Elucidating the mechanisms of abiotic stress tolerance in different species will help to develop more resistant plant varieties, contributing to improve agricultural production in a climate change scenario. Basic responses to salt stress, dependent on osmolyte accumulation and activation of antioxidant systems, have been studied in Nerium oleander , a xerophytic species widely used as ornamental. Salt strongly inhibited growth, but the plants survived one-month treatments with quite high NaCl concentrations, up to 800 mM, indicating the the species is relatively resistant to salt stress, in addition to drought. Levels of proline, glycine betaine and soluble sugars increased only slightly in the presence of salt; however, soluble sugar absolute contents were much higher than those of the other osmolytes, suggesting a functional role of these compounds in osmotic adjustment, and the presence of constitutive mechanisms of response to salt stress. High salinity generated oxidative stress in the plants, as shown by the increase of malondialdehyde levels. Antioxidant systems, enzymatic and non-enzymatic, are generally activated in response to salt stress; in oleander, they do not seem to include total phenolics or flavonoids, antioxidant compounds which did not accumulate significantly in salt-trated plants


The relation of average grades awarded to the average ability of the students was studied in a large sample of colleges. The mean and standard deviation of freshman classes on an ability test, along with the mean and standard deviation of the freshman year grades obtained by classes over a five year period was available for several hundred colleges. Difference scores on the mean and standard deviations were also calculated. Correlational analyses and analyses of colleges that changed most produced the following results: 1) within any given year colleges whose incoming students were bright tended to award higher grades, but there was considerable room for variance from this trend, 2) the average ability levels of colleges change very little, even over five year periods, 3) when the average ability of students increases (or decreases) about the same level of grades are awarded. This is interpreted as suggesting that faculties as a whole have preferred distribution of grades which they use whether their current classes of students are brighter or duller than previous classes.


"I see a stampede of banks out of the trust business, and a stampede of nonbanks into the trust business," says attorney, Roy Adams, who is concerned by what he sees. This stampede is part of the charge of banks onto what was once the turf of others -- brokers, mutual funds, and money managers -- as the nonbanks encroach on what was formerly bank turf. Deregulation facilitated this activity, but what's causing the traffic is the question, Is Trust part of asset management or is asset management part of Trust? Traditional trust advocates, like Jayne Lipe, executive vice-president of Fort Worth-based Overton Bank & Trust, say that asset management has always been part of Trust, though subsumed by its fiduciary aspect. Experience of Trust, better relationship management and, often, "ownership" of the customers others covet are among the banks' advantages in the marketing battle for the wealthy, sources say. Lipe, who is also chairman of ABA's Trust and Investment Management Committee, emphasized banks, expertise in the labyrinthine business of trust as their major advantage. For instance, trust assets can be beyond the ken of most brokers, she says. "In my part of the country -- in Texas -- a lot of trust assets are in oil and gas," Lipe explained. Fiduciaries also can offer clients financial agreements that will survive the incapacitating disability or the death of the investor, whereas "agency arrangements [simple asset managementl do not." The new school, on the other hand, says the market for asset management -- which has no estate planning implications and which requires far fewer investable assets -- is far bigger than the trust market and relatively more lucrative. Although there is some disagreement with the new school, most see it taking hold, starting in the late eighties, and lately assuming critical mass. Unprecedented alliances have been struck by banks and their former competitors, such as Comerica Bank's and Bank of Boston Corp.'s separate client-sharing arrangements with PaineWebber Inc. Other banks are keeping things in-house, combining, at least on the marketing level, the formerly discreet areas of Trust, investment management, and private banking. The emergent "wealth man agement units," typically offer clients a single contact for all bank services, the "relationship manager." The "Chinese Wall" which used to separate the trust department from the rest of the bank, has not come down, but it is lower, sources say. As this provides for functional integration of wealth management, the breakdown of the Glass Steagall Act, which separated commercial banking from investment banking, allows banks to flesh out their product offerings to the wealthy. Everyone identifies a shifting in the relative balance of trust business inside banks and between them and their competitors. Internally, the shift is hard to gauge since trust departments don't have to report income by type. Adams estimates more than half of banks now emphasize asset management over Trust, while James Philips, a Portland, Conn.-based consultant asserts that, "a majority of trust assets are now in lifetime asset management." However, David Hall, chairman of Financial Services Associates, Niles, Mich., says its last survey found "40% of trust departments' revenues came from personal trust, and only 12% from investment advisory." (FSA's 1996 survey reflects 1995 data on 200 trust operations, mostly within banks.) Why all this worries Roy Adams, and others, is because he sees a neglect of Trust, which, he argues, is ultimately the more important business. Trust allows banks to grow wealth and to keep it over generations; simple asset management is fated to lose most of the investment gains to taxation when the investor passes on, his side says. Besides the shrinkage of assets, there's the specter of future lawsuits, he adds. …


