennep (1960) defined the rites of passage, a three-stage system of social transformation mediating role changes in a community, anthropologists were able to observe his social conception throughout all cultures. Outdoor educators have demonstrated interest in framing outdoor programs as rites of passage because of the structural similarities between outdoor programs and Van Gennep's first and second stages of a rite of passage. While the ROP model has similarities to outdoor programs, the model is generally ineffective in most contemporary contexts because of challenges associated with the third stage of the ROP model. It is important for outdoor programs to understand these challenges prior to investing effort into using ROP models to achieve expected lasting benefits. Most outdoor adventure programs use a Contemporary Adventure Model to mediate change, a fundamentally different rite of passage from the classic anthropological model. Outdoor educators need to decide among three choices with a ROP: abandon the ROP framework based upon a lack of goal congruence, follow a classic model and answer the many challenges the model brings with it, or follow a contemporary adventure model while cognizant of the model's weaknesses.


Visual attention is a mechanism which filters out redundant visual information and detects the most relevant parts of our visual field. Automatic determination of the most visually relevant areas would be useful in many applications such as image and video coding, watermarking, video browsing, and quality assessment. Many research groups are currently investigating computational modeling of the visual attention system. The first published computational models have been based on some basic and well-understood human visual system (HVS) properties. These models feature a single perceptual layer that simulates only one aspect of the visual system. More recent models integrate complex features of the HVS and simulate hierarchical perceptual representation of the visual input. The bottom-up mechanism is the most occurring feature found in modern models. This mechanism refers to involuntary attention (i.e., salient spatial visual features that effortlessly or involuntary attract our attention). This paper presents a coherent computational approach to the modeling of the bottom-up visual attention. This model is mainly based on the current understanding of the HVS behavior. Contrast sensitivity functions, perceptual decomposition, visual masking, and center-surround interactions are some of the features implemented in this model. The performances of this algorithm are assessed by using natural images and experimental measurements from an eye-tracking system. Two adequate well-known metrics (correlation coefficient and Kullbacl-Leibler divergence) are used to validate this model. A further metric is also defined. The results from this model are finally compared to those from a reference bottom-up model.


Multi-core systems are increasingly interesting candidates for executing parallel real-time applications, in avionic, space or automotive industries, as they provide both computing capabilities and power efficiency. However, ensuring that timing constraints are met on such platforms is challenging, because some hardware resources are shared between cores. Assuming worst-case contentions when analyzing the schedulability of applications may result in systems mistakenly declared unschedulable, although the worst-case level of contentions can never occur in practice. In this paper, we present two contention-aware scheduling strategies that produce a time-triggered schedule of the application's tasks. Based on knowledge of the application's structure, our scheduling strategies precisely estimate the effective contentions, in order to minimize the overall makespan of the schedule. An Integer Linear Programming (ILP) solution of the scheduling problem is presented, as well as a heuristic solution that generates schedules very close to ones of the ILP (5% longer on average), with a much lower time complexity. Our heuristic improves by 19% the overall makespan of the resulting schedules compared to a worst-case contention baseline.


An inspiring showcase of covers that have challenged the predictable mainstream "look" of DVDs. The follow-up to the highly successful CD Art, DVD Art looks at an international collection of innovative graphic design within the ever-growing area of DVD covers and packaging. From movie to music packaging, DVD Art explores both the creative inspiration behind the work - in terms of artwork, typography, materials, printing techniques and formats - as well as the practical considerations and restrictions such as record company stipulations, inclusion of essential material, and budgets. The first design book to look at the creativity within this growing market, and its future potential, DVD Art will be an essential purchase for anyone with a professional or personal interest in graphic design, packaging and product design.


We estimate the effects of Fair Trade (FT) certification on coffee producers in Costa Rica. We begin by examining a panel of all coffee producers between 1999 and 2010. We find that FT certification is associated with higher export prices equal to approximately 5 cents per pound. We find no evidence that certification is associated with more sales (either domestic or for export) or with higher domestic prices. Linking the mill-level information on FT certification to individual-level survey data, we find that FT certification does increase incomes, but only for skilled coffee growers and farm owners. There is no evidence that many workers, including unskilled seasonal coffee pickers, benefit from certification.


The thesis has as its primary objective an analysis of rent legislation in the United Kingdom between I9I5 and 1972. The historical formation and meaning of the Housing Finance Act (1972) is examined in some detail. The methodology of the whole is largely determined by the 'Marxist' interpretation of social development. This standpoint is best able to distinguish the various academic and professional falsifications of reality in the housing rent process- large areas within the sociology of law, neo-classical economics and the relationship between State and the fractions of capital. It is misleading to compartmentalise elements of social structures, and as such historical analysis of rent legislation immediately requires analysis of more basic elements in capitalist society. It is found that authoritative definitions of reality, particularly as embodied in the legal apparatus, have their origin in power structures. The extraction of rent and the legislation by which it is determined are therefore the result of discrepancies in power structures. The historical material in the thesis demon- strates that modifications in the rent bargain hare been brought about in response to the changing needs of capitalism. Finally, analysis is made of the relevant agents of social control in this areas rent tribunals, rent assessment committees and private 'welfare' institutions.


Paradiplomacy, federalism and international negotiation are increasingly prevalent phenomena that require more theoretical attention. Successful mobilization of non-central governments has increased their relevance on the international stage. The rise of paradiplomacy complicates conditions for both international negotiation and the formulation of foreign policy in federal regimes. Westphalian state diplomacy is finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the proliferation of ad hoc and informal arrangements that bind non-central governments. The international arena is inhabited by an ever larger number of players that sometimes have significant autonomy from the central state.


Becoming a citizen of a country is a noteworthy event. But in light of increasing concerns over the protection of personal data, states face questions regarding the necessity of formal publication of the personal data of their new citizens. A closer look at Member States' practices reveals radical discrepancies between the national approaches taken across the EU.


Abstract Finding ways to assess and measure the impact of tourism and its associated development on sustainability is critical to developing long-term sustainability plans for regions such as the Indian Himalayas. Among the methods proposed is ecological footprint (EF) analysis or appropriated carrying capacity analysis. EF analysis estimates the area of productive land and water ecosystems required to produce the resources that a population consumes and to assimilate the wastes that the population produces in supporting itself. This study used EF analysis to quantify the sustainability of Manali, a rapidly growing tourist center in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, India. It considered the changes in the size of Manali's footprint since the advent of mass tourism in the early 1980s, the direct impact that tourists are having on the size of the footprint, and the challenges of applying this analysis in a developing world context. Data regarding land use, goods and services, and population were collected through local interviews and available data. The results indicate that between 1971 and 1995, the overall EF of Manali town grew from 2102 to 9665 ha, an increase of over 450%; the EF of Manali is now 25 times greater than its size. This indicates that Manali is increasingly relying on outside ecosystems for its sustenance. The article highlights areas of focus for future sustainability planning, including waste management, decreasing fossil fuel dependence, ecofriendly tourism, and creating greater environmental awareness, particularly among tourists.


