The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990 determined that students with disabilities are to learn in the least restrictive environment (LRE). The IEP team has the responsibility to determine placement that is as non-restrictive as possible and yet appropriate. For students with Emotional Disturbances (ED) the concept of LRE is contentious. The purpose of this research was to investigate the perceptions of IEP team members as to the factors on which decisions are made throughout the IEP process for students with ED as the team planned for reintegration from an alternative setting into the student's home district. This study focused on the legal requirements, as well as attitudes, perceptions and beliefs, in the development of the IEP when behavior is a factor as the IEP team planned for reintegration following placement in an alternative setting. As a result of IEP team member interviews and IEP document analysis nine themes emerged in response to the research questions. As IEP team members described the IEP process for students with ED, procedural compliance was understood, and yet participation in IEP meetings was not always be occurring as required. IEPs were not being developed according to key legal requirements. A collaborative team approach to IEP development was not prominent in decision making. A perceived factor on which IEP teams based placement decisions may be a result of the legal mandate for placement in the LRE affected by philosophical underpinnings, a lack of resources supporting a continuum of services, and logistical barriers. Possible resistance to reintegration may occur because of general philosophy and past experiences as well as questions related to the magnitude of the change in student behavior before reintegration was considered and tolerances of those behaviors in classrooms. Legitimate Position Power by Administrators was the predominant source of power and influence throughout the IEP planning process. Data Power was influential in the IEP process. The parent assumed a role of advocacy, on behalf of her child, as a source of influence throughout the IEP process. Expertise by Teachers was demonstrated, but stifled, as a source of influence. Although teachers demonstrated strong skills and vast knowledge along with clear evidence of working with and on behalf of the student, little evidence existed where this expertise was influential in the IEP process. Conclusions and recommendations from this study call for better understanding of the unique needs of students with ED and the importance of LRE. Furthermore, the IEP process must be enacted based upon the spirit of the law, not merely minimal compliance. Implementation of these recommendations would significantly improve outcomes. AN EXAMINATION OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF THE IEP PROCESS AS A TEAM PLANS FOR THE POTENTIAL REINTEGRATION OF A STUDENT FROM AN ALTERNATIVE SETTING TO THE RESIDENT DISTRICT A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education


For more than a decade there has been a strong emphasis on the need to incorporate problem solving into the curriculum of our schools. NCTM (1989) has placed Problem Solving first in the list of standards at every grade level.^ The purpose of this study was to show that the use of heuristics originally espoused by Polya (1945) can effectively enhance the problem-solving skills of regular ability Algebra I students.^ In this investigation 128 students in six intact classrooms were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. The investigator taught the experimental group of 58 students (three classes). Two colleagues taught the control group of 70 students (three classes). All students were taught the regular Algebra I curriculum.^ In addition, the experimental group was taught specific heuristic strategies in a metacognitively controlled situation. Metacognitive control is here defined to mean making a conscious, executive choice of problem solving strategies. Students were given reinforcement through worksheets addressing specific heuristics: working backwards, drawing diagrams, Venn diagrams, guess & check, making an organized list, logical reasoning, and complex translation. Two worksheets were completed each week during the 11 week treatment. A pretest and posttest of matched pairs of problems were given to all participants, and the data were examined using ANCOVA.^ Results showed that on complex translation problems there was no significant gain in the treatment group's ability to recognize the strategy or execute the solution. There was, however, a significant difference on process problems, in both recognizing the strategy and executing the solution. There was no indication of difference due to gender. Having taken a previous problem-solving course did have a significant effect on problem-solving performance. Therefore, teaching specific heuristics of problem solving with an emphasis on metacognition should become an integral part of the curriculum if, indeed, we intend to heed the recommendations of NCTM's Standards. ^


: The term 'facilitated modelling' is used in the literature to characterise an approach to structuring problems, developing options and evaluating decisions by groups working in a model-supported workshop environment, and assisted by a facilitator. The approach involves an interactive process by which models are jointly developed with group members interacting face-to-face, with or without computer support. The models produced are used to inform negotiations about the nature of the issues faced by the group, , and how to address them. While the facilitated modelling literature is impressive, published empirical research rarely examines what actually happens in a facilitated modelling environment. The present study addresses this gap by reporting on exploratory empirical research undertaken to closely examine the conduct of facilitated modelling within its actual context of immediate use, namely, the workshop. Drawing on the knowledge-perspective of group communication, we conducted a micro-level analysis of a transcript of a facilitated modelling workshop held with the management team of an Alternative Food Network in the UK. Our analysis suggests that facilitated modelling interactions can take the form of three distinct group knowledge production patterns: generative, collaborative and assertive . Further, each pattern is characterised by a particular mix of communicative behaviours and model-supported interactions that has implications for the creation of new knowledge within the workshop. Our findings contribute to increase our understanding of the nature of facilitated modelling within its context of use.


In the context of gene expression
regulation, discontinuing translation of mRNAs occurs by
evolutionarily conserved mechanisms whose executors have been
described to be associated with various types of cytoplasmic mRNA
granules. Processing (P) bodies are such granules where mRNA
co-localizes with effectors of the 5' to 3' mRNA degradation, RNA
interference and Nonsense Mediated Decay pathways.
In this manuscript we demonstrate that the m7G cap-binding protein
eIF4E and one of its interaction partners, eIF4E-Transporter, are
also components of mammalian P bodies. We further show, by FRET,
that they form a molecular complex with each other in P bodies in
vivo. Additionally, eIF4E interacts with the translational
repressor rck/p54. In contrast, other translation initiation
factors such as eIF4G or components of the translation machinery
were not detected in these cytoplasmic foci, ruling out the
possibility that P bodies are sites where active translation can
occur. It was possible to show that eIF4E requires that it is bound
to the m7G cap of the mRNA and interact with eIF4E-T in order to be
targeted to the P bodies. Altogether, eIF4E-T prevents the
formation of a translationally active mRNP by interacting with
eIF4E and thus plays a role in remodeling events that render mRNAs
available for degradation. No particular sequence within eIF4E-T
was found sufficient for its localization to the P bodies, but only
the full-length eIF4E-T molecule could assemble inside these
bodies. Using RNAi-mediated knockdowns we observed that a subset of
P body factors, including eIF4E-T, LSm1, rck/p54, and Ccr4 are
required for the accumulation of each other and of eIF4E in P
bodies. Furthermore, cycloheximide treatment of cells lead to
disassembly of the entire structure, indicating that the
accumulation of LSm1, eIF4E, eIF4E-T, and rck/p54 in P bodies also
requires that an mRNA flux be available. These results suggest that
these factors are targeted to P bodies as part of a larger mRNP
complex and that they are essential for P body formation and
function in mRNA processing. A block in the decay of the mRNA body
upon depletion of the decapping enzyme Dcp2 or the exoribonuclease
Xrn1, leads to an increase in the size and number of P bodies. A
distinct hierarchy of remodeling steps and sequence of events can
be inferred towards formation of the P bodies whereas early acting
factors are represented by the deadenylase Ccr4, LSm1, eIF4E-T and
rck/p54 and late joining factors include Dcp2 and Xrn1.
Mass spectrometric analyses helped to identify a novel RNA-binding
protein residing in the P bodies, which has preference for
Cytosine-rich elements and hints to a mechanism implying
sequence-specific silencing of mRNAs inside the P bodies.


This paper investigates some basic concepts of fractional‐order linear time invariant systems related to their physical and non‐physical transfer functions, poles, stability, time domain, frequency domain, and their relationships for different fractional‐order differential equations. The analytical formula that calculates the number of poles in physical and non‐physical s‐plane for different orders is achieved and verified using many practical examples. The stability contour versus the number of poles in the physical s‐plane for different fractional‐order systems is discussed in addition to the effect of the non‐physical poles on the steady state responses. Moreover, time domain responses based on Mittag‐Leffler functions for both physical and non‐physical transfer functions are discussed for different cases, which confirm the stability analysis. Many fractional‐order linear time invariant systems based on fractional‐order differential equations have been discussed numerically in both time and frequency domains to validate the previous fundamentals. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Before a child may travel internationally, many countries require proof that both of the child's parents consent. These "dual consent" requirements are aimed at preventing international child abduction, and many countries have adopted them as part of the coordinated effort to implement the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. In recent years, international air carriers have been urged to impose similar requirements for all children traveling on international flights. Although well-intentioned, dual consent requirements pose significant harms, especially to children of single parents and parents subjected to domestic violence. This article explores the unintended consequences of dual consent requirements and proposes alternative approaches that mitigate the harms of dual consent while also protecting against child abduction.


