The aim of this work was to survey how processing parameters affect the crystal growth of beta-sitosterol in suspension. The process variables studied were the cooling temperature, stirring time and stirring rate during recrystallization. In addition, we investigated the effect a commonly used surfactant, polysorbate 80, has on crystal size distribution and the polymorphic form. This study describes the optimization of the crystallization process, with the object of preparing crystals as small as possible. Particle size distribution and habit were analyzed using optical microscopy, and the crystal structure was analyzed using X-ray diffractometry. The cooling temperature had a remarkable influence on the crystal size. Crystals with a median crystal length of approximately 23 microm were achieved with a low cooling temperature (<10 degrees C); however, a fairly large number of crystals over 50 microm appeared. Higher cooling temperatures (>30 degrees C) caused notable crystal growth both in length and width. Rapid (250 rpm), continuous stirring until the suspensions had cooled to room temperature created small, less than 50 micro m long (median <20 microm), needle-shaped crystals. The addition of surfactant slightly reduced the size of the initially large crystals. Both hemihydrate and monohydrate crystal forms occurred throughout, regardless of the processing parameters. By using an optimized process, it was possible to obtain a microcrystalline suspension, with a smooth texture.


17 Conversion coatings that comprise mixtures of molybdates and several additives have been subjected to a variety of tests to evaluate their effectiveness in protecting aluminum and alloys of aluminum against corrosion. Molybdate conversion coatings are under consideration as replacements for chromate conversion coatings, which have been used for more than 70 years. The chromate coatings are highly effective in protecting aluminum and its alloys against corrosion but are also toxic and carcinogenic. Hexavalent molybdenum and, hence, molybdates containing hexavalent molybdenum, have received attention recently as replacements for chromates because molybdates mimic chromates in a variety of applications but exhibit significantly lower toxicity. The tests were performed on six proprietary formulations of molybdate conversion coatings, denoted formulations A through F, on panels of aluminum alloy 2024-T3. A bare alloy panel was also included in the tests. The tests included electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), measurements of corrosion potentials, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The corrosion-potential and EIS measurement data were gathered at several intervals during immersion in an aqueous NaCl solution for a total time of two weeks. Nyquist and Bode plots of the data were obtained. The corrosion potentials of the conversion-coated panels were found to increase during the first 24 hours and thereafter subside slightly, approaching steady values. The corrosion-potential measurements indicated that three of the proprietary formulations exerted a protective effect on the alloy. The EIS data on all the conversion-coated alloy specimens were characterized by impedance magnitudes greater than those of the bare alloy specimen at all frequencies and times for which measurements were performed (see figure). This characteristic indicates that the molybdate conversion coatings contribute some resistance to corrosion. SEM images showed cracks in the coatings and cubic crystals believed to be calcium carbonate. EDS revealed high concentrations of aluminum, oxygen, and calcium but did not reveal any molybdenum on the panels. XPS indicated the presence of less than 0.01 atomic percent molybdenum on the surfaces of the coatings. Overall, the test data have been interpreted as signifying that molybdate conversion coatings show promise for protecting aluminum and its alloys against corrosion, but that further development will be necessary to attain protection equal to that afforded by chromate conversion coatings. This work was done by Luz Marina Calle and Louis G. MacDowell of Kennedy Space Center. For further information, contact the Kennedy Commercial Technology Office at 321-867-8130. KSC-12346 Materials


Background Preventing traffic crashes reduces crash costs paid by employers and employees. The related savings filter through the economy, impacting its performance. This study is the first to measure the impact of traffic crash reduction on a national economy. It focuses on impaired driving crashes. Methods We analysed the impact of the almost 50% alcohol-involved driving crash rate reduction from 1984–1986 to 2010 and the impact if such crashes in 2010 had not occurred. The analysis entered published estimates of costs that employers, consumers and governments paid because of US impaired-driving crashes as production costs and demand changes in Rutgers University's input–output model of the US economy. For example, reducing medical costs paid by employers lowers the cost of labour inputs to production while reducing vehicle repairs raises demand for other goods. Running the model at current and alternative crash rates revealed the impacts of crash reductions on economic output, gross domestic product (GDP), national income and employment. Results Alcohol-involved crash reductions since 1984–1986 increased economic output in 2010 by an estimated $20 billion, raised GDP by $10 billion, increased US income by $6.5 billion, and created 215 000 jobs. GDP gains from alcohol-involved crash reduction contributed 5% of the $200 million compounded average annual growth in US GDP from 1985 to 2013. Eliminating remaining alcohol-involved crashes would result in similar economic gains. Conclusions Alcohol-involved crashes drag down the US economy. On average, each of the 25.5 billion miles Americans drove impaired in 2010 reduced economic output by $0.80. Those losses are preventable.


Incidental fisheries capture has been identified as having a major effect on shark populations throughout the world. However, factors that contribute to the mortality of shark bycatch during fisheries capture are not fully understood. Here, we investigated the effects of capture duration, sea surface temperature, and shark total length (snout to the tip of the upper caudal lobe) on the physiology and condition of longline-caught bronze whalers, Carcharhinus brachyurus. Plasma lactate and potassium concentration had a positive linear relationship with capture duration, indicating that this species experiences increasing physiological challenges while on fishing gear. Additionally, we used stereotype logistic regression models to determine variables that could predict the capture condition of sharks (categorized as "healthy", "sluggish", or "moribund or dead"). In these models, elevated plasma lactate concentration, plasma potassium concentration, and capture duration increased the likelihood of C. brachyurus being captured in a "sluggish" condition or in a "moribund or dead" condition. After plasma lactate concentration exceeded 27.4 mmol/L, plasma potassium concentration exceeded 8.3 mmol/L, or capture durations exceeded 293 minutes, the majority of captured sharks (>50%) were predicted to be "moribund or dead." We recommend that a reduction in the amount of time longlines are left fishing (soak time) will reduce immediate and post-release mortality in C. brachyurus bycatch and that our methods could be applied to identify causes of fisheries-induced mortality in future studies. The identification of operational, environmental, and biological variables contributing to poor condition will be necessary to implement conservation strategies that reduce mortality during capture.


Since its foundation in 1794, the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers has been both a place of professional education and of demonstration of machines used in the production process. That raises the question of the transmission of technical knowledge to different audiences, as well as the issue of knowledge legitimization. At the Conservatoire, thanks to the system of chairs, knowledge is constructed not in regards to academic disciplines, but according to know-how. Two sorts of audiences were progressively distinguished. On the one hand, an audience composed of training professionals; in this case, knowledge is legitimate since it allows the trainee to be an efficient worker. On the other hand, the general public, for whom are set up public conferences and the Museum of Arts and Crafts; in this case, knowledge is legitimate because it educates the audience. However, in both cases, these aims are subordinated to the national industrial progress.JEL Codes: I23


Medical informatics is as much about computers as cardiology is about stethoscopes. For those who have studied the application of information technologies in medicine, the past decade has delivered one unassailable lesson. Any attempt to use information technology will fail dramatically when the motivation is the application of technology for its own sake rather than the solution of clinical problems.1 2 3

The role of the information sciences in medicine continues to grow, and the past few years have seen informatics begin to move into the mainstream of clinical practice. The scope of this field is, however, enormous. Informatics finds application in the design of decision support systems for practitioners,4 in the development of computer tools for research,5 and in the study of the very essence of medicine—its corpus of knowledge.6 The study of informatics in the next century will probably be as fundamental to the practice of medicine as the study of anatomy has been this century.

I will consider recent advances in medical informatics with two seemingly contradictory themes in mind—apparently unbridled technological promise against less than satisfying practical achievement—and against three criteria—possibility, practicability, and desirability. Possibility reflects the science of information—what in theory can be achieved? Practicability addresses the potential for successfully engineering a system—what can be built given the constraints of the real world? Desirability looks at the fundamental motivation for using a given technology.

These criteria are suggested because a framework is necessary to judge the claims made for these new technologies by those who seek to profit from them. Just as there is a longstanding symbiosis between the pharmaceutical industry and medicine, there is a newer and consquently less examined relation between medicine and the computing and telecommunication industries. Clinicians should try to judge the claims of these newcomers in …


Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.


BACKGROUND
Aberrant amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition in the brain occurs two decades prior to the manifestation of Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical symptoms and therefore brain Aβ load measured using PET serves as a gold standard biomarker for the early diagnosis of AD. However, the uneconomical nature of PET makes blood markers, that reflect brain Aβ deposition, attractive candidates for investigation as surrogate markers.

OBJECTIVE
Investigation of plasma Aβ as a surrogate marker for brain Aβ deposition in cognitively normal elderly individuals.

METHODS
Plasma Aβ40 and Aβ42 concentrations were measured using the ultrasensitive Single Molecule Array (Simoa) assay in 95 cognitively normal elderly individuals, who have all undergone PET to assess brain Aβ deposition. Based on the standard uptake value ratios (SUVR) obtained from PET imaging, using the tracer 18F-Florbetaben, plasma Aβ was compared between 32 participants assessed to have low brain Aβ load (Aβ-, SUVR <1.35) and 63 assessed to have high brain Aβ load (Aβ+, SUVR ≥1.35).

RESULTS
Plasma Aβ42/Aβ40 ratios were lower in the Aβ+ group compared to the Aβ-group. Plasma Aβ40 and Aβ42 levels were not significantly different between Aβ-and Aβ+ groups, although a trend of higher plasma Aβ40 was observed in the Aβ+ group. Additionally, plasma Aβ42/Aβ40 ratios along with the known AD risk factors, age and APOEɛ4 status, resulted in Aβ+ participants being distinguished from Aβ-participants based on an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve shown to be 78%.