R eligious systems are often, if not always, associated with dogmatic, unchanging claims of absolute truths. If God revealed it, it must be a permanent verity, fi xed in the eternal universe. Change is associated with human uncertainty, while divinity, the very stuff of conviction, is characterized by the unchanging. This explains why people do not want to get involved in debates about religion. Believers will never change their minds in the face of even the most persuasive evidence. So what is the point of critically discussing with them anything that touches on their religious convictions? The intractability of Jewish law is succinctly expressed in the phrase, "The new is forbidden by Torah" (chadash assur min haTorah), according to which view, "authentic Jewish continuity would be maintained only to the extent that Jewish society continued to cloister itself from external infl uences." The most famous spokesman for this view was Rabbi Moshe Schreiber (popularly known as the Chatam Sofer), who was the spiritual head of Hungary's Ashkenazic community in the early nineteenth century. Rabbi Schreiber said: "It is fully clear to God, that it is impossible for the Israelite People to be different from the rest of the nations, except if they separate themselves completely from them and from their ways." He emphasized that especially education must continue as it had in premodern times "in the ways we have followed forever, from the days of Moses our teacher until today." So it is like a blast of fresh air to discover through Zvi Zohar's new book that in the modern Middle East of the nineteenth century, a different wind was blowing within the Sephardic Jewish world, one in which changeability and adaption to changing conditions were of the very essence of true religiosity. Zohar's 369page book Rabbinic Creativity in the Modern Middle East refl ects on the "halacha as a dynamic religious tradition according to the SephardiOriental halakhic scholars" in which "the greatness and eternality of Torah is revealed specifi cally in its capacity to promote the realization of the highest values in a variety of ways, each fully in tune with the conditions of a (different) specifi c time and place."


Destombes-Rosai-Dorfman' disease (DRD) is an inflammatory non-langerhansian histiocytosis with adenomegaly. It is a rare histiocytic disorder worldwide, less than 1000 reported cases. It is of unknown etiology and is characterized in its classical form by multiple adenomegalia, especially localized at cervical area, but also at mediastinal, axillary and inguinal areas. It is a benign condition, even if it is deforming, with spontaneously resolving evolution. We report a case of DRD disease in a 13-year-old girl, hospitalized in the Department of Pediatrics of the Yalgado Ouedraogo University Hospital Center in Ouagadougou, in March 2015. She was admitted for a voluminous bilateral painless cervical swelling, with no sign of local compression, having been operating for about a year. Biological tests showed signs of chronic inflammation; the imagery specified the benign character of these formations: adenomegalia. Confirmation of the diagnosis was made by pathological examination, describing the aspect of emperipolesis to histology and, immunohistochemistry, polytypic plasmacytosis and PS100 positive/CD1a histiocytosis negative. The treatment could not be properly carried out, in view of the early discharge, against medical advice from the patient. The evolution would have been marked, according to the parents, by a slight involution of swelling.


Abstract. This paper introduces the OCO2CLD-LIDAR-AUX product, which uses the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared
Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) lidar and the Orbiting Carbon
Observatory-2 (OCO-2) hyperspectral A-band spectrometer. CALIPSO provides a
prior cloud top pressure (Ptop) for an OCO-2-based retrieval of
cloud optical depth, Ptop and cloud geometric thickness expressed
in hPa. Measurements are of single-layer liquid clouds over oceans from
September 2014 to December 2016 when collocated data are available. Retrieval
performance is best for solar zenith angles <45∘ and when
the cloud phase classification, which also uses OCO-2's weak CO2
band, is more confident. The highest quality optical depth retrievals agree
with those from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
with discrepancies smaller than the MODIS-reported uncertainty. Retrieved
thicknesses are consistent with a substantially subadiabatic structure over
marine stratocumulus regions, in which extinction is weighted towards the
cloud top. Cloud top pressure in these clouds shows a 4 hPa bias compared
with CALIPSO which we attribute mainly to the assumed vertical structure of
cloud extinction after showing little sensitivity to the presence of
CALIPSO-identified aerosol layers or assumed cloud droplet effective radius.
This is the first case of success in obtaining internal cloud structure from
hyperspectral A-band measurements and exploits otherwise unused OCO-2 data.
This retrieval approach should provide additional constraints on
satellite-based estimates of cloud droplet number concentration from visible
imagery, which rely on parameterization of the cloud thickness.


Paleo-ground ruptures, fissures, liquefaction and geomorphic features in the Xilinhot district, Inner Mongolia, northern China, are documented and seismic intensity for the meizoseismal areas and magnitudes of paleoearthquakes are estimated. Trenching investigations revealed a huge paleoseismic ground rupture and fissure zone with a width of more than 200 m. Field investigations and interpretation of remote sensing images demonstrate that active faults related to paleoearthquakes appear to be about 200 km long. Geologic and geomorphic evidences indicate that one large earthquake with a magnitude of about 7.5 at about 13 ka BP or multiple paleoseismic events of M≥6.0 have occurred in the studied area since 53 ka BP. One of the paleo-meizoseismal areas is determined to be near Xilinhot. Seismic intensity in Modified Mercalli scale (MM) is estimated to be larger than VI in the vicinity of the study area and at least VIII in the epicentral region. This is consistent with seismic activities in and around the Xilinhot district in recent years, but higher than anything yet reported. The results provide important data for design engineering and regional planning in order to resist damage from potentially large earthquakes in the future.


Bicycle-related head injuries are an important cause of death and disability, despite the availability of helmets. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based bicycle helmet promotion program in increasing helmet use by children while controlling for secular trends. Two high-income and two low-income schools in an urban Canadian community were selected to receive a bicycle helmet promotion intervention, with the remaining 18 schools serving as controls. Approximately 1800 observations of bicycling children were made at randomly selected observational sites 2 to 5 months after the intervention to assess changes in behavior. Helmet use at all observation sites tripled from 3.4% (1990, preintervention) to 16% (1991, postintervention). In the high-income intervention area, observed helmet use rose dramatically from 4% to 36% in contrast to the more modest increase in the high-income control area from 4% to 15%. In the low-income intervention area, there was a modest increase from 1% to 7%, but it did not differ from the increase in the low-income control area from 3% to 13%. The program was highly successful in children of high-income families but not in children of low-income families. Developing strategies for low-income families remains a priority.


AbstractDrawing on ethnographic material from the Norwegian Arctic, this article explores issues of specificity, encounter, and emplacement in human-animal relations through the lens of modernizing indigenous reindeer pastoralism in the region. In turn, the main sections of the argument examine three things: first, the changing technological context of indigenous herding practice, focusing on the impact of mechanization and the emergence of "roundup corrals" in the second half of the twentieth century; second, the distinct modalities of specificity at work in human-reindeer relations, exemplified particularly in practices of enumeration; and third, how ongoing controversies over supplementary feeding bring into view a herding ethic of "liminality" that cultivates distance as a precondition for maintaining the autonomy and independence of the "semi-domesticated" reindeer—opening up the possibility of reframing apparent neglect (at least partially) as a practice of care. In closing, some questions are raised concerning nonhuman ethics at the intersection between visibility, presence, and encounter.