Three Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria that were found intracellularly in two environmental and one clinical Acanthamoeba sp. isolates were analysed. Two endocytobionts showing a parasitic behaviour were propagated successfully outside their amoebal host cells and were identified subsequently by comparative 16S rRNA sequence analysis as being most closely affiliated with Flavobacterium succinicans (99% 16S rRNA sequence similarity) or Flavobacterium johnsoniae (98% 16S rRNA sequence similarity). One endocytobiont could neither be cultivated outside its original Acanthamoeba host (Acanthamoeba sp. TUMSJ-321) nor transferred into other amoebae. Electron microscopy revealed that the amoebal trophozoites and cysts were almost completely filled with cells of this endosymbiont which are surrounded by a host-derived membrane. According to 16S rRNA sequence analysis, this endosymbiont could also be assigned to the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides (CFB) phylum, but was not closely affiliated to any recognized species within this phylogenetic group (less than 82% 16S rRNA sequence similarity). Identity and intracellular localization of this endosymbiont were confirmed by application of a specific fluorescently labelled 16S rRNA-targeted probe. Based on these findings, we propose classification of this obligate Acanthamoeba endosymbiont as 'Candidatus Amoebophilus asiaticus'. Comparative 18S rRNA sequence analysis of the host of 'Candidatus Amoebophilus asiaticus' revealed its membership with Acanthamoeba 18S rDNA sequence type T4 that comprises the majority of all Acanthamoeba isolates.


This paper introduces preliminary evidence from a cross-country database of policy characteristics and potential uses of that database. While most databases have emphasized either the content of policies (e.g., size of government deficits) or countries' formal institutions (e.g., political regime, electoral system), the variables in this database reflect the policymaking capabilities of different polities. The paper attempts to explain these policy characteristics as depending on the workings of political institutions, using a logic emphasizing intertemporal political compromise. The paper also contrasts this logic with alternatives such as the veto players approach. The paper concludes by suggesting the use of these policy characteristics or state capabilities as explanatory variables for the effectiveness of public spending in various social areas.


This thesis gives a concise introduction to Professor Fang Huawen, the most productive literary translator in contemporary China, and concentrates on his important translation theory "Red Translation in Red China". He is most productive based on the fact that he has published translated works of about 6 million words. China's translation is "red" based on the fact that politics plays a dominant role in China's translation activities. To drive home this notion which is the key point in Professor Fang's theory, the author of the thesis traces the reasons from the following four aspects:.1.Historical and social reasons. China's weakness in the closing years of the Qing Dynasty and China's failure of the war with Japan in 1895 dealt a heavy blow on the patriotic scholars of the country, so they regarded translation as the most important means of saving the nation from being enslaved; such "patriotic" translation developed into "red" translation as times changed.2. Human reasons. Nearly all of the translators following the line of "red translation", who had formed a large body in the teams of Chinese translators before and after 1949, were either communist leaders like Maodun and Liu Bocheng or ardent supporters of socialist cause. They guided the direction of translation in modern China by taking the lead in introducing "red" books into China.3. Reasons of political systems. P. R. China is governed by the Party who sticks to "red" (proletarian) politics, which has decided the nature of translation in China.4. Reasons of public wills. The scholars in old China were in continuous search of a way to save their motherland from slavery; Darwinism, Anarchism, Utopian socialism and many other "isms" had aroused their interests, but they chose socialism as the masses, who suffered in poverty, thought that only socialism could help them get rid of poverty and achieve national independence. The nature of socialist China permits only red translation.


More than half of the world's population lives in cities; by 2050, it will be more than three quarters. Projections suggest that megacities of 50 million or even 100 million inhabitants will emerge by the end of the century, mostly in the Global South. This shift marks a major and unprecedented transformation of the organization of society, both spatially and geopolitically. Our constitutional institutions and imagination, however, have failed to keep pace with this new reality. Cities have remained virtually absent from constitutional law and constitutional thought, not to mention from comparative constitutional studies more generally. As the world is urbanizing at an extraordinary rate, this book argues, new thinking about constitutionalism and urbanization is desperately needed. In six chapters, the book considers the reasons for the "constitutional blind spot" concerning the metropolis, probes the constitutional relationship between states and (mega)cities worldwide, examines patterns of constitutional change and stalemate in city status, and aims to carve a new place for the city in constitutional thought, constitutional law, and constitutional practice.


Abstract This paper investigates tests for multiple structural changes with non-homogeneous regressors, such as polynomial trends. We consider exponential-type, supremum-type and average-type tests as well as the corresponding weighted-type tests suggested in the literature. We show that the limiting distributions depend on regressors in general, and we need to tabulate critical values depending on them. Then, we focus on the linear trend case and obtain the critical values of the test statistics. The Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to investigate the finite sample properties of the tests proposed in the paper, and it is found that the specification of the number of breaks is an important factor for the finite sample performance of the tests. Since it is often the case that we cannot prespecify the number of breaks under the alternative but can suppose only the maximum number of breaks, the weighted-type tests are useful in practice.


ABSTRACT The notion of students as consumers who exercise educational decisions based on economic self-interest leads to interesting questions about their perceptions of current higher education assessment practices. Guided by a Foucauldian theorisation and the findings from focus groups carried out with students from two European universities, one from the UK and another from Estonia, the article argues that globally dominant consumerist policy discourses have altered but not removed the student experience of constraint in assessment. I argue that students' response to disciplinary power in assessment has become highly strategic and differs depending on the institutional assessment systems: students from Estonia recognise the powerful position of academics as assessors and find ways to create a good social impression of themselves; their counterparts from the UK, however, demonstrate a tactical approach to their learning and study processes.


Significant progress in seawater desalination technology has lowered its costs considerably, making it an attractive option to policy makers in countries facing water shortages. However, in making the decision to implement desalination, two issues are often ignored: firstly, seawater desalination is also associated with external costs. Secondly, alternative measures of managing water shortage may potentially be more cost-efficient. The current study estimates the external costs of desalination, and then compares the full costs of desalination with those associated with three alternative solutions for water supply shortage: increasing wastewater reclamation and reuse, investing in water savers and reducing the amount of water used in the agricultural sector. The main contribution of this paper is thus in providing a complete methodological framework for the evaluation of desalination projects, taking into account both direct and external costs. Contrary to common wisdom, the study reveals that desalination is the least economically efficient and sustainable of all alternatives considered, even without taking into account the externalities involved.


EXAMINING RETENTION AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS AMONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE DEVELOPMENTAL ALGEBRA I STUDENTS Patricia B. Huber Old Dominion University, 2006 Director: Dr. Alan M. Schwitzer An increasing number of community college matriculants enter college needing remediation in mathematics. This study examined factors that may affect student retention and academic success in a developmental Algebra I course at a community college, including demographic variables, life demand variables, pre-enrollment academic characteristic, self-regulated learning characteristics, and instructional methodology. The study ran for two consecutive semesters and included 154 participants. Selfreport measures were used to gain demographic information and information about students' beliefs about math and their self-regulated learning characteristics at the beginning of the semester. An elementary algebra pre-test was administered at the beginning of the semester with an elementary algebra post-test administered during the final week of the semester. A variety of measures were used to analyze the data: descriptive analysis, logistic regression, multiple regression, chi-square analysis, and ANCOVA. Several results of the study were contrary to the hypotheses. Results indicated that of the demographic variables, noncognitive variables, and high school grade point average (GPA), only age and GPA may be predictors of retention in developmental Algebra I; none of the variables showed a statistically significant relationship with success. There were no statistically significant relationships for students' beliefs about Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. math or their self-regulated learning characteristics with retention and success. Results indicated that statistically significant differences exist in both retention and success as a result of instructional methodology. The contrary findings may be attributed to the constructs and/or instruments used to measure the constructs or to the research design. Further research is needed. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © 2006 Patricia B. Huber. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.


In this paper, a delay equalization approach is proposed for cohesive conference presentation with minimal screen- freezing effect. The underlying screen-freezing effect is due to varying delays in the communication channels involved in broadcasting. In turn, this poses a threat to the goal of uniform delay distribution among data packets for synchronized presentation broadcast. We wish to achieve uniformity among packet arrival times to the recipients. This objective is achieved by transforming a given input delay distribution (D) to the desired output density through a delay equalization process. Considering a general case of between packet and frame delay distributions for a given input, the desired output is obtained through a delay equalization process. In case of a specific normal delay distribution, a memory-less system g(D) is determined as an approximation to the delay equalizer such that the equalizer output O(t)equalsg[D(t)] is uniformly distributed in the allowable delay limits of (a,b) assuring the specified quality of service (QoS) parameters. The corresponding delay is added at each recipient workstation, which acts as the wait period required before it begins its designated presentation.For a zero mean normal delay density case, the equalizer transfer function can be given in a closed from solution as O(t)equalsg[D(t)[equals(b-a)]0.5+eft(-D/$RO OTR(0)))[+a, where erf(x) is the standard error function. The histogram approximation is adopted as an asymptotically delay equalization means for general cases. This technique provides a means for modifying the dynamic range of data acquired by altering it into a desired distribution. In experimentation, equalizer characteristic functions are derived for a set of selected input delays to obtain the desired output. The delay equalizer system developed here is suited for deployment in a distributed hierarchical conferencing environment. To accommodate a broadcast continuity, the multimedia presentation is provided with a shared workspace among the web servers acting as administrators in the network. The arrival times and the presentation durations of the data packets at the recipient workstations are recorded in this shared workspace. For a case study, a Poisson distribution type delay density is selected to be the input for the delay equalizer with the desired output to be uniformly distributed. The transfer function input and output distributions are derived and depicted in a parametric form for different values of mean in the simulation results to illustrate the effectiveness of the equalization process. We have demonstrated that this method is appropriate for equalizing the lumped communication channel delays. Further work is in progress for developing the distributed channel delay equalization.