CONCLUSION
Plasma Aβ ratios in this study are a potential biomarker for brain Aβ deposition and therefore, for preclinical AD. However, this method to measure plasma Aβ needs further development to increase the accuracy of this promising AD blood biomarker.


We study the time evolution of the entanglement negativity after a local quantum quench in (1+1)-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs), which we introduce by suddenly joining two initially decoupled CFTs at their endpoints. We calculate the negativity evolution for both adjacent intervals and disjoint intervals explicitly. For two adjacent intervals, the entanglement negativity grows logarithmically in time right after the quench. After developing a plateau-like feature, the entanglement negativity drops to the ground-state value. For the case of two spatially separated intervals, a light-cone behavior is observed in the negativity evolution; in addition, a long-range entanglement, which is independent of the distance between two intervals, can be created. Our results agree with the heuristic picture that quasiparticles, which carry entanglement, are emitted from the joining point and propagate freely through the system. Our analytical results are confirmed by numerical calculations based on a critical harmonic chain.


In the heated debates over identity politics, few theorists have looked carefully at the conceptualizations of identity assumed by all sides. Visible Identities fills this gap. Drawing on both philosophical sources as well as theories and empirical studies in the social sciences, Martin Alcoff makes a strong case that identities are not like special interests, nor are they doomed to oppositional politics, nor do they inevitably lead to conformism, essentialism, or reductive approaches to judging others. Identities are historical formations and their political implications are open to interpretation. But identities such as race and gender also have a powerful visual and material aspect that eliminativists and social constructionists often underestimate. Visible Identities offers a careful analysis of the political and philosophical worries about identity and argues that these worries are neither supported by the empirical data nor grounded in realistic understandings of what identities are. Martin Alcoff develops a more realistic characterization of identity in general through combining phenomenological approaches to embodiment with hermeneutic concepts of the interpretive horizon. Besides addressing the general contours of social identity, Martin Alcoff develops an account of the material infrastructure of gendered identity, compares and contrasts gender identities with racialized ones, and explores the experiential aspects of racial subjectivity for both whites and non-whites. In several chapters she looks specifically at Latino identity as well, including its relationship to concepts of race, the specific forms of anti-Latino racism, and the politics of mestizo or hybrid identity.


Background. Information on self-reported health is important for health professionals, and the aim of this study was to examine associations between lifestyle factors and self-reported health and the mediating effect of disease in a Norwegian population. Methods and Materials. The data collection was conducted as part of the Hordaland Health Study (HUSK) 1997–99, which was a cross-sectional epidemiological study. All individuals in Hordaland county born in 1953–1957 were invited to participate (aged 40–44 years). Complete information for the present study was obtained from 12,883 individuals (44% response rate). Height and weight were measured at a physical examination. Information on lifestyle factors, self-reported health, disease (heart attack, apoplexy, angina pectoris, and diabetes), and socio-demographic variables was obtained from a self-administered questionnaire. Self-reported health was measured with a one-item question. Odds ratios for fair or poor self-reported health were calculated using multiple logistic regression analyses adjusted for disease and socio-demographic variables. Results. Respondents reporting adverse lifestyle behaviours (obesity (odds ratio (OR) 1.7, p < 0.001), smoking (OR 1.2, p < 0.001), or excessive intake of alcohol (OR 3.3, p < 0.001)) showed an increased risk of poor self-reported health. Furthermore, a moderate intake of wine (OR 0.6, p < 0.001) or strenuous physical activity (OR 0.5, p < 0.001) decreased the risk of poor health. Disease did not mediate the effect. Conclusion. A one-item question measuring self-reported health may be a suitable measure for health professionals to identify levels of subjective health and reveal a need to target lifestyle factors in relatively young individuals with or without disease.


Raman spectroscopy is a viable tool within process analytical technologies due to recent technological advances. In this article, we evaluate the feasibility of Raman spectroscopy for in-line applications in the food industry by estimating the concentration of the fatty acids EPA + DHA in ground salmon samples (n = 63) and residual bone concentration in samples of mechanically recovered ground chicken (n = 66). The samples were measured under industry like conditions: They moved on a conveyor belt through a dark cabinet where they were scanned with a wide area illumination standoff Raman probe. Such a setup should be able to handle relevant industrial conveyor belt speeds, and it was studied how different speeds (i.e., exposure times) influenced the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the Raman spectra as well as the corresponding model performance. For all samples we applied speeds that resulted in 1 s, 2 s, 4 s, and 10 s exposure times. Samples were scanned in both heterogenous and homogenous state. The slowest speed (10 s exposure) yielded prediction errors (RMSECV) of 0.41%EPA + DHA and 0.59% ash for the salmon and chicken data sets, respectively. The more in-line relevant exposure time of 1 s resulted in increased RMSECV values, 0.84% EPA + DHA and 0.84% ash, respectively. The increase in prediction error correlated closely with the decrease in SNR. Further improvements of model performance were possible through different noise reduction strategies. Model performance for homogenous and heterogenous samples was similar, suggesting that the presented Raman scanning approach has the potential to work well also on intact heterogenous foods. The estimation errors obtained at these high speeds are likely acceptable for industrial use, but successful strategies to increase SNR will be key for widespread in-line use in the food industry.


A rhetorical study belongs to descriptive research. It was intended to find rhetoric form that consists of figure of thought, rhetorical figure, and imagery in the Alfred Lord Tennyson's poems In Memoriam. Data reduction or data selection was used to collect the data. Meanwhile, the technique of analyzing data which was used in the research was permutation and repetition technique. The finding shows that the types of figure of thought are simile, metaphor and personification; the types of figure of speech are alliteration, assonance, asyndeton, polysindeton and anastrophe, and the types of imagery are visual, auditory and kinetic imagery.


Quantum dots (QDs) have discrete quantum states isolated from the environment, making QDs well suited for quantum information processing. In semiconductor QDs, the electron spins can be coherently oriented by photoexcitation using circularly polarized light, creating optical orientation. The optically induced spin orientation could serve as a unit for data storage and processing. Carrier spin orientation is also envisioned to be a key component in a related, though parallel, field of semiconductor spintronics. However, the oriented spin population rapidly loses its coherence by interaction with the environment, thereby erasing the prepared information. Since long-lasting spin orientation is desirable in both areas of investigation, spin relaxation is the central focus of investigation for optimization of device performance. In this Account, we discuss a topic peripherally related to these emerging areas of investigation: exciton fine structure relaxation (EFSR). The radiationless transition occurring in the exciton fine structure not only highlights a novel aspect of QD exciton relaxation but also has implications for carrier spin relaxation in QDs. We focus on examining the EFSR in connection with optical spin orientation and subsequent ultrafast relaxation of electron and hole spin densities in the framework of the exciton fine structure basis. Despite its significance, the study of exciton fine structure in colloidal QDs has been hampered by the experimental challenge arising from inhomogeneous line broadening that obscures the details of closely spaced fine structure states in the frequency domain. In this Account, we show that spin relaxation occurring in the fine structure of CdSe QDs can be probed by a time-domain nonlinear polarization spectroscopy, circumventing the obstacles confronted in the frequency-domain spectroscopy. In particular, by combining polarization sequences of multiple optical pulses with the unique optical selection rules of semiconductors, fast energy relaxation among the QD exciton fine structure states is selectively measured. The measured exciton fine structure relaxation, which is a nanoscale analogue of molecular radiationless transitions, contains direct information on the relaxation of spin densities of electron and hole carriers, that is, spin relaxation in QDs. From the exciton fine structure relaxation rates measured for CdSe nanorods and complex-shaped nanocrystals using nonlinear polarization spectroscopy, we elucidated the implications of QD size and shape on the QD exciton properties as well, for example, size- and shape-scaling laws governing exciton spin flips and how an exciton is delocalized in a QD. We envision that the experimental development and the discoveries of QD exciton properties presented in this Account will inspire further studies toward revealing the characteristics of QD excitons and spin relaxation therein, for example, spin relaxation in QDs made of various materials with different electronic structures, spin relaxation under an external perturbation of QD electronic states using magnetic fields, and spin relaxation of separated electrons and holes in type-II QD heterostructures.


Access to data and systems of Electronic System Organizers (ESOs) is a sensitive issue because it is considered a means of coercion (dwang middelen) that might infringe personal data protection, freedom of speech, individual privacy that also related to intellectual property rights and trade secrets. In light of this, further in-depth analysis is needed to assess whether The Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Informatics (MOCI) Regulation No. 5/2020 on Electronic System Organizers (ESOs) has accommodated various key elements to safeguard the general principles of human rights, intellectual property rights, and personal data protection. This paper concludes that access to ESO's system might not be the best practice and should be taken as a last resort after all mitigation actions on information security have been carried out."