The spinal cord is a collection of nerve tissue extending from the caudal aspect of the brainstem to the lumbar region of the spinal canal. It terminates at approximately the level of the L2 vertebral body as the conus medullaris. Together with the brain, it comprises the central nervous system (CNS). The spinal cord has various functions which include: conveying afferent, sensory information from the peripheral nervous system to the brain; transmitting signals from the motor cortex of the brain to the periphery; and serving as the center of reflex responses.Arterial supply to the spinal cord is vital to supplement the high metabolic requirements of this nervous tissue. The vasculature has a certain degree of variability although common features and structures exist. It includes vasculature lying directly superficial to the cord that courses longitudinally along the structure and radicular arteries that supply the cord transversely in a segmental fashion.


The water relations and physiological status of the grapevine are critical for obtaining a quality product and for fully exploring vineyard and grape potential. The objective of this investigation was to determine the effect of grapevine water status (induced by means of two field water capacity-based irrigation levels, 75% and 100%, applied at single and combined vine developmental stages) on morphological and physiological changes in Vitis vinifera L. cv. Shiraz/Richter 99 grapevines and grapes (harvested at different soluble solid levels) under field conditions. The integrative effects of vine water relations and grape ripeness level, specifically in a Mediterranean high winter rainfall area, have not yet been investigated systematically. The terroir affected the reaction of the vines to treatments. The soil displayed high water-holding capacity and a buffer against favourable evapotranspiration conditions, even with a western aspect and being subjected to long and relatively dry seasons, with frequent occurrence of high temperatures and grapevines with fully developed canopies. The vines did not seem overly stressed – in line with the relatively high base soil water fractions of mostly more than 50% of field water capacity. Primary and secondary leaf water potential and stem water potential displayed similar patterns and the water potential of the primary and secondary leaves was similar. Despite relatively high base soil water contents that prevented excessively low plant water potential and classic leaf and berry behaviour to surface, the vines still responded in a noticeable way to volume and timing of irrigation in relation to the grape ripeness level status. Water relations, ripeness level and terroir conditions showed an integrated, steering impact on physiological, vegetative and reproductive behaviour. Post-veraison irrigated vines were expected to maintain relatively high water potential during the last weeks of the ripening period, but this seemed not to be the case. All vines seemed to have recuperated/stabilised during this time, maintaining their water balances. Physical, physiological and compositional changes in the berry during late ripening under field conditions were clarified further. New information was obtained on the relationships between the behaviour of the root system, canopy and grapes and the changing terroir conditions during the ripening period.


Detrital zircon data from the upper parts of the Proterozoic Hess Canyon Group of southern Arizona reveal abundant 1600–1488 Ma detrital zircons, which represent ages essentially unknown from southern Laurentia. This basinal succession concordantly overlies a >2-km-thick-section of 1657 ± 3 Ma rhyolite of the Redmond Formation. The rhyolite is intercalated with and hence contemporaneous with the lower parts of the overlying White Ledges Formation, a 300-m-thick orthoquartzite unit at the base of the Hess Canyon Group. These quartzites contain a unimodal detrital zircon age probability distribution with peak ages of 1778, 1767, and 1726 Ma, supporting regional correlation with other ca. 1.65 Ga quartzite exposures in southwestern Laurentia. However, the ∼900-m-thick argillaceous Yankee Joe and minimum 600-m-thick quartzite-rich Blackjack Formations contain younger detrital zircons, with peak ages ranging from 1666 to 1494 Ma and a maximum depositional age of 1488 ± 9 Ma. Prominent age peaks at 1582–1515 Ma and 1499–1488 Ma represent detritus that is exotic and not derived from known southern Laurentian sources. The Blackjack Formation is cut by the 1436 ± 2 Ma Ruin Granite, indicating that deposition, deformation, and intrusion occurred between 1488 and 1436 Ma. This basin likely developed before or in the early stages of the 1.45–1.35 Ga intracontinental tectonism in southwestern Laurentia. Our findings necessitate the presence of an ∼170 m.y. disconformity within the Hess Canyon Group and document a previously unrecognized episode of Mesoproterozoic basin sedimentation (>1.5 km of section) between 1488 and 1436 Ma in southern Laurentia. This new record helps to fill the 1.60–1.45 Ga magmatic gap in southern Laurentia and supports hypotheses for a long-lived Proterozoic tectonic margin along southern Laurentia from 1.8 to 1.0 Ga. The 1.6–1.5 Ga detrital zircon ages offer important new constraints for ca. 1.5 Ga Nuna reconstructions and for the paleogeography of contemporaneous basins such as the Belt Basin in western Laurentia.


Most epithelial cells contain apical membrane structures associated to bundles of actin filaments, which constitute the brush border. Whereas microtubule participation in the maintenance of the brush border identity has been characterized, their contribution to de novo microvilli organization remained elusive. Hereby, using a cell model of individual enterocyte polarization, we found that nocodazole induced microtubule depolymerization prevented the de novo brush border formation. Microtubule participation in brush border actin organization was confirmed in polarized kidney tubule MDCK cells. We also found that centrosome, but not Golgi derived microtubules, were essential for the initial stages of brush border development. During this process, microtubule plus ends acquired an early asymmetric orientation toward the apical membrane, which clearly differs from their predominant basal orientation in mature epithelia. In addition, overexpression of the microtubule plus ends associated protein CLIP170, which regulate actin nucleation in different cell contexts, facilitated brush border formation. In combination, the present results support the participation of centrosomal microtubule plus ends in the activation of the polarized actin organization associated to brush border formation, unveiling a novel mechanism of microtubule regulation of epithelial polarity.


Charge transport dynamics in solar cell devices based on as-spun and annealed P3HT:PCBM films are compared using ultrafast time-resolved optical probing of the electric field by means of field-induced second harmonic generation. The results show that charge carriers drift about twice as far during the first 3 ns after photogeneration in a device where the active layer has been thermally annealed. The carrier dynamics were modelled using Monte-Carlo simulations and good agreement between experimental and simulated drift dynamics was obtained using identical model parameters for both cells, but with different average PCBM and polymer domain sizes. The calculations suggest that small domain sizes in as-spun samples limit the carrier separation distance disabling their escape from geminate recombination.


The critical coagulation concentration (ccc) of counterions is commonly described by the classical Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory on the basis of a static force balance. It can, however, also be estimated from a kinetic point of view by studying the process of colloidal coagulation, or from a dynamic point of view by considering colloidal transport in nonequilibrium systems where other processes such as diffusion and the influence of gravity come into play. In particular, in a test tube where colloidal expansion takes place, the ccc can be interpreted as the electrolyte concentration below which expansion of colloids would always lead to full access to the entire volume of the test tube and above which a sharp boundary is established between a colloidal gel and pure water. On the basis of this perception and the dynamic force balance model that we developed to describe colloidal expansion in a test tube, accounting for the effects of particle diffusion and gravity in contrast to the DLVO theory, we propose an alternative way to assess the ccc of counterions. We also derive an approximate expression for the case of homointeraction at constant charge for montmorillonite. The estimated ccc values agree quite well with those observed experimentally for both Na(+) and Ca(2+) counterions for montmorillonite dispersions, at pH approximately 6.5. This is in contrast to the DLVO theory, which overpredicts the ccc by about 2 orders of magnitude. In addition, the detailed analyses suggest that the ccc of counterions decreases with increasing surface area and with the thickness of the particles. For montmorillonite, the ccc is nearly independent of the surface charge density of the particles for the range of typical charge densities.