My name is Akiko Ito, and I am Chief of the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (also known as DESA). DESA works to support the development pillars of the United Nations--peace and security, and human rights. BACKGROUND Our starting point is the commitment of the United Nations to the advancement of the rights of women and of persons with disabilities. This commitment is deeply rooted in the UN Charter, which calls for progress in economic and social development, and promotion of human rights for a peaceful and prosperous world. (1) Over the past decades, we have seen great advances through global movements of women and persons with disabilities. Perhaps I do not need to mention to this audience the history of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), (2) or of the world conferences on women held in Beijing, Copenhagen, Mexico, and Nairobi. I believe that we all share the history of the global women's rights movement as an integral part of our movement toward gender equality and women's empowerment. Over the past decades, we have also seen great advances brought about with the advocacy of movements and organizations of persons with disabilities. As a result, we have today the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted in 2006, (3) which is the first human rights treaty setting out a comprehensive normative framework for the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society and development. The drafting process for the CRPD, which benefited from substantial participation and leadership of persons with disabilities, was indeed about interpreting from the disability perspective the universal human rights enshrined in existing conventions and other norms and standards. It was an extraordinary opportunity for learning from and for all stakeholders, and is recorded as one of the most successful treaty conclusions in the history of the United Nations. The Convention has enjoyed great support. There are today 111 states parties to the CRPD, sixty-three of which have also ratified its Optional Protocol. WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES The CRPD specifically stipulates the rights of women and girls with disabilities. In spite of this, women with disabilities often remain excluded from their communities due to multiple forms of discrimination and lack of access to political, economic, and social structures and decisionmaking processes. Woman with disabilities may face additional layers of discrimination based on other aspects of their identity, such as being a member of a racial minority or their indigenous status. In this regard, it is worth noting that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the General Assembly in 2007, (4) also specifically addresses the rights of indigenous peoples, including women and girls, with disabilities. The theme of our panel today is of critical importance because evidence suggests that women with disabilities experience disproportionately high rates of violence. In his 2006 In-Depth Study on All Forms of Violence Against Women, for example, the Secretary-General observed that surveys conducted in Europe, North America, and Australia have shown that over half of women with disabilities have experienced physical abuse, compared to one-third of non-disabled women. (5) The question I'd like to address today is about the role of the United Nations in promoting the human rights of women with disabilities, and in combating violence against women with disabilities. THE WORK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS In accordance with a series of resolutions adopted by the General Assembly, (6) DESA, through the work of the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the Division for Social Policy and Development, has prioritized the mainstreaming of disability in the United Nations agenda, and within its multi-dimensional efforts, DESA strives to include the perspective of women with disabilities. …


Learning and memory has been a topic that has captured the attention of the scientific and public communities since the dawn of scientific discovery. Without the faculty of memory, mammals cannot experience nor function in the world; among homosapiens specifically, language, relationships, and personal identity cannot be developed (Eysenck, 2012). After all, some philosophers such as John Locke argued we are nothing but a collection of past memories in which we have developed and improved upon (Nimbalkar, 2011). Understanding the cellular mechanisms behind learning, and the subsequent formation of memory, has been a topic that has garnered scientific interest for many decades. One particular kinase that has been at the center of attention in the last decade is the serine/threonine kinase PKM-ζ, an N-terminal truncated form of PKC-ζ that renders it constitutively active (Hernandez et al., 2003). PKM-ζ has long been implicated in a cellular correlate of learning, long-term potentiation (LTP). Inhibition of PKM-ζ with Zetainhibitory peptide (ZIP) has been shown in many brain structures to disrupt maintenance of AMPA receptors, irreversibly disrupting numerous forms of learning and memory that have been maintained for weeks. The voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.2 is a critical modulator of neuronal physiology, including dendritic excitability, action potential propagation, and neurotransmitter release. While expressed in various mammalian tissues, Kv1.2 is most prevalent in the cerebellum where it modulates both dendritic excitability of Purkinje cells (PCs) and basket cell (BC) inhibitory input to PCs. Because PCs are the main computational unit of the cerebellar cortex and provide its sole output (Napper et al., 1988; Harvey et al., 1991), regulation of synaptic Kv1.2 is predicted to have a major role in cerebellar function. Pharmacological inhibition of Kv1.2 in cerebellar PC dendrites increases excitability (Khavandgar et al., 2005), while its inhibition in BC axon terminals increases inhibition to PCs (Southan & Robertson, 1998). Interestingly, two prior studies have demonstrated that PKC-ζ, an atypical Protein Kinase C, is able to phosphorylate and bind cerebellar Kvβ2, a Kv1.2 auxiliary subunit. (Gong et al., 1999; Croci et al., 2003). Delay eyeblink conditioning (EBC) is an established model for the assessment of cerebellar learning. Despite being highly expressed in the cerebellum, no studies have examined how regulation of cerebellar PKM-ζ may affect cerebellar-dependent learning and memory nor have they examined the possible effect PKM-ζ may have on Kv1.2. The goal of this dissertation was to determine whether PKM-ζ could modulate EBC in a Kv1.2 dependent manner. Through the use of microscopy techniques we have shown that PKMζ is highly expressed in the cerebellar cortex, primarily in the PC, and by the use of pharmacological manipulations, it was found that PKM-ζ has an important role in regulating the acquisition of EBC. Through the use of biotinylation, flow cytometry, and behavioral manipulations, it was determined that PKM-ζ regulates Kv1.2 during eyeblink conditioning. These studies provided the first evidence that PKM-ζ has a role for learning and memory in the cerebellum, and the first evidence of PKM-ζ regulating a voltage-gated ion channel rather than a ligand-gated ion channel such as AMPA receptors.