Abstract Laser ultrasonic inspection (LUI) is the name given to the techniques in which a laser beam interacts with the surface of a test sample and replaces piezoelectric transducers for launching and probing elastic sound waves. When this wave returns to the surface, a separate laser interferometer detects the small resulting displacement. This technique is strictly non-contact and is therefore suitable for in-process inspection of parts while at high temperature or moving at high speed. In the field of non-destructive techniques (NDT), the association of laser generation with optical detection provides a completely remote inspection system. As this process involves hitting of high power laser beam on to the surface to be inspected and ablation of the superficial layer of the surface, one of the objections from the conventional oil and gas industry to LUI system is apprehension of potential damage or adverse effect on the surface property and integrity. This possible problem is seen as severe on pressurized pipes to the extent of being dangerous to the system. This work attempts to present a qualification methodology which was experimentally applied to known metallic samples and with standard LUI testing conditions. Binary image processing techniques have been used with hybrid filtering and statistical measurements to quantify the findings. A relational approach is used within the digital image processing domain to qualify the extent of metal loss that occurs during a prolonged exposure of the clean metallic surface to the laser beam. A comparative study has been done on Duplex steel (UNS S31803) and Carbon steel. Samples were studied for relative metal loss, possible changes in hardness and micro-structural anomalies (if any). A new qualification method has been developed using digital image processing to approximate the damage sustained by the exposure. The results are quite promising and alleviate many doubts that conventional NDT experts may have in connection with the LUI system, especially in the oil and gas scenarios.


Prefabricated elements have the opportunity to reduce the duration of closed lanes during highway reconstruction. Typically, an element that is prefabricated off-site and installed, rather than being constructed in-place, diminishes the duration of on-site construction activities and, therefore, minimizes the disruption and congestion of traffic due to shorter duration lane closures. This case study presents an analysis of the benefits and costs of using prefabricated pavement panels. The case study involves a small panel replacement project, conducted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, involving the installation of precast concrete pavement panels. The installation segment consisted of a 218 ft. continuous stretch of 12 ft. wide pavement. The objective of the test project was to evaluate the use of precast pavement panels to reduce construction time, thus reducing overall and continuous motorist delay due to a lane closure. The results of the benefit-to-cost analysis conducted as part of this case study suggest that for small projects that consist of only a few panels, using prefabricated panels to reduce work zone user costs is cost-effective; however, as projects involve more prefabricated panels, the construction costs quickly escalate and become cost prohibitive.


Summary 1. Occupancy estimation and modelling based on detection‐nondetection data provide an effective way of exploring change in a species' distribution across time and space in cases where the species is not always detected with certainty. Today, many monitoring programmes target multiple species, or life stages within a species, requiring the use of multiple detection methods. When multiple methods or devices are used at the same sample sites, animals can be detected by more than one method. 2. We develop occupancy models for multiple detection methods that permit simultaneous use of data from all methods for inference about method-specific detection probabilities. Moreover, the approach permits estimation of occupancy at two spatial scales: the larger scale corresponds to species' use of a sample unit, whereas the smaller scale corresponds to presence of the species at the local sample station or site. 3. We apply the models to data collected on two different vertebrate species: striped skunks Mephitis mephitis and red salamanders Pseudotriton ruber . For striped skunks, large-scale occupancy estimates were consistent between two sampling seasons. Small-scale occupancy probabilities were slightly lower in the late winter/spring when skunks tend to conserve energy, and movements are limited to males in search of females for breeding. There was strong evidence of method-specific detection probabilities for skunks. As anticipated, large- and small-scale occupancy areas completely overlapped for red salamanders. The analyses provided weak evidence of method-specific detection probabilities for this species. 4. Synthesis and applications. Increasingly, many studies are utilizing multiple detection methods at sampling locations. The modelling approach presented here makes efficient use of detections from multiple methods to estimate occupancy probabilities at two spatial scales and to compare detection probabilities associated with different detection methods. The models can be viewed as another variation of Pollock's robust design and may be applicable to a wide variety of scenarios where species occur in an area but are not always near the sampled locations. The estimation approach is likely to be especially useful in multispecies conservation programmes by providing efficient estimates using multiple detection devices and by providing device-specific detection probability estimates for use in survey design.


In the ubiquitous Internet, human mobile-web interactions can be evaluated with real-time analysis of time-based usability and accessibility with the different types of mobile Internet devices including smart phones (e.g. iPhone, Android phone, etc.). A ubiquitous mobile-web interaction server, accessible with a variety of mobile Internet devices, could be a unified estimation hub in real-time analysis of human-centric mobile-web interactions. We propose the real-time analysis scheme based on real-time estimation of time-based usability and accessibility for human mobile-web interactions with a name-based directory server for social networking in the ubiquitous Internet environment. We present an implementation of a ubiquitous mobile-web directory service and discuss our approach with some empirical results.


Audio and speech processing have achieved important status in development in the last three decades, improving the standard of living of many people. Regarding these applications, several signal processing algorithms have been developed to assist the speech impaired and improve the learning ability of children. "Advances in Audio and Speech Signal Processing: Technologies and Applications" provides a comprehensive approach of signal processing tools regarding the enhancement, recognition, and protection of speech and audio signals. "Advances in Audio and Speech Signal Processing: Technologies and Applications" offers researchers and practitioners the information they need to develop and implement efficient signal processing algorithms in the enhancement field.


Abstract Extraction of tritium from liquid lead lithium eutectic alloy is a key topic for the feasibility of any PbLi based tritium breeding blanket (BB). Particularly in DEMO, high tritium extraction efficiency will be required in order to keep low the tritium concentration in the Pb-16Li loop. This is essential to minimize tritium release into the environment and tritium permeation from BB into the primary cooling system. In addition, the tritium extraction process needs to be highly reliable in order not to impact negatively on the operation of the whole fusion reactor, ITER or DEMO. In the present paper, a critical review of the main candidate technologies for tritium extraction from Pb-16Li, particularly gas liquid contactors and vacuum permeators, is accomplished. The intrinsic limits and possible advantages of these technologies are presented and discussed, in the light of considerations coming directly from mathematical models describing their behaviour as well as from the experimental results so far achieved. Needs in terms of R&D activities are identified.


Feminism in Action is Jean O'Barr's firsthand account of two decades spent working to promote the cause of higher education for women through the establishment of women's studies programs. The book brings together revised versions of O'Barr's most significant presentations on the subject, from a 1976 talk to incoming Duke University students, through original essays that document the process of institutional change, to a 1993 lecture on the impact of race on discussions of gender. Striking the perfect balance between a theoretical sense of what feminism proposes and a practical sense of what is politically feasible, these essays pose--and help to answer--basic questions about the role of women's studies programs in the academy. Exactly what kinds of changes do such programs instigate? How do they work, institutionally? What accounts for their extraordinary success in supporting higher education for all women, from recent high school graduates to older returning students? Written in a lively, anecdotal style and supplemented by personal testimonies from students and colleagues, the essays provide not only a valuable history of the field of women's studies but a concrete blueprint for current and future programs. from the book From a student point of view, the way in which women and gender are presented and discussed appears as important as their mere mention as topics, if not more so. Such student observations suggest that individual faculty members function as 'gatekeepers' of knowledge to a much greater degree than disciplines or departments do...Students require active preparation and encouragement if they are to be able to transfer information learned in the context of a women's studies class into other courses.


Odontobuthos doriae, a native scorpion in southern tropical parts of Iran, can cause serious health threats and wide ranges of pharmacological disturbances. α-toxins in its venom cause prolongation of Na+ channels activity. In this study, reversing effects of lidocaine, as a Na+-channel blocker, was studied on mice following exposure to venom. Lidocaine (up to 500 mg/kg) and O. doriae crude venom (up to 12 μg/mice) was used in a 14-day acute toxicity test, to yield LD50s of 110mg/kg and 10μg/mice, respectively. Afterward, different sub-acute amounts of lidocaine (25%, 50% and 80% of LD50) were used in the presence of venom (80%, 100% and 120% of LD50). Our results show 80% LD50 of lidocaine, and not higher concentrations, could cause 50% reduction in lethality rate induced by O. doriae venom at LD50 concentration, showing the Na+-channel function in this event. Reducing the amount of lidocaine to safer doses show no significant effect in this aspect. Finally, lidocaine (80% LD50) can partially decrease the O. doriae venom mortality. However, due to some other systemic dangerous lidocaine adverse effects, it is doubtful that it can be a relevant life-saving agent in this case. Further to lidocaine failure in reversing the complete venom toxicity, it would be explained that high Na+ current induced by venom might prevent lidocaine effect at above doses, while higher concentrations also can cause lidocaine toxicity, which restricts our further investigation. Preferably, it would be suggested to use other medical approaches and medication to save the envenomed victim's life.


The role of the entrepreneur in the process of technology change has made entrepreneurship a focus of research and identifying opportunities as the focus of entrepreneurship has been the focus of researchers. The purpose of this study was to present a predictive model for identifying entrepreneurial opportunities considering the role of information and communication technology literacy among medical students of Shiraz University by path analysis method. In this study, entrepreneurial consciousness dimensions have a mediating variable role. For this purpose, 373 students were selected using the Morgan Table as a sample and completed a self-report questionnaire consisting of ICT literacy subscales (Zare Moghaddam, Hesami, Rostami, and Ghorbani, 2017) identifying opportunities. Entrepreneurial (Pahhaka, 2010) and Entrepreneurial Consciousness (Tang & Murphy, 2012) have responded. Besides, the reliability of the scales has been evaluated and confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The method of this research is descriptive and correlational. The results show that information technology literacy does not directly affect the recognition of study opportunities. Rather, it has an indirect impact on the recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities through the dimensions of entrepreneurial awareness (scanning and searching as well as collaboration and communication). Among the dimensions of entrepreneurial vigilance, the dimension of searching and searching has the most impact on identifying entrepreneurial opportunities.By identifying and targeting opportunities and taking advantage of them, entrepreneurs enhance the process of market production and the fulfillment of social and economic needs. Entrepreneurs with high entrepreneurial awareness can obtain up-to-date information, and by processing the information gained they, have a greater chance of identifying entrepreneurial opportunities.