Macro- and crystalline structure, as well as chemical composition of fibers related to various types and sorts of Israeli cottons, both white and naturally colored, were investigated. The differences in structural parameters and chemical compositions of the cotton fibers were eval-uated. Samples of cotton of the "Pima"-type had long, thin and strong fibers with highly ordered supermolecular structure. Fibers of middle-long and hybrid cottons had some lower-ordered structural organization in comparison to long-length cotton, while fibers of naturally colored cotton were characterized with disordered supermolecular and crystalline structure. Dependence of tensile strength on orientation of nano-fibrils towards the fiber axis was found. Conditions of cellulose isolation from the different cotton fibers were studied. Structural characteristics of isolated cotton celluloses and obtained MCC are discussed.


In this paper we present and discuss the empowering potential of restaging interactive art installations. We build on an approach, where we divide the staging process into four levels of staging (potential, strategic, tactical, dynamic), and in Umberto Eco's sense of openness, to four categories of choices (genre, temporal, spatial, actorial) to perform on each staging level. We present and discuss how we staged one of our interactive installations at a museum of modern art and a rehabilitation center for people with severe disabilities. We discuss our staging experience in relation to empowering qualities like; possibilities for self-expression, vitalization, ability to act, co-create, participation and mutual relation building. Our experience was that re-staging art at a radically different place became a provocation that re-vitalized us as creative individuals.


The Treaty of Amsterdam and the subsequent adoption in 2000 of the so-called Race Directive was a genuine paradigm shift in European equal treatment legislation and practice. One of the major developments resulting from this Treaty change and new Directive was the introduction of a requirement for all European Union (EU) Member States to set up bodies for the promotion of equal treatment, first on the ground of race and ethnic origin, later extended to the ground of gender. This article analyses the emergence of these bodies – equality bodies – in EU Member States and candidate countries and the role they play in promoting equality and the implementation and monitoring of EU equal treatment legislation. It argues that equality bodies have a significant potential to contribute to more equal societies and they have proved to be effective agents of change. They do so, among others, by contributing to relevant case law in front of the Court of Justice of the EU leading to the further development and clarification of EU and national equal treatment legislation. The article also looks at the challenges experienced by equality bodies in different European countries as factors that influence and might limit their potential and contribution. To conclude, the article examines the necessary conditions for equality bodies to effectively contribute to the implementation of EU legislation and the achievement of substantive equality and it assesses whether current standards for equality bodies can guarantee these conditions.


This paper presents a novel RBF-like fast dynamically Evolving Spiking Neural classifier (ESNC). The trained feed-forward SNN consists of three layers of spiking neurons: an encoding layer which temporally encodes real valued features into spatio-temporal spike patterns, a hidden layer of dynamically grown and pruned neurons which perform spatiotemporal clustering, and an evolving output layer for classification. Both the structure and weights of the SNN are learned dynamically through a combination of unsupervised and supervised learning paradigms. An unsupervised clustering method is implemented by the hidden layer for adjusting the synaptic weights of the hidden neurons afferent connections. The centre of each hidden RBF neuron is represented by a vector of temporal distances between the first spike of the hidden neuron and the presynaptic spikes. In addition, strategies are proposed to adjust the structure of the hidden and output layers as inputs are presented to the SNN, and classification at the output layer is achieved through supervised learning where a learning window is used to adjust the weights of the output neurons afferent connections. The proposed learning algorithm is demonstrated on several benchmark datasets from the UCL machine learning repository. The results show comparable performance with existing machine learning algorithms and demonstrate the ability of the proposed algorithm to learn incoming data samples in a hybrid way and in one epoch only.


The Cytokines of the Immune System catalogs cytokines and links them to physiology and pathology, providing a welcome and hugely timely tool for scientists in all related fields. In cataloguing cytokines, it lists their potential for therapeutic use, links them to disease treatments needing further research and development, and shows their utility for learning about the immune system. This book offers a new approach in the study of cytokines by combining detailed guidebook-style cytokine description, disease linking, and presentation of immunologic roles. * Supplies new ideas for basic and clinical research* Provides cytokine descriptions in a guidebook-style, cataloging the origins, structures, functions, receptors, disease-linkage, and therapeutic potentials* Offers a textbook-style view on the immune system with the immunologic role of each cytokine


In this paper, we investigate the performance of an ALOHA random access wireless network consisting of nodes with and without RF energy harvesting capability. We develop and analyze a Markov model for the system when nodes with RF energy harvesting capability are infinitely backlogged. Our results indicate that the network throughput is improved when the conventional nodes are underloaded. On the contrary, when all types of nodes have finite backlogs, we numerically demonstrate that the network throughput and delay are improved when the overall system is overloaded. We show that there exists a trade-off between energy efficiency and delay, and we determine the optimal number of energy harvesting nodes in a network maximizing the energy efficiency while satisfying a given delay requirement.


An in vitro ruminal gas production study was conducted to assess the effect of yeast supplementation on rumen fermentation of tanniniferous tropical browse mixtures prepared by mixing Berchemia discolor with Acacia brevispica, Acacia elatior, Acacia mellifera, Balanites aegyptiaca, Grewia bicolor or Zizyphus mucronata in a 1:1 dry weight ratio. The six browse mixtures were incubated with buffered rumen fluid alone or supplemented with dried Japanese Sake yeast (JSY) or polyethylene glycol (PEG). Ruminal gas production characteristics were evaluated using the Gompertz equation. The JSY addition increased gas production volume (P < 0.05) and numerically increased the maximum gas production rate constant. Time to reach the maximum gas production rate was shortened by PEG addition as compared to the JSY and control treatments. It is possible that JSY promoted the rumen microbial activity in addition to forming complexes with tannins thereby upgrading the in vitro ruminal digestion of tropical browse mixtures.


ABSTRACT Background: Globally, suicide rates increase with age, being highest in older adults. This study analyzed differences in suicides in older adults (65 years and over) compared to middle-aged adults (35–64 years) in Queensland, Australia, during the years 2000–2012. Methods: The Queensland Suicide Register was utilized for the analysis. Annual suicide rates were calculated by gender and age group, and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were examined. Results: In Queensland, the average annual rate of suicides for older adults was 15.27 per 100,000 persons compared to 18.77 in middle-aged adults in 2000–2012. There were no significant changes in time trends for older adults in 2002–2012. Suicide methods differed between gender and age groups. Older adults who died by suicide were more likely to be male, widowed, living alone or in a nursing home, and out of the work force. The prevalence of untreated psychiatric conditions, diagnosed psychiatric disorders, and consultations with a mental health professional three months prior to death was lower in older adults than middle-aged adults. Somatic illness, bereavement, and attention to suicide in the media were more common among older adults than middle-age adults. Older females were particularly more likely to pay attention to suicide in the media. Conclusion: Our findings show older adults who died by suicide were more likely to experience somatic illnesses, bereavement, and pay attention to suicide in the media compared to middle aged. Preventing suicide in older adults would therefore require holistic and comprehensive approaches.


