Imogolite is a tubular aluminosilicate which is common in Andosols and Spodosols. The high pH at point-of-zero charge at the outer parts of the tube and the anomalously high chloride adsorption of imogolite suggested that there may be structural charge associated with this mineral. The structural charge may arise because of changes in bond valence imposed by the incorporation of orthosilicate anions in a gibbsite-type sheet. By using a Basic Stem Model approach, it is shown that the surface charge properties of imogolite are explained if the mean Al-O bond valence of the outer -Al2OH groups is higher than the inner -Al2OHSiO3 groups. Hence, a weak positive charge is developed on the outer tube walls whereas a negative charge develops in the tubular pores. The best model fits were obtained where either one or two units of structural charge per unit cell of tube were assumed. The model may also explain why imogolite tubes are normally aggregated in large bundles in close hexagonal packing, because bound counterions may hold the tubes together. However, to arrive at good model descriptions, the deprotonation of -Al2OH groups must occur at a higher pH than that expected when assuming that all surface oxygens form two hydrogen bridges with H2O. A more precise structure of imogolite is required to test fully this hypothesis.


Abstract This study investigated the efficacy of an intervention program (the Depression Prevention Program for Children), which was successful overall in preventing depressive symptoms in 5th and 6th grade children, for a subset of those children-those whose parents have divorced. The 12-week program taught cognitive and social problem solving skills to children in group sessions conducted in their middle schools. There were 59 children in the treatment group-thirty-one (31) children from intact families and 28 children whose parents were divorced. The children completed the Children's Depression Inventory at pretest, posttest, and at 6-month intervals after completion for a 2-year period. The program was effective in preventing depressive symptoms in both groups. However, there was a significant group × time interaction, indicating that for children of divorce, the effectiveness may begin to diminish over time. These findings are discussed in terms of the various factors which might influence the respon...


In Australia, alcohol and sport are intimately linked. Alcohol is used to celebrate a win, to commiserate a loss and to reinforce the camaraderie and mateship amongst teams (Australian Drug Foundation, 2004, pp. 1). Almost two thirds of Australian youth are involved in organised sports (ABS, 2006). Despite the sporting environment providing numerous benefits, there is a strong link between sport and alcohol in Australian culture (Duff, Scealy, & Rowland, 2005). Regional sporting clubs in Australia play an integral role in the formation of social capital (Atherley, 2006). However, there is concern that the regional club environment provides a setting for adolescent drinking (Duff et al., 2005). This study aimed to investigate the association between Australian adolescents' extracurricular activity participation and levels of alcohol use, and whether this relation was moderated by gender and location. Secondly, if the sport-alcohol association was found to be significant, to explore the mediational role of peers' alcohol use between adolescents' sport participation and their alcohol use. A sample of 1,158 year nine and 658 year eleven students from metropolitan and regional schools across Western Australia responded to a self-report survey which examined their sporting and non-sporting activities, their alcohol consumption, as well as perceived peer alcohol use. Activity participation profiles included sports-only, activities-only, sports-plus-activities and non-participation. A 4 (portfolio) x 2 (gender) x 2 (location) ANCOVA, indicated that location significantly moderated the link between participation profile and drinking, controlling for age effects, F(3,1767)=3.46, p < .05. Regional students participating in sports-only (M=2.23, SD=1.54) or sports-plus-activities (M=2.00, SD=1.26) reported significantly higher levels of drinking compared to students in activities-only (M=1.67, SD=1.00) or non-participants (M=1.68, SD=1.16), whereas metropolitan students, participating in sports-only (M=2.03, SD=1.39), reported significantly higher levels of alcohol use than all other profiles of activities. Peers' level of alcohol use significantly mediated the positive relation between sport participation and adolescent alcohol use for regional but not for metropolitan adolescents. Our results suggest that peers may play a mediational role to maintain the drinking culture associated with participating in sport among regional students or help to reduce drinking rates among metropolitan students who combine sport with non-sporting activities. The regional environment stood out as a setting for high levels of alcohol use for students if they participated in sport. Examination of locality effects and the underlying mechanism of peer effects on adolescent alcohol use allow policymakers to identify ways to target intervention/prevention programs to reduce adolescent drinking.


Experimental shear strength research conducted cooperatively with the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratoy; Washington State University, and the Federal Highway Administration on solidsawn beams is summarized in this paper. Douglas Fir, Engelmann Spruce, and Southern Pine specimens were tested in a green condition to determine shear strength in members without checks and splits. Sizes tested ranged from nominal 51 by 102 mm to 102 by 256 mm. Additional tests were conducted on air-dried solid-sawn Douglas Fir and Southern Pine specimens. A three-point loading setup investigated the effect of splits and checks on shear strength, and a five-point loading setup investigated drying effect on beam shear. Based on the experimental tests, the following are concluded: (1) shear strength of green solid-sawn without splits varies with size and may be characterized using a shear area or volume parameter; (2) air-dried Southern Pine shear strength free of splits is equivalent to that for Southern Pine glued-laminated timber; (3) tests on seasoned Douglas Fir and Southern Pine gave mixed results on the effect of splits and checks; and (4) fracture mechanics predictions of the shear strength of artificially split Southern Pine were conservative.


The reader who cannot readily identify the meaning of CROC (Croque Monsieur? Croque Madame?) in the context of European defence can be forgiven. The flurry of activity in the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) since 2016 has generated a host of new acronyms (PESCO, CARD, EDF...), of which the CROC, the Crisis Response Operation Core, certainly is among the least known. It deserves more attention however, for it ought to be at the centre of efforts to take Permanent Structured Cooperation forward.


As the CMOS technology continues to scale into the deep sub-micron regime, the demand for higher frequencies and higher levels of integration poses a significant challenge for the clock generation and distribution design of microprocessors. Hence, skew optimization schemes are necessary to limit clock inaccuracies to a small fraction of the clock period. In this thesis, a crude deskew buffer (CDB) is designed to facilitate an adaptive deskewing scheme that reduces the clock skew in an ASIC clock network under manufacturing process, supply voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations. The crude deskew buffer adopts a DLL structure and functions on a 1GHz nominal clock frequency with an operating frequency range of 800MHz to 1.2GHz. An approximate 91.6ps phase resolution is achieved for all simulation conditions including various process corners and temperature variation. When the crude deskew buffer is applied to seven ASIC clock networks with each under various PVT variations, a maximum of 67.1% reduction in absolute maximum clock skew has been achieved. Furthermore, the maximum phase difference between all the clock signals in the seven networks have been reduced from 957.1ps to 311.9ps, a reduction of 67.4%. Overall, the CDB serves two important purposes in the proposed deskewing methodology: reducing the absolute maximum clock skew and synchronizes all the clock signals to a certain limit for the fine deskewing scheme. By generating various clock phases, the CDB can also be potentially useful in high speed debugging and testing where the clock duty cycle can be adjusted accordingly. Various positive and negative duty cycle values can be generated based on the phase resolution and the number of clock phases being "hot swapped". For a 500ps duty cycle, the following values can be achieved for both the positive and negative duty cycle: 224ps, 316ps, 408ps, 592ps, 684ps, and 776ps.


MaizeCODE is a project aimed at identifying and analyzing functional elements in the maize genome. In its initial phase, MaizeCODE assayed up to five tissues from four maize strains (B73, NC350, W22, TIL11) by RNA-Seq, Chip-Seq, RAMPAGE, and small RNA sequencing. To facilitate reproducible science and provide both human and machine access to the MaizeCODE data, we developed SciApps, a cloud-based portal, for analysis and distribution of both raw data and analysis results. Based on the SciApps workflow platform, we generated new components to support the complete cycle of the MaizeCODE data management. These include publicly accessible scientific workflows for reproducible and shareable analysis of various functional data, a RESTful API for batch processing and distribution of data and metadata, a searchable data page that lists each MaizeCODE experiment as a reproducible workflow, and integrated JBrowse genome browser tracks linked with workflows and metadata. The SciApps portal is a flexible platform that allows integration of new analysis tools, workflows, and genomic data from multiple projects. Through metadata and a ready-to-compute cloud-based platform, the portal experience improves access to the MaizeCODE data and facilitates its analysis.


In this pioneering work, Paul R. Abramson and Ronald Inglehart show that the gradual shiftfrom Materialist values (such as the desire for economic and physical security) to Post-materialist values (such as the desire for freedom, self-expression, and the quality of life) is in all likelihood a global phenomenon. "Value Change in Global Perspective" analyzes over thirty years worth of national surveys in European countries and presents the most comprehensive and nuanced discussion of this shift to date. By paying special attention to the way generational replacement transforms values among mass publics, the authors are able to present a comprehensive analysis of the processes through which values change.In addition, "Value Change in Global Perspective" analyzes the 1990-91 World Values Survey, conducted in forty societies representing over seventy percent of the world's population. These surveys cover an unprecedentedly broad range of the economic and political spectrum, with data from low-income countries (such as China, India, Mexico, and Nigeria), newly industrialized countries (such as South Korea) and former state-socialist countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. This data adds significant new meaning to our understanding of attitude shifts throughout the world."Value Change in Global Perspective "has been written to meet the needs of scholars and students alike. The use of percentage, percentage differences, and algebraic standardization procedures will make the results easy to understand and useful in courses in comparative politics and in public opinion.Paul R. Abramson is Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University. Ronald Inglehart is Professor of Political Science and Program Director, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.