The focus on individuals in tourism research has led to limited and fragmented research on family groups and their leisure experiences away from home. This article extends conceptual and theoretical understandings within family tourism research by offering a three-dimensional framework inclusive of group perspectives. A whole-family methodology was used with 10 families (10 fathers, 10 mothers, and 20 children) in New Zealand as a more critical and holistic approach to tourism concepts. Empirical findings illustrate group dynamics along with the underrepresented generational perspectives of children and gender perspectives of fathers to provide insights into family functioning. This resulted in a three-layered model of family holiday experiences inclusive of group sociality. The collective intentionality of family togetherness on holiday is contrasted with more balanced modes in own time, highlighting the complexity of socialization within tourism theory and practice.


BACKGROUND
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among adults. Although steroids appear to be beneficial in animal models of CAP, clinical trial data in humans are either equivocal or conflicting.

PURPOSE
Our purpose was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the impact of steroid therapy on clinical outcomes among adults admitted with CAP.

DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION
We identified randomized controlled trials (RCTs) through a systematic search of published literature up to July 2011.

DATA EXTRACTION
We estimated relative risks (RR) and weighted mean differences, pooled from each study using a random effects model.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Eight RCTs, comprising 1119 patients, met our selection criteria. Overall quality of the studies was moderate. Adjunctive steroid therapy had no effect on hospital mortality or length of stay in the intensive care unit, but reduced the overall length of hospital stay (RR: -1.21 days [95% confidence interval (CI): -2.12 to -0.29]). Less robust data also demonstrated reduced incidence of delayed shock (RR: 0.12 [95% CI: 0.03 to 0.41]) and reduced persistence of chest x-ray abnormalities (RR: 0.13 [95% CI: 0.06 to 0.27]). A priori subgroup and sensitivity analyses did not alter these findings.

CONCLUSIONS
Moderate-quality evidence suggests that adjunctive steroid therapy for adults hospitalized with CAP reduced the length of hospital stay but did not alter mortality.


For much of the past decade, attempts to corral the explosion of new metadata schemas (or formats) have been notably unsuccessful. Concerns about interoperability in this diverse and rapidly changing environment continue, with strategies based on syntactic crosswalks becoming more sophisticated even as the ground beneath library data shifts further towards the Semantic Web. This paper will review the state of the art of traditional crosswalking strategies, examine lessons learned, and suggest how some changes in approach--from record-based to statement-based, and from syntax-based to semantic-based--can make a significant difference in the outcome. The paper will also describe a semantic mapping service now under development.


Cholesterol-loaded macrophages secrete cholesterol and apolipoprotein E. The current studies show that this secretion occurs by two independent pathways. In the absence of serum, the cells secrete apolipoprotein E, but not cholesterol. In the presence of monensin (an inhibitor of protein secretion), the cells secrete cholesterol, but little apolipoprotein E. After secretion, apolipoprotein E and cholesterol associate with high-density lipoprotein to form a particle that can deliver cholesterol to the liver by receptor-mediated endocytosis. We conclude that apolipoprotein E does not function to remove cholesterol from macrophages but rather to participate in "reverse cholesterol transport."


Releases of the GDP are subject to revisions over time. This paper examines the predictability of German GDP revisions using forecast rationality tests. Previous studies of German GDP covering data until 1997 finds that revisions of real seasonally adjusted GDP are predictable. This paper uses a newly available real-time data to analyze the revisions of real seasonal adjusted GDP, of nominal unadjusted GDP, of the seasonal pattern, and of the GDP deflator for the period between 1992 and 2006. We find that the revisions of the nominal unadjusted GDP are unpredictable, but that the revisions of the price adjustments are predictable. Nevertheless, revisions of real seasonally adjusted GDP are hardly predictable and less well predictable compared to earlier studies. This lower predictability seems to be linked to the finding that revisions of seasonal adjustments are hardly predictable, too, and that their predictability decreased over time.


Diagnostic tests are used to determine anomalies in complex systems such as organisms or built structures. Once a set of tests is performed, the experts interpret their results and make decisions based on them. This process is named diagnostic reasoning . In diagnostic reasoning a decision is established by using both rules and general knowledge on the tests and the domain. The artificial intelligence community has focused on devising and automating different methods of diagnosis for medicine and engineering, but, to the best of our knowledge, the decision process in logical terms has not yet been investigated thoroughly. The automation of the diagnostic process would be helpful in a number of contexts, in particular when the number of test sets to make decision is too wide to be dealt with manually. To tackle such challenges, we shall study logical frameworks for diagnostic reasoning, automation methods and their computational properties and technologies implementing these methods. In this paper, we present the formalization of a hybrid reasoning framework  T L   that hosts tests and deduction rules on tests, and an algorithm that transforms a  T L   theory into defeasible logic, for which an implemented automated deduction technology (called Spindle) exists. We evaluate the methodology by means of a real-world example related to the Open Web Application Security Project requisites. The full diagnostic process is driven from the definition of the issue to the decision.


Historically, the Gaussian assumption for noise and interferences has dominated signal processing. The justification for this assumption is usually given by the well known central limit theorem which allows an elegant, manageable, and meaningful mathematical description of noise. Nevertheless, some communication scenarios are characterized by impulsive properties on behalf of Gaussian noise, so they are non-Gaussian distributed. Channels which are corrupted with impulsive noise can be found in several domains like for example powerline communications, ethernet traffic, underwater signal processing, or as proven in this project also the multiuser interferences of ultra wideband (UWB) communication systems. After describing and discussing impulsive noise models in detail, a comparison of their distributions has been carried out showing the suitability of the different models for solving selected problems. For example, it is well known that the channel capacity with additive impulsive noise channels is always greater than the one of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels supposed that the signal to noise ratio (SNR) remains unchanged. In this project the capacity of channels corrupted by impulsive noise has been investigated. An example shows the negative effect of the widely used hard limiter (for impulsive noise clipping) and suggests the use of an alternative one called soft limiter allowing no loss of information. Furthermore, UWB systems have been investigated regarding multiuser interferences. It is proven that the multiuser interferences of impulse radio systems are impulsive. Their probability density function is determined analytically and confirmed by simulation results. Taking this result into account a new receiver structure has been developed allowing the suppression of impulsive noise without use of a limiter. The performance of this receiver is proven by simulation.


In undertaking what we believe is the first national-scale study of its kind, we provide methodologically transparent, statistically robust insights into associations and potential unfolding effects of house and contents under-insurance. We identify new dimensions in the complex relationship between householders and insurance, including the salience of interpersonal – and likely institutional – trust. Under-insurance is (re)produced along socio-economic and geographical lines, with those of lower socio-economic status or living in cities more likely to be under-insured. Should a disaster strike, such communities are likely to suffer further disadvantage, especially if governments continue to shift the responsibility for risk onto households. Our findings support the observation that insurance can contribute to increasing socio-economic urban polarisation in light of natural disasters. We conclude by considering how under-insurance may contribute to growing urban social stratification, as well as how it may produce situated ethical and political responses that exceed neoliberal aspirations.


ABSTRACT Teaching is a demanding job and research suggests that prolonged exposure to stress can affect physical health. While some studies have found that teachers do indeed report relatively poor physical health, the existing literature has important methodological limitations. In particular, no research exists comparing teachers to other occupations using objective biomarker data to measure health. We provide such evidence using two datasets: a representative, cross-sectional survey and a longitudinal convenience sample. We find no statistically significant overall association between teaching and physical health in any of our models or datasets. Teaching may therefore not be as bad for physical health as previously thought.


This research builds on my extensive experience in creating interactive artefacts. Designed to enrich interpretation in museums and galleries, many of these objects are intended to provide occasions for visitor participation and learning. This thesis interrogates the background to this work, examining its origins in crafts practice and how iterative development has led to more complex programmes. I construct and articulate my role and demonstrate the value of my distinct approach to animating collections, enabling innovative forms of user interaction and supporting creative action in public settings.

A review of literature highlights relevant work on theoretical and curatorial approaches to visitor studies, the cultures of display and theories of museology, museum history, materiality and authenticity. Of particular interest have been theories of visitor motivation and contextual models of learning. A review of creative responses in this arena also surveys my own practice, alongside resonant and significant projects by others.

The design and building of a new museum interactive - The Enlightened Eye – is the focus of my research. Here I analyse its design procedures and situated use. Focusing on its construction and deployment, I consider compositional, technical and material decisions that contribute to its design. In addition, I examine the collaborative negotiations and mediating influences that shape the production and installation of it as a live interactive in a particular situated 'ecology of action'. Critically I show how I adapt ethnographic procedures to evaluate the situated use of the main case study.

A critical framework has been structured using a flexible, naturalistic inquiry methodology. I have identified myself as an artist-designer, a role characterised by a complex set of preoccupations, concerned not only with designed use and design process, but also the aesthetic, sensory qualities of objects and structures, and the choreographed behaviour they afford. Realworld practice, combined with the subjective and the tacit, is examined reflexively to provide new insights and implications for artists, interaction designers, curators and the museum visitor.