Abstract The presence of water in the Earth's deep mantle is an issue of increasing interest in the field of highpressure mineralogy. An important task for further advancing research in the field is to create homogeneous single crystals of candidate deep-mantle water-bearing minerals of 1 mm or larger in size, which is required for applying them for the time-of-flight (TOF) single-crystal Laue diffraction method with a third-generation neutron instrument. In this study, we perform several experiments to demonstrate an improved methodology for growing hydrous crystals of such large sizes at relevant transition zone and lower-mantle conditions via very slow cooling over a maximum period of 1 day. Successfully synthesized crystals using this methodology include dense hydrous magnesium silicate (DHMS) phase E, hydrous wadsleyite, hydrous ringwoodite, and bridgmanite (silicate perovskite). It is also demonstrated that these hydrous crystals can be grown from deuterium enriched starting materials in addition to those having a natural hydrogen isotope ratio. Magnitudes of chemical and crystallographic heterogeneities of the product crystals were characterized by comprehensive analysis of X‑ray precession photography, single-crystal X‑ray diffraction (SCXRD), field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA), secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), powder X‑ray diffraction (PXRD), and TOF neutron powder diffraction (TOF-NPD). The product crystals were confirmed to be inclusion free and crystallographically homogeneous. Compositional and isotopic differences of major elements and hydrogen isotope abundances were lower than 1 and 3%, respectively, among intracrystals and intercrystals within each recovered sample capsule. Phase E crystals up to 600 μm in the largest dimension were grown at a constant temperature of 1100 °C kept for 3 h. Using a lattice parameter-to-temperature relation of phase E, the thermal gradient in the sample capsules for the phase E synthesis has been evaluated to be 20 °C/mm. Hydrous wadsleyite crystals up to 1100 μm in the largest dimension were grown at 1390 °C with a temperature reduction of 70 °C during heating for 10 h. Hydrous ringwoodite crystals up to 1000 μm in the largest dimension were grown at around 1400 °C with a temperature reduction of 110 °C during heating for 12 h. Bridgmanite crystals up to 600 μm in the largest dimension were grown at 1700 °C with a temperature reduction of 30 °C during heating for 12 h. A TOF single-crystal diffraction instrument has been successfully used for analyzing one of the hydrous wadsleyite crystals, which demonstrated that single crystals appropriate for their expected usage are created using the method proposed in the present study.


PURPOSE
The Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE) has been shown to considerably reduce hamstring injuries among soccer players. However, as the load in the NHE is the person's own bodyweight, it is a very heavy exercise and difficult to individualize. The flywheel inertial leg curl (FLC) could be an alternative since the eccentric overload is based on the amount of work produced in the concentric movement. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to compare the activation in the hamstrings at long muscle lengths in the NHE and the FLC in amateur soccer players.

METHODS
Fifteen male amateur soccer players performed 5 repetitions in each exercise in a randomized and counterbalanced order. The concentric and eccentric movements were divided into lower and upper phases. Surface EMG was measured distally, proximally, and in the middle, at both muscles.

RESULTS
In the lower phase in the eccentric movement, there were no significant differences between the 2 exercises (P = .101-.826). In the lower concentric movement, the FLC led to higher activation in all parts of both the biceps femoris (31%-52%, P < .001) and the semitendinosus (20%-35%, P = .001-.023).

CONCLUSION
Both exercises activated the hamstrings similarly at long muscle lengths during eccentric contractions (Nordic hamstring, nonsignificantly higher). However, when performing concentric contractions, the FLC induced higher activations. Therefore, the FLC could be a useful alternative to the NHE and particularly suitable for weaker athletes before progressing to NHE.


Since the early nineteenth century, the structural high of Mt. Nerone in the Umbria-Marche Sabina Domain (UMS – Central/Northern Apennines, Italy) attracted scholars from all over Europe due to the wealth of fossil fauna preserved in a stunningly well-exposed Mesozoic sedimentary succession. Several geopalaeontological studies were focused on the abundant and diverse invertebrate fauna, whereas contributions dealing with Mesozoic vertebrates were to date virtually lacking. Recently, the first material referable to hybodont sharks, consisting of an articulated crushing dentition, was described from the area and referred to Asteracanthus cf. A. magnus. In this contribution, we report the first evidence of ginglymodians actinopterygians from the Upper Jurassic of Mt. Nerone. The material is represented by seven highly tritorial isolated teeth collected from three classic fossiliferous localities of the area (i.e. Pian del Sasso, Fosso Pisciarello, I Ranchi). The general morphology of the material under study allow us to conservatively refer the teeth to the Neoginglymodi, a clade formed by Lepisosteiformes and Semionotiformes. The occurrence of durophagous organisms, to date represented by hybodont sharks and lepisosteiformes fishes, reveals interesting palaeoecological scenarios characterizing the pelagic carbonate platform-basin system of Mt. Nerone, which were most likely triggered by large-scale geodynamic processes. The complex submarine palaeotopography, inheritance of the Western Tethys Early Jurassic rifting, aroused the establishment of new infaunal and epifaunal communities opening up unexplored trophic niches for durophagous predators. The particular geodynamic setting of the UMS Domain, consisting of predominantly interconnected structural highs and lows, and the relative evolution of a diverse invertebrate fauna characterized by terebratulid, ostreids, limids, brachiopods, crustaceans, and gastropods, attracted both hybodontids anddurophagous ginglymodians in the Tethyan Realm, influencing their dispersal during the Late Jurassic.


This book focuses on the Ashmolean Museum's important collection of Buddhist metal sculptures and other works of religious art from the Himalayan regions of Tibet and Nepal. Mainly these works date from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century, before the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959. But many of the finest examples in the collection belong to the earlier, formative periods of Himalayan art, c.700-1400 AD. They include superb and graceful images of the Buddha, Bodhisattvas and other Buddhist deities, conveying a powerful sense of spirituality. Besides religious images in bronze, silver, stone or wood, there is also a wide range of decorative metalwork, including a rare early silver vase decorated with phoenixes and a variety of brass protective amulets (tokcha) worn by devout Tibetans over the centuries. Many are outstanding works of art, while others are of rare and little-studied types. These richly diverse works of early Himalayan art are fully catalogued and illustrated, in many cases for the first time, in this book by Amy Heller.
They are also set within their historical and cultural context in her introductory essay, 'Tracing the development of early Himalayan sculpture'.