The rapid increase followed by a steady maintenance of elevated levels of obesity in the United States is alarming and necessitates action. While behavioral treatment of obesity is showing moderate success of initial weight loss maintenance of lost weight is more common than traditional calorie restrictive dieting approaches. This is particularly relevant during the holiday season where people can gain 1-5% of their total body weight during this short period of time. Therefore it is critical that we explore additional ways to help individuals maintain their lost weight particularly during a challenging time of year.  The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of using Direct Behavior Ratings via the Internet to help individuals successfully maintain their weight immediately following completion of a treatment program over a 6-week period during the holidays. The pilot study operated within a behavioral framework to deliver evidenced based formative assessment through the use DBR as a progress monitoring and self-monitoring tool delivered via the Internet through bi-weekly emails. Additionally tailored quantitative and qualitative feedback was integrated through reports issued bi-weekly that contained graphical representations of the data in addition to therapeutic statements regarding individual progress. The pilot study consisted of a two-phase design wherein Phase I (non-experimental) was the initial treatment and Phase II (experimental) was the follow-up treatment. Phase I treatment consisted of the ASPIRE Small Changes Program utilizing cognitive behavioral therapy with the Traffic Light Diet and pedometers for physical activity. Initially 16 participants were recruited from the ASPIRE Small Changes Program at East Carolina University's Psychological Assessment and Specialty Services (PASS) clinic; 14 participants were included in the final analysis.  At the conclusion of treatment group level weight maintenance was achieved. In addition strong relationships were noted between the variables of red foods and green foods and compliance indicating participants who reported higher levels of success in meeting red and green food goals were also more likely to complete and return ratings as hypothesized. A strong relationship between weight change in Phase I and ratings of success in meeting red green and step count goals was evident.  The weight maintenance achieved in our pilot sample provides promise for future utilization of DBR as a follow-up treatment delivered via the Internet. Based on our preliminary data there is reason to believe success in Phase I of treatment can encourage long term maintenance of dietary balance with minimal intervention. The findings of our pilot sample offer additional insight into the treatment of obesity and overweight with particular relevance to achieving follow-up weight maintenance. Subsequent research should continue to explore the utility of DBR for self-monitoring of healthy weight behaviors and the modality of the Internet for treatment delivery.


This research explains about how to implement the "6AS" concept (analysis, awareness, acceptability, affordability, availability, and assimilability) in the brand management endeavor in its relation to strategic management concept, which is renowned as Integrated Brand Strategy. The writer uses a qualitative analysis through-out the research by conducting observations, interview>, and by collecting data and theories from literature and internet. The analysis is meant to generate a solution to mediocrity in brand management conduct in consumer-electronic industry, especially in East Kalimantan. Firstly, the research discuss about the role of brand management in strategic management. Then, the writer explains about the implementation of the "6AS" in all strategic layers of management, in accordance with the Integrated Brand Strategy in the aspect of People, Process, and Tools. Finally, the writer goes into the specific area (East Kalimantan), whose position in strategic layers is at the business and functional level, and discusses the implementation of "6AS" in the field.


Legumes are good sources of protein and are rich in lysine and tryptophan, which are limiting amino acids in cereals. Common legumes include sugar beans, soya beans and cowpeas. Although soya beans are an important commercial legume, cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) varieties grown by some communities in developing countries have many food and non-food uses. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of soaking, dehulling and boiling on the protein, polyphenolic and antinutrient content of cowpea varieties, namely CBC2 and CBC4. Phenols, tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids and saponins were present in the cowpea varieties. Boiling caused a significant (p≤0.05) decrease in the protein content of both cowpea varieties. Soaking for 24 hours resulted in an insignificant (p>0.05) change in the protein content of CBC2, but significantly (p≤0.05) decreased the protein content of CBC4. On the other hand, dehulling seeds soaked for 6 hours resulted in a significant increase (p≤0.05) in the protein content of both varieties. Boiling caused a significant decrease (p≤0.05) in total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and content of condensed tannins and saponins in both cowpea varieties. Also, soaking for 6, 12, 18 and 24 hours significantly (p≤0.05) decreased the content of these phytochemicals. The greatest losses in TPC, TFC, condensed tannins and saponins for both varieties were observed in seeds soaked for 6 hours and dehulled samples. The results of this study show that boiling, soaking and dehulling reduced the protein, polyphenolic and antinutrient content of the cowpea varieties.


As Japan emerges from a lost decade of economic stagnation, attention is also focusing on its corporate governance system. Shareholders are gaining ground vis--vis other stakeholders. This is also evident in a plethora of legislative reforms culminating in the consolidated Company Law of 2005, leading some to proclaim the Americanisation of Japanese Law. Part I of this paper outlines two pairs of views. It confirms significant but gradual transformation towards a more market-driven system, involving some modes of change paralleled elsewhere. In assessing change more broadly, Part II urges care in selecting the temporal timeframe and countries to compare, balancing blackletter law and wider socio-economic context, disclosing normative preferences, and focusing on processes as well as outcomes.


This article studies the relation between rural-urban migration and chances on (upward and downward) social mobility of different social groups from the perspective of the sending countryside and not of the receiving city, utilizing two datasets regarding people born in the Groningen clay soil region (the Netherlands). Applying a revised version of HISCLASS for social stratification, it compares the social mobility of urban migrants with those staying in the countryside. Analysis of both databases shows distinct social differences in rural-urban migration, with children from non-agrarian rural elite families moving very frequently to a city, whereas – despite restricted job opportunities in agriculture – children from farmers and unskilled (farm) labourers were much less attracted by urban centres. Children from lower managers, skilled and lower-skilled workers in industry and services were taking an intermediate position. For all social groups (except for children of farmers), male urban migrants had on average a better social mobility performance than rural stayers, whereas for females the differences were rather limited. Especially children of unskilled workers, who relatively rarely went to large cities, were far more successful than rural stayers, suggesting positive selection. For Groningen, the findings oppose the pessimistic view of nineteenth and early-twentieth century rural-urban migrants mainly being pushed to the city by local circumstances, although their social opportunities in the countryside were indeed limited. The detailed database shows also that even a temporary movement to the city resulted on average in an improved social mobility performance, an indication that urban migrants of nearly all social backgrounds often accrued extra human capital during their stay in a large city.


Atrial tracking pacemakers may improve exercise capacity and symptoms because they maintain atrioventricular synchrony and preserve the physiological response of heart rate to exercise. A rate responsive pacemaker which reacts to physical activity may be effective in patients with sinus node disease who are unsuitable for VDD pacing. At least three months after implant a double blind randomised short and long term crossover study was performed in ten patients with complete heart block: block was present at rest and during exercise on a modified Bruce protocol. Symptoms were assessed on a visual analogue scale and exercise capacity (maximal oxygen consumption and anaerobic threshold) was measured during rate responsive (peak rate 125/min) and conventional fixed rate (VVI) pacing (70/min). One month after randomisation treadmill exercise was performed. The mode was then changed to the other pacing mode and exercise was repeated three hours later. After another month the process was repeated but in the reverse order. During long term assessment there was subjective improvement in the sensation of breathlessness with rate responsive pacing. During short term assessment maximal oxygen consumption increased and the benefit was maintained during long term rate responsive compared with long term VVI pacing; oxygen consumption at the anaerobic threshold was similarly improved. Activity detecting rate responsive pacing is better than fixed rate ventricular pacing in patients with complete atrioventricular block.


Electro-acupuncture (EA) performed in rats and humans using front-limb acupuncture sites, LI-4 and LI-11, and Du-14 and Du-20 increased functional connectivity between the anterior hypothalamus and the amygdala and mobilized mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) into the systemic circulation. In human subjects, the source of the MSC was found to be primarily adipose tissue whereas in rodents the tissue sources were considered more heterogeneous. Pharmacological disinhibition of rat hypothalamus enhanced sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation and similarly resulted in a release of MSC into the circulation. EA-mediated SNS activation was further supported by browning of white adipose tissue in rats. EA treatment of rats undergoing partial rupture of the Achilles tendon resulted in reduced mechanical hyperalgesia, increased serum IL-10 levels and tendon remodeling, effects blocked in propranolol-treated rodents. To distinguish the afferent role of the peripheral nervous system, phosphoinositide-interacting regulator of transient receptor potential channels (Pirt)-GCaMP3 (genetically encoded calcium sensor) mice were treated with EA directed at hind limb immune points, ST-36 and Liv-3 and resulted in a rapid activation of primary sensory neurons. EA activated sensory ganglia and SNS centers to mediate the release of MSC that can enhance tissue repair, increase anti-inflammatory cytokine production and provide pronounced analgesic relief. Salazar et al. Page 2 Stem Cells. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2018 May 01. A uhor M anscript


Mesoderm induction in the amphibian embryo can be studied by exposing animal region explants (destined to become ectoderm) to appropriate stimuli and assaying the appearance of mesodermal products like alpha-actin messenger RNA. Transforming growth factor beta 2 (TGF-beta 2), but not TGF-beta 1, was active in alpha-actin induction, while addition of fibroblast growth factor had a small synergistic effect. Medium conditioned by Xenopus XTC cells (XTC-CM), known to have powerful mesoderm-inducing activity, was shown to contain TGF-beta-like activity as measured by a radioreceptor binding assay, colony formation in NRK cells, and growth inhibition in CCL64 cells. The activity of XTC-CM in mesoderm induction and in growth inhibition of CCL64 cells was inhibited partially by antibodies to TGF-beta 2 but not by antibodies to TGF-beta 1. Thus, a TGF-beta 2-like molecule may be involved in mesoderm induction.