Abstract Background and aims : Epidemiological studies have shown a significant correlation between awkward back posture and low back pain among carpet weavers. Therefore, this study aims to estimate cumulative compression load among carpet weavers during a shift work. Method s: In this study, the awkward back postures of 4 male and 9 female carpet weavers were monitored, using electronic inclinometer for 4 hours. The level of cumulative compression load for an 8-hour shift was calculated. Result s: The highest compression load exerted on L4/L5 was due to the compacting and knotting subtasks. The maximum cumulative compression load was related to the subtask of weaving. The levels of cumulative compression load during a shift work in male and female groups were estimated equal to 21.8 and 13.13MN-S, respectively. Conclusion : Results showed that although the level of compression load in both gender groups is lower than the recommended limit, the level of cumulative compression load in males is higher than in females. Therefore, results from different studies show that the estimation of compression load, per se, does not suggest the existence of physical stresses on the low back. In addition, the estimation of daily commutative compression can be an important index in predicting occupational low back pain


We examine the accretion and merger histories of central and satellite galaxies in a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) cosmological simulation that resolves galaxies down to 7 × 10 9 M� . Most friends-of-friends haloes in the simulation have a distinct central galaxy, typically 2–5 times more massive than the most massive satellite. As expected, satellites have systematically higher assembly redshifts than central galaxies of the same baryonic mass, and satellites in more massive haloes form earlier. However, contrary to the simplest expectations, satellite galaxies continue to accrete gas and convert it to stars; the gas accretion declines steadily over a period of 0.5–1 Gyr after the satellite halo merges with a larger parent halo. Satellites in a cluster mass halo eventually begin to lose baryonic mass. Typically, satellites in our simulation are 0.1–0.2 mag bluer than in models that assume no gas accretion on to satellites after a halo merger. Since z = 1, 27 per cent of central galaxies (above 3 × 10 10 M � ) and 22 per cent of present-day satellite galaxies have merged with a smaller system above a 1:4 mass ratio; about half of the satellite mergers occurred after the galaxy became a satellite and half before. In effect, satellite galaxies can remain 'central' objects of halo substructures, with continuing accretion and mergers, making the transition in assembly histories and physical properties a gradual one. Implementing such a gradual transformation in semi-analytic models would improve their agreement with observed colour distributions of satellite galaxies in groups and with the observed colour dependence of galaxy clustering.


Intervention for infants with hearing loss aims to provide access to auditory input through amplification devices as soon as possible. These may include hearing aids fitted to match the unique hearing loss of the child, or in cases of severe to profound hearing loss a cochlear implant that electrically stimulates the auditory nerve in response to sound. This process must be accompanied by and followed up with family-centred communication intervention by trained interventionists (e.g. speech therapists or early interventionists) who assist parents to facilitate auditory skills and language development for their child.


A key assumption of many fish stock assessment models is that catchability is constant over time. We assume here that trends in catchability may occur through fishing power creeping. The tuning fleets, which are prone to fishing power development, may be identified using the "Hybrid" method. A range of catchability trends, including values derived from the "Hybrid" method, is then implemented to standardise the fishing effort of some tuning fleets used in the stock assessments performed by XSA (eXtended Survivors Analysis). Stocks being assessed are the North Sea cod, saithe, plaice and sole. The performances of the new and traditional XSA assessments are compared using criteria based on the precision of catchability estimates, stationarity of Log-catchability residuals and retrospective patterns relative to fishing mortality, spawning stock biomass and recruitment estimates. The performances of the North Sea cod, plaice and sole assessments could be enhanced by accounting for an overall annual increase in the catchability of some of the tuning fleets. No significant trends could be detected in the catchability of the tuning fleets relative to the assessment of the North Sea saithe. By contrast with the traditional assessment, the spawning biomass of cod is expected not to have increased between 1997 and 1998, while the fishing mortality of sole is expected to have increased over the same period.


Homogeneous, small gold nanoparticles (d = 1.87 nm) have been prepared by photochemical reduction of HAuCl4 in the presence of Irgacure® 2959 under high power UV irradiation at 365 nm produced by a LED source. These particles have been deposited on PTFE microbeads (d = 200 μm) and evaluated for the catalysis of the oxidative esterification of aldehydes in the presence of H2O2. Under green light (λ ≈ 530 nm) and repeated addition of H2O2, the catalytic system is accelerated and achieves complete conversions in minutes. Furthermore the catalyst can be recycled ten times consecutively without any activity loss by adding a step for AuNP recycling. The mechanism of the reaction follows a zero rate order, and Hammett free energy relationships for substituted benzaldehydes afforded a positive ρ value (ρ = 2.35) demonstrating that the initial hemiacetalisation equilibrium (ρ = 2.31) is the rate determining step. Kinetics data are in agreement with an Eley–Rideal type mechanism and permits proposing a reaction mechanism.


We characterized the responses of three erbium-doped fibers with slightly different concentrations of rare-earth ions (240-290 ppm) and Al2O3 (7-10 wt.%) during proton and gamma-ray exposures. We have simultaneously measured the radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) around the Er3+ ion pumping wavelength (980 nm) and the associated changes of the Er3+ emission around 1530 nm. The three erbium-doped fibers show similar radiation responses. All fibers exhibit RIA levels between 9 times 10-3 and 1.7 times 10-2 dB m-1 Gy-1 at 980 nm and between 4 times 10-3 and 1.1 times 10-2 dB m-1 Gy-1 at 1530 nm. Protons and gamma-rays lead to similar radiation damages, with small differences between the protons of different energies (50 MeV and 105 MeV). Furthermore, we have performed online measurements of the spectral dependence of RIA from 600 to 1600 nm and offline measurements from 1200 to 2400 nm. The three fibers exhibit the same spectral response. Losses decrease monotonically from the visible to the infrared part of the spectrum. We have performed spectral decomposition of these RIA curves with the help of absorption bands previously associated with radiation-induced point defects. Our analysis shows that the main part of the RIA (600-1700 nm) in erbium-doped glass can be explained by the generation of Al-related point defects. The other defects related to the germanium and phosphorus doping of the silica seem to have a lower contribution to the induced losses. The Er3+ ion properties seem to be mainly unaffected by proton exposure, suggesting a solvation shell around the Er3+ ion formed by Al2O3 species.


Background Hamstring injury is the single most common injury in European professional football and, therefore, time to return and secondary prevention are of particular concern. Objective To compare the effectiveness of two rehabilitation protocols after acute hamstring injury in Swedish elite football players by evaluating time needed to return to full participation in football team-training and availability for match selection. Study design Prospective randomised comparison of two rehabilitation protocols. Methods Seventy-five football players with an acute hamstring injury, verified by MRI, were randomly assigned to one of two rehabilitation protocols. Thirty-seven players were assigned to a protocol emphasising lengthening exercises, L-protocol and 38 players to a protocol consisting of conventional exercises, C-protocol. The outcome measure was the number of days to return to full-team training and availability for match selection. Reinjuries were registered during a period of 12 months after return. Results Time to return was significantly shorter for the players in the L-protocol, mean 28 days (1SD±15, range 8–58 days), compared with the C-protocol, mean 51 days (1SD±21, range 12–94 days). Irrespective of protocol, stretching-type of hamstring injury took significantly longer time to return than sprinting-type, L-protocol: mean 43 vs 23 days and C-protocol: mean 74 vs 41 days, respectively. The L-protocol was significantly more effective than the C-protocol in both injury types. One reinjury was registered, in the C-protocol. Conclusions A rehabilitation protocol emphasising lengthening type of exercises is more effective than a protocol containing conventional exercises in promoting time to return in Swedish elite football.


One new heteropoly complex is prepared containing Co2+ and V5+ in dilute acetic acid medium at pH 4.7 after cooling the refluxed mixtured white coloured solid residue was recovered. After three days the residue was washed with moderately concentrated ethanol and dried. The elemental analysis of the residue was performed as suggested by the text book of quantitative chemical Analysis by 'Vogel'. The percentage analysis of the constituent elements of triheteropoly complex synthesized was determined chemically. The IR spectrumstudies and the thermal analysis based on TGA and DTA curves of the polymolybdate complex confirm its chemical composition as (NH4 +)5 [Co V Mo12 O42] 29H2O. The stability of the isolated triheteropoly molybdate complex was determined by applying thermogravimatric and differential thermal analysis. The results of the both types of thermal stability of the complex in air. The composition of the residue product on the basis of elemental analysis is assigned as (NH4 +)5 [Co V Mo12 O42] 29H2O


In distributed services shared by multiple tenants, managing resource allocation is an important pre-requisite to providing dependability and quality of service guarantees. Many systems deployed today experience contention, slowdown, and even system outages due to aggressive tenants and a lack of resource management. Improperly throttled background tasks, such as data replication, can overwhelm a system; conversely, high-priority background tasks, such as heartbeats, can be subject to resource starvation. In this paper, we outline five design principles necessary for effective and efficient resource management policies that could provide guaranteed performance, fairness, or isolation. We present Retro, a resource instrumentation framework that is guided by these principles. Retro instruments all system resources and exposes detailed, real-time statistics of pertenant resource consumption, and could serve as a base for the implementation of such policies.