Since 1991 a GWR superconducting gravimeter has been working in a laboratory at the Brasimone ENEA Research Centre, near Bologna (Italy), in the frame of an experimental program to verify Newton's law over distances of the order of 10-100 m. Owing to the aim of the experiment, the gravimeter was moved to different laboratories in the same area, but from August 1995 to date it has been working continuously in the same laboratory in the frame of the preliminary program of the Global Geodynamics Project. The site, belonging to a building of a dismissed nuclear power plant, is free from noise due to human activities, and is thus highly suitable for recording Earth tides. Starting from a set of gravimetric and atmospheric pressure data of high quality relative to 22 months of observation, we performed the tidal analysis using Eterna 3.2 software in order to compute amplitudes, gravimetric factors and phases of the main waves of the Tamura 1987 catalogue. The accuracy of the method adopted for the calibration of the gravimeter, the values of the principal waves and the result of the computation of atmospheric pressure admittance are described.


Beginners Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop is a new series dedicated to providing a comprehensive guide to the basics of digital painting in this versatile program. Whether youre new to this artistic medium or simply looking to improve existing skills, this book offers up a wealth of suggestions and advice to get you started, improve workflows, perfect techniques, and produce stunning images.The step-by-step tutorials within this book dont just describe techniques, but actively demonstrate how these techniques can be applied to an artwork. Industry veterans including Nykolai Aleksander and Richard Tilbury share the benefits of their years of experience in a clear and methodical fashion. They examine the various basic Photoshop tools on offer, shedding light on these features and establishing ways of successfully integrating them into an artistic workflow. Fundamental art theory is also covered, including classic topics such as composition, story-telling, portraying emotion, lighting, and color, leading to a thorough understanding of the components that make up a successful image.Instructive and inspirational, Beginners Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop is an ideal resource for anyone taking their first steps into the digital painting world.Nykolai Aleksander is a UK-based freelance character illustrator and portrait painter, who has been working in the CG field for the past eight years.Richard Tilbury is a freelance artist from the United Kingdom who works in both 2D and 3D and has been featured in a number of popular publications.


Leghaemoglobin content in nodules is closely related to the amount of nitrogen fixed by the legume–rhizobium
symbiosis. It is, therefore, commonly measured in order to assess the effect of growth-promoting parameters such as
fertilisation on the symbiotic nitrogen fixation efficiency of legumes. The cyanmethaemoglobin method is a reference
method in leghaemoglobin content quantification, but this method is time-consuming, requires accurate and careful
technical operations and uses cyanide, a toxic reagent. As a quicker, simpler and non-destructive alternative, a method
based on near infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging was tested to quantify leghaemoglobin in dried nodules. Two
approaches were evaluated: (i) the partial least squares (PLS) approach was applied to the full spectrum acquired with
the hyperspectral device and (ii) the potential of multispectral imaging was also tested through the preselection of the most
 relevant wavelengths and the building of a multiple linear regression model. The PLS approach was tested on mean
spectra acquired from samples containing several nodules and acquired separately from individual nodules. Peas (Pisum
sativum L.) were cultivated in a greenhouse. The nodules were harvested on four different dates in order to obtain
variations in leghaemoglobin content. The leghaemoglobin content measured with the cyanmethaemoglobin method in fresh
nodules ranged between 1.4 and 4.2 mg leghaemoglobin g–1 fresh nodule. A PLS regression model was calibrated on
leghaemoglobin content measured with the reference method and mean NIR spectra of dried nodules acquired with a
hyperspectral imaging device. On a validation dataset, the PLS model predicted the leghaemoglobin content in nodule
samples well (R2 = 0.90, root mean square error of prediction = 0.26). The multispectral approach showed similar
performance. Applied to individual nodules, the PLS model highlighted a wide variability of leghaemoglobin content in
nodules harvested from the same plant. These results show that NIR hyperspectral imaging could be used as a rapid and
safe method to quantify leghaemoglobin in pea nodules.


This article explores the ways in which commercial actors are operating in state education by focusing on the case study of England's academies policy. First of all the discussion outlines the development of academies over time and the way in which the policy has provided opportunities for private actors to become involved in the state schooling system. The second part of the article focuses on empirical findings from interviews with academy sponsors as a way of understanding the nature of the role commercial actors play in academies. Commercial sponsor involvement in academies demonstrates a blurring of the boundaries between 'public' and 'private', and the article suggests that commercial actors need to be understood not merely as participants in this process, but as being active in the reconstruction of 'public—private' categories. Also, it is underlined that the commercial sponsors in this study cannot be disconnected from the locality in which they operate. In light of this, the article calls for greater attention to be devoted to understanding local assemblages of policy when attempting to explore the role played by commercial actors in the governance of education.


Nanostructured dielectric membranes are used in several applications ranging from de Broglie matter-wave optical elements to photonic crystals. Precise pattern transfer and high aspect ratio structures are crucial for many applications. The authors present an improved method for direct patterning on free-standing, dielectric membranes using electron-beam (e-beam) lithography. The method is based on an advanced etchmask that both reduces charging and allows for tuning of the etch mask thickness to support high aspect ratios even for small structures. The authors etched structures as small as 50 nm radius holes in a 150 nm thick membrane and achieved aspect ratios of up to 1.3 for this structure size range. The etch mask thickness can be tuned to achieve the required aspect ratio. The etchmask is composed of a three layer stack consisting of poly(methyl methacrylate), SiO2 and an antireflective coating polymer. Scanning-electron micrographs of membranes produced with the fabrication method are presented.


The project aim was to develop a technology that would provide a way of navigating when GPS signals could not be used. This includes tunnels, inside buildings and in the city. The proposed solution was to use a dead reckoning (an out dated method of navigating) to navigate using an accelerometer to detecting movement.

The accelerometer acceleration samples would be double integrated to work out distance travelled in each direction. That is up and down, left and right, forward and backwards. A microcontroller would be used to control the device as well as an LCD screen and memory (EEPROM). The controller would be able to store the data to memory allowing it to imported into Excel after an experiment where the data can be manipulated.

In the end a prototype was build but failed to produce accurate calculations. The accelerometer values were hard to calibrate and therefore small errors would encroach on the data. This caused huge problems when integrating and seemed to magnify the error. The prototype would then insist that it has travel vast distances when in fact it has barely moved or not moved at all.

At the end of this document there are future recommendations. First of foremost, the calibration needs to be more accurate if the prototype to work. The two keys ways this would happen is if more samples could be taken to calibrate the accelerometer and/or the calibration value could have more decimal places.


With the successful worldwide deployment of 3rd generation mobile communication, security aspects are ensured partly. Researchers are now looking for 4G mobile for its deployment with high data rate, enhanced security and reliability so that world should look for CALM, Continuous Air interface for Long and Medium range communication. This CALM will be a reliable high data rate secured mobile communication to be deployed for car to car communication (C2C) for safety application. This paper reviewed the WiMAX ,& 60 GHz RF carrier for C2C. The system is tested at SMIT laboratory with multimedia transmission and reception. With proper deployment of this 60 GHz system on vehicles, the existing commercial products for 802.11P will be required to be replaced or updated soon .


Epidural opioids and local anesthetics may depress the neonatal reflexes necessary for breastfeeding success. Literature review yielded no data for hydromorphone and conflicting results for fentanyl. This study investigated whether breastfeeding effectiveness would be less in infants whose mothers received epidural analgesia with hydromorphone compared with those whose mothers received no analgesia, and whether the total amount of drugs given or the presence of multiple stressful events or interventions would be related to the effectiveness of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding behaviors were studied in 51 infants whose mothers chose epidural analgesia compared with 51 infants whose mothers chose to have no analgesia. Women with epidural analgesia received 1.5% lidocaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine as a test dose and/or 0.25% bupivacaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine as a bolus, and 100 μg hydromorphone followed by continuous infusion of 0.05% bupivacaine with 3 μg/mL hydromorphone at 14 mL/hour. The hospital setting strongly supported breastfeeding. Effectiveness of breastfeeding was measured with the LATCH Breastfeeding Assessment Tool at 3, 12, and 24 hours after birth. Cynthia Ann French – University of Connecticut, 2015 LATCH scores did not differ significantly between groups at any time point and were not related to total amount of drugs administered. The presence of multiple stressful events and interventions, e.g., long duration of labor, large amount of IV fluids, oxytocin administration, induction of labor, and meconium staining/suctioning of the baby, did not significantly affect breastfeeding behavior in the overall study population (n=102), altogether contributing not more than 8% of the variability of LATCH scores in the regression model. The group receiving epidural analgesia (n=51) had significantly longer duration of labor, higher rates of oxytocin administration and induction of labor, and larger amounts of IV fluid administration. These factors contributed approximately 30% of the variability of LATCH scores at 3 and 24 hours. However, this finding was not significant. Although the study was limited by its nonrandomized nature, these data indicate that, by itself, epidural analgesia with hydromorphone does not decrease effectiveness of breastfeeding behaviors. Epidural analgesia increases risk of multiple stressful events or interventions, which may contribute to breastfeeding difficulties and necessitate intensive help from the nurse to achieve success in breastfeeding.