This thesis presents the modelling and control of a high gear ratio robotic manipulator mounted on a heavier moving base which is subject to base dist urbances. The manipulator motion is assumed not to affect the base motion. The problem o f a robotic manipulator on a non-inertial base can be applied to operation on sea vessel s or all-terrain vehicles, where the base motion is unknown and cannot be used as a feed-forwar d signal to the model. A dynamic model is derived for the PA10-6CE manipulator with t he assumption of a fixed base and the model terms are analysed numerically when compa ring the simulation and experimental results. Based on the obtained results a set of m odel based controllers is compared to a basic proportional and derivative type contro ller to evaluate the trajectory tracking gains and trade-offs. The dynamic model is extended to the case of a manipulator on a moving base and numerical comparisons of simulation and experimental result s are used to verify the model validity and the significance of the various model terms. Fro m the results of this study a set of model based controllers is obtained. A novel adaptiv e scheme is then proposed for compensation of an unknown and varying gravity accelera tion vector acting on the manipulator base. Controllers based on using an additional s ensor output are compared with static and adaptive gravity controllers and the latter proved to be superior in terms of trajectory tracking performance.


Globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus L. var. scolymus Fiori) is an economically important crop in the Mediterranean basin and particularly in Italy, which is a leading producer. In this research, we studied the effect of extended photoperiod (15 and 17 h) on polyphenolic, flavonoids, lignin concentrations, and antioxidant activity in edible and inedible organs of artichoke. The influence of day length on morphological traits and biomass accumulation was also assessed. The total phenolic content of whole plants grown under natural day length conditions exceeds that of photoperiod extended for 15 and 17 h by 31% and 32.4%, respectively. The decrease of total phenols was high in inner bracts at photoperiods of 15 and 17 h, whereas the differences among treatments in receptacle were negligible. Antioxidant activity and total flavonoids followed the same trend observed for total phenols. The amount of lignin was dependent on the tissue. In the control, the content of lignin ranged from 0.4 to 2.8 g/100 g of dry weight in receptacle and leaves of rosette, whereas in the 15-h treatment, it ranged from 0.3 to 5.1 g/100 g DW in floral steam and leaves of peduncle, respectively. Fifteen-hour day length significantly reduced the lignin content in receptacle and floral stem. Head morphology was little influenced by photoperiod, whereas significant differences were obtained in floral stem diameter, showing larger values in natural conditions compared to photoperiodic treatments. C and N were also affected by photoperiod.


This work represents a study of the Ʌ π π final state of KN interactions between 0.620 and 0.870 GeV/c incident laboratory momentum. Data obtained from a Hydrogen bubble chamber exposure has been used to obtain channel cross-sections for the reaction k (^-) p → Ʌπ(^+)π(^-). Study of the Ʌπ(^+)π(^-) Dalitz plot reveals that in addition to E(^+) (1385) and E(^-) (1385) isobar production, final state π π S-wave interaction ('e') is present. Assuming a model of incoherent addition, quasi-two body descriptions for each of the π(^+) E(^-) (1385), π(^-)E(^+) (1385) and 'E' Ʌ channels are extracted. Subsequent consideration of the πE(1385) quasi two-body channels reveals evidence for strong Δ(1690) formation. Combining the newly obtained data with that previously published for the πE(1385) channels, an energy dependant partial ave analysis is performed. Resonant amplitudes of the SO1(1670), D13(1670), D13(1678) and DO3(1690) states are determined. Consideration of the DD03 and DS03 partial wave amplitudes for the DO3(1690) state, indicates substantial Ʌ(^4)8(_3) – Ʌ(^2)8(_3) mixing within SU(^6) w O O (3). In addition, a comparison is given between the amplitudes Y(^*) states observed in the partial wave analysis and those predicted by the Isgur-Karl Model.


The Twin Lakes Enlargement and Rehabilitation Project involves an enlarged embankment replacing a two-tiered reservoir system with a single, larger-volume reservoir and new appurtenances. By raising the dam crest to an elevation higher than the two existing dams, the reservoir capacity will be increased. A labyrinth spillway will increase the spillway capacity to handle the probable maximum flood (PMF). A new telemetry system will help reduce the waste of city water by allowing remote control of the outlet works. This paper describes how the project was designed to take advantage of the existing glacial topography and optimize the use of on-site glacial materials. Design of the spillway and outlet works are also discussed.


More recent and extensive food web studies have questioned some of the prevailing paradigms of food web theory. Yet with few exceptions, most food webs and associated metrics are reported for freshwater or terrestrial systems. I analyzed the food web of the Northeast US Shelf ecosystem across a large spatial and temporal extent. This speciose food web exhibits a predator:prey ratio (0.95) and percentage of intermediate species (89%) similar to most other food webs. Other statistics, such as the percentage of omnivory (62%), percentage of cannibalistic species (31%), num- ber of cycles (5%), and the total number of links (L; 1562) and species (S; 81) are similar to more recent and extensively studied food webs. Finally, this food web exhibits a linkage density (L/S; 19.3), connectivity (C; 48.2%), and Lyapunov stability proxy (S × C; 39.1) that are an order of magnitude higher than other webs or are disproportionate to the number of species observed in this system. Although the exact S and C relationship is contentious, the connectivity of food webs with more than 40 species is approximately 10%, which is very different from the near 50% observed for this ecosys- tem. The openness of marine ecosystems, lack of specialists, long lifespans, and large size changes across the life histories of many marine species can collectively make marine food webs more highly connected than their terrestrial and freshwater counterparts, contrary to food web theory. Changes in connectivity also have ramifications for ecosystem functioning and Lyapunov stability. The high con- nectivity of this food web and the mathematical determinants for stability are consistent with the weak nature of species interactions that have been observed and that are required for system persis- tence. Yet the historically high exploitation rates of marine organisms obfuscate our understanding of marine food web stability. It is possible that marine food webs are inherently very different from their terrestrial or freshwater counterparts, implying the need for modified paradigms of food web theory.


Sparse coding---that is, modelling data vectors as sparse linear combinations of basis elements---is widely used in machine learning, neuroscience, signal processing, and statistics. This paper focuses on learning the basis set, also called dictionary, to adapt it to specific data, an approach that has recently proven to be very effective for signal reconstruction and classification in the audio and image processing domains. This paper proposes a new online optimization algorithm for dictionary learning, based on stochastic approximations, which scales up gracefully to large datasets with millions of training samples. A proof of convergence is presented, along with experiments with natural images demonstrating that it leads to faster performance and better dictionaries than classical batch algorithms for both small and large datasets.


The impact of information release from public report announcements has been widely investigated in many commodity markets, but little attention has been paid to the lumber market. In this paper, we use generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models to examine the effect of two housing market reports, namely the New Residential Construction (Housing Starts) and the New Residential Sales reports, on the U.S. lumber futures market from 2000 to 2017. Our results suggest that the housing starts report indeed affects lumber market volatility, while the new home sales report exerts a minor impact. We further find that the effect of the two reports decreases with inventory levels and differs depending on the nature of the news. When the level of inventory is low, larger-than-expected housing starts has a more substantial effect than lower-than-expected housing starts. During periods of abundant stocks, however, lower-than-expected housing starts increase the volatility more than larger-than-expected news. For the new home sales reports, we find that while lower-than-expected sales do not affect lumber price volatility, larger-than-expected sales do increase the volatility.


Composites of polyaniline with calcium carbonate particles (PANI/CaCO3) with different CaCO3 content (0-40 %w/w) were prepared. Two different methods of in situ polymerization and solution mixing were used for PANI/CaCO3 composite preparation. The composite was characterized using FT-IR, SEM, electrical conductivity measurement and cyclic voltammetry techniques. The incorporation of CaCO3 particles in polyaniline matrix in both methods of composite preparation was confirmed by FTIR results. Electrical conductivity measurements showed that the conductivity of the composite decreases by increasing the CaCO3 loading in polyaniline. Also, the anticorrosive property of the PANI/CaCO3 composite coating on iron samples was investigated in various corrosive environments. According to the results, the corrosion rate or corrosion current of PANI/CaCO3 composite coated iron coupons was much lower (96.75%) than polyaniline coated samples. Also, results showed that the corrosion current of composite coated samples varies with the variation of the CaCO3 content in composite coating, and the optimum CaCO3 content of composite coating to achieve the best anticorrosive performance on iron is 10 %w/w.


In the EU's fast-growing Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, the principle of mutual recognition should play a key role in the field of judicial cooperation in criminal matters.Since mutual recognition was enshrined as a cornerstone of judicial cooperation in the EU by the European Council of Tampere in 1999, an increasing number of binding instruments based on this principle have been adopted in the framework of the EU's Third Pillar.The considerable impact of those instruments on national criminal legal systems has often required a major effort by Member States in adjusting their national legislation so that it complies with the new mechanisms agreed at EU level.