Carpooling, i.e. the sharing of vehicles to reach common destinations, is often performed to reduce costs and pollution. Recent works on carpooling and journey planning take into account, besides mobility match, also social aspects and, more generally, non-monetary rewards. In line with this, we present a data-driven methodology for a more enjoyable carpooling. We introduce a measure of enjoyability based on people's interests, social links, and tendency to connect to people with similar or dissimilar interests. We devise a methodology to compute enjoyability from crowd-sourced data, and we show how this can be used on real world datasets to optimize for both mobility and enjoyability. Our methodology was tested on real data from Rome and San Francisco. We compare the results of an optimization model minimizing the number of cars, and a greedy approach maximing the enjoyability. We evaluate them in terms of cars saved, and average enjoyability of the system. We present also the results of a user study, with more than 200 users reporting an interest of 39% in the enjoyable solution. Moreoever, 24% of people declared that sharing the car with interesting people would be the primary motivation for carpooling.


Portraying how entrepreneurs often start out conducting some or all of their trade on an 'off-the-books' basis and how many continue to do so once they become established, this book provides the first detailed account of the vast and ubiquitous hidden enterprise culture existing in the interstices of western economies. Until now, the role of the underground economy in enterprise creation, entrepreneurship and small business development has been largely ignored despite its widespread prevalence and importance.


Organisations of every industry are changing continuously. A pervasive response to this experience is some form of downsizing. Chew and Horwitz (2002) state due to globalisation, organisations have increasingly adopted cost/ competitive measures to increase performance. Organisations inevitably seek to survive these pressures by downsizing. According to Tzafrir, MonaNegrin, Havel and Rom Nagy (2006), downsizing is known to be defined as a company trying to increase its competitiveness, efficiency and productivity by decreasing the number of workers in the organisation. Drummond (2000) states that there is extra pressure put onto the remaining workers for productivity after the layoff process. It must be acknowledged that managers should be seen as both an employee and a supervisor. Managers therefore have to implement the change when the process occurs and deals with the reactions of him/herself and that of the subordinates (Wiesenfeld, Brockner, Petzall, Wolf & Bailey, 2001). To gain a competitive advantage, organisations must pay attention to their managers who are responsible for driving organisation's processes and outcomes. Rana, Garg and Rastogi (2011) state that organisations need to attend to factors that influence managers' performance and job satisfaction, such as perception of organisational justice. Managers' perception of organisational justice is imperative, as subordinates mimic the behaviours and attitude of their managers (Wiesenfeld et al., 2001). The aim of this study is to investigate what impact the downsizing process had on the perception of organizational justice of survivor middle managers. The differences between middle managers' age, gender, year of service or tenure, marital status and education level were taken into account. The study was conducted in different departments of a large Automotive Retail organisation where downsizing has taken place. A biographical questionnaire and a questionnaire designed to measure perceptions of organisational justice after downsizing (Niehoff and Moorman Organisational Justice Questionnaire), was administered to gather the data. The sample of one hundred and forty-four respondents consisted of male and female middle managers. Convenience sampling was utilised to select the sample. Statistical analyses involved both descriptive and inferential statistics. ANOVA and T-Test were the tools that were used to analyse the data. Findings indicates that there was a statistical significant difference in middle managers' perception of organisational justice based on gender, age, tenure, marital status and education level in the Automotive Industry.


......................................................................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. xiv


The rise of data-intensive "Web 2.0" Internet services has led to a range of popular new programming frameworks that collectively embody the latest incarnation of the vision of Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) systems, albeit at unprecedented scale. In this work, we empirically investigate modern ORM-backed applications' use and disuse of database concurrency control mechanisms. Specifically, we focus our study on the common use of feral, or application-level, mechanisms for maintaining database integrity, which, across a range of ORM systems, often take the form of declarative correctness criteria, or invariants. We quantitatively analyze the use of these mechanisms in a range of open source applications written using the Ruby on Rails ORM and find that feral invariants are the most popular means of ensuring integrity (and, by usage, are over 37 times more popular than transactions). We evaluate which of these feral invariants actually ensure integrity (by usage, up to 86.9%) and which---due to concurrency errors and lack of database support---may lead to data corruption (the remainder), which we experimentally quantify. In light of these findings, we present recommendations for database system designers for better supporting these modern ORM programming patterns, thus eliminating their adverse effects on application integrity.


[1] Observed electron distribution functions of the solar wind permanently exhibit three different components: a thermal core and a suprathermal halo, which are always present at all pitch angles, and a sharply magnetic field aligned "strahl" which is usually anti-sunward moving. Whereas Coulomb collisions can explain the relative isotropy of the core population, the origin of the halo population, and more specifically the origin of its sunward directed part, remains unknown. In this study we present the radial evolution of the electron velocity distribution functions in the fast solar wind between 0.3 and 1.5 AU. For this purpose we combine data measured separately by the Helios, Wind, and Ulysses spacecraft. We compute average distributions over distance and normalize them to 1 AU to remove the effects of the solar wind expansion. Then we model separately the core, halo, and strahl components to compute their relative number density or fraction of the total electron density. We observe that, while the core fractional density remains roughly constant with radial distance, the halo and strahl fractional densities vary in an opposite way. The relative number of halo electrons is increasing, while the relative number of strahl electrons is decreasing with distance. Therefore we provide, for the first time, strong evidences for a scenario that is commonly assumed: the heliospheric electron halo population consists partly of electrons that have been scattered out of the strahl.


Proliferation in situ, rather than immune cell recruitment, drives macrophage expansion in response to parasitic infection. A defining feature of inflammation is the accumulation of innate immune cells in the tissue that are thought to be recruited from the blood. We reveal that a distinct process exists in which tissue macrophages undergo rapid in situ proliferation in order to increase population density. This inflammatory mechanism occurred during T helper 2 (TH2)–related pathologies under the control of the archetypal TH2 cytokine interleukin-4 (IL-4) and was a fundamental component of TH2 inflammation because exogenous IL-4 was sufficient to drive accumulation of tissue macrophages through self-renewal. Thus, expansion of innate cells necessary for pathogen control or wound repair can occur without recruitment of potentially tissue-destructive inflammatory cells.


STEPHEN HOLMES. The Matador's Cape: America's Reckless Response to Terror. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 384 PAGES. $30.00 WAR PLACES A premium on knowledge. Certainly it's better to have more troops, bigger guns, and more powerful bombs and rockets. Yet nothing we have learned about human nature, politics, and battle in the past two and a half millennia calls into question the wisdom of the oldest classic of strategic thought, Sun Tzu's The Art of War: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." Indeed, our struggle against the varieties of Islamic extremism has only confirmed the importance of Sun Tzu's sage advice. We have suffered setbacks because we have been slow to appreciate that our grand strategy, our armed forces, and our diplomatic corps were not designed for the challenges presented by nonstate threats and asymmetric warfare. And we have incurred self-inflicted wounds because we have failed to grasp that neither our categories of criminal law nor the laws of war easily cover terrorists' strategic aims and characteristic tactics. Moreover, ten years after Osama bin Laden declared war on the U.S., we remain poorly informed about the jihadists' language, culture, sectarian differences, political grievances, and religious aspirations. In these testing circumstances, scholars have a special role to play. Trained, ostensibly, in serious and systematic inquiry and devoted, presumably, to the pursuit of accurate and objective knowledge, scholars should be uniquely well-equipped to step back, set aside partisan posturing, and place the September 11 attacks and America's multifaceted response to jihadist terrorism in context. Many, particularly in political science and law, have the opportunity to pursue their professional obligations and to contribute to the public good by analyzing the cultural, social, economic, political, and religious dimensions of Islamic extremism and authoritarian government in the Muslim world. They can devise better procedures under the Constitution for the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of unlawful enemy combatants. They can rethink the body of international law known as the laws of war and adjust it to an age in which not only nation-states but also nonstate actors are capable of threatening a country's territorial integrity and political sovereignty. They can examine our unwieldy collection of intelligence agencies--whose performance, dating back to the Cold War, has left much to be desired--and propose reforms to improve them. They can explore the proper role of the federal courts, which must find a way to hold the president accountable and keep Congress within constitutional bounds while preserving energy in the executive and democratic legitimacy in the legislature. And they can develop workable rules and regulations, consistent with constitutional guarantees of individual liberty, to govern the electronic surveillance and data mining that are crucial to U.S. national security. FOR AN INSTANT, it appears Stephen Holmes agrees that at this critical moment, scholars have a special role to play. A professor at New York University School of Law and research director at the law school's Center on Law and Security, he declares in his opening lines that his book is an attempt to understand and explain America's reckless response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. It builds on many previous efforts to get the story straight about the al Qaeda attack, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and American counterterrorism policy more generally. Learning how to think clearly about the 9/11 provocation and America's response to it is an obvious first step toward correcting the tragically misguided course on which the nation has embarked. …


Progress on anode supported cell stacks (SOFCONNEX design, 50 m2 per cell) is presented. A 6-cell stack and a 8 cell-stack were mounted and tested with hydrogen fuel at 800 degre C, yielding 100 W el and 140 W el, corresponding to a power density of 1kW el/L (0.34 W/cm2). Fuel utilisation was 50% and electrical efficiency 25%. A one-cell stack delivered 0.4 W/cm 2 at 70% fuel utilisation and 33 % electrical efficiency, and showed a performance increase over its 450 h test period. Another one-cell stack was monitored and variable conditions (20-50 % fuel utilisation, 0.2-0.5 A/cm 2) for 5500 h including several thermal cycles, with -5%/1000 h degradation