Currently, Australian teacher education programs include professional experiences as a means of enhancing preservice teacher understanding about teaching and the profession. The challenge the programs face is the lack of places available in schools and, at times, the unpredictable quality of the placements as some teachers are time-poor, are not good models of effective teaching practice, and/or lack the skills of articulating their practice. This paper briefly explores features of past models of professional experience before describing a new model that, as an inclusion in a range of field-based placements, addresses many of the challenges in teacher education today. Results from two years' of surveys (N=262) inform a practitioner research process designed to investigate the effectiveness of this new model. Findings suggest that while the program cannot negate all the difficulties associated with ensuring quality placements, it does provide some solutions that assist in improving the professional experiences of preservice teachers.


The articles in this issue of CME reflect the views of a number of individuals who developed the guideline for the management of atopic dermatitis (AD) to improve the outcome of its treatment in South Africa (SA). AD has a major impact on the quality of life of sufferers and it is hoped that the articles and the guidelines they embody, if implemented, play a role in achieving these outcomes. Not only is AD the most common skin disease in children, but it causes tremendous morbidity. Engaging with many of these suffering children and their parents daily, is emotionally draining and energy sapping. No other skin condition places such demands on resources, time and the human spirit.


Saint Augustine's ten homilies on the "First Epistle of John" are among his greatest and most influential works. John and Augustine both develop the same central theme - love - and in these homilies Augustine uses John's epistle as a point of departure for exploring the meaning and implications of love with his customary profundity, passion and analytic rigour. As with John, a context of dissension and conflict within the Christian community (the Donatist breakaway from Catholic unity), gives his preaching a tone of urgency and poignancy. Anyone who reads these homilies, universally viewed as classics, cannot fail to be moved and challenged both intellectually and emotionally.


Rafe de Crespigny provides the first account in a Western language of one of the great dynasties of China, which dominated east Asia but collapsed in dramatic fashion at the end of the second century AD.


A long line of research investigates the existence of tight security reductions for the Schnorr signature scheme. Most of these works presented lower tightness bounds, most recently Seurin (Eurocrypt 2012) showed that under certain assumptions the non-tight security proof for Schnorr signatures by Pointcheval and Stern (Eurocrypt 1996) is essentially optimal. All previous works in this direction share the same restrictions: The results hold only under the interactive one-more discrete logarithm assumption, they only consider algebraic reductions, and they only rule out tight reductions from the (one-more) discrete logarithm problem. The existence of a tight reduction from weaker computational problems, like CDH or DDH, remained open. In this paper we introduce a new meta-reduction technique, which allows to prove lower bounds for the large and very natural class of generic reductions. A generic reduction is independent of a particular representation of group elements. Most reductions in state-of-the-art security proofs have this desirable property. This new approach allows to show unconditionally that there is no tight generic reduction from any natural computational problem Π defined over algebraic groups (including even interactive problems) to breaking Schnorr signatures, unless solving Π is easy.


Distributed learning allows a group of independent data owners to collaboratively learn a model over their data sets without exposing their private data. We present a distributed learning approach that combines differential privacy with secure multi-party computation. We explore two popular methods of differential privacy, output perturbation and gradient perturbation, and advance the state-of-the-art for both methods in the distributed learning setting. In our output perturbation method, the parties combine local models within a secure computation and then add the required differential privacy noise before revealing the model. In our gradient perturbation method, the data owners collaboratively train a global model via an iterative learning algorithm. At each iteration, the parties aggregate their local gradients within a secure computation, adding sufficient noise to ensure privacy before the gradient updates are revealed. For both methods, we show that the noise can be reduced in the multi-party setting by adding the noise inside the secure computation after aggregation, asymptotically improving upon the best previous results. Experiments on real world data sets demonstrate that our methods provide substantial utility gains for typical privacy requirements.


The paper aims to assess changes in the level of competition in Poland's banking sector in 1997-2007. Competition between banks is one of the most important factors behind the stability of the financial sector through its influence on the profitability of banks, access to external funding, and the country's economic development as a whole. In this paper, the Panzar and Rosse model was applied to assess the level of competition in the banking sector. The results of the analysis of the Polish banking sector show that between 1997 and 2007 commercial banks operated under monopolistic competition. The degree of competition in the Polish banking sector is close to that in euro-area banking sectors (which is reflected by the values of the Panzar and Rosse measures). This applies to both corporate and retail banking. The main driving factor behind competition in the Polish banking sector was the country's entry into the European Union. The same channels, i.e. consolidation and financial deregulation, that were observed in the EU at the time of adopting the euro influenced competition between banks in the Polish banking sector at the time of EU entry. This was mainly due to foreign capital from the euro area.


The Mekong River is the longest river in Southeast Asia with a drainage basin of 795,000 km². It rises in the Tibetan highlands and flows through six states, the southeast Chinese province of Yun-Nan, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The climate of the Mekong region is influenced by the Southwest and Northeast monsoons. The strong seasonal variation in rainfall leads frequently to extreme flood and drought conditions. Occurrences of large-scale and long-lasting floods alternating with periods of drought and water shortage significantly affect the people living in Mekong watershed and cause severe economic and civil damages. Therefore accurate information on the frequency and the extent of extreme events is critical for preparedness, prevention and management of the disaster. Satellite remote sensing has become valuable for monitoring surface parameters related to floods and droughts by providing comprehensive and multi temporal coverage of large areas. The active microwave sensors have proven to be applicable instruments for monitoring of surface water and soil moisture due to high sensitivity of radar signal to water. One of the major advantages of active sensors is that they can acquire imagery regardless of solar illumination during day and night and unimpeded by cloud cover, with the latter being of special importance during rainy periods, when wetlands are often easier to discriminate but mostly clouded. In this study we use the backscatter and soil moisture information extracted from the C-band Advanced SCATterometer (ASCAT) onboard Metop and the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) onboard Envisat to demonstrate the capability of active sensors for monitoring flood and drought events in lower Mekong region. The method is based on anomaly detection and threshold analysis of backscatter and its relative noise for detection of extreme dry, wet and inundated conditions. It is shown that the analysis of ASCAT backscatter noise helps to remove ambiguities in low backscatter domain for discrimination between extremely dry soil and inundated surface. The results show the potential of active sensors for change detection of surface water bodies and monitoring of soil moisture dynamics in the Mekong region which has applications in agriculture, hydrology, and disaster management.


This paper presents data from a comparative study of EV-policies in 8 different North-European countries, that maps out all of the policies of these countries (and a range of regions and cities) that target passenger vehicles (PHEV and BEV), chargers (home, private, public; level 1-3), and policies that target the emobility eco-system or supporting network, in time-period 2012-2014. The main findings are that 1) there is wide variance of policies put out by the different countries, 2) these policies are hardly part of a coherent policy-strategy, and 3) mainly address the introduction of e-mobility as an issue of "piling up" enough incentives to overcome early market problems (e.g. high costs, reticent customers, slow adaptation of regulation). Most countries we studied were able to meet short-term policy-ambitions, and some have even surpassed those ambitions; Netherlands and Norway for instance are ahead of their targets, both in numbers of vehicles and chargers. However, if we compare the currently applied policies to the medium- and longer term ambitions, these policies are hardly viable. Therefore, argue for alternative policy strategies that do not "pile up" incentives, but look at "mixes" of policies that instigate a self-reinforcing loop in the adoption to EV's.


This article reports on research based on three crucial aspects of the current global economic situation. First is the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in establishing and constructing international cooperation at the supranational level. Second is the policy of sanctions against Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine. And third is the cooperation of Royal Dutch Shell with Russia's Gazprom despite the political, economic and technological sanctions imposed on Russian companies and economic sectors.Analyzing Shell's policy on the Russian energy market should reveal some kind of the managing principle that not only Shell but most TNCs follow in taking the political atmosphere into consideration, while striving to avoid any related restrictions.The research methodology uses analytical, ultimate analysis and functional methods. The analytical method helped to lay the theoretical foundation of the research. Modern TNCs are deeply engaged in the process of economic globalization. To expand their influence, such companies create economic conditions for organizing international production with local markets and for international markets for capital, labour, and scientific and consulting services. The ultimate analysis method revealed the following pattern: in struggling for the global market, TNCs raise the level of competition, which creates a permanent need for technical innovations and scientific progress. The functional analysis method demonstrated a casual relationship in modern economic development: by assisting capital turnover and labour and transport mobility, TNCs contribute significantly to economic growth and development.The first part of the article focuses on the history and methodology of the genesis and development of TNCs as actors in global economic relations. It also reviews the current role of TNCs in the global economy. The second part of the article examines the cooperation between Shell and Gazprom embodied in their joint realization of the Sakhalin-2 project and the prospects for the Sakhalin-3 project.The final section of the article contains analytical conclusions and theoretical recommendations. The authors came to two main conclusions. First, only transparent cooperation based on fair principles can guarantee stable economic ties between countries or any kind of global companies. Second, the accumulated experience in any field of cooperation provides quick and efficient payback of even the largest project. And even if the restrictions may correct (or try to correct) only in the short term but lay a foundation for long-term regress in relations, even one successful project, based on mutual trust and respect, can lead to a breakthrough in both economic and political relations between the countries.

https://iorj.hse.ru/data/2017/05/30/1172163330/K. Kurilev, E. Martynenko, N. Parkhitko, D. Stanis.pdf


The international community is eagerly promoting the concept of the rule of law in post-conflict states such as Timor-Leste in the belief that it will lead to political and social stability. To attract international legitimacy, Timorese leaders are also keen to be seen to be invoking the rule of law although the manner in which they understand and use the concept often diverges from dominant Western understandings. The concept of the rule of law assumes that the state enjoys a monopoly of law. This article examines the resonance of the rule of law at the local level in Timor-Leste in light of the fact that customary law is the type of law with which people are likely to have first and frequent contact as the state has little reach beyond the capital. It concludes by recommending that all actors promoting the rule of law in post-conflict states need to equip themselves with a strong understanding of how the population engages with legal norms in order to effectively promote the rule of law.