A scarcity of natural resources. The challenge to protect biodiversity and the global climate. Rapid economic growth and urbanisation in Asia and the developing world. Changing demographics and an ageing population. The impact of new digital technologies. Consumer expectations for services, experiences and social interaction. An imperative to innovate.

Megatrends are gradual yet powerful trajectories of change that have the potential to throw companies, individuals and societies into freefall. In Global Megatrends author Stefan Hajkowicz identifies these seven patterns of global change and tells a story about how the world will change over the next 20 years.

The book captures the thinking of many dedicated scientists and researchers who have devoted their careers to exploring and understanding change. The change heralded by megatrends lies beyond our direct control but not beyond our influence. By getting a picture of how the world is changing and what these megatrends are, we can alter our destiny.


This paper makes a fresh attempt at characterizing optimal commodity taxes. Under the usual assumptions, an extremely simple expression of second-best commodity taxes is derived, showing tax rates as functions of observable variables only, rather than as functions of unobservable variables such as compensated cross elasticities. The main formula is independent of special preferences, and independent of the number of commodities. It has a simple economic meaning and could be particularly useful for empirical research. Examples and remarks on the normalization problem are provided. JEL H21.


Rb-Sr isotopic analyses of glauconite from Permian sedimentary rocks associated with coal seams in the northern Karoo basin yield ages ranging from ~181 to ~178 Ma. These ages, being significantly younger than times of deposition of the host rocks, are interpreted to reflect the time of recrystallization and glauconite maturation during the Middle Jurassic. These ages are very similar to the time of widespread volcanism and intrusion of dolerite dykes and sills into Karoo sedimentary strata at ~180 Ma. Some link, whether just heating or hydrothermal activity leading to maturation of glauconite is implied. Rb-Sr ages between ~400 and ~750 Ma for detrital biotite and muscovite from these same sedimentary rocks limit the maximum temperature of the thermal activity to


An aluminum wire-grid polarizer whose period is 0.39 microm has been fabricated on a quartz substrate by electron-beam direct-writing lithography and the lift-off method. By using the s -polarization resonance effect and optimizing structural parameters, characteristics such as a loss of less than 20% and an extinction ratio larger than 1000 have been experimentally obtained at the 0.8- microm -wavelength band. Theoretical analysis is performed and found to be consistent with the experimental results.


This study tested an integrated social cognitive model of physical activity intention formation, onset, and maintenance among sedentary participants (N = 465) in a church-based, social cognitive, physical activity intervention. Three separate models were tested via structural equation modeling. Each model provided a good fit to the data. The models explained 28%, 19%, and 9% of the variance in intention formation, physical activity onset, and physical activity maintenance, respectively. Consistent with hypotheses, self-efficacy mediated the effect of positive outcome expectancy on behavioral intention, adoption of behavioral strategies mediated the effect of the intervention on physical activity onset, and maintenance of self-efficacy mediated the effect of the intervention on physical activity maintenance. Contrary to hypotheses, change in self-efficacy from baseline to post-assessment and perceived satisfaction with intervention outcomes did not have effects on physical activity onset or maintenance. The findings provide preliminary evidence that physical activity intention formation, onset, and maintenance are distinct processes driven by different determinants before, during, and following a social cognitive physical activity intervention.


Whether one calls the current enterprise of Western academia cultural studies, postcolonialism (neocolonialism), poststructuralism, racial theory, or ethnic studies, at least two central questions abide. First, can one comprehend an/other across differences in social position, such as race, culture, class and gender, and if so, how? Second, can one ever get past representations to the thing itself; can the signifiers be forced to hand over the signified, and if so, how? The racist recalcitrance of socioeconomic oppressions and the compelling arguments of deconstructive philosophy would suggest that the answer to both questions is "no." This essay begins, however, with the stubborn assumption that the answer to both questions must be, for reasons of social responsibility, a limited "yes." With difficulty, within limits, by necessity, one must comprehend an/other across differences. Although discourse will never, finally, reveal History, this essay posits the iconic sign--that which physically resembles its referent--as a possible bridge between the seeming free play of signifiers and certain physical laws governing the existence of the signified. It is a bridge that the responsible reader of signs must cross. The work of South African novelist J. M. Coetzee provides usefu-l- because difficult--commentary on these two central questions. As a linguist schooled in poststructuralism, he produces fiction that acknowledges the powers of language untroubled by its separation from any living referents. As a white South African, he repeatedly creates fictional worlds in which systems of ideology and practices of hegemony have naturalized differences, rendering them highly resistant to the desires for communication of any garden-variety, "well intentioned" Western humanist. This essay focuses specifically on Foe (1987), Coetzee's rewriting of Daniel DeFoe's fiction. In this novel, Coetzee reconsiders DeFoe's concerns with colonialism, African Others and unruly women, through a story narrated by Susan Barton who, having survived a shipwreck, washes up on Cruso's shores, and then later presumptuously declares herself the executrix of his (and Friday's) story at his death. Back in England she hires the writer Foe to compose the story for her. Coetzee divides his novel into four parts. The first three--set respectively on Cruso's island, in Foe's country house, and in Foe's town apartment--are narrated by Susan in the first person. The last, though also narrated in the first person, transforms the identity of the speaking I as it dives into a wreck. Throughout, the novel returns to the fact and metaphor of immersion, a dive down into the wreck that brought Cruso and Friday to the island. In the third of the novel's four sections Susan explicitly articulates this "dive into the wreck," in just these words, as a figure for attempted comprehension of an/other--that is, Friday. In the fourth section, a dive is enacted. The centrality and significance of the immersion conceit in Foe, as well as the juxtaposition of feminist and postcolonial questions, suggest the method for my analysis of the novel: by setting up a dialogue between Coetzee's Foe and Adrienne Rich's feminist collection of poems Diving into the Wreck (1973), I wish to explore the possibilities of comprehending an/other and of getting through language to the thing itself. Diving into the Wreck, and especially its title poem--which pursues immersion into another element as a necessary step toward knowing the wreck itself of which and from which one should speak--marks a pivotal moment in Rich's career and in white Anglo-feminism. In this collection she "finds a voice"--as many phrased it in the 1970s and some still do now--a voice that asserts a woman's point of reference in defiance of an identity defined by her sexual, social and poetic relation to men. Because the Preface to Hegel's Phenomenology of Mind, a text central to Western thought about self and other, also relies on immersion to describe comprehension but insists on and attempts to explain the difficulty necessary for worthwhile comprehension, my intertextual interpretation includes his discourse as well. …