To benefit from HIV treatment advances individuals must utilize ambulatory primary care services. Few studies focus on marginalized populations, which tend to have poor health care utilization patterns. This study examined factors associated with health care utilization in hard-to-reach marginalized HIV-infected individuals. As part of a multisite initiative evaluating outreach programs that target underserved HIV-infected individuals, 610 participants were interviewed about their HIV disease, health services utilization, substance use, mental health, and case management. Primary outcomes included ambulatory, emergency department, and inpatient visits. Generalized estimating equations were used in logistic regression analyses. On regression analyses ambulatory visits were associated with having insurance (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.46), mental health medications (AOR = 7.46), and case management (AOR = 4.81). Emergency department visits were associated with having insurance (AOR = 1.74), homelessness (AOR = 2.23), poor health status (AOR = 2.02), length of HIV infection (AOR = 2.02), mental health care (AOR = 1.47), mental health medications (AOR = 1.59), and heavy alcohol intake (AOR = 1.46). Hospitalizations were associated with high school education (AOR = 1.57), having insurance (AOR = 10.45), homelessness (AOR = 2.18), poor health status (AOR = 2.64), length of HIV infection (AOR = 2.03), and mental health medications (AOR = 1.87). In hard-to-reach marginalized HIV-infected individuals, having insurance, case management and mental health care were associated with increased ambulatory visits. These findings support HIV multidisciplinary care with marginalized populations. Understanding factors associated with health care utilization is essential for outreach programs to facilitate engagement in HIV care.


Electronics in harsh environments are often subjected to extreme shock loading up to 50,000Gs, moisture, and high temperature. Potting of PCBs is often used to provide protection from extreme mechanical shock loads, vibration loads, and thermo-mechanical loads. The cured potting materials are prone to interfacial delamination under dynamic shock loading, which in turn may potentially cause failures in the package interconnects. The literature on potting compounds primarily focuses on the reliability in end application or the study of bulk material properties. This paper uses a four-point bend specimen to study the Substrate/Epoxy system and measure the fracture parameters of the bi-material strips to determine the interface delamination mechanisms. The bi-material strips of Substrate/Epoxy was kept at elevated temperatures of 100°C for aging. Then the sample specimens were subjected to quasi-static monotonic and cyclic loading to observe the critical stress intensity factors, fatigue slope parameters, and degradation interfaces bond adhesion of bi-material strips. Epoxy-A is a stiff material with 12,260 psi of tensile strength. The monotonic critical stress intensity factors and fatigue crack growth of the interfacial delamination for the two epoxy systems were characterized using strain energy release rate. A prediction of a number of cycles to failure and the performance of different epoxy system resistance was evaluated during cyclic bending loading using Paris Power Law.


This paper proposes a technique for wide-band audio applications based on the predictability of the temporal evolution of Quadrature Mirror Filter (QMF) sub-band signals. An input audio signal is first decomposed into 64 frequency sub-band signals using QMF decomposition. The temporal envelopes in critically sampled QMF sub-bands are approximated using frequency domain linear prediction applied over relatively long time segments (e.g. $1000$ ms). Line Spectral Frequency parameters related to autoregressive models are computed and quantized in each frequency sub-band. The sub-band residual signals are quantized in the frequency domain using a split Vector Quantization (VQ) technique. In the decoder, the sub-band signal is reconstructed using the quantized residual and the corresponding quantized envelope. Finally, application of inverse QMF reconstructs the audio signal. Even with simple quantization techniques and without any psychoacoustic model, the proposed audio coder provides encouraging results on objective quality tests.


The switching of optical solitons in a nonlinear fiber coupler is investigated by an approximate variational method that includes the effect of dispersive radiation. The solutions of the variational equations are in good agreement with full numerical solutions of the coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations that govern the fiber coupler. In particular, it is found that to obtain an accurate description of the switching process and of the evolution of the solitary waves in each core of the fiber coupler one must include the effect of the dispersive radiation shed as the solitary waves evolve. As a consequence, the present variational method gives much improved results compared with other variational methods that do not include dispersive radiation.


Abstract. Building Information Modeling is a tool for creating, presenting and managing building data. The use of BIM has the advantage of obtaining greater detail and fidelity in design, construction and operation, increases efficiency, and serves as a digital transformation of the construction industry. As BIM continues to evolve and integrate, needs accurate spatial georeferencing is needed as a way to correctly display a model without changing the underlying data. The great common tool for referencing is GNSS. Having in mind tight surveying conditions for urban territories. It is preferable to use kinematic surveying mode. This study is an analysis of field measurements aimed at investigating the problem of GNSS accuracy under various adverse operating conditions. Every year, new updated receiver models and software versions appear on the geodetic market, so it is necessary to study their effectiveness and given accuracy. This paper shows information about a kinematic survey performed in a canopy, multipath and in an open area to evaluate the performance of the user segment of various manufactures.


NOTE: This document has been prepared for the purpose of inviting comments and suggestions on the proposals contained therein, which will then be considered by the Expert Committee on Biological Standardization (ECBS). Comments MUST be received by 4 October 2014 and should be addressed to the World Health Organization, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, attention: Technologies, Standards and Norms (TSN). Comments may also be submitted electronically to the Responsible Officer: Dr Jongwon Kim at email: email@example.com.


Numerical climate models such as Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) are nowadays among the one of the most computationally demanding applications. Climate and weather research experiments performed with models such as WRF are complex tasks because of models' requirements. In order to manage that, we are going to develop a scientific gateway called WRF4SG to cover WRF users needs to manage climate and weather research experiments. The main objective of this work is to establish how WRF4SG is going to assist WRF users in their experiments.


This article describes the organisation and background of a vocational writing course for arts students. The course is part of the optional curriculum of the Department of Language and Literature of Tilburg University. It is the aim of this course to create a writing environment in which arts students can apply theoretical knowledge to practical writing tasks in business organisations.Every participant in the course chooses an existing brochure, which he revises along the lines of an agreed procedure, which consist of the following steps: analyzing, criticizing, first rewriting, second rewriting, testing, producing the new version. All steps are evaluated by all participants and by representatives of the organisation where the text was first written.The course links the expertise of arts students to real-life writing tasks in organisations and is at the same time an attempt to reinforce the social basis of the arts curriculum.


This study experimentally investigated methyl chloride (MeCl) purification method using an inhouse designed and built volumetric adsorption/desorption rig. MeCl is an essential raw material in the manufacture of silicone however all technical grades of MeCl contain concentrations (0.2 - 1.0 % wt) of dimethyl ether (DME) which poison the process. The project industrial partner had previously exhausted numerous separation methods, which all have been deemed not suitable for various reasons. Therefore, adsorption/desorption separation was proposed in this study as a potential solution with less economic and environmental impact. Pure component adsorption/desorption was carried out for DME and MeCl on six different adsorbents namely: zeolite molecular sieves (types 4 A and 5 A); silica gels (35-70 mesh, amorphous precipitated, and 35-60 mesh) and granular activated carbon (type 8-12 mesh). Subsequent binary gas mixture adsorption in batch and continuous mode was carried out on both zeolites and all three silica gels following thermal pre-treatment in vacuum. The adsorbents were tested as received and after being subjected to different thermal and vacuum pre-treatment conditions. The various adsorption studies were carried out at low pressure and temperature ranges of 0.5 - 3.5 atm and 20 - 100 °C. All adsorbents were characterised using Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDXA) to investigate their physical and chemical properties. The well-known helium (He) expansion method was used to determine the empty manifold and adsorption cell (AC) regions and respective void volumes for the different adsorbents. The amounts adsorbed were determined using Ideal gas laws via the differential pressure method. The heat of adsorption for the various adsorbate-adsorbent (A-S) interactions was calculated using a new calorimetric method based on direct temperature measurements inside the AC. Further adsorption analysis included use of various empirical and kinetic models to determine and understand the behaviour of the respective interactions. The gas purification behaviour was investigated using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC-MC) analysis. Binary gas mixture samples were syringed from the manifold iii and AC outlet before and after adsorption/desorption analysis through manual sample injections into the GC-MS to detect and quantify the presence of DME and ultimately observe for methyl chloride purification. Convincing gas purification behaviour was confirmed using two different GC columns, thus giving more confidence on the measurement reliability. From the single pure component adsorption of DME and MeCl on the as received zeolite 4A subjected to 1 h vacuum pre-treatment, both gases exhibited pseudo second order adsorption kinetics with DME exhibiting a rate constant nearly double that of MeCl thus suggesting a faster rate of adsorption. From the adsorption isotherm classification both DME and MeCl exhibited Type II and I adsorption isotherm classifications, respectively. The strength of bonding was confirmed by the differential heat of adsorption measurement, which was found to be 23.30 and 10.21 kJ mol-1 for DME and MeCl, respectively. The former is believed to adsorb heterogeneously through hydrogen bonding whilst MeCl adsorbs homogenously via van der Waal's (VDW) forces. Single pure component adsorption on as received zeolite 5A, silica gels (35-70, amorphous precipitated and 35-60) resulted in similar adsorption/desorption behaviour in similar quantities (mol kg-1). The adsorption isotherms for DME and MeCl on zeolite 5A, silica gels (35-70, amorphous precipitated and 35-60) and activated carbon 8-12 exhibited Type I classifications, respectively. Experiments on zeolite 5A indicated that DME adsorbed stronger, faster and with a slightly stronger strength of interaction than MeCl but in lesser quantities. On the silica gels adsorbents, DME exhibited a slightly greater adsorption capacity whilst adsorbing at a similar rate and strength of interaction compared to MeCl. On the activated carbon adsorbent, MeCl exhibited the greater adsorption capacity at a faster rate but with similar heats of adsorption. The effect of prolonged vacuum (15 h), thermal pre-treatment (150 °C) and extended equilibrium time (15 min) were investigated for the adsorption behaviour of DME and MeCl on both zeolites 4A and 5A, respectively. Compared to adsorption on as received adsorbents subjected to 1 h vacuum the adsorption capacities for DME and MeCl were found to increase by 1.95 % and 20.37 % on zeolite 4A and by 4.52 % and 6.69 % on zeolite 5A, respectively. In addition the empirical and kinetic models and differential heats of adsorption resulted in more definitive fitting curves and trends due to the true equilibrium position of the adsorbate with the adsorbent. Batch binary mixture adsorption on thermally and vacuum pre-treated zeolite 4A demonstrated purification behaviour of all adsorbents used for MeCl streams containing DME impurities, with a concentration as low as 0.66 vol. %. The GC-MS analysis showed no DME detection for the tested concentration mixtures at the AC outlet after 15 or 30 min, whereas MeCl was detectable in measurable amounts. Similar behaviour was also observed when carrying out adsorption in continuous mode. On the other hand, similar studies on the other adsorbents did not show such favourable MeCl purification behaviour. Overall this study investigated a wide range of adsorbents (zeolites, silica gels and activated carbon) and demonstrated for the first time potential to purify MeCl streams containing DME impurities using adsorption/desorption separation under different adsorbent pre-treatment and adsorption operating conditions. The study also revealed for the first time the adsorption isotherms, empirical and kinetic models and heats of adsorption for the respective adsorbentsurface (A-S) interactions. In conclusion, this study has shown strong evidence to propose zeolite 4A for adsorptive purification of MeCl. It is believed that with a technical grade MeCl stream competitive yet simultaneous co-adsorption of DME and MeCl occurs with evidence of molecular sieiving effects whereby the larger DME molecules are unable to penetrate through the adsorbent bed whereas the smaller MeCl molecules diffuse through resulting in a purified MeCl stream at the AC outlet. Ultimately, further studies are recommended for increased adsorption capacities by considering wider operating conditions, e.g. different adsorbent thermal and vacuum pre-treatment and adsorbing at temperatures closer to the boiling point of the gases and different conditions of pressure and temperature.