The following nine main cropping systems were evaluated: maize/maize in rotation without N-fertilizer
(control); maize/cowpea in rotation where maize received N-fertilizer; maize/pigeonpea intercropping
without N-fertilizer; maize/cowpea/pigeonpea in rotation where maize received N-fertilizer; maize/maize in
rotation with N-fertilizer; maize/pigeonpea fallow in rotation where maize received N-fertilizer;
maize/pigeonpea intercropping where maize received N-fertilizer; pigeonpea/maize/cowpea in rotation
where maize received N-fertilizer; pigeonpea/maize/maize where maize received N-fertilizer. The rate of
N-fertilizer applied was 74 kg N as urea (28 kg N/ha 2 weeks after planting maize and 46 kg N/ha 6 weeks
after planting maize). Compared to the control, the increase in maize grain yield ranged from –1.55 to 215
% for all cropping systems receiving N-fertilizer and intercropping without N-fertilizer, maize grain yield in
intercropping without N-fertilizer increased by 9 % in first year and decreased by 1.55 % in second year
compared to the control. The maize stover yield with N-fertilizer application increased by -24 up to 203 %.
Pigeonpea grain yield (in intercropping) without N-fertilizer was 56 % higher than with N-fertilizer.
Pigeonpea as fallow produced 73-97 % more fresh wood than intercropped pigeonpea without fertilization
and 91-118 % more fresh wood than intercropped pigeonpea with N-fertilizer. The intercropped Cajanus
cajan with N-fertilizer produced 11 % less fresh wood than intercropped without N-fertilizer. The total N
amount in the maize grain yield increased by 5-245 % for the first season of year 1 compared to the
control and increased by 241-260 % for the second season of year 1 compared to the control. The total N
amount in the maize grain of the intercropped pigeonpea/maize with N-fertilizer was 190 % higher than
the intercropped pigeonpea/maize without N-fertilizer. The total amount of P follows the same trend as Nfertilizer
in intercropped systems. The yield efficiency was low in year 1 compared to year 2.


Virtual environments for gaming and simulation provide dynamic and adaptive experiences, but, despite advances in multisensory interfaces, these are still primarily visual experiences. To support real-time dynamic adaptation, interactive virtual environments could implement techniques to predict and manipulate human visual attention. One promising way of developing such techniques is to base them on psychophysical observations, an approach that requires a sound understanding of visual attention allocation. Understanding how this allocation of visual attention changes depending on a user's task offers clear benefits in developing these techniques and improving virtual environment design. With this aim, we investigated the effect of task on visual attention in interactive virtual environments. We recorded fixation data from participants completing freeview, search, and navigation tasks in three different virtual environments. We quantified visual attention differences between conditions by identifying the predictiveness of a low-level saliency model and its corresponding color, intensity, and orientation feature-conspicuity maps, as well as measuring fixation center bias, depth, duration, and saccade amplitude. Our results show that task does affect visual attention in virtual environments. Navigation relies more than search or freeview on intensity conspicuity to allocate visual attention. Navigation also produces fixations that are more central, longer, and deeper into the scenes. Further, our results suggest that it is difficult to distinguish between freeview and search tasks. These results provide important guidance for designing virtual environments for human interaction, as well as identifying future avenues of research for developing "attention-aware" virtual worlds.


Background:
Relapse-remitting multiple sclerosis is a chronic disorder that affects more than 400,000 individuals in the United States, often reducing their quality of life, increasing medical expenses, and limiting mobility. This study examines modulation of the opioid growth factor (OGF) – OGF receptor (OGFr) axis by low dosages of naltrexone (LDN) as a disease modifying therapy using a mouse model of relapse-remitting experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (RR-EAE).
Methods: RR-EAE was induced by immunization of SJL/J mice with proteolipid protein 139-151. After two days of clinical disease, mice were injected intraperitoneally with 0.1 mg/kg naltrexone (LDN) or saline for 40 days. Behavior was observed daily, and periodically, mice were euthanized and spinal cords collected for neuropathological evaluation of glia, T lymphocyte infiltration, and demyelination.
Results: LDN treatment significantly reduced behavioral scores across the 40 day observation period. LDN therapy increased the length of remission, as well as the duration of mild disease. A bimodal distribution of behavioral response to LDN was noted that distinguished "responders" from "non-responders". Pathological analyses of spinal cord tissue from all LDN-treated mice revealed reductions in the number of inflammatory cells (microglia/macrophages), activated astrocytes, and proliferating cells, as well as decreases in areas of demyelination relative to saline-treated mice with RR-EAE.
Conclusions: These data are the first to demonstrate that modulation of the OGF-OGFr axis by LDN in mice with established RR-EAE is effective at reducing clinical behavior and central nervous system neuropathology.


The DOJ's challenges of both the Aetna/Humana and Cigna/Anthem mergers in 2016 are fundamentally rooted in a timeworn structural analysis: More consolidation in the market (where "the market" is a hotly-contested issue, of course) means less competition and higher premiums for consumers. Following the traditional structural playbook, the DOJ argues that the mergers would result in presumptively anticompetitive levels of concentration, and that neither new entry not divestiture would suffice to introduce sufficient competition. It does not (in its pretrial brief, at least) consider other market dynamics (including especially the complex and evolving regulatory environment) that would constrain the firms' ability to charge supracompetitive prices.The parties contend that things are a bit more complicated than the government suggests, that the government defines the relevant market incorrectly, and that there is no correlation between the number of insurers in a given county and insurance premium pricing.The trials will, of course, feature expert economic evidence from both sides. But until we see that evidence, we are left to evaluate the basic outlines of the economic arguments based only on the existing literature.A host of the mergers' critics have determined that the literature condemns the mergers, based largely on a small set of papers purporting to demonstrate that an increase of premiums, without corresponding benefit, inexorably follows health insurance consolidation. In fact, virtually all of these critics base their claims on a 2012 case study of a 1999 merger (between Aetna and Prudential) by economists Leemore Dafny, Mark Duggan, and Subramaniam Ramanarayanan, "Paying a Premium on Your Premium? Consolidation in the U.S. Health Insurance Industry," as well as associated testimony by Dafny, along with a small number of other papers by her (and a couple others). This paper challenges the critics' claims, taking a close analysis of the "Paying a Premium" paper as a jumping off point. While our analysis doesn't necessarily undermine the paper's limited, historical conclusions, it does counsel extreme caution for inferring the study's applicability to today's proposed mergers. That said, different markets and a changed regulatory environment alone aren't the only things suggesting that past is not prologue. When we delve into the paper more closely we find even more significant limitations on the paper's support for the claims made in its name, and its relevance to the current proposed mergers. In short: extrapolated, long-term, cumulative, average effects drawn from 17-year-old data may grab headlines, but they really don't tell us much of anything about the likely effects of a particular merger today, or about the effects of increased concentration in any particular product or geographic market.


This paper draws attention to some assumptions implicit in HIV/AIDS communication or prevention campaigns which use popular culture media, in this instance comics. Theoretically the analysis is placed in a framework of popular culture as the arena of negotiations about claims over hegemonic discourses. Methodologically the internal logics of a local Swahili comic from the magazine Kingo and of a comic from the Sara Initiative in Swahili (UNICEF-ESARO) are explored through a comparative textual analysis, focusing on differences and convergences in the use of dramaturgy and characterisation of the protagonists. The transformations of locally known comic characters and the differences in dramaturgical strategies are made visible in the comparison, exposing the communicative, historical and social underpinnings of both comics. It is argued that as long as these preconditions of the international campaigns, as well as of local popular culture production are not thoroughly explored, hegemonic Western claims of knowledge of HIV/AIDS will be rejected by African people (and why not?). The paper recommends that prevention design allow for 'moments of freedom' understood 'as the potential to transform one's thoughts, emotions and experience into creations that can be communicated and shared' (Fabian 1998).