Before humans begin to explore beyond the Earth-Moon system, a considerable amount of supporting research and technology development has to take place on the Earth. The Concepts for Activ-ities in the Field for Exploration (CAFE) project aims to support such aims in an international context by preparing a complete catalogue of terrestrial analogue environments that are appropriate for testing human space exploration-related scientific field activities.


Guanxi orientation is one of the important organizational values in China. This study examines the effect of guanxi orientation on firm's boundary spanner's behavior (manifested by interpersonal liking and interaction frequency) and its influence on inter-firm relationships in Chinese marketing channel context. Drawing on organizational culture and boundary spanner theory, a conceptual model is proposed to delineate how guanxi orientation works across organizations where inter-firm support is placed as the key mediator. Results from 342 distributors show that guanxi orientation has positive influence on interpersonal liking and interaction frequency between boundary spanners, and the manifested behaviors have direct and indirect impact on inter-firm relationship quality through inter-firm support. Overall, the study research extended the extant literature from three perspectives. Firstly, this study deepens our understanding of the organizational role of guanxi orientation and its influence on boundary spanner's individual behaviors, building a bridge between intra- and inter-firm relationships. Secondly, the research findings suggest that boundary spanners can provide inter-firm support for building cooperative relationship channels. Thirdly, inter-firm support is found to be another antecedent of long-term orientation (previously trust, dependence, and performance), which provides a cost-effective way for building deeper relationship. Contributions, managerial implications, limitations, and future research are also pointed out.

 Key words: Guanxi orientation, boundary spanner behaviors, inter-firms relationship quality.


This paper presents experimental results carried out to evaluate the brake power, specific fuel consumption (SFC) and exhaust gas emissions when running on an unmodified diesel engine with fuel additive blended biodiesel. The multi-functional fuel additive was added (in mass basis) with B20 (20% biodiesel and 80% ordinary diesel fuel) in a special manner to increase engine brake power. For comparisons three fuels were tested in this investigation which are (1) B20X where X is the percentage of fuel additive, (2) B20 and (3) BO (0% biodiesel and 100% ordinary diesel fuel). The stationary engine test bed used consists of a multi-cylinder diesel engine, eddy current dynamometer with computer control data acquisition system and exhaust emissions analyzer. The exhaust emissions such as CO, HC, and NOx were measured using exhaust gas analyzer. It is found that B20X produces higher performance (brake power) with reduction in exhaust emissions and fuel consumption as compared to B20 and BO fuels. Fuel "B20X" could be a 'breakthrough' and the real solution as an alternative fuel for existing unmodified diesel engine. Detail results including B20X fuel's physicochemical properties are presented with discussions.


This paper validates a phasor model of a grid-forming controlled Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) suitable for large AC grid dynamic studies. The adopted MMC model represent with accuracy the energetic exchanges between the AC side, the DC side and the equivalent internal energy inside the MMC (represented by a single state variable). After description of the converter model, the adopted control strategy is presented and discussed. The simplified model of the converter with its control is validated against a detailed electromagnetic transient model in different control modes (active power control and DC voltage control). Finally, the compatibility of the simplified model with large scale AC dynamic simulations under phasor approximations is validated through the simulation of the Nordic 44-bus test system including grid-forming MMCs.


For the first time since 1913, Congress is considering abandoning the principle that US residents should be subject to tax on all income "from whatever source derived." Specifically, the House proposed tax reform legislation, the so-called "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act", would completely exempt from US taxation dividends from "Controlled Foreign Corporations". This is therefore a good occasion for considering the reasons we tax such dividends in the first place.

In the course of investigating the Stanley Surrey papers at the Harvard Law School Library, we discovered a remarkable report that support the view that the main impetus behind Subpart F was to protect the U.S. corporate tax base. The report explains some of the problems encountered by the IRS in the international arena, and goes on to recommend limits on deferral. By doing so, it sheds some light on the "original intent" of Subpart F and its relation to territoriality.

Finally, the paper explains why the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act international provisions would do little to prevent the kind of profit shifting that Subpart F was enacted to prevent and recommends to return to the original intent of Subpart F and subject foreign income to the same rate as domestic income.