A comprehensive account of economic size distributions around the world and throughout the years In the course of the past 100 years, economists and applied statisticians have developed a remarkably diverse variety of income distribution models, yet no single resource convincingly accounts for all of these models, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, similarities and differences. Statistical Size Distributions in Economics and Actuarial Sciences is the first collection to systematically investigate a wide variety of parametric models that deal with income, wealth, and related notions. Christian Kleiber and Samuel Kotz survey, compliment, compare, and unify all of the disparate models of income distribution, highlighting at times a lack of coordination between them that can result in unnecessary duplication. Considering models from eight languages and all continents, the authors discuss the social and economic implications of each as well as distributions of size of loss in actuarial applications. Specific models covered include: Pareto distributions Lognormal distributions Gamma-type size distributions Beta-type size distributions Miscellaneous size distributions Three appendices provide brief biographies of some of the leading players along with the basic properties of each of the distributions. Actuaries, economists, market researchers, social scientists, and physicists interested in econophysics will find Statistical Size Distributions in Economics and Actuarial Sciences to be a truly one-of-a-kind addition to the professional literature.


This paper investigates the financial contracting behavior of German venture capitalists against the results of recent theoretical work on the design of venture capital contracts, especially with regard to the use of convertible securities. First, we identify a special feature of the German market, namely that public-private partnership agencies require significantly lower returns than private and young venture capitalists. The latter are most likely to follow their North-American counterpart by refinancing themselves with closed-end funds. Second, with regard to financing practices it is shown that the use of convertibles, relative to other instruments, is influenced by the anticipated severity of agency problems.


Covering everything from historical and international perspectives to basic science and current clinical practice, Miller's Anesthesia, 9th Edition, remains the preeminent reference in the field. Dr. Michael Gropper leads a team of global experts who bring you the most up-to-date information available on the technical, scientific, and clinical issues you face each day - whether you're preparing for the boards, studying for recertification, or managing a challenging patient care situation in your practice. Contains fully revised and updated content throughout, including numerous new videos online. Includes four new chapters: Clinical Care in Extreme Environments: High Pressure, Immersion, and Hypo- and Hyperthermia; Immediate and Long-Term Complications; Clinical Research; and Interpreting the Medical Literature. Addresses timely topics such as neurotoxicity, palliation, and sleep/wake disorders. Streamlines several topics into single chapters with fresh perspectives from new authors, making the material more readable and actionable. Features the knowledge and expertise of former lead editor Dr. Ronald Miller, as well as new editor Dr. Kate Leslie of the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital. Provides state-of-the-art coverage of anesthetic drugs, guidelines for anesthetic practice and patient safety, new techniques, step-by-step instructions for patient management, the unique needs of pediatric patients, and much more - all highlighted by more than 1,500 full-color illustrations for enhanced visual clarity.


The Soviet war crimes trials at Krasnodar, in July 1943, and Khar′kov, in December 1943, are rarely considered, or thought to contribute to understanding of the Holocaust. This article argues that, despite their propagandist aims, unsound legal basis and silence over the specific fate of the Jews, the trials were discussed by the Soviet press in ways which anticipate understanding of the Holocaust. The picture of systematic gassings of civilians in gas vans, termed 'soul destroyers' by the Soviets, pointed to the industrialized approach to mass murder which defines the Holocaust and the camps. At Khar′kov, in journalistic reports, especially those of Konstantin Simonov and Il′ia Erenburg, the mentality of the murderers was for the first time revealed as one of bureaucratic routine and self-interest, rather than demonic or animal brutality, thus pre-empting Hannah Arendt's analysis of Adolf Eichmann as an example of the 'banality of evil'. Likewise, the defendants' insistence that they were following orders foreshadowed the same defence at Nuremberg, and this issue was addressed in the Soviet press. Despite the insight into the criminals granted by this reporting, the Nazis' targeting of the Jews in the Krasnodar and Khar′kov regions was virtually passed over in silence during the trials, but extensively discussed in articles published separately by Aleksei Nikolaevich Tolstoi. These materials enable us to trace anew the process by which the reality of the Holocaust was first apprehended.


We present a study of the stellar populations of globular clusters (GCs) in the Virgo Cluster core with a homogeneous spectroscopic catalog of 692 GCs within a major-axis distance R maj = 840 kpc from M87. We investigate radial and azimuthal variations in the mean age, total metallicity, [Fe/H], and α-element abundance of blue (metal-poor) and red (metal-rich) GCs using their co-added spectra. We find that the blue GCs have a steep radial gradient in [Z/H] within R maj = 165 kpc, with roughly equal contributions from [Fe/H] and [α/Fe], and flat gradients beyond. By contrast, the red GCs show a much shallower gradient in [Z/H], which is entirely driven by [Fe/H]. We use GC-tagged Illustris simulations to demonstrate an accretion scenario where more massive satellites (with more metal- and α-rich GCs) sink further into the central galaxy than less massive ones, and where the gradient flattening occurs because of the low GC occupation fraction of low-mass dwarfs disrupted at larger distances. The dense environment around M87 may also cause the steep [α/Fe] gradient of the blue GCs, mirroring what is seen in the dwarf galaxy population. The progenitors of red GCs have a narrower mass range than those of blue GCs, which makes their gradients shallower. We also explore spatial inhomogeneity in GC abundances, finding that the red GCs to the northwest of M87 are slightly more metal-rich. Future observations of GC stellar population gradients will be useful diagnostics of halo merger histories.


Most leading securities regulation scholars argue that compensating securities fraud victims is inefficient. They maintain that because diversified investors that trade frequently are as likely to gain from trading in fraud-tainted stocks as they are to suffer harm from doing so, these investors should have no expected net losses from fraud over the long term. This assertion, which analogizes trading in fraud-tainted stocks to participating in a coin toss game in which players win $1 on heads and lose $1 on tails, is problematic for a number of reasons. First, even if we accept this analogy, probability theory holds that as the number of trials (in this context, purchases and sales of fraud-tainted stock) increases, the lower the probability of being break-even. Second, though true that with increased trials, the likelihood of the proportion of gains and losses being roughly equal will increase, investors generally do not engage in enough trading activity to have a reasonable degree of certainty of reaching the expected proportion of equal gains and losses. Finally, given the variation in fraud-related gains and losses in each stock trade (i.e., the payoffs are not constant), the coin toss analogy is inappropriate. This study, using observational data and computer simulated trading data on 14 investor prototypes, sets out to test the conventional wisdom and reveals not only that undiversified individual investors can suffer significant net losses from securities fraud over a 10-year period, but also that large numbers of diversified institutional investors can, as well. These results refute the claims of fraud compensation opponents who assert that a diversified investor that engages in active trading should suffer little or no fraud-related net harm over the long term and that individual investors can protect themselves fully from fraud-related net harm by investing through mutual funds or other intermediaries.