This study was carried out to examine the smoke emission level from diesel powered vehicles
plying Malaysian roads and the problems related to the enforcement of the Motor Vehicles (Smoke
and Gas Emission) Rules 1977. The results show that approximately 35% of the lorries examined had
excessive smoke emission compared to 33% for taxis, 16% for buses and mini buses, and 13% for cars.
Further examination£on of the data did not show any relationship between the degree of smoke emission
and parameters such as age and maintainance of the vehicle, or duration since the last mandatory
inspect£on by the RTD. A study of the past records of enforcement carnage out by the DOE showed
that an average of only 52. 7% of the planned exercises were actually carnage out during 1979 to 1983.
This was due to various reasons including manpower and budget problems, equipment, transportation,
and weather. The selection of suitable sites for curb-side enforcement is nearly always hampered
by the need to select locations which would not cause severe traffic problems and hence did not necessarily
match the traffic flow. The main problem faced by the RTD is the lack of space to carry out
inspection of the motor vehicles. The results also give a strong indication that some drivers of diesel
vehicle may adopt underhand tactics such as tempenng with the engine parts or adding volatile
additives into the fuel tanks to achieve short term reductions for smoke emission during the RTD tests.


Purpose: To report a case of bilateral corneal edema in a patient with a history of cocaine abuse and bipolar-depression treated with amantadine for 6 months, and to review the literature on amantadine corneal toxicity.
Methods: The clinical record of a patient with amantadine corneal toxicity and the existing literature on this subject were extensively reviewed for prevalence, clinical presentation, pathogenesis and therapy.
Results: A 27 year-old male who suffered from depression and cocaine abuse presented with sudden visual loss (20/150 OD and 20/200 OS) caused by bilateral corneal stromal edema without ocular inflammation. Corneal edema was related to amantadine therapy (200 mg per day) for 6 months. Visual acuity improved to 20/20 OU and corneal edema resolved after one month of cessation of therapy. Corneal endothelial cell density after 3 months of discontinuation of amantadine therapy was 636 ± 359 cells/mm² in the right eye and 1,176 ± 238 cells/mm² in the left eye. There was also increased pleomorphism (45.3% 6A cells OD, 56.4% 6A cells OS) and polymegatism (coefficient of variation, 39.04 ± 6.38 OD and 34.76 ± 2.68 OS).
Conclusions: Amantadine therapy has become popularized for the treatment of many neurologic and behavioral disorders at all ages. It has been associated with reversible corneal edema but may cause irreversible endothelial cell damage after prolonged administration. This report summarizes the information currently available in the literature regarding amantadine corneal toxicity.


Ever since the literary works of Capek and Asimov, mankind has been fascinated by the idea of robots. Modern research in robotics reveals that along with many other branches of mathematics, topology has a fundamental role to play in making these grand ideas a reality. This volume summarizes recent progress in the field of topological robotics--a new discipline at the crossroads of topology, engineering and computer science. Currently, topological robotics is developing in two main directions. On one hand, it studies pure topological problems inspired by robotics and engineering. On the other hand, it uses topological ideas, topological language, topological philosophy, and specially developed tools of algebraic topology to solve problems of engineering and computer science. Examples of research in both these directions are given by articles in this volume, which is designed to be a mixture of various interesting topics of pure mathematics and practical engineering.


Pepsin (EC 188.8.131.52) from porcine stomach mucosa caused depolymerization of a chitosan sample (a copolymer of glucosamine and N-acetylglucosamine linked by beta-1-4-glycosidic bonds). N-terminal sequence and zymogram analyses confirmed dual (proteolytic and chitosanolytic) activities of pepsin. Optimum depolymerization occurred at pH 5.0 and 45 degrees C with an activity of 4.98 U. Low molecular weight chitosan (LMWC), the major depolymerization product, was obtained in a yield of 75-82%, the degree of polymerization of which depended on reaction time. The LMWC showed a nearly 10-14-fold decrease in the molecular mass as compared to native chitosan, which was also confirmed by GPC and HPLC analyses. IR and 13C NMR spectra indicated a decrease in the degree of acetylation (DA, approximately 13.4-18.8%) as compared to native chitosan (approximately 25.7%), which was in accordance with the CD analysis. Native chitosan had a crystallinity index (CrI) of approximately 70%, whereas there was a decrease in the CrI of LMWC (approximately 61%). The latter showed a better bactericidal activity toward both Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli, which was more toward the former. The bactericidal activity was essentially due to the lytic and not static effect of LMWC, as evidenced by the pore formation on the bacterial cell surface when observed under SEM. This study suggests the possible use of pepsin in place of chitosanase, which is expensive and unavailable in bulk quantities for the production of LMWC of desired molecular mass that has diversified applications in various fields.


In this article, the authors discuss the Maryland Court of Appeals decision in the case of Grimes v. Kennedy Krieger Institute, Inc. and its implications for the tort duty owed by researchers, in particular public health researchers, to their subjects. The Opinion resulted from two lawsuits alleging lead poisoning of children enrolled in a study conducted by the Kennedy Krieger Institute, a world renown pediatric research and treatment facility. The opinion shocked the research establishment with its scathing characterization of researchers and its apparent holding that in Maryland a parent cannot consent to the participation of a child in "nontherapeutic research or other studies in which there is any risk of injury or damage to the health of the subject." While this was the focus of much of the research community, the issue in dispute in the case was that of the scope of duty of the researchers. Hoffmann and Rothenberg describe the facts leading to the case, many of which were omitted from the Court of Appeals decision which resulted from an appeal to a motion for summary judgment, and then discuss two possible interpretations of the Court's decision as it relates to the duty of researchers. One interpretation is based on a broad view of what constitutes the research endeavor and its associated risks and would arguably not result in a change in the legal duties of researchers. The other is based on a narrow view of the research project and would lead to the disclosure of risks not traditionally required by law as they fall outside of risks resulting from participation in the research protocol. The authors assert that as a result of confusion in the Opinion regarding the definition of the research study, the Court's decision may result in a significantly broader duty than has been posed historically in the research setting. In addition to exploring the contrasting interpretations of the Court's Opinion, the authors "deconstruct" the scope of the duty as articulated by the Court and pose a series of questions as to how such a duty might be discharged and how realistic the Court's apparent expectations are regarding the duty or researchers. Finally, they discuss the implications of the Court's apparent broad based duty requirement in the context of public health studies and raise the question whether the Opinion may ultimately have negative consequences for the future of public health research in Maryland and for the compensation of injured research subjects.


This paper addresses the largely prevalent practice of architectural pedagogy in India. There may be few exceptions to these predominant trends and they stand as important beacons of hope. The predominant pedagogy suffers from many 'myths' or fallacies. This paper identifies three of these myths as fundamentally deadly which need to be urgently exploded in order to pave the way to reform the education. The first myth deals with the 'content' or 'what' is taught. The second has to do with 'how'; i.e. pedagogic bias. The third has to do with the overall philosophy of knowledge or "epistemology". The myths are: Myth 1: Architectural education = Design education = Iconic form-making. Myth 2: One can pull up average competence levels across the class by concentrating on a few geniuses in the studio. Myth 3: Delivery of knowledge can be fragmented. Integration of knowledge happens 'automatically' inside learners.


The South African (SA) Army's history can be traced back to 1912, when South Africa's first defence force was established. In this article a review is provided of the development and deployment of South Africa's land forces in the course of a hundred years (1912-2012), with the emphasis on the role played by these land forces in the First World War (for example in the suppression of the Afrikaner rebellion, in the conquest of German South West Africa, the campaign in German East Africa, on the Western Front in France and in Belgium, and in Palestine), the Second World War (for example in Abyssinia, North Africa, Madagascar, and in Italy), in the war in the north of South West Africa (Namibia) and in Angola (1966-1989), as well as in the efforts to keep law and order in South Africa itself. The developments in transforming the Army of the old South African Defence Force (SADF), together with other armed forces, into a new Army in the post-apartheid South African National Defence Force (SANDF), are also briefly discussed. Throughout, historiographical matters are mentioned by means of references, either in the text or in footnotes, to the most important available sources. For obvious reasons, this is merely a broad introduction to an extensive topic.