In the study of prosopagnosia, several issues (such as the specific or non-specific manifestations of prosopagnosia, the unitary or non-unitary nature of this syndrome and the mechanisms underlying face recognition disorders) are still controversial. Two main sources of variance partially accounting for these controversies could be the qualitative differences between the face recognition disorders observed in patients with prevalent lesions of the right or left hemisphere and in those with lesions encroaching upon the temporo-occipital (TO) or the (right) anterior temporal cortex. Results of our review seem to confirm these suggestions. Indeed, they show that (a) the most specific forms of prosopagnosia are due to lesions of a right posterior network including the occipital face area and the fusiform face area, whereas (b) the face identification defects observed in patients with left TO lesions seem due to a semantic defect impeding access to person-specific semantic information from the visual modality. Furthermore, face recognition defects resulting from right anterior temporal lesions can usually be considered as part of a multimodal people recognition disorder. The implications of our review are, therefore, the following: (1) to consider the components of visual agnosia often observed in prosopagnosic patients with bilateral TO lesions as part of a semantic defect, resulting from left-sided lesions (and not from prosopagnosia proper); (2) to systematically investigate voice recognition disorders in patients with right anterior temporal lesions to determine whether the face recognition defect should be considered a form of "associative prosopagnosia" or a form of the "multimodal people recognition disorder."


textabstractRetrieval of multimedia data is different from retrieval of structured data. A key problem in multimedia databases is search, and the proposed solutions to the problem of multimedia information retrieval span a rather wide spectrum of topics outside the traditional database area, ranging from information retrieval and human–computer interaction to computer vision and pattern recognition.

Based on more than 10 years of teaching experience, Blanken and his coeditors have assembled all the topics that should be covered in advanced undergraduate or graduate courses on multimedia retrieval and multimedia databases. The single chapters of this textbook explain the general architecture of multimedia information retrieval systems; various metadata languages like Dublin Core, RDF, or MPEG; pattern recognition through Markov models, unsupervised learning, and pattern clustering; various indexing approaches to audio and video streams; interaction and control; the protection of content and user privacy; and search effectiveness and efficiency. The authors emphasize high-level features and show how these features are used in mathematical models to support the retrieval process. For each chapter, there's detail on further reading, and additional exercises and teaching material is available online.


Finite difference numerical modeling has been used to study buoyancy-driven heat
and fluid transport in submarine volcanic environments and its consequences for the
formation of volcanic-hosted massive sulfide deposits in ancient and modern
submarine seafloor environments. Two different geological settings were chosen to
enable comparison of modeling results with field observations and determine the
extent and significance of key modeling parameters (rock properties, fault structure,
model geometry) on fluid migration, rock alteration and base metal accumulation
under a variety of conditions.
The first model combines field data with theoretical assumptions to examine
heat and fluid flow in the Lau basin, a modern back -arc seafloor setting. An
extensive sensitivity analysis of relevant rock and model parameters confirmed
several key observations in the Lau basin, such as the location of major fluid
discharge zones and measured discharge temperatures. Other results such as fluid
velocities and heat flux are comparable with theoretical predictions and general
seafloor measurements. New insights were obtained with regard to the controls on
recharge-discharge patterns, deep-seated fluid migration and the life span of
hydrothermal convection as well as the timing and minimum requirements for
massive sulfide ore body formation on the seafloor.
The second model researched the evolution of an ancient seafloor
hydrothermal system in the Panorama district, Western Australia. The Archean
Panorama district provides unprecedented access to a complete section of a
hydrothermal system underlying massive sulfide deposits, which allowed for the first
time the construction of a locally accurate model involving realistic stratigraphy,
fault geometry and fault distribution. The unique preservation of the Panorama
district enables a direct comparison of modeling results with field observations and
helps to simulate the main features of the hydrothermal system, such as alteration
zonation, temperature distribution and discharge temperatures. Results also allow the
establishment of minimum fluid and rock property requirements for the formation of
confirmed, and potential, ore bodies and assess the potential of the hydrothermal
system to host significant (> 5 Mt) massive sulfide deposit. Results from both models suggest that the most important factors and processes
controlling heat and fluid transport in submarine volcanic settings are fault and rock
permeability, basement topography, and the nature of the heat source. Discharge
temperatures are primarily controlled by rock permeability and range between 150QC
and about 400QC. Discharge fluid velocities depend mostly on fault permeability
variations and range between - 1x10-8 m/s and 4x10-6 m/s for individual fault
structures, which equates to values of about 3 m/s for a typical chimney orifice. Both,
predicted discharge temperatures and fluid discharge velocities, compare well with
seafloor observations and theoretical calculations and do not require a thermal
cracking front and associated permeability constraints.
The control on recharge-discharge patterns depends on the nature of the heat
source and model geometry, but is generally determined by fault spacing (Panorama
model) and their placement relative to the heat source (Lau basin model), and not by
the size of developing convection cells. Significant deep-seated fluid migration is
predicted to occur at the sheeted dike - gabbro interface due to inferred permeability
differences and basement topography. The life span of ancient and modern seafloor
hydrothermal systems producing fluid discharge temperatures greater than 150QC for
individual faults is predicted to range between about 2,000 years at high
permeabilities and greater than 200,000 years as permeabilities decrease.
Heuristic mass calculations based on modeling results indicate that
hydrothermal fluids with a 10 ppm base metal content and low deposition efficiency
(10 percent) can form significant seafloor massive sulfide deposits(> 0.5 Mt of 10%
Cu+Zn) within a time frame of about 6,000 years. World-class or giant massive
sulfide deposits (> 4 Mt of Cu+Zn) require a convection system, which runs for
about 40,000 years or hydrothermal fluids with a much higher deposition efficiency
and/or higher base metal content. The spacing, distribution, and potential size of base
metal deposits is predicted to depend primarily on the shape/extent of the heat source
as well as the spacing and position of fault structures relative to the heat source.