To provide data on the feeding habits of hooded (Cystophora cristata) seals in the Greenland Sea, seals were collected for scientific purposes on expeditions with R/V"Jan Mayen", conducted in the pack ice belt east of Greenland in September/October 1999 and 2002 (autumn), July/August in 2000 (summer), and February/March in 2001 and 2002 (winter). Results from analyses of stomach and intestinal contents from captured seals revealed that the diet was comprised of relatively few prey taxa. The squid Gonatus fabricii and polar cod Boreogadus saida were particularly important, whereas capelin Mallotus villosus, and sand eels Ammodytes spp contributed more occasionally. G. fabricii was the most important food item in autumn and winter, whereas the observed summer diet was more characterized by polar cod, however with important contribution also from G. fabricii and sand eels. The latter was observed on the hooded seal menu only during the summer period, while polar cod, which contributed importantly also during the autumn survey, was almost absent from the winter samples. During the latter survey, also capelin contributed to the hooded seal diet. Samples obtained in more coastal waters indicated a more varied and fish based (polar cod, redfish Sebasetes sp., Greenland halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) hooded seal diet.


State securities laws — in particular, state laws requiring that securities offered by issuers be registered with the states — have been an impediment to the efficient movement of capital to its highest and best use. The pernicious effects of these laws — generally referred to as "blue sky laws" — have been felt most acutely by small businesses, a vital component of our national economy.It has been difficult to remedy this problem. States and state regulators have been tenacious in protecting their registration authority from federal preemption. The Securities and Exchange Commission, on the other hand, has been reluctant to advocate for preemption and unwilling to exercise its delegated power to expand preemption by regulation.In recent years some progress has been made toward a more efficient regulation of capital formation, principally as a result of some congressional preemption of state registration authority. Nonetheless, state registration provisions continue to impede significantly businesses' — especially small businesses' — efficient access to external capital.Further gains in efficient regulation of capital formation can be achieved but require actions both by states and the federal government. States must allocate more resources and effort toward vigorous enforcement of their antifraud provisions. At the federal level, Congress must preempt completely state registration authority. This duty of preemption falls to Congress, because the Commission has shown a sustained unwillingness to exercise its broad, delegated power to preempt state registration authority.


To determine the frequency and prognostic importance of pretreatment clinical characteristics in patients currently undergoing treatment for stage III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), data were collected on 378 patients receiving high-dose (120 mg/m2) cisplatin plus vinca alkaloid combination chemotherapy regimens since 1978. Variables analyzed included age, sex, weight loss, performance status, histologic subtype, presence of extrathoracic metastases, number of metastatic organ sites, presence of liver, bone, or brain involvement, prior radiation or surgery, and serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). The effect of a major response to chemotherapy on survival was also investigated. Using multivariable analyses, the following were found to be associated with outcome: initial performance status, with patients having a performance status of 80% to 100% having an increased major objective response rate and survival; bone metastases, which were adversely predictive of response rate and survival; elevated serum LDH and male sex, both of which were associated with shortened survival and remission duration; and the presence of two or more extrathoracic metastatic organ sites, which was associated with shorter survival. When major objective response with chemotherapy was included in a conditional multivariable analysis, it was strongly associated with longer median survival. Information from this analysis may be useful when comparing the response data of completed studies in similar patients, in designing future trials, and in the selection of cisplatin plus vinca alkaloid therapy for individual patients with advanced NSCLC.


Podcast is a new audio media in Sweden and has become larger and increasingly more popular in the past few years. In line with this, companies have seen the opportunity to use this type of marketing in the new coveted media and have created a new marketing tool in the form of sponsorship. Previous studies in this field indicate that this is a very effective method to reach a broad audience, but it still is a relatively new area with very little research in existence today. This study is an analysis of how receptive listeners are to marketing through podcasts and the ability companies have to create a sustainable and effective strategy for successful marketing through this type of medium. The collection of data for this study consists of two different qualitative interviews, the first one with listeners that were chosen, and the second with the sponsor company for two of the largest podcasts in Sweden. The essay´s empirical evidence shows how receptive listeners are to marketing via podcasts, what their podcast habits look like, what form of approach in marketing they prefer, and how often they take part in different offers. From the interviews with listeners and sponsoring companies in the study, it is concluded that the best and most effective strategy for marketing through podcasts is to weave advertising in the conversation and therefore increase the credibility and disturb the listener as little as possible. This also effects how receptive listeners are and it has been shown that they listen less carefully when advertisement is placed within commercial breaks. How receptive listeners are to advertising also depends on some other factors such as noise, how engaged they are, and how the large amount of advertising around us effects our assessment of advertising. To strengthen this, and to get a larger foundation for the study, a collection of data such as documents has been analyzed. Public documents in this area are interesting because in recent years a lot of articles have been written about the podcast culture. At the same time, it is still a relatively new medium which allows for much of the existing research to be built on and renewed.A recommendation for companies that want to promote themselves in the podcast media is to carefully plan a sustainable strategy that is right for their particular brand. Other aspects to keep in mind are to always pursue the most current avenues or advertising, to avoid radio advertising in the form of commercial breaks, and to instead focus more on talking about the brand during the program to make it more natural and interesting. This increases brand awareness and makes it possible for the brand to become the listener's top-of-mind choice.


This paper aims to provide a model for the assessment of the religious-tourism potential in Romania. The religious practice has been in a continuous change over the past 20 years, making the pilgrimage phenomenon to have an upward trend. In the same time, many religious edices are becoming more attractive to visitors, as they are included in package tours, and visited by large numbers of tourists. In Romania, there are many religious places visited both, by tourists or pilgrims; it is difcult to assess their numbers and also to distinguish between religious practices and touristic visits as no studies have been conducted in this direction. They are centres of religious (spiritual) power, in which people regularly spend money and time while around them it has been developed a real infrastructure, from roads or construction of facilities to more complex services that include accommodation, stores or commercial stalls, selling souvenirs or items more or less related to religious practice. Therefore, the objectives of this paper aimed at evaluating the tourist valences of religious edices in Romania as well as the degree of their valorisation; in order to meet these objectives, three dimensions were considered and assessed: the historical-cultural dimension, the religious dimension, and the economic dimension. Many relevant elements for these dimensions have been quantied, giving them scores based on unitary criteria. The results help to see better the differentiation/association between the tourist value and the religious value of religious edices in Romania, highlighting particularities at the national level, which will be the subject of further analysis.