Abstract—In this paper, we perform the investigation of some routing protocols in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network (VANET) context. Indeed, we study the efficiency of protocols like Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector Routing (AODV), Destination Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV), Optimized Link State Routing convention (OLSR) and Vehicular Multi-hop algorithm for Stable Clustering (VMASC) in terms of packet delivery ratio (PDR) and throughput. The performance evaluation and comparison between the studied protocols shows that the VMASC is the best protocols regarding fast data transmission and link stability in VANETs. The validation of all results is done by the NS3 simulator.


Why did a millenarian movement erupt in the Brazilian interior in 1912? Setting out to answer this deceptively simple question, Todd A. Diacon delivers a fascinating account of a culture in crisis. Combining oral history with detailed archival research, Millenarian Vision, Capitalist Reality depicts a peasant community whose security in economic, social, and religious relations was suddenly disrupted by the intrusion of international capital. Diacon shows how a "deadly triumvirate" comprised to foreign capital, state power, and local bosses engineered a land tenure revolution that threatened smallholders' subsistence, sparking rebellion among the Contestado peasants. Unlike most analysis of millenarian movements, Diacon combines a material analysis with a careful exploration of the movement's millenarian ideology to demonstrate how a particular combination of external and internal forces produced a crisis of values in the Contestado society. Such a crisis, Diacon concludes, gave a special power to the millenarian vision that promised not only outward reform, but inner salvation as well. This work offers a significant contribution to the literature of millenarian movements, popular religion, peasant rebellions, and the transition to capitalism in Brazil.


Human-influenced climate change is rapidly accelerating and continues to threaten to human existence. Global migration is leading to increasingly multicultural urban populations. This paper ties these two issues together through the lense of engagement. The thesis argues that a Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) can be used to plan strategies to engage multicultural communities towards second commitment Kyoto targets and be an opportunity for meeting community needs for social sustainability. The research took place in Sweden through interviews and focus groups. Key findings address systematic exclusion and the potential of inquiry to discover barriers and leverage points. The resulting set of guidelines for municipalities utilizes the full spectrum of engagement (inform, consult, involve, collaborate, empower) and the FSSD to enhance existing climate change action plans towards maximum participation for fulfilling Kyoto Protocol mandates.


Developing online teaching skills can occur through involvement in learn-by-doing strategies, which incorporates informal, organic or need-driven strategies. Such processes are sometimes labeled as "bottom-up" staff development processes. In other contexts, teaching staff are formally directed to develop online teaching skills through a series of compulsory staff development workshops or courses. These approaches typically include "top-down" staff development processes. This paper describes how a group of tertiary teaching staff extended their on-campus and distance teaching repertoire of skills to include online teaching skills. In this case, the process of staff development began with collecting data about the concerns and practices of the teaching staff involved. An analysis of the data informed the development of a "middle-out" staff development strategy which comprised a mixture of informal and formal strategies, and acknowledged the ethos of the institution and the specific needs of the staff involved. This professional development program incorporated a group of 11 informal and formal strategies. This paper presents an analysis of the data that were gathered during this project alongside the professional development strategies that were developed as a result of this analysis.


The Inuit of Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin Island) have developed a deep respect for their natural environment and are able to report not only changes in weather, ice, and natural resources but also changes in their communities as a result of climate change. The objective of this study was to shed light on how the impacts of climate change are currently perceived in the communities of Kanngiqtugaapik, Pangniqtuuq, and Qikiqtarjuaq. In order to construct a shared knowledge base, we conducted qualitative video interviews and participated in a hunting camp with multigenerational and multigender Inuit hunters and fishers. First, Inuit continue to see the world in which they cohabit with other living things, particularly animals, as a world that they cannot control on their own—a world they must adapt to, passing learning from one generation to the next. Second, they report that changes in the ice have been among the major and most important transformations to have occurred in recent decades. Observations made by these local populations also indicate changes in hunted species, with fewer caribou and narwhal, more birds, insects, and fish, including from more southerly regions, and an uncertainty about polar bear populations. Seal hunting remains stable, and this meat is still the most popular and healthy food, physically and psychologically. Third, sociological and economic changes (e.g., lifestyle change, monetary economies, quotas), in addition to environmental changes (e.g., climate change, species change), have had a significant impact on food harvesting activities as well as food consumption in the region. A final perspective concerns the needs of the Qikiqtaaluk communities to further develop collaboration with scientists. This need for partnership is not only perceived as a scientific necessity but also recognized by Inuit as essential to their communities, with some local leaders ready to work toward a fruitful collaboration.


Increasing concerns about the future of humankind that arise from threats of terrorism, nuclear war, and environmental destruction dramatize the fact that we must begin working collectively to change our ways of interacting with one another and with our habitat. In Global Intelligence and Human Development, Mihai Spariosu argues that the best way to bring about this change is through education. We need, he says, to create learning environments that help us to develop a "global mindset."Spariosu presents a new conceptual framework for dealing with globalization from an intercultural perspective and outlines an innovative model of learning based on an ethics of global intelligence, which he defines as the ability to understand and work toward what will benefit all life on earth. This kind of understanding, he argues, can emerge only from ongoing intercultural dialogue and cooperation. He identifies the problems that pervade today's education system and then proposes concrete ways to begin moving toward global intelligence.To overcome the adverse global consequences of prevalent Western scientific practices, Spariosu proposes a nonreductionist ecological model of science that draws on nonlinear concepts from general systems theory. He concludes that there is only one kind of science: human science, which incorporates the physical and the social sciences as well as the humanities and the arts, engaged in continuous dialogue and cooperation. In the final sections of the book he discusses ways in which universities could be reoriented toward promoting the kind of local-global learning environments needed for sustainable human development. He proposes a new field of studies, intercultural knowledge management, that would encourage intercultural and transdisciplinary dialogue and teamwork.


ABSTRACT Returns to education have received much attention from scholars as well as policy makers and the media. It is a wellestablished fact that educational attainment improves employability and wages and that university graduates better than their less educated counterparts. However, the educational expansion rises the importance of the horizontal dimension in explaining social stratification. The field of study has proved to be an important factor for graduates' labor market performance in many countries. This paper discusses the differences in the labor market outcomes in early careers of graduates of various disciplines in Poland where the topic has been hotly debated for many years but remained under researched. We use data from the second measurement of the recently established Polish National Graduate Tracking System (ELA). The system uses administrative data exported from the national register of students and graduates as well as monthly records on employment status and earnings fetched from the Social Insurance Institution registers. The data cover entire population of recent higher education graduates in Poland and enables tracking for twenty-one months after graduation. We focus particularly on the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics which are presumed to lead to the best labor market positions. We demonstrate that, contrary to popular opinion, only some of the STEM disciplines give their graduates an edge on the labor market while the rest struggle to achieve results comparable with those of graduates of Humanities and Social Sciences.


The aim of this thesis is to provide a new interpretation about the role played by spiritual exercises in Epictetus' program of moral therapy, in response to Brennan (2003) who holds that they may potentially conflict with Epictetus' intellectualism. I argue that spiritual exercises are intended to cause us to assimilate theory by causing one to form specific beliefs that are in accordance with theory. Understood this way, any sort of tension seems to resolve itself. I rely upon the work that Braicovich (2012) has done on this question, and go further, ultimately demonstrating that all three of Epictetus' spiritual exercises can be explained coherently when understood as aiding in the assimilation of theory. I conclude by proposing that Epictetus thought of Stoics like athletes in training for whom spiritual exercises are essential to staying fit and ready to perform.


The literature on economic sanctions suggests that the choice of policy instrument, for example trade sanctions, financial sanctions, or military intervention, is endogenous to the political process and, in particular, to the policy outcome sought by the sanctioner. But the choice of instrument also affects the outcome of the sanctions. Therefore, the sanctions policy outcome and the probabilities of the sanctioner's adoption of different sanctions instruments are jointly determined. To capture this endogeneity, multivariate probit and logit models are estimated using data from Hufbauer, Schott & Elliott, with the random utilities to the sanctioner of choosing military action, trade sanctions, and financial sanctions as dependent variables. The expected probabilities of choosing these alternatives are then incorporated as explanatory variables in predicting the success of the sanctions in attaining their political objectives. This procedure generates simultaneous estimates of the determinants of both instrument choice and sanctions success. The empirical results indicate that military force is less likely to be used against an economically healthy and politically stable target than against a more vulnerable target. However, military action is encouraged by third-country assistance to the sanctioned country and by a high cost of sanctions to the sanctioner. Financial sanctions are more likely to be used against a target that receives third-country support but are less likely against an economically healthy country. Sanctions success is positively correlated with the degree of warmth in relations between sanctioner and target prior to the sanctions; negatively correlated with the size of the sanctioner relative to the target; and negatively correlated with the economic health and political stability of the target. There is no evidence that third-country assistance to the target diminishes the effectiveness of sanctions or that the cost of sanctions to either the target or the sanctioner has a strong effect on the sanctions outcome.


The recent global financial crisis has challenged conventional wisdom, and our conception of globalisation has been called into question. This challenging and timely book revisits the relationship between globalisation, the crisis and the state from an interdisciplinary perspective, with law, economics and political science underpinning the analysis.