Ongoing research by the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington focuses on the use of recent advances in climate research to improve streamflow forecasts at seasonal-to-interannual, decadal, and longer time scales. Seasonal-to-interannual climate forecasting capabilities have advanced significantly in the past several years, primarily because of improvements in the understanding of, and an ability to forecast, El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at seasonal/interannual time scales, and because of better understanding of longer time scale climate phenomena like the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). These phenomena exert strong controls on climate variability along the Pacific Coast of North America. The streamflow forecasting techniques we have developed for Pacific Northwest (PNW) rivers are based on climate forecasts that facilitate longer lead times (as much as a year) than the methods that are traditionally used for water management (maximum forecast lead times of a few months). At interannual time scales, the simplest of these techniques involves resampling meteorological data from previous years identified to be in similar climate categories as are forecast for the coming year. These data are then used to drive a hydrology model, which produces an ensemble of streamflow forecasts that are analogous to those that result from the well-known Extended Streamflow Prediction (ESP) method. This technique is a relatively simple, but effective, way of incorporating long-lead climate information into streamflow forecasts. It faithfully captures the history of observed climate variability. Its main limitation is that the sample size of observed events for some climate categories is small because of the length of the historic record. Furthermore, it is unable to capture important aspects of global change, which may interact with shorter term variations through changes in climate phenomena like ENSO and PDO. An alternative to the resampling method is to use nested regional climate models to produce the long-lead climate forecasts. Success using this approach has been hindered to some degree by the bias that is inherent in climate models, even when downscaled using regional nested modeling approaches. Adjustment or correction for this bias is central to the use of climate model output for hydrologic forecasting purposes. Approaches for dealing with climate model bias in the context of global and meso-scale are presently an area of active research. We illustrate an experimental application of the nested climate modeling approach for the Columbia River Basin, and compare it with the simpler resampling method. At much longer time scales, changes in Columbia River flows that might be associated with global climate change are of considerable concern in the PNW, given recent Endangered Species Act listing of certain salmonid species, and the increase in water demand that is expected to follow increases in human population in the region. Many of the same general challenges associated with the spatial downscaling of climate forecasts are present in these long-range investigations. Additional uncertainties exist in the ability of climate models to predict the effects of changing greenhouse gas concentrations. These uncertainties tend to dominate the results, and lead us to use relatively simplemethods of downscaling seasonal temperature and precipitation to interpret the implications of alternative climate scenarios on PNW water resources.


The act of reading is a miracle. Every new reader's brain possesses the extraordinary capacity to rearrange itself beyond its original abilities in order to understand written symbols. But how does the brain learn to read? As world-renowned cognitive neuroscientist and scholar of reading Maryanne Wolf explains in this impassioned book, we taught our brain to read only a few thousand years ago, and in the process changed the intellectual evolution of our species. Wolf tells us that the brain that examined tiny clay tablets in the cuneiform script of the Sumerians is configured differently from the brain that reads alphabets or of one literate in today's technology. There are critical implications to such an evolving brain. Just as writing reduced the need for memory, the proliferation of information and the particular requirements of digital culture may short-circuit some of written language's unique contributions--with potentially profound consequences for our future. Turning her attention to the development of the individual reading brain, Wolf draws on her expertise in dyslexia to investigate what happens when the brain finds it difficult to read. Interweaving her vast knowledge of neuroscience, psychology, literature, and linguistics, Wolf takes the reader from the brains of a pre-literate Homer to a literacy-ambivalent Plato, from an infant listening to Goodnight Moon to an expert reader of Proust, and finally to an often misunderstood child with dyslexia whose gifts may be as real as the challenges he or she faces. As we come to appreciate how the evolution and development of reading have changed the very arrangement of our brain and our intellectual life, we begin to realize with ever greater comprehension that we truly are what we read. Ambitious, provocative, and rich with examples, Proust and the Squid celebrates reading, one of the single most remarkable inventions in history. Once embarked on this magnificent story of the reading brain, you will never again take for granted your ability to absorb the written word.


Study Design: Retrospective cohort study. Objectives: Sarcopenia is a risk factor for medical complications following spine surgery. However, the role of sarcopenia as a risk factor for proximal junctional disease (PJD) remains undefined. This study evaluates whether sarcopenia is an independent predictor of proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) and proximal junctional failure (PJF) following adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery. Methods: ASD patients who underwent thoracic spine to pelvis fusion with 2-year clinical and radiographic follow-up were reviewed for development of PJK and PJD. Average psoas cross-sectional area on preoperative axial computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging at L4 was recorded. Previously described PJD risk factors were assessed for each patient, and multivariate linear regression was performed to identify independent risk factors for PJK and PJF. Disease-specific thresholds were calculated for sarcopenia based on psoas cross-sectional area. Results: Of 32 patients, PJK and PJF occurred in 20 (62.5%) and 12 (37.5%), respectively. Multivariate analysis demonstrated psoas cross-sectional area to be the most powerful independent predictor of PJK (P = .02) and PJF (P = .009). Setting ASD disease–specific psoas cross-sectional area thresholds of <12 cm2 in men and <8 cm2 in women resulted in a PJF rate of 69.2% for patients below these thresholds, relative to 15.8% for those above the thresholds. Conclusions: Sarcopenia is an independent, modifiable predictor of PJK and PJF, and is easily assessed on standard preoperative computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Surgeons should include sarcopenia in preoperative risk assessment and consider added measures to avoid PJF in sarcopenic patients.