It is a well-known issue that attack primitives which exploit memory corruption vulnerabilities can abuse the ability of processes to automatically restart upon termination. For example, network services like FTP and HTTP servers are typically restarted in case a crash happens and this can be used to defeat Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR). Furthermore, recently several techniques evolved that enable complete process memory scanning or code-reuse attacks against diversified and unknown binaries based on automated restarts of server applications. Until now, it is believed that client applications are immune against exploit primitives utilizing crashes. Due to their hard crash policy, such applications do not restart after memory corruption faults, making it impossible to touch memory more than once with wrong permissions. In this paper, we show that certain client application can actually survive crashes and are able to tolerate faults, which are normally critical and force program termination. To this end, we introduce a crash-resistance primitive and develop a novel memory scanning method with memory oracles without the need for control-flow hijacking. We show the practicability of our methods for 32-bit Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1, and Mozilla Firefox 64-bit (Windows 8.1 and Linux 3.17.1). Furthermore, we demonstrate the advantages an attacker gains to overcome recent code-reuse defenses. Latest advances propose fine-grained re-randomization of the address space and code layout, or hide sensitive information such as code pointers to thwart tampering or misuse. We show that these defenses need improvements since crash-resistance weakens their security assumptions. To this end, we introduce the concept of CrashResistant Oriented Programming (CROP). We believe that our results and the implications of memory oracles will contribute to future research on defensive schemes against code-reuse attacks.


This thesis proposes a new approach to film authorship that is compatible with the postmodern theory of Linda Hutcheon. By taking up, building on, and combining the work of Peter Wollen, Michel Foucault, and Will Brooker I develop a theory of film authorship that moves away from conceptualisations of the author in terms of self-expression and instead conceives of the author as a text. Additionally, I identify four different genres of authorfunction: The Romantic, modernist, feminist, and commercial genres of author-function. These four genres of author-function provide a framework and critical vocabulary for the accurate description of the ways in which author-texts are constructed. The characteristics of these four genres of author-function are derived from the major trends in theories of film authorship identified in the review of literature. In addition to these genres of author-function, I also develop my own postmodern genre of author-function. The characteristics of this postmodern genre of author-function are derived from the analysis of existing literature on two key directors of postmodern film, David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino. In particular, the postmodern genre of author-function adapts and expands upon Peter Brooker's and Will Brooker's affirmative reading of the role played by generic reworking in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994). The characteristics of the postmodern genre of author-function are further refined through its application as a critical framework in two case studies focusing on Tony Scott and Sally Potter.

Scott and Potter serve as contrasting case studies. In addition to operating in the very different contexts of Hollywood action cinema and art cinema respectively, Scott and Potter occupy very different positions in regards to authorship. The Scott author-text is largely constructed in terms of failed authorship. In contrast, the Potter author-text is apparently more secure in its authorial status. There are, however, a number of overlaps between the Scott and Potter case studies. Firstly, films across both the Scott and Potter oeuvres exhibit stylistic features associated with postmodern film. Despite this, Scott and Potter are not included within the central canon of postmodern cinema, and occupy a more marginal position. The Scott and Potter oeuvres are also characterised as fragmented and fractured rather than in terms of unity. This further limits the possibility of constructing Scott as an auteur and suggests that the Potter author-text is more precarious than at first appears.

The thesis opens with a review of literature tracing the developments of theories of film authorship. The first chapter begins by examining the place of authorship in postmodernism as conceptualised by two key theorists of postmodernism, Fredric Jameson and Linda Hutcheon. This is followed by the development of the new approach to authorship outlined above, and its demonstration through the meta-critical analysis of existing literature on Lynch and Tarantino. This analysis also facilitates the development of the postmodern genre of author-function and provides the initial characteristics of that genre. The postmodern genre of author-function is further refined and tested through the case studies. Each of these case studies follows a similar format, beginning by situating Scott and Potter in their respective contexts. The second stage of the case studies involves determining the genres of author-function in play in the construction of the Scott and Potter author-texts. The final stage of the case study focuses on the analysis of three films by each director from the perspective of the postmodern genre of author-function in order to determine what readings are yielded by this approach, and how they compare to existing approaches.

The development of a postmodern genre of author-function facilitates a revaluation of postmodern cinema. The Scott case study demonstrates one aspect of this reappraisal, the revaluation of texts previously classified as meaningless spectacle in terms of a re-inventive impulse and a critical reworking of genre conventions. The Potter case study demonstrates both the political and critical potential of such a de-constructive engagement with genre, while also showcasing the ways in which adopting the postmodern genre of author-function as a critical perspective allows for texts to be reorganised around a new centre, and for new patterns of meaning and significance to be traced across the oeuvre.


Spanning two hundred years of history from the nineteenth century to the 1990s, Sisters or Strangers? explores the complex lives of immigrant, ethnic, and racialized women in Canada. The volume deals with a cross-section of peoples - including Japanese, Chinese, Black, Aboriginal, Irish, Finnish, Ukrainian, Jewish, Mennonite, Armenian, and South Asian Hindu women - and diverse groups of women, including white settlers, refugees, domestic servants, consumer activists, nurses, wives, and mothers. The central themes of Sisters or Strangers? include discourses of race in the context of nation-building, encounters with the state and public institutions, symbolic and media representations of women, familial relations, domestic violence and racism, and analyses of history and memory. In different ways, the authors question whether the historical experience of women in Canada represents a 'sisterhood' of challenge and opportunity, or if the racial, class, or marginalized identity of the immigrant and minority women made them in fact 'strangers' in a country where privilege and opportunity fall according to criteria of exclusion. Using a variety of theoretical approaches, this collaborative work reminds us that victimization and agency are never mutually exclusive, and encourages us to reflect critically on the categories of race, gender, and the nation.


The kraft pulping process was evaluated in this study as a pretreatment of Eucalyptus globulus for bioethanol production. Wood chips were pretreated under different pulping conditions (155°C and 165°C; 15 and 20 % alkali active AA, 15-60 min). A total of 12 pulps were obtained, with pulp yields ranging from 49 to 57%. Glucan remained in pulps were from 77% and 90%, while 50% of the hemicelluloses were solubilized. Lignin removal increased with increased severity of cooking (high active alkali charge, pretreatment time and temperature) reaching delignification over 78%. The enzymatic hydrolysis of kraft pulps with cellulase presented a rapid glucan conversion rate to glucose with values over 90%. Lignin, hemicellulose removal, as well as, cellulose polymerization degree showed an effect on the increment of enzymatic hydrolysis. The degree of crystallinity increased slightly between 1-5%, having no effect on the enzymatic hydrolysis. The simultaneous saccharification and fermentation was performed (SFS) at 10% substrate consistency with a production at 30-38 g ethanol/L. The maximum amount of ethanol that could be produced from E. globulus is 258 g ethanol/kg wood, assuming total glucose conversion into ethanol. The amounts of ethanol obtained from the different pulps varied between 168-202 g ethanol/kg wood. The ethanol yields obtained from kraft pulps varied between 65 and 78% (wood basis). The maximum ethanol yield was 78% at 155°C, 15% AA and 60 min reaction, while the yield was 74% at 165°C, 15% AA and 30 min of reaction time. Results showed that an efficient enzymatic hydrolysis at low enzyme loads could be obtained from kraft pulps employing less severe conditions than those used to produce bleachable –grade pulps.