What are the real difficulties encountered by Member States in the transposition of these legislative texts into national law and, even earlier, when the texts are being negotiated within the Council of the EU? What lessons can be learned from the early years of their practical implementation by the competent judicial authorities? And, above all, what will be the future role and scope of the principle of mutual recognition in criminal matters in Europe?The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the adoption of a new multi-annual programme (replacing the Hague Programme) to strengthen the EU's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice are both pending. In this crucial time of transition and uncertainty, the book seeks to provide answers to the above questions and many other related issues.

Through its country by country approach covering the vast majority of the Member States, it intends to provide policymakers, practitioners, academics and researchers with a comprehensive analysis of the problems that have emerged and the solutions envisaged by each State in their implementation of mutual recognition instruments. The country chapters are followed by a final EU-wide analysis that seeks to identify common themes and obstacles and to consider future options and possible scenarios.

The whole study, based on in-depth research combined with interviews conducted with hundreds of practitioners and experts from across the EU, amounts to a remarkable team performance carried out together with academics and researcher members of ECLAN (European Criminal Law Academic Network).


In this article we have introduced the mathematical theory of multistep optimal homotopy asymptotic method (MOHAM). The proposed method is implemented to different models having system of partial differential equations (PDEs). The results obtained by proposed method are compared with Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM) and closed form solutions. The comparisons of these results show that MOHAM is simpler in applicability, effective, explicit, control the convergence through optimal constants, involve less computational work. The MOHAM is independent of the assumption of initial conditions and small parameters like Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM), HAM, Variational Iteration Method (VIM), Adomian Decomposition Method (ADM) and Perturbation Method (PM).


Fenoxycarb 0-ethyl N-(2-(4-pheoxyphenoxy)-ethyl) carbamate is the most potent juvenile hormone analogue (JHA) against a variety of insect species including the silkworm Bombyx mori. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate the effects of this juvenile hormone on major hemolymph proteins of Bombyx mori during the fifth larval instar, by using fenoxycarb and clarifying the interactions between these proteins and the juvenile hormone. Topical applications of fenoxycarb to the fifth instar larvae of Bombyx mori were performed immediately after the fourth ecdysis (on day 0) and at the beginning of the prepupal period (on day 6). Fenoxycarb application on day 0 increased the length of instar in both sexes and induced high total protein content in the hemolymph. When fenoxycarb application was performed on day 6, there was no difference in the length of larval instar and a similar total protein amount was reached with control. Detected hemolymph proteins are grouped as follows by using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE): storage proteins (72 kDa-76 kDa), 30kDa proteins, lipophorin (230 kDa), and vitellogenins (178 kDa and 42 kDa). Our results suggest that major hemolymph proteins have different sensitivities to fenoxycarb and that application days and sex are more important factors to get response.


This paper studies the effect of demographic transitions on the economy of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The paper builds a model of multi-regions of the world and derives the path of macroeconomic variables including aggregate output, capital, labor and the saving rate as economies face a rapid shift in demographics. The timing and the extent of the demographic transition differ across regions. The model is simulated under both closed economy and open economy assumptions to quantify the roles played by factor mobility across regions in shaping capital accumulation and equilibrium factor prices.


BACKGROUND
Vascular access is a necessary prerequisite for REBOA placement in patients with severe hemorrhagic shock.

METHODS
During an EVTM workshop, 10 Special Forces (SOF) medics, five combat nurses, four military nonsurgeon physicians, and four military surgeons participated in our training program. The military surgeons functioned as the control group. A formalized curriculum was constructed including basic anatomy and training in access materials for resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) placement. Key skills were (1) preparation of endovascular toolkit, (2) achieving vascular access in the model, and (3) bleeding control with REBOA.

RESULTS
The baseline knowledge of anatomy for SOF medics was significantly less than that for nurses and physicians. Medics had a median time of 3:59 minutes to sheath insertion; nurses, 2:47; physicians, 2:34; and surgeons, 1:39. Military surgeons were significantly faster than medics and military nurses (ρ = .037 resp. 0.034). Medics had a median total time from start to REBOA inflation of 5:05 minutes; nurses, 4:06; military physicians, 3:36; and surgeons, 2:36.

CONCLUSION
This study showed that a comprehensive theoretical and practical training program using a task training model can be used for percutaneous femoral access and REBOA placement training of military medical personnel without prior ultrasound or endovascular experience. Higher levels of training reduce procedure times.


Period and cohort effects on reports of no religious preference and religious disaffiliation are estimated. Results show that by 2006, the probability of reporting no religious preference had risen to almost .16. Additionally, the growing proportion of Americans raised with no religious preference substantially influences the increase in reporting no religious preference. Two recently developed analysis techniques for disentangling period and cohort effects are used: intrinsic estimator models and cross-classified, random-effects models. Results show (1) period-based increases in the probability of reporting no religious preference from 1990 to 2006, (2) across-cohort increases in no religious preference beginning with those born in the 1940s, and (3) a decline in the likelihood of religious disaffiliation (being raised with a religious preference but currently reporting no religious preference) for those born in the 1960s and 1970s compared to those born between 1945 and 1959.


This paper analyzes the effect of various innovation strategies of firms on their future performance, captured by labour productivity. Using five waves of the Community Innovation Survey in Sweden, we have traced the innovative behaviour of firms over a decade, i.e. from 2002 to 2012. We distinguish between sixteen innovation strategies, which compose of Schumpeterian four types of innovations, i.e. process, product, marketing, and organizational (simple innovation strategies) plus various combinations of these four types (complex innovation strategies). The main findings indicate that those firms that choose and afford to have a complex innovation strategy are better off in terms of their future productivity in compare with both those firms that choose not to innovative (base group) and those firms that choose simple innovation strategies. Moreover, not all types of complex innovation strategies affect the future productivity significantly; rather, there are only few of them. This necessitates a purposeful choice of innovation strategy for firms.


Background Traumatic injury is a leading contributor to the overall global burden of disease. However, there is a worldwide shortage of population data to inform understanding of non-fatal injury burden. An improved understanding of the pattern of recovery following trauma is needed to better estimate the burden of injury, guide provision of rehabilitation services and care to injured people, and inform guidelines for the monitoring and evaluation of disability outcomes. Objective To provide a comprehensive overview of patient outcomes and experiences in the first 5 years after serious injury. Design This is a population-based, nested prospective cohort study using quantitative data methods, supplemented by a qualitative study of a seriously injured participant sample. Participants All 2547 paediatric and adult major trauma patients captured by the Victorian State Trauma Registry with a date of injury from 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 who survived to hospital discharge and did not opt-off from the registry. Analysis To analyse the quantitative data and identify factors that predict poor or good outcome, whether there is change over time, differences in rates of recovery and change between key participant subgroups, multilevel mixed effects regression models will be fitted. To analyse the qualitative data, thematic analysis will be used to identify important themes and the relationships between themes. Contribution to the field The results of this project have the potential to inform clinical decisions and public health policy, which can reduce the burden of non-fatal injury and improve the lives of people living with the consequences of severe injury.


Residual Networks with convolutional layers are widely used in the field of machine learning. Since they effectively extract features from input data by stacking multiple layers, they can achieve high accuracy in many applications. However, the stacking of many layers raises their computation costs. To address this problem, we propose Network Implosion, it erases multiple layers from Residual Networks without degrading accuracy. Our key idea is to introduce a priority term that identifies the importance of a layer; we can select unimportant layers according to the priority and erase them after the training. In addition, we retrain the networks to avoid critical drops in accuracy after layer erasure. Our experiments show that Network Implosion can, for classification on CIFAR10/100 and ImageNet, reduce the number of layers by 24.00%~ 42.86% without any drop in accuracy.


Abstract This article aims at identification of the main trends in scientific literature characterising urban smart mobility, on the basis of bibliometric analysis of articles published in the ISI Web of Science and Scopus databases. The study period was set from 2000 to 2017. Authors used a basic technique of the bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature characterising urban smart mobility with the support of the VOSviewer software. The analysis included the number of publications, citation analysis, research area analysis and the most frequent keywords. The analysis led to taking notice of current research trends dealing with the urban smart mobility. The core of the paper is a theoretical framework of research trends, which was developed through a review of scientific literature. The result of this paper is a map showing the existing relationships between key terms, research areas characterising publications dealing with the urban smart mobility and intelligent transport system (ITS). "Smart city" is probably the most "in vogue", debated and analysed concept among researchers and administrative/ governmental representatives from all over the world. This multidimensional concept is mainly based on smart technology structured around few major components: smart mobility, smart environment, smart governance, smart living, and everything that targets the people's wellbeing. This work focuses on a hot topic – mobility because of its significant impact on the environment by pollution as well as living by requiring intelligent transport systems.