We explore the diffraction limited focusing and confocal imaging properties of a high NA parabolic mirror for confocal imaging and spectroscopy of nanoparticles and single molecules. Vector field calculations of the electric fields near focus for both linear and radially polarized illumination are discussed and show that the optical field can be similar tightly focused as in the case of a high NA objective lens. Furthermore they show that a high NA parabolic mirror allows an easy orientation of the polarization of the illuminating light in all spatial directions. The simulation of confocal imaging of single molecules is discussed and yields, that the use of radially polarized excitation light gives an easy access to their orientations.


The development process from floral bud formation to seed maturity of four top flowering annual clovers was quantified from a field experiment across 10 sowing dates at Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand. For each species, a numeric reproductive scale was created as a field guide to document morphological changes as the bud progresses through reproductive development. The duration from bud visible to open flower was 341 °C days for 'Cefalu' arrowleaf, 215 °C days for 'Bolta' balansa, 196 °C days for 'Prima' gland and 186 °C days for 'Mihi' Persian clover. The inflorescence then required a further 274-689 °C days, 185 °C days , 256 °C days and 425 °C days for each respective species to reach physiological maturity. This was indicated when 50% of seeds had turned red/brown for 'Cefalu' arrowleaf, 100% pods turned yellow for 'Bolta' balansa, 100% of seeds were yellow and hard for 'Prima' gland, and pods turned brown with the first sign of colour change in seeds for 'Mihi' Persian clover. These results can be used to facilitate on farm decision making in relation to grazing management or seed set for subsequent regeneration.


Case Presentation A 69 year-old male presents to the Emergency Department with complaints of malaise, myalgias, rhinorrhea, increased congestion, and occasional fevers for one week. The symptoms have gradually worsened over the past week, and Tylenol has minimally alleviated his symptoms. He denies exacerbating factors. He denies any trauma, shortness of breath, chest pain, or recent weight change. He has no sick contacts or recent travel history.


Driverless buses running in low-speed, mixed-tra c conditions are the subject of current research and demonstration in Europe. The paper aims to assess how automation fares with respect to conventional services in terms of users' attitudes. Stated preference data, based on a questionnaire administered in twelve cities, are used for the estimation of logit models providing preference shares for the conventional and the automated bus. The correlation among errors in repeated measurement data is addressed using a multivariate version of the Farlie-Gumbel-Morgenstern copula, yielding a closed form for the choice sequence probability. Estimation results show a relatively higher preference for automation across the cities where the automated bus is implemented inside a major facility. Without provision of information on how the system works and with no experience, users tend not to trust automation in the normal mixedtra c conditions that are found in cities. The impacts of socio-economic variables are heterogenous across cities. Comparison between the logit based on the independence assumption and the logit with correlated observations shows deviations in coe cient estimates as large as twenty per cent with a typical sample size of about two hundred respondents and four choice tasks per individual. Deviations decrease to few percentage points when sample size is tripled. Deviations in preference shares are, however, negligible, a result which, in terms of policy implications, is indicative of the validity of the independence assumption in applied work.


Objective: To analyze the therapeutic efficacy of LISS surgery on complex bone fracture around the knee. A total of 180 patients definitely diagnosed as complex bone fracture around the knee were enrolled and divided into research group and control group, with 90 cases in each group. The patients of control group were subjected to traditional internal fixation, while those of research group underwent LISS surgery. The therapeutic efficacy was compared between both groups. The perioperative indicators of research group were significantly lower than that of control group (p<0.05). The excellent and good rate of knee function of the research group (95.56%) was markedly higher than that of control group (77.78%) (p<0.05). Compared with the control group, the VAS score and Lysholm knee function score of the research group had more advantages (p<0.05). Application of LISS surgery on complex bone fracture around the knee could exert satisfactory efficacy and promote recovery, which is worthy of popularization.


Written by ED BRUBAKER and GREG RUCKA Art by MICHAEL LARK, BRIAN HURTT and others Cover by MICHAEL LARK From the pages of GOTHAM CENTRAL #11-22! First, The Joker terrorizes the city when he begins randomly executing people with a rifle, and no one from the Mayor on down is safe. Then, disgraced detective Harvey Bullock must settle some unfinished business. On sale JULY 6 - 288 pg, FC, $19.99 US


Our goal is to introduce and describe the utility of a new pipeline "Contigs Assembly Pipeline using Reference Genome" (CAPRG), which has been developed to assemble "long sequence reads" for non-model organisms by leveraging a reference genome of a closely related phylogenetic relative. To facilitate this effort, we utilized two avian transcriptomic datasets generated using ROCHE/454 technology as test cases for CAPRG assembly. We compared the results of CAPRG assembly using a reference genome with the results of existing methods that utilize de novo strategies such as VELVET, PAVE, and MIRA by employing parameter space comparisons (intra-assembling comparison). CAPRG performed as well or better than the existing assembly methods based on various benchmarks for "gene-hunting." Further, CAPRG completed the assemblies in a fraction of the time required by the existing assembly algorithms. Additional advantages of CAPRG included reduced contig inflation resulting in lower computational resources for annotation, and functional identification for contigs that may be categorized as "unknowns" by de novo methods. In addition to providing evaluation of CAPRG performance, we observed that the different assembly (inter-assembly) results could be integrated to enhance the putative gene coverage for any transcriptomics study.


Cycloheximide (500 micrograms/ml) rapidly arrests cleavage, spindle assembly, and cycles of an M-phase-specific histone kinase in early Xenopus blastulae. 2 h after cycloheximide addition, most cells contained two microtubule asters radiating from perinuclear microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs). In contrast, blastomeres treated with cycloheximide for longer periods (3-6 h) contained numerous microtubule asters and MTOCs. Immunofluorescence with an anticentrosome serum and EM demonstrated that the MTOCs in cycloheximide-treated cells were typical centrosomes, containing centrioles and pericentriolar material. We conclude that centrosome duplication continues in cycloheximide- treated Xenopus blastulae in the absence of a detectable cell cycle. In addition, these observations suggest that Xenopus embryos contain sufficient material to assemble 1,000-2,000 centrosomes in the absence of normal protein synthesis.


We begin with our knowledge of the structure and properties of atoms. We know that atoms have a nuclear structure, meaning that all of the positive charge and virtually all of the mass of the atom are concentrated in a nucleus which is a very small fraction of the volume of the atom. In addition, we know that many of the properties of atoms can be understood by a model in which the electrons in the atom are arranged in "shells" about the nucleus, with each shell farther from the nucleus than the previous. The electrons in outer shells are more weakly attached to the atom than the electrons in the inner shells, and only a limited number of electrons can fit in each shell. Within each shell are subshells, each of which can also hold a limited number of electrons. The electrons in different subshells have different energies and different locations for motion about the nucleus. We also assume a knowledge of the Lewis structure model for chemical bonding based on valence shell electron pair sharing and the octet rule. A covalent chemical bond is formed when the two bonded atoms share a pair of valence shell electrons between them. In general, atoms of Groups IV through VII bond so as to complete an octet of valence shell electrons. We finally assume the Electron Domain Model for understanding and predicting molecular geometries. The pairs of valence shell electrons are arranged in bonding and non-bonding domains, and these domains are separated in space to minimize electron-electron repulsions. This electron domain arrangement determines the molecular geometry.


Understanding the dynamic nature of the construction process and the ability to make important decisions about resource utilization, sequencing, site layout, and project-related risks are critical skills for design and construction engineering students. Novice students lacking experience face challenges in learning and understanding how to manage risks, cost and time tradeoffs. An evolving area of research concerns the use of educational computer simulations to enhance the learning experience.The current development initiative at the Pennsylvania State University explores the value of educational simulations in teaching construction concepts such as scheduling, site congestion, resource management and resource allocation. The Virtual Construction Simulator (VCS), an interactive simulation game currently being developed and implemented, aims to engage students in an experiential simulation environment where they develop a construction schedule and make initial decisions about construction methods, resources, and activity sequence; and subsequently enter the simulation mode where certain factors and events are triggered. Stepping though the process, students assume more active role in learning the difference between the as-planned and as-built schedule resulting from the impact of factors such as weather, congestion, learning curve, or overtime based on construction project conditions.This paper discusses the development, and the results following the first implementation of the VCS simulation game this spring within the third year introductory course to Building and Construction Management course at Penn State. The pedagogical value of the VCS simulation game in fostering engaged, motivated, and deeper learning complementing the traditional teaching methods is also discussed.


Although deep neural networks (DNNs) have achieved great success in many tasks, they can often be fooled by \emph{adversarial examples} that are generated by adding small but purposeful distortions to natural examples. Previous studies to defend against adversarial examples mostly focused on refining the DNN models, but have either shown limited success or required expensive computation. We propose a new strategy, \emph{feature squeezing}, that can be used to harden DNN models by detecting adversarial examples. Feature squeezing reduces the search space available to an adversary by coalescing samples that correspond to many different feature vectors in the original space into a single sample. By comparing a DNN model's prediction on the original input with that on squeezed inputs, feature squeezing detects adversarial examples with high accuracy and few false positives. This paper explores two feature squeezing methods: reducing the color bit depth of each pixel and spatial smoothing. These simple strategies are inexpensive and complementary to other defenses, and can be combined in a joint detection framework to achieve high detection rates against state-of-the-art attacks.