In this Essay, the authors argue that in cases involving digital platforms, the Federal Trade Commission — when alleging unfair acts or practices in violation of section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act — must adopt the insights from platform economics and apply them within the legal framework of section 5(n), as informed by the Commission's Policy Statement on Unfairness. After outlining the development and rise of digital platforms and discussing of the importance of digital platforms to consumers and the marketplace, this Essay sets forth a brief overview of the basic economics of multisided platform markets and points out the key differences between these markets and traditional markets as well as their corresponding implications for consumer welfare. The Essay then describes the evolution of the Commission's unfairness authority in consumer protection cases — including the statutory requirement that the agency conduct cost-benefit analysis — and examines how the Commission has performed such cost-benefit analyses in recent cases. The Essay critiques the Commission's decision in the recent Apple case as an example of the potential pitfalls for consumer protection in multisided markets when the Commission conducts a cost-benefit analysis without arming itself with the basic economic insights from platform economics. Untethered from the appropriate economic framework, the Commission's logic allows it to condemn product design decisions whenever it can imagine an alternative design it believes survives a cost-benefit test. As the number of consumer protection cases involving digital platforms inevitably rise, the authors recommend that the Commission instead apply insights from platform economics within the well-established legal framework of section 5(n) and the FTC Policy Statement on Unfairness.


In the updated edition of this critically acclaimed and bestselling book, Microsoft project veteran Scott Berkun offers a collection of essays on field-tested philosophies and strategies for defining, leading, and managing projects. Each essay distills complex concepts and challenges into practical nuggets of useful advice, and the new edition now adds more value for leaders and managers of projects everywhere. Based on his nine years of experience as a program manager for Internet Explorer, and lead program manager for Windows and MSN, Berkun explains to technical and non-technical readers alike what it takes to get through a large software or web development project. Making Things Happen doesn't cite specific methods, but focuses on philosophy and strategy. Unlike other project management books, Berkun offers personal essays in a comfortable style and easy tone that emulate the relationship of a wise project manager who gives good, entertaining and passionate advice to those who ask. Topics in this new edition include: * How to make things happen * Making good decisions * Specifications and requirements * Ideas and what to do with them * How not to annoy people * Leadership and trust * The truth about making dates * What to do when things go wrong Complete with a new forward from the author and a discussion guide for forming reading groups/teams, Making Things Happen offers in-depth exercises to help you apply lessons from the book to your job. It is inspiring, funny, honest, and compelling, and definitely the one book that you and your team need to have within arm's reach throughout the life of your project. Coming from the rare perspective of someone who fought difficult battles on Microsoft's biggest projects and taught project design and management for MSTE, Microsoft's internal best practices group, this is valuable advice indeed. It will serve you well with your current work, and on future projects to come.


The global wine market has witnessed major changes in recent years. Some of these changes are structural in nature or trend-following, whereas others are cyclical. Recently, new market entrants have increased their exports not only to traditional European markets but to other importing regions as well, whereas Old World producers have experienced declining market shares. However, the evidence examined here suggests that market share data also contain strong cyclical components. Mixed results also occur when the wine export data are disaggregated into products. This paper employs econometric methods to analyse the recent major shifts in world wine market shares and explains whether these are more of a secular trend-setting nature or of a temporary cyclical nature.


In Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court upheld Massachusetts' standing to challenge EPA's refusal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources. The majority and dissent disputed whether the science of global warming was sufficient to establish standing. Absent from both opinions was discussion of whether there would be standing if the science were uncertain but the potential harms large and irreversible. This Paper argues that 'precautionary-based standing' - grounded upon a fundamental principle of environmental law, the precautionary principle - should apply in such cases. Precautionary-based standing would not upset existing standing doctrine. First, its application would be limited, and could further be limited to cases brought by a sovereign. Second, there already are less stringent standing requirements in areas where society has deemed precaution to be appropriate. Third, the catastrophic and uncertain nature of the injury in a precautionary-based standing would satisfy Article III. The argument here is important in several ways. First, reliance upon the precautionary principle might attract the support of people who question the certainty of the science but recognize the large risks associated with global warming. Second, precautionary-based standing would be available to address future environmental crises where scientific understanding that the threat is real may lag. Third, precautionary-based standing eventually may generate a broader evolution of standing jurisprudence. Fourth, importation and application of the precautionary principle to questions of standing will provide a logical and stable setting in which the precautionary principle might develop and flourish.


The National Minimum Wage is one of the most significant labour market interventions that the Labour government has made, raising the pay of well over one million low paid workers by about 15% overnight at the point of introduction. • Since 1999, the minimum wage has been increased by 30% after adjusting for increases in the retail price index, well above the increase in average earnings over this period. • Prior to its introduction, there were claims that it would not only destroy up to two million jobs but also push up inflation and interest rates as better paid workers sought similar pay increases to their low paid colleagues. • None of these fears have materialised. So far, there is no evidence of significant job losses for the workers most affected by the minimum wage and there have been no obvious knock-on effects on the wages of better paid workers. The political controversy surrounding the minimum wage in the 1990s has now been transformed into a consensus. In the 2005 General Election campaign, the Conservative Party promised that, if elected, it would implement the government's recommendation for a minimum wage of £5.35 an hour by 2006. • Wage inequality has not fallen since 1997, but it almost certainly would have risen by more without the introduction of the minimum wage as wages of high paid workers continue to rise strongly. • Many of the poorest households will not be affected by the minimum wage because they do not have anyone in work. In addition, many of those who benefit, such as second earners and teenagers living at home, do not live in poor households. So the minimum wage is a very blunt tool for reducing poverty. • The minimum wage is part of a wider package of welfare to work reforms designed to 'make work pay'. The centrepiece of these reforms is a tax credit that boosts low wage workers' take-home pay. The minimum wage is an integral part of these reforms because it stops employers from cutting wages knowing that workers will not be any worse off.


INVESTIGATION OF THERMOELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF 2D β-SILICON MONOTELLURIDE (SITE) Muhammad Hilal M.S. in Physics Advisor: Oğuz Gülseren September 2018 Thermoelectric properties of novel 2D silicon monotelluride (SiTe) are studied using first principles calculations. The plane wave method based on density functional theory as implemented in Vienna ab initio simulation package (VASP) is used to calculate the electronic structure. For the exchange correlation functionals, the generalized gradient approximation developed by Perdew-BurkeErnzerhof (PBE-GGA) is taken into account. The calculated band gap for β-SiTe is 1.83 eV which is in consistence with the previous theoretical data. The electronic and lattice transport properties are investigated using the Boltzmann transport equation. For the electronic transport properties, BoltzTraP code is used which relies on the Fourier interpolation of electronic band structure and thus requires a large k-sampling to optimize the interpolation and produce better results. The Seebeck coefficient obtained at room temperature is 290 μV/K and the figure of merit with κ` = 0 is 0.98. The density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) is used to calculate the 2 order harmonic and 3 order anharmonic force constants. The phonon dispersion and density of states are computed from the 2 order harmonic force constants using Phonopy code. The lattice thermal conductivity and other lattice dependent transport properties are calculated using both the harmonic and anharmonic force constants via ShengBTE program. The specific heat and lattice thermal conductivity at room temperature is 305.5 J/mol K and 1.35 × 10−3 W/m K, respectively. The figure of merit ZT for β-SiTe at room temperature using the κ` obtained from ShengBTE is 0.78 at 800k.