Trends in the 1994 Israeli elections are examined with special reference to factors which influence electoral decisions, and an explanation is presented for the decline of Histradut voting power. Key Words: Israel, Israeli political parties. Histadrut, party identification. In May 1994, the Labor party had lost, for the first time, its control of the Histadrut - the root organization of the Israeli trade unions - which it had dominated over 74 years. The 1994 election campaign was meant to be a natural sequel to the way things were up to that point. But reality proved to be different. Up to that election campaign, the Labor party - one of the two major parties in Israel and a dominant party for many years held the absolute majority votes of the Histadrut, at times as high as 75% of the votes. But in 1994, the Labor party shifted, from the majority to the minority, while it achieved merely 33% of the votes. The year 1994 will be remembered as a significant time of shock to the Histadrut. The voter's verdict has subsequently caused an essential change in the power relations within the Israeli economy. The Histadrut, which functioned not only as a trade union, but as a social movement controlling selected sectors of the Israeli economy - such as settlements, consumerism, finance, health, education and welfare - shrank to a union that represents workers. In this study we will analyze the issue of the decline in traditional status of the party in the Histadrut organization and in so doing, the weakening of the political parties apparatus and the decline of solidarity with the party by its voters on the one hand, and the rising of the personal dimension of candidates on the other hand. The main question on the agenda in this particular research is: how was this drastic change in the Histadrut possible? The answer lies in several factors: the decline in the importance of party identification, the absence of foreign affairs and security topics together with the right combination of the personal dimension of a new candidate, Chaim Ramon, young and energetic, regarded sympathetically by the press, with an easy-to-understand election issue - the promise to oppose political corruption, to reform the ill-managed apparatus, and to promote a transition to personal politics. Our research focuses, therefore, on the transition from old politics based on the party apparatus, whereby political power was founded on ideology and ideological messages constituted the linkage between voters and candidates, into a new and more popular approach to politics in which political actors were more independent and communicated with the public through the mass media and not necessarily through the party. General Background The political structure of Israel, as a democracy with many focal points of power, makes it difficult to achieve a consensus on many issues, including the economic. In addition, focal points of power in the Israeli society are independent of each other in perceptions, issues and ways of action. Therefore, they are not necessarily guided by competitive market relations of loss and gain alone, but mainly by moral value considerations, bureaucracy, organizations and trade unions. One of the focal points of power in the Israeli society is the Histadrut. The Histadrut is a unique phenomenon among worker's organizations in the Western world. Whereas in all other countries the establishment of the state preceded the foundation of its trade unions, which then had to struggle for generations to become effectively organized, in Israel the process was reversed; it was established in 1920, 28 years prior to the state's establishment. Not only that, but workers' political parties existed even before the foundation of the Histadrut, which was essentially the creative product of the incipient state's political parties. Moreover, the Histadrut was an ideological movement and also a trade union with the additional idea of actually building up a homeland for the Jewish people. …


In 2006, working with an international aid agency in Darfur, Sudan, I was part of a large yet very constrained humanitarian response operation. Having worked in many prior operations globally, this was somewhat different. Humanitarian operations established in response to the Darfur crisis were severely and deliberately hampered by the Sudanese government. In an attempt to thwart international attention to a situation that was increasingly being noted for extensive human rights violations, international and national organizations were subject to a very effective intimidation campaign. It was so successful that international agencies performed operations as if walking on eggshells. There was a tacit consensus among agencies that the best-case scenario was to strive to maintain the provision of basic services, even where this meant working around, and saying little publicly about, the rights violations that were occurring within and outside the camps. I was working on what might have been considered the most sensitive issue in that context at that time – the prolific use of sexualized violence, particularly rape, against women by parties to the conflict in Darfur. Sexualized violence in wartime is generally understood as a gendered violence, primarily impacting women and working off of gendered norms of power and inequalities between men and women. The prolific use of sexualized violence by armed actors became synonymous with the Darfur conflict in the global media in ways that had not been seen since the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The image of the raped female victim also became ubiquitous with Darfur and in many ways became a cornerstone of the multiple global advocacy movements that arose to decry what was happening there. In this highly charged political situation, the act of rape and other kinds of sexualized violence took on hyper political significance. With the eyes of the International Criminal Court on the Darfur situation at the time, and the US government also making noise about possible genocide, the act of rape, formerly prosecuted as a component of genocide in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, invoked political significance for a government that could be held culpable.


Hematopoiesis is a dynamic system that requires balanced cell division, differentiation, and death. The 2 major modes of programmed cell death, apoptosis and necroptosis, share molecular machinery but diverge in outcome with important implications for the microenvironment; apoptotic cells are removed in an immune silent process, whereas necroptotic cells leak cellular contents that incite inflammation. Given the importance of cytokine-directed cues for hematopoietic cell survival and differentiation, the impact on hematopoietic homeostasis of biasing cell death fate to necroptosis is substantial and poorly understood. Here, we present a mouse model with increased bone marrow necroptosis. Deletion of the proapoptotic Bcl-2 family members Bax and Bak inhibits bone marrow apoptosis. Further deletion of the BH3-only member Bid (to generate Vav CreBaxBakBid triple-knockout [TKO] mice) leads to unrestrained bone marrow necroptosis driven by increased Rip1 kinase (Ripk1). TKO mice display loss of progenitor cells, leading to increased cytokine production and increased stem cell proliferation and exhaustion and culminating in bone marrow failure. Genetically restoring Ripk1 to wild-type levels restores peripheral red cell counts as well as normal cytokine production. TKO bone marrow is hypercellular with abnormal differentiation, resembling the human disorder myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and we demonstrate increased necroptosis in MDS bone marrow. Finally, we show that Bid impacts necroptotic signaling through modulation of caspase-8-mediated Ripk1 degradation. Thus, we demonstrate that dysregulated necroptosis in hematopoiesis promotes bone marrow progenitor cell death that incites inflammation, impairs hematopoietic stem cells, and recapitulates the salient features of the bone marrow failure disorder MDS.


We use a large household panel for Japan (Keio Household Panel Survey) to estimate household-size economies in energy consumption. The household-size economies we obtain are significant and sizable: the per-capita energy-related spending of a two-adult household is only about two-thirds of the expenditure of a one-adult household. We use the estimates of household-size economies to explore how the demographic trend toward smaller-sized household units changes energy demand in the Japanese household sector. Between 2005 and 2010, for example, average household size in Japan decreased by about five percent. The resulting economy-wide loss in household-size economies increased energy demand in the household sector by about four percent.


Abstract. The role of extreme events in shaping the Earth's surface is one that has held the interests of Earth scientists for centuries. A catastrophic flood in a tectonically quiescent setting in eastern Australia in 2011 provides valuable insight into how semi-alluvial channels respond to such events. Field survey data (3 reaches) and desktop analyses (10 reaches) with catchment areas ranging from 0.5 to 168 km2 show that the predicted discharge for the 2011 event ranged from 415 to 933 m3 s−1, with unit stream power estimates of up to 1077 W m−2. Estimated entrainment relationships predict the mobility of the entire grain-size population, and field data suggest the localised mobility of boulders up to 4.8 m in diameter. Analysis of repeat lidar data demonstrates that all reaches (field and desktop) were areas of net degradation via extensive scouring of coarse-grained alluvium with a strong positive relationship between catchment area and normalised erosion (R2 = 0.72–0.74). The extensive scouring in the 2011 flood decreased thalweg variance significantly removing previous step pools and other coarse-grained in-channel units, forming lengths of plane-bed (cobble) reach morphology. This was also accompanied by the exposure of planar bedrock surfaces, marginal bedrock straths and bedrock steps. Post-flood field data indicate a slight increase in thalweg variance as a result of the smaller 2013 flood rebuilding the alluvial overprint with pool-riffle formation. However, the current form and distribution of channel morphological units does not conform to previous classifications of bedrock or headwater river systems. This variation in post-flood form indicates that in semi-alluvial systems extreme events are significant for re-setting the morphology of in-channel units and for exposing the underlying lithology to ongoing erosion.


Disease vectors remain a major public health challenge in spite of efforts done to control across Tanzania. Different disease vectors have been controlled and efforts are on to eradicate them but challenges are still emerging and managed. In spite of all these success, different disease vectors have been observed to have developed resistance to all classes of insecticides used in public health practices in Tanzania.Resistance reports to main different vectors have been coming throughout Tanzania. The resistance of vectors to insecticides has been of different mechanisms depending on species, insecticides and mechanisms of action of the pesticides. Social economic factors and housing style still a major factor for the distribution and foci of vector abundance. The impact of public health intervention has been observed but still disease vector existence is noticed. Careful monitoring of the public health priorities for disease vectors control should be rethought to keep the elimination track live. Different tools such as insecticides use, understanding control measures, vector distribution and human lifestyle can lead to reduced burden caused by disease vectors. This chapter has described mosquitoes, tsetse flies, soft ticks, blackflies, and houseflies in terms of distribution, abundance, control and challenges of eradication in Tanzania.


This thesis investigates the potential of User-Centered Design (UCD) and Agile to support Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) practice in product and product-service system (PSS) design. UCD tools and concepts are used to support stakeholder and needs research. Agile provides process support for collaboration and resilience. SSD tools and concepts are used to define and work within the system boundaries for sustainability. All three practices are combined in an innovation approach that supports collaborative and cross-functional design teams as they develop products and PSS. Design teams using this approach will work to satisfy the needs of customers while considering the needs of all non-customer stakeholders and the ecosphere. The full-systems context emphasized in the approach will support innovation and encourage design teams to consider services as complements to, or substitutes for, physical products.