Regulatory T cells engage in the maintenance of immunological self-tolerance by actively suppressing self-reactive lymphocytes. Little is known, however, about the molecular mechanism of their development. Here we show that Foxp3, which encodes a transcription factor that is genetically defective in an autoimmune and inflammatory syndrome in humans and mice, is specifically expressed in naturally arising CD4+ regulatory T cells. Furthermore, retroviral gene transfer of Foxp3 converts naïve T cells toward a regulatory T cell phenotype similar to that of naturally occurring CD4+ regulatory T cells. Thus, Foxp3is a key regulatory gene for the development of regulatory T cells.


The study of rhomboid-shaped fully packed loop configurations (RFPLs) is inspired by the work of Fischer and Nadeau on triangular fully packed loop configurations (TFPLs). By using the same techniques as they did some nice combinatorics for RFPLs arise. To each RFPL and to each oriented RFPL a quadruple of binary words (α ,β ;γ ,δ ) – its so-called boundary – is assigned. There are necessary conditions for the boundary of an RFPL respectively an oriented RFPL. For instance, it has to fulfill the inequality $d(γ )+d(δ )\geq(α )+d(β )+\vert α \vert _0\vert β \vert _1$, where $\vert α \vert _i $ denotes the number of occurrences of $i=0,1$ in α and d(α ) denotes the number of inversions of α . Furthermore, the number of ordinary RFPLs with boundary (α ,β ;γ ,δ ) can be expressed in terms of oriented RFPLs with the same boundary. Finally, oriented RFPLs with boundary (α ,β ;γ ,δ ) such that $d(γ )+d(δ )=d(α )+d(β )+\vert α \vert _0\vert β \vert _1$ are considered. They are in bijection with rhomboid-shaped Knutson-Tao puzzles. Also, Littlewood-Richardson tableaux of defect d are defined. They can be understood as a generalization of Littlewood-Richardson tableaux. Those tableaux are in bijection with rhomboid-shaped Knutson-Tao puzzles.


Recently, an option-based risk management (OBRiM) framework has been proposed to control risk and maximize value in IT-investment decisions. While the framework is prescriptive in nature, its core logic rests on a set of normative risk-option mappings for choosing which particular real options to embed in an investment in order to control specific risks. This study tests empirically whether these mappings are observed in practice. The research site is a large Irish financial services organization with well established IT risk management practices not tied to any real options framework. Our analysis of the risk management plans developed for a broad portfolio of 50 IT investments finds ample empirical support for OBRiM's risk-option mappings. This shows that IT managers follow the logic of option-based risk management, though purely based on intuition. Unfortunately, reliance on this logic based on intuition alone could lead to suboptimal or counterproductive risk management practices. We therefore argue that managerial intuition ought to be supplemented with the use of formal real option models, which allow for better quantitative insights into which risk mitigations to pursue and combine in order to effectively address the risks most worth controlling.


This qualitative research project aimed to explore the experiences of women who were actively involved in both studying and motherhood roles. Interviews were conducted with twelve women who were involved in formal tertiary study, either on a full-time or part-time basis, and had a pre-school aged child . One semi-structured in-depth interview was conducted with each woman over a three month period . Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and later analysed using thematic analysis practices. Through analysing the expenences of these women, eight organising themes arose signifying areas of importance to the participants. The eight themes described how their children influenced their decision to study at this time in their Jives, what they personally derive from their role as student, their satisfaction and difficulties with childcare, the support they receive from both family and friends , the benefits they experience from combining these roles, the spillover experienced from combining these roles, the impact they believe this has on their children and their own health and well-being and the feelings of support they experienced from other students in similar circumstances . The common view shared by these women is that although occupying multiple roles does indeed bring additional stressors and strains to their daily lives, it also provides rewards which would not be enjoyed through each role individually . Suggestions are presented from which tertiary institutions can work to further assist and accommodate the changing nature and needs of their student population, namely women with young children.


Ethics and Information Technology focuses on the ethical dilemmas that exist where human beings, information objects, and social computing technologies interact. The course explores emerging ethical models from historical and cross-cultural perspectives and then applies these models to a variety of new and emerging technologies that are inherently social in their construction and use. Initial examples of issues that the course covers in discrete modules include: the integrity of digital content in a networked world; identity and avatars; and interpersonal engagement through online games and virtual environments. Students explore the technological underpinnings of associated technology systems, experiment with individual and group interaction with technologies, and examine the mechanics of ethical and unethical behaviors.


A new redox couple, [Cu(bpye)2]+/2+, has been synthesized, and applied in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Overall efficiencies of 9.0% at 1 sun and 9.9% at 0.5 sun were obtained, which are considerably higher than those obtained for cells containing the reference redox couple, [Co(bpy)3]2+/3+. These results represent a record for copper-based complex redox systems in liquid DSSCs. Fast dye regeneration, sluggish recombination loss processes, faster electron self-exchange reactions and suitable redox potentials are the main reasons for the observed increase in efficiency. In particular, the main disadvantage of cobalt complex-based redox couples, charge-transport problems, appears to be resolved by a change to copper complex redox couples. The results make copper complex-based redox couples very promising for further development of highly efficient DSSCs.


This reexamination of Josef Hoffmann's Purkersdorf Sanatorium (Purkersdorf, Austria, 1904-1905) takes as its starting point the fact that Hoffmann's building was built as part of a complex founded by the psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing as a sanatorium for nervous ailments. Krafft-Ebing believed that the modern metropolis was ruining the nervous health of its inhabitants and called for the widespread establishment of sanatoriums to treat the nervous case. The article proposes that Krafft-Ebing's appeal to the healing power of light, air, nature, simplicity, and regularity influenced Hoffmann's design for the Purkersdorf Sanatorium. Also influential, it argues, was the fact that around 1900 the scientific basis of Krafft-Ebing's physical approach to neurosis was being shaken by Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic method. The self-consciously "technological" aspects of Hoffmann's design helped to reinforce the perception among patients that their ailments were being treated in a rational, fact-based manner.


INTERACT - Researching Third Country Nationals? Integration as a Three-way Process - Immigrants, Countries of Emigration and Countries of Immigration as Actors of Integration


Emergency assistance requires the timely delivery of relevant patient data in order to improve high quality of treatment. For this, both physicians and patients can benefit from access to services and data via mobile devices, and the underlying system must be able to detect the most suitable services based on the current context of their user. From a systems point of view agent tech- nology, semantic Web Services, peer-to-peer techniques, and mobile computing provide the basis for a novel type of software architecture which facilitates ad- vanced service co-ordination, that is, provision, discovery, composition, and exe- cution of services. The CASCOM project has developed a software architecture that combines all these aspects to provide value-added support for business ser- vice providers and users across mobile and fixed networks, especially for e-health environments. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we introduce the CASCOM system that seamlessly combines the aforementioned technologies in an innovative way. Second, we report on the evaluation of the system in real world settings in the emergency health care domain.


An electron temperature and a volume-averaged plasma density are experimentally investigated for various argon gas pressure and rf power in permanent-magnets-expanding plasma sources with two different diameters of 6.6 cm and 13.3 cm for the purpose of performance improvement of a electrodeless, magnetically expanding plasma thruster. The results are compared with a global model using particle balance and power balance equations. The theoretical values are in fair agreement with the measured ones. The experimental and modeled results suggest that a ~50 percent increase in the thrust from the electron pressure can be achieved by the enlargement of the source diameter from 6.6 to 13.3 cm.


In the aftermath of the May Fourth movement, a growing expectation of revolution raised important intellectual issues about the position of the individual within a society in turmoil and the shifting boundaries of political and sexual identities. The theme of revolution plus love, a literary response to the widespread insurrections and upheaval, was first popularized in the late 1920s. In her examination of this popular but understudied literary formula, Liu Jianmei argues that revolution and love are culturally variable entities, their interplay a complex and constantly changing literary practice that is socially and historically determined. Liu looks at the formulary writing of "revolution plus love" from the 1930s to the 1970s as a case study of literary politics. Favored by leftist writers during the early period of revolutionary literature, it continued to influence mainstream Chinese literature up to the 1970s. By drawing a historical picture of the articulation and rearticulation of this theme, Liu shows how changes in revolutionary discourse force unpredictable representations of gender rules and power relations, and how women's bodies reveal the complex interactions between political representation and gender roles. Revolution Plus Love is a nuanced and carefully considered work on gender and modernity in China, unmatched in its broad use of literary resources. It will be of considerable interest to scholars and students of modern Chinese literature, women's studies, cultural studies, and comparative literature.


The recent wave of terrorist attacks has increased the attention paid to money laundering activities. Using several methodologies, this paper investigates empirically the determinants of money laundering and its regulation in over 80 countries by assembling a cross-country dataset on proxies for money laundering and the prevalence of feeding activities. The paper additionally constructs specific money laundering regulation indices based on available information on laws and their mechanisms of enforcement and measures their impact on money laundering proxies. The paper finds that tougher money laundering regulations, particularly those that criminalize feeding activities and improve disclosure, are linked to lower levels of money laundering across countries; the results are robust to potential endogeneity of money laundering regulation. The relevance of historical factors in explaining the variation of money laundering regulation across countries sheds light on theories of institutions and provides room for further action, particularly in the areas of the law that improve the impact of criminalization, including liability of intermediaries, reductions of the burden of proof and better disclosure.