A large number of approaches have been developed over the last four decades for identifying places of significance for biodiversity, but unfortunately this requires looking at multiple, disconnected databases and other information sources to understand the sites of importance in a particular area. To address this issue and provide a coherent, global approach, IUCN was asked to convene a worldwide consultative process to agree on an overarching methodology to identify Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) -- sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity. A Joint Task Force on Biodiversity and Protected Areas was established to finalise a standard methodology for KBA identification. This report summarises findings from a two-year survey of existing and potential end-users of the KBA standard and, in particular, of the resulting KBA data generated under it. Implications for the development of the KBA standard are then outlined.


Stratospheric O3 profiles obtained by the satellite limb sounders Aura/MLS, ENVISAT/MIPAS, ENVISAT/GOMOS, SAGE-II, SAGE-III, UARS/HALOE are compared to coincident O 3 profiles of the ground-based microwave radiometer SOMORA in Switzerland. Data from the various measurement techniques are within 10% at altitudes below 45 km. At altitudes 45–60 km, the relative O 3 differences are within a range of 50%. Larger deviations at upper altitudes are attributed to larger relative measurement errors caused by lower O 3 concentrations. The spatiotemporal characteristics of the O 3 differences (satellite – ground station) are investigated by analyzing about 2300 coincident profile pairs of Aura/MLS (retrieval version 1.5) and SOMORA. The probability density function of the O 3 differences is represented by a Gaussian normal distribution. The dependence of the O 3 differences on the horizontal distance between the sounding volumes of Aura/MLS and SOMORA is derived. While the mean bias (Aura/MLS – SOMORA) is constant with increasing horizontal distance (up to 800 km), the standard deviation of the O 3 differences increases from around 8 to 11% in the mid-stratosphere. Geographical maps yield azimuthal dependences and horizontal gradients of the O3 difference field around the SOMORA ground station. Coherent oscillations of O 3 are present in the time series of Aura/MLS and SOMORA (e.g., due to traveling planetary waves). Groundand space-based measurements often complement one another. We discuss the double differencing technique which allows both the cross-validation of Correspondence to: K. Hocke (email@example.com) two satellites by means of a ground station and the crossvalidation of distant ground stations by means of one satellite. Temporal atmospheric noise in the geographical ozone map over Payerne is significantly reduced by combination of the data from SOMORA and Aura/MLS. These analyses illustrate the synergy of ground-based and space-based measurements.


Internet disinformation, fraud and harassment have emerged as global concerns. While governments, industry, and civil society groups around the world struggle to address these concerns, there is little comparative data on public perception of the risks associated with using social media and the internet. In this memo, we analyze survey data of 154,195 participants living in 142 countries. On average, people rarely identify technology-related risks as the most prominent threats to their quality of life. But they feature prominently for a significant proportion of the global population and, naturally, feature very prominently for respondents who regularly use social media and the internet. First, we find that globally, disinformation is the single most important fear of internet and social media use and more than half (53%) of regular internet users are concerned about disinformation. Second, almost three quarters (71%) of internet users are worried about a mixture of threats, including online disinformation, fraud and harassment. Third, there is interesting variation in how concerned people are with particular internet harms: worry about the impact of disinformation is highest in North America and Europe, and lowest in East and South Asia; concern about online harassment is higher among women, and especially so among women in Latin America.


The income tax deduction for charitable contributions is limited to a fraction of reported income. Consequently, some of the contributions by large donors are not deductible in the year of the transfer, if deductible at all. Because this limit is often ignored in the empirical literature on charitable giving, the tax rate (the implicit subsidy rate) is often measured with error and this may bias estimates of the effects of the tax deduction. In addition to the errors in measuring the tax price, income and the size of gifts are also potentially measured with error; the deduction for contributions is often employed as the measure of transfers when using administrative records even though the amount contributed can be much larger, and income is often understated as the embedded accrued gains in gifts of appreciated assets are overlooked. This paper reviews the key features of the tax treatment of charitable gifts by individuals and employs panel data to explore the sensitivity of behavioral responses to taxes when measurement errors are corrected. The empirical findings suggest that giving by the rich may not be as responsive to the income tax as previously thought.


In this paper, we explore that designers can generate more effective interactions and decisions in the design process, when they use knowledge artifacts as design protocols with the following research question-- how designers could generate different types of knowledge artifacts with or without actual users in the design process? To address this, we adopt boundary objects as a theoretical foundation to argue the knowledge artifacts that designers produce. As an empirical approach, this study presents two case studies that represent the multiple knowledge artifacts between designers and users in a user-centered design projects. Based on this, it will provide feasible guidelines for designers to create effective knowledge artifacts with and without users as a design vocabulary in their actual design project settings.


OBJECTIVE
To assess whether a husband's Medicare transition leads to insurance disruptions for his wife that impact her perceived access to care, health care utilization, or health status.

DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING
Respondents were married women under age 65 from the 2003-2005 round of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N=655).

STUDY DESIGN
Instrumental variable (IV) linear and IV-probit analyses provided unbiased estimates of the effect of an insurance disruption on study outcomes. The instrument was the husband's age: (1) women with husbands who transitioned to Medicare within the previous year (age 65-66); (2) women with husbands who did not transition (60<age<65).

DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS
Respondents were surveyed via telephone and mail.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
After adjustment, women who experienced an insurance disruption due to their husband's Medicare transition had a greater probability of experiencing a change in usual clinic/provider (71 percent), delaying filling or taking fewer medications than prescribed because of cost (75 percent), going to the emergency room (52 percent), and had lower average mental health scores than women who did not experience an insurance disruption.

CONCLUSIONS
Despite consistent insurance coverage, the insurance disruption that accompanies a spouse's Medicare transition has adverse access and health care utilization consequences for women.


Diabetes mellitus is an increasingly prevalent metabolic disorder that is estimated to affect over 300 million people by 2025. Common to either type 1 or type 2 diabetes is a progressive inadequacy of functional β-cell mass. Recent studies have shown that during times of prolonged metabolic demand for insulin, the endocrine pancreas can respond by increasing β-cell mass, both by an increase in cell size and by changes in the balance of β-cell proliferation and apoptosis. Advances that further our knowledge of the molecular factors that control both β-cell proliferation and survival will be crucial for understanding the homeostasis of β-cell mass during adulthood, and are pivotal for any attempt to use instructive cues to induce the proliferation of terminally differentiated fully functional insulin-producing β-cells that are suitable for transplantation. However, no systematic study that investigates the expression profile of the islet's response to pregnancy in vivo, a physiological state of insulin resistance, has been reported thus far. In the first part of my thesis, I characterized the gene expression signature of pancreatic islets during pregnancy by performing large-scale expression profiling of islets isolated from 4to 5-month-old nonpregnant and pregnant female mice at day 14.5 of gestation, the peak of β-cell proliferation. I identified a total of 1,907 genes as differentially expressed, and demonstrated the induction of both proliferative and survival pathways in the islet during pregnancy. A comparison of our pregnancy gene set with two additional models of islet expansion suggests that diverse mechanisms can be recruited to expand islet mass. One of the genes that is required for β-cell proliferation during pregnancy in mice is the transcription factor HNF4α. In an attempt to translate knowledge gained using the pregnancy paradigm, I hypothesized that HNF4α is a human β-cell mitogen. To address this question, in the second part of my thesis, I employed adenoviralmediated overexpression of a pancreas-specific isoform of HNF4α (HNF4α8) in primary human islets. HNF4α8 stimulated β-cells to enter the cell cycle, and led to a greater than 300-fold increase in the number of β-cells that entered S-phase, without detectable change in glucose stimulated insulin secretion. However, HNF4α8 overexpressing β-cells showed signs of cell cycle arrest, caused by activation of the DNA damage response associated with replication stress, ultimately resulting in a senescence-like phenotype independent of caspase-dependent apoptosis. Overexpression of HNF4α8 together with known β-cell mitogens, also further increased cell cycle entry of β-cells, strengthening the argument that HNF4α8 is a mitogenic signal in the human β-cell. Additionally, I observed a substantial proportion of β-cells stimulated to enter the cell cycle by CDK6 and CYCLIN D3 to also exhibit both markers of cell cycle arrest and double stranded DNA damage. In summary, the DNA damage response is a barrier to efficient human β-cell proliferation in vitro, and as such I suggest its evaluation in future attempts to stimulate β-cell replication. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/984 Graduate Group Pharmacology First Advisor Klaus H. Kaestner


Single scattering characteristics of volume elements in coal clouds are discussed and computed, with the aim of developing laser diagnosis methods in dense particle-laden flows, where multiple scattering phenomena become predominant. Results are provided for extinction efficiency factors, single scattering albedos, asymmetry parameters, forward scattering ratios, and phase functions (rigorous as well as modeled). Interest is focused on coal particles because of their present importance in connection with problems linked to the crisis of energy. Computations are carried out at three wavelengths covering 3 orders of magnitude (0.5145-μm Ar-ion laser; 10.6-μm CO2 laser; 337-μm HCN laser) for diameters ranging from ~1 to ~100 μm.


In this sweeping narrative, Michael Satlow tells the fascinating story of how an ancient collection of obscure Israelite writings became the founding texts of both Judaism and Christianity, considered holy by followers of each faith. Drawing on cutting-edge historical and archeological research, he traces the story of how, when, and why Jews and Christians gradually granted authority to texts that had long lay dormant in a dusty temple archive. The Bible, Satlow maintains, was not the consecrated book it is now until quite late in its history. He describes how elite scribes in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E. began the process that led to the creation of several of our biblical texts. It was not until these were translated into Greek in Egypt in the second century B.C.E., however, that some Jews began to see them as culturally authoritative, comparable to Homer's works in contemporary Greek society. Then, in the first century B.C.E. in Israel, political machinations resulted in the Sadducees assigning legal power to the writings. We see how the world Jesus was born into was largely biblically illiterate and how he knew very little about the texts upon which his apostles would base his spiritual leadership. Synthesizing an enormous body of scholarly work, Satlow's groundbreaking study offers provocative new assertions about commonly accepted interpretations of biblical history as well as a unique window into how two of the world's great faiths came into being.


Shifted Maps proposes a novel visualization method to generate personal geovisualizations of individual movement data. The resulting visual appearance can be characterized as a map network consisting of visited places and their connections. The visited places are shown as circular map extracts scaled according to the time spent there and the movements between the places are represented as edges between the places. A key feature of the Shifted Maps visualization is the possibility to explore the data in three different arrangements based on geo-spatial position, travel time, and frequency of movements. By combining map and network visualizations of movement data, it becomes possible to analyze and compare spatial and temporal topologies.


This essay offers an interpretation of the rise and fall of Zimbabwe's political economy through the lens of leadership. Of special interest are the actions of elite coalitions that link political parties, the state bureaucracy, and the security sector. We argue that, over time, the civil-military coalition within Zimbabwe's former ruling party placed its own political survival and welfare above broader developmental goals. In consolidating state power, the rulers violently suppressed political opposition, engaged in predatory corruption, and challenged the economic interests of commercial farming and business elites. In so doing, leaders undermined the rule of law and alienated the labor movement and civil society, which went on to form a rival opposition coalition. The paper also casts light on the limits of externally driven, hastily negotiated and reluctantly accepted political settlements. At critical junctures in the country's history – notably at independence in 1980 and a Global Political Agreement in 2008 – leaders entered compromise power-sharing arrangements. Lacking strong leadership commitments, however, the rules underpinning political settlements in Zimbabwe never took root, thus inhibiting the country's progress toward democracy and development.


The spatial spectrum of angular phase matching for photorefractive devices that use orthogonally polarized reading and writing beams may be enhanced if the images are recorded at angles where the ordinary and extraordinary cross sections of the index ellipsoid have equal curvatures. Applications include holographic storage, phased-array radar processors, and achromatic photorefractive devices. We show that for holographic recording in lithium niobate the maximum wavelength separation between writing and reading beams is approximately 50 nm for writing at 500 nm.


This sober exchange between the two title characters marks the beginning of Austrian Leopold Maurer's new graphic novel, Miller & Pynchon . The two characters are measuring the world, like the characters in another recent Germanic work, Daniel Kehlmann's wonderful novel Measuring the World (2005, English translation 2006), a story of the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and the explorer Alexander von Humboldt. Through a fictionalized account of their travails in the early nineteenth century, Kehlmann's bestseller tells the story of how during the Enlightenment scientific rationality conquered the world and changed it forever.


In this article, I challenge the conventional left-liberal wisdom about the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health: that Justice Margaret Marshall's opinion for the court in the case - holding that the Massachusetts Constitution protects a constitutional right to marry that same-sex couples, just like cross-sex couples, are now free to enjoy - is and only is a stunning victory for lesbian and gay rights. Without doubting the decision may be just such a victory for some lesbians and gay men, I argue that the downstream consequences of Goodridge are far more varied and variegated than that simple story allows. In particular, from a sex equality perspective, I venture that Goodridge may well be expected to impose various costs on victims and survivors of sexual injury, both same-sexed and cross-sexed, including lesbians and gay men - costs that so-called "pro-gay" accounts of the decision have, so far, to their own detriment, been unable or unwilling to register.


This introduces a special issue on "Critical Nutrition" in which multiple authors weigh in on various themes related to the origins, character, and consequences of contemporary American nutrition discourses and practices, as well as how nutrition might be known and done differently. In this introduction the author defines critical nutrition and dietetics in relation to hegemonic nutrition. She also emphasizes the popularization of expert knowledge and how that is contributing to contemporary food anxieties.


Analytical solutions are presented for the bending of clamped laminated plates using a higher-order shear deformation theory. Unlike the first-order shear deformation theory, the higher-order theory does not require a shear correction factor. The displacement field of the higher-order theory contains the same number of dependent variables as in the first-order shear deformation theory, and also accounts for the cubic variation of the in-plane displacements through the thickness. Closed-form solutions are not tractable for clamped composite plates due to the boundary conditions and anisotropy of the plate and hence approximate methods are required. In the present work, a method based on Lagrange multipliers is used to enforce the boundary conditions not satisfied by the assumed series. Results are presented for antisymmetric cross-ply and angle-ply plates to study the influence of anisotropy, aspect ratio, and loadings on the deflections and stresses of clamped plates.


Neurodegenerative diseases, particularly mediated through increased nitroxidative stress and inflammatory cytokines, are considered to be a greatest medical challenge even for the poorly-developed world. The un-predictable onset of neurodegeneration can lead to devastating illnesses, such as Alzheimer′s disease (AD), Parkinson′s disease (PD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and other types of dementia. Extensive research has shown that inflammatory cytokines and mitochondrial dysfunction can promote neurodegeneration, resulting in accumulation of Ab peptides in the case of Alzheimer′s disease or progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons by a-synuclein mutation in the nigrostrial system in Parkinson′s disease. In addition, cardiovascular disorders are among the leading causes of death and disability in the world. For instance, hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, end stage renal disease, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. Similarly, cancers in many tissues including lung, breast, prostate and blood are leading causes of mortality all over the world. In addition to changes in gene expression and genetic mutations, environmental factors, drugs and dietary habits of individuals may play an important role in the onset of these neurological conditions. In the search for effective treatment and cure, the focus has recently shifted from allopathic western medicine to alternative and complementary medicine in many countries (including the United States of America). In fact, some dietary supplements including herbs, vegetables, nuts and fruits, have demonstrated promising outcomes in improving human health. Among them, pomegranate; is one of the exotic fruits that has been known for its valuable effects from the time immemorial.


Collective migration of animals in a cohesive group is rendered possible by a strategic distribution of tasks among members: some track the travel route, which is time and energy-consuming, while the others follow the group by interacting among themselves. In this paper, we study a social dynamics system modeling collective migration. We consider a group of agents able to align their velocities to a global target velocity, or to follow the group via interaction with the other agents. The balance between these two attractive forces is our control for each agent, as we aim to drive the group to consensus at the target velocity. We show that the optimal control strategies in the case of final and integral costs consist of controlling the agents whose velocities are the furthest from the target one: these agents sense only the target velocity and become leaders, while the uncontrolled ones sense only the group, and become followers. Moreover, in the case of final cost, we prove an "Inactivation" principle: there exist initial conditions such that the optimal control strategy consists of letting the system evolve freely for an initial period of time, before acting with full control on the agent furthest from the target velocity.


Density functional theory was used to study how transition metal doping could be used as a method for systematically fine-tuning the structure and activity of MoS2 catalysts. Through studying the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the edge sites, the role of the metal dopant was determined to be in modifying the strength of sulfur binding on the edge, which determines hydrogen binding onto sulfur atoms on the edge through a negative linear scaling. A simple thermodynamic quantity, ΔGS, is thus identified, which allows for a description of both the stable structure and adsorption at the edge sites. This provides a descriptor-based framework for the rational design of new MoS2-type catalysts, where a metal dopant can be chosen to either strengthen or weaken the binding of key intermediates as desired. We also elucidate the unique coverage dependence of hydrogen binding, which explains why MoS2-type catalysts tend to have near-optimal hydrogen binding. These results are expected to be more general and easily extended to other reactions on other layered transition metal dichalcogenides. Besides confirming the high HER activity of previously studied MoS2 catalysts, we find 6 additional candidates that show marked improvement in hydrogen adsorption free energies over pristine MoS2.


This paper examines the effectiveness of carbon taxes on macroeconomic performance when manufacturing firms have the opportunity to change their scale of operation and degree of formality. The hypothesis is that when tax evasion or elusion is possible, it cannot be ruled out that emissions increase rather than decrease due to the reallocation of resources from the rest of manufacturing towards informal small-scale firms. When informality is high, industry could adapt to carbon taxes by reducing the scale of operation of big firms and increasing the number of small firms. However, when taxes are enforceable in all types of firms, there is a cost in terms of GDP and employment, since small-scale firms are more labor intensive. For numerical experiments, two CGE models calibrated for Argentina and Mexico are used. The 'domestic leakage' is found to be more relevant for Argentina than for Mexico.


In this paper, I examine 1960 to 1980 trends in suburbanization and education segregation within the black and white populations of four U.S. metropolitan areas. This analysi s provides a test of Wilson's (1987) social isolation thesis which claims that, during the 1960s and 1970s, middle-class black s moved out of inner-city ghettos into suburbs, thereby isolating themselves from lower-class blacks. Results show that support is found for Wilson's thesis, in that highly educated blacks became more suburbanized over time (more so than whites), and more spatially isolated from less educated blacks than did highly educated whites from less educated whites over time.


Supplemental Medicaid payments such as DSH and UPL are the exception to the financing of specific services to specific patients. Medicaid DSH funds currently finance over 30 percent of hospital care to the uninsured. As a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), DSH funds will be substantially reduced. At the same time, their importance will be heightened, especially in states that refuse to take up the ACA's Medicaid expansion. DSH payments to hospitals have been plagued by a lack of accountability and transparency and an inability to assess whether patients benefit from such payments. Flexibility in the DSH program through federal waivers has allowed states and regions to implement programs that provide coverage or care to low income people. We propose that any use of Medicaid supplemental payments can be assessed based on the extent to which the funds promote patient-centered care -- care, as defined by the IOM, that is "respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values." By examining four programs partially funded by DSH payments in Iowa, Indiana, Massachusetts, and California, initial insights about the characteristics of programs that help promote patient-centered care to a greater or lesser degree are discussed. We assess, within the confines of the available data, whether each program is appropriately targeted toward low income patients, whether patient-centered attributes of care such as treating each patient as a whole person and with respect, dignity, and transparency has been achieved and whether the programs encourage the active engagement of patients in care processes through shared power to influence such processes.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
Tests to measure serum endomysial antibodies (EMA) and antibodies to tissue transglutaminase (tTG) were developed to screen for celiac disease in patients consuming gluten. However, they are commonly used to monitor patients on a gluten-free diet (GFD). We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the sensitivity and specificity of tTG IgA and EMA IgA assays in identifying patients with celiac disease who have persistent villous atrophy despite a GFD.

METHODS
We searched PUBMED, EMBASE, BIOSIS, SCOPUS, clinicaltrials.gov, Science Citation Index, and Cochrane Library databases through November 2016. Inclusion criteria were studies of subjects with biopsy-confirmed celiac disease, follow-up biopsies, and measurement of serum antibodies on a GFD, biopsy performed on subjects regardless of symptoms, or antibody test results. Our analysis excluded subjects with refractory celiac disease, undergoing gluten challenge, or consuming a prescribed oats-containing GFD. Tests were considered to have positive or negative findings based on manufacturer cut-off values. Villous atrophy was defined as a Marsh 3 lesion or villous height:crypt depth ratio below 3.0. We constructed forest plots to determine the sensitivity and specificity of detection for individual studies. For the meta-analysis, a bivariate random effects model was used to jointly model sensitivity and specificity.

RESULTS
Our search identified 5408 unique citations. Following review of abstracts, 442 articles were reviewed in detail. Only 26 studies (6 of tTG assays, 15 of EMA assays, and 5 of tTG and EMA assays) met our inclusion criteria. The most common reason studies were excluded from our analysis was inability to cross-tabulate histologic and serologic findings. The serum assays identified patients with persistent villous atrophy with high levels of specificity: 0.83 for the tTG IgA assay (95% CI, 0.79-0.87) and 0.91 for the EMA IgA assay (95% CI, 0.87-0.94). However, they detected villous atrophy with low levels of sensitivity: 0.50 for the tTG IgA assay (95% CI, 0.41-0.60) and 0.45 for the EMA IgA assay (95% CI, 0.34-0.57). The tests had similar levels of performance in pediatric and adult patients.

CONCLUSIONS
In a meta-analysis of patients with biopsy-confirmed celiac disease undergoing follow-up biopsy on a GFD, we found that tests for serum tTG IgA and EMA IgA levels had low sensitivity (below 50%) in detection of persistent villous atrophy. We need more-accurate non-invasive markers of mucosal damage in children and adults with celiac disease who are following a GFD.


This is the first of two Articles that analyze the dynamic and complex relation between international trade law and the Kyoto Protocol. These Articles argue that the Kyoto Protocol undermines efforts to negotiate a meaningful climate change treaty, and alternatively, they propose a new treaty framework to replace the Protocol. This first Article sets out the trade and climate treaty conflict and demonstrates that the problem cannot be addressed within the current framework of international trade law. Developing nations that are now emerging economies and major greenhouse gas emitters are not bound by targeted emissions reduction obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. Their exclusion in an era of trade liberalization under rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) creates loss of competition and leakage concerns among developed country signatories. These concerns have caused developed nations, such as the United States, to reject Kyoto Protocol obligations. Others, notably Canada, Japan, and Russia, have also rejected continued obligations under the Protocol. Solutions to these problems conflict with WTO rules, as demonstrated by efforts by some nations to promote their renewable energy sector in a manner that also addresses competition concerns. Specifically, countries have provided renewable energy subsidies (RES), but conditioned their availability on the use of domestic content. WTO member nations have challenged such RES under WTO rules, including specific agreements, notably the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) and Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs). In one recent dispute, a WTO Panel ruled that the RES violate WTO law. Further, these measures do not qualify for environmental exceptions under WTO law, for both legal and normative reasons. A new climate change treaty is needed in 2015 to addresses the loss of competition and leakage problems.


The superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome is a recently reported condition. Superior semicircular canal bony coverage disruption presence determines his communication with the middle cranial fossa. The etiology is under continuous investigation. The paper objective is to describe with the presentation of two clinical cases, those elements that serves as a guide to the diagnosis of these infrequent and interesting disease and the challenge of not having the newest technological resources. The primary basis of the superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome diagnosis must rely on clinical suspicion supported by electrophysiological confirmation and millimetered temporal bone computed tomography


During last two decades many earth structures have encountered problems concerning their safety and reliability. Many of these difficulties arise due to an insufficient understanding of the uncertainties concerned with both their design and construction. Increased attention is now being given to risk and uncertainty in geotechnical engineering, driven by the pressure for improved reliability and safety. Geotechnical engineering is an interesting context in which to develop and apply ideas of uncertainty management. The Engineer is confronted with uncertainty associated with the random nature, spatial variability and inadequate characterization of geotechnical properties and in the complexity of the associated engineering projects. The Engineer is expected to make dependable and clear decisions often based on incomplete data sets. To do so requires an understanding of the nature of uncertainty and of appropriate techniques to manage and reduce it. This paper includes a brief description of recent probabilistic tools affecting reliability and probabilistic modelling of earth structures. 1 Introduction Any representation or characterization of the geotechnical media is sullied with uncertainties due to the inherent heterogeneity with these media and in the limitations within the objective or subjective methods, which are used to characterize them. Results of tests performed at different points of the medium could be considered as independent outcomes of the same experiment. ...


In this study, determining of reduced tillage techniques in green bean farming as a second crop after harvesting wheat was targeted. To this aim, four different soil tillage methods namely, heavy-duty disc harrow (HD), rotary tiller (ROT), heavyduty disc harrow plus rotary tiller (HD+ROT) and no-tillage (NT) (seeding by direct drill) were examined. Experiments were arranged in a randomized block design with three replications. The highest green beans yields were obtained in HD+ROT and NT as 5,862.1 and 5,829.3 Mg/ha, respectively. The lowest green bean yield was found in HD as 3,076.7 Mg/ha. The highest fuel consumption was measured 30.60 L ha-1 for HD+ROT whereas the lowest value was found 7.50 L ha-1 for NT. No tillage method gave the best results for fuel consumption and effective power requirement. It is concluded that no-tillage method can be used in second crop green bean in the Thrace Region due to economic and erosion conditions. Keywords—Soil tillage, green bean, vegetative, generative, yield.


The quality of silicon carbide (SiC), when used as a substrate, has profound effects on the growth of the homo/hetero-epitaxial film on it. Here, a fourfold symmetric (0006) x-ray diffraction intensity in a φ-scan mode is found to have nothing to do with the deformation of wafers or the existence of mosaic domains, regardless of whether it is a double-sided polished 6H-SiC wafer or a thick 6H-SiC slice. The experimental results show that both the diffraction intensity and its full width at half maximum as a function of the azimuth angle φ exhibit the features of four peaks and four valleys regularly. By measuring the bending of the diffraction planes along the azimuth angles at the peaks and valleys, saddle-shaped deformed (0 0 0 1) atomic planes of the 6H-SiC in macroscopic scale are hypothesized. Based on the hypothesis, a model analysis of the diffraction intensity matched well with the observed anisotropic symmetric x-ray diffraction in a 6H-SiC single crystal.


Homosexuality is generally viewed negatively. That is certainly the case in the Jewish and Christian holy books as well as the Quran, although opinions differ as to interpretation. The practice has been condemned by these religions. An Imam in Orlando, Florida, the site of the mass murder of homosexuals, has gone so far as to say that killing homosexuals would be the compassionate thing to do.It is not the purpose of this paper to review the history of homosexuality, or the pros and cons or moral standing of the practice. Readers can obtain that information by reading the items listed in the reference section of this paper. The goal of this study is more limited, to report the results of various studies conducted by the World Values Surveys on the topic of homosexuality. Those six studies, going back to 1981, asked hundreds of thousands of people in about 100 countries what their views were on homosexuality, specifically the extent to which it could be justified. This study measures the changes in attitudes toward homosexuality that have taken place over the years in each country. Some countries have a more favorable view of homosexuality today than in the past, but other countries have not changed their views significantly.The present study is part of a series on homosexuality. Other studies in the series rank countries based on their acceptance of homosexuality and examine specific demographic variables such as gender, age, social class, level of education, religion and region to see whether these variables are significant. Citations to some of those studies (with links) are listed in the reference section of the present paper.