We describe the response of an insoluble surfactant monolayer spreading on the surface of a thin liquid film to small disturbances in the film thickness and surfactant concentration. The surface shear stress, which derives from variations in surfactant concentration at the air-liquid interface, rapidly drives liquid and surfactant from the source toward the distal region of higher surface tension. A previous linear stability analysis of a quasi-steady state solution describing the spreading of a finite strip of surfactant on a thin Newtonian film has predicted only stable modes. [Dynamics in Small Confining Systems III, Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, edited by J. M. Drake, J. Klafter, and E. R. Kopelman (Materials Research Society, Boston, 1996), Vol. 464, p. 237; Phys. Fluids A 9, 3645 (1997); O. K. Matar Ph.D. thesis, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 1998]. A perturbation analysis of the transient behavior, however, has revealed the possibility of significant amplification of disturbances in the film thickness within an order one shear time after the onset of flow [Phys. Fluids A 10, 1234 (1998); "Transient response of a surfactant monolayer spreading on a thin liquid film: Mechanism for amplification of disturbances," submitted to Phys. Fluids]. In this paper we describe the linearized transient behavior and interpret which physical parameters most strongly affect the disturbance amplification ratio. We show how the disturbances localize behind the moving front and how the inclusion of van der Waals forces further enhances their growth and lifetime. We also present numerical solutions to the fully nonlinear 2D governing equations. As time evolves, the nonlinear system sustains disturbances of longer and longer wavelength, consistent with the quasi-steady state and transient linearized descriptions. In addition, for the parameter set investigated, disturbances consisting of several harmonics of a fundamental wavenumber do not couple significantly. The system eventually singles out the smallest wavenumber disturbance in the chosen set. The summary of results to date seems to suggest that the fingering process may be a transient response which nonetheless has a dramatic influence on the spreading process since the digitated structures redirect the flux of liquid and surfactant to produce nonuniform surface coverage. (c) 1999 American Institute of Physics.


Textbooks and manuals on management suggest that managers are heroes who deal with difficult problems of collective adaptation and change. American films are similarly built on the premise of a hero confronted with extremely difficult situations. What if this hero figure promoted for so long in both management literature and the American film industry was the same at the structural level? This paper will attempt to clearly define the performance of heroes that is perhaps shared by the imagination industry (Hollywood) and the image of human relations in the western industrial world. We shall follow this picture of the Manager as Hollywood Hero - or the Managerial-Hollywood Hero (MHH) - through multiple examples in both writings on management and American movies.


Given two positive integers $m\le n$, we consider the set of partitions $\lambda=(\lambda_1,\dots,\lambda_\ell,0,\dots)$, $\lambda_1\ge\lambda_2\ge\dots$, of $n$ such that the sum of its parts over a fixed increasing subsequence $(a_j)$ is $m$: $\lambda_{a_1}+\lambda_{a_2}+\dots=m$. We show that the number of such partitions does not depend on $n$ if $m$ is either constant and small relatively to $n$ or depend on $n$ but is close to its largest possible value: $n-ma_1=k$ for fixed $k$ (in the latter case some additional requirements on the sequence $(a_j)$ are needed). This number is equal to the number of so-called colored partitions of $m$ (respectively $k$). It is proved by constructing bijections between these objects.


Healthcare associated infections (HCAI) are a significant problem facing
modern healthcare settings; therefore it is important to develop strategies aimed
at reducing the number of patients contracting HCAIs. This study investigates
the use of essential oils (EO) as antimicrobial additives for polymer materials,
including surface coatings (paints), silicone elastomer and a thermoplastic.
Conferring antimicrobial properties to surfaces made from such materials, would
help to reduce the number of bacteria, reduce the risk of cross infection and
therefore limit the number of HCAIs.
The antimicrobial efficacies of five EOs (manuka (MO), oregano (OO),
rosewood (RO), lavender (LO) and geranium (GO)) were examined individually
against three microorganisms associated with HCAI (MRSA, Acinetobacter
baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Oregano oil provided the highest
level of antimicrobial activity, inhibiting the growth of all three bacteria at 2.5 %
(v/v). In an attempt to reduce the concentration of oil required for inhibition of
growth, blends of the EO have been explored. A blend of oregano oil and
rosewood oil exhibited the strongest synergistic antimicrobial effect at a ratio of
3:1, and was selected as the antimicrobial to be added to the polymer materials.
EOs are volatile, direct addition to polymers may allow the EO to bloom to the
surface and rapidly evaporate from the polymer, resulting in loss of antimicrobial
activity. Furthermore thermoplastics are processed at high temperatures which
can result in degradation of the EO. Encapsulation strategies for the EO were
therefore investigated in order to promote both sustained release of the EO and
protection against degradation / volatilisation during blending in to thermoplastic
materials. Considering the latter in particular, inorganic adsorbents were
selected and the adsorption characteristics of the EOs onto a range of natural
and synthetic montmorillonite type layered silicates were investigated. Using
gas chromatography and flow micro-calorimetry their suitability as controlled
release reservoirs was investigated. Rockwood Additives Laponite® RD
provided the highest levels of adsorption, achieving approximately 170 mg.g-1
for oregano oil and 140 mg.g-1 for rosewood oil. Organic modification (via cation
exchange) of the layered silicates with alkyl ammonium surfactants did not give
the anticipated increase in the level of EO adsorption from solution. However
the strength of adsorption was in some cases increased. Laponite® RD with
50 % 2HT2M organic modification (modified via cation exchange using
dihydrogenated tallow dimethyl ammonium chloride) was selected as the
adsorption substrate for the EO based antimicrobial.
Samples of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), silicone elastomer (SE)
and a solvent based paint were formulated containing the oregano oil:rosewood
oil blend pre-adsorbed onto Laponite® RD with 50 % 2HT2M organic
modification. These materials were tested for antimicrobial efficacy against
MRSA and A. baumannii, and the results were compared to control polymers
where the EO blend had been added directly. P. aeruginosa was found to be
unsuitable as a test organism for the polymer samples. All of the polymer
samples containing the EO blend exhibited antimicrobial activity, with SE
containing the pre-adsorbed EO blend performing the best achieving a 3 log
reduction in MRSA cells. The SE and paint materials containing the preadsorbed
EO blend outperformed the directly added EO controls; however the
reverse was true for LLDPE. The release rates of the EO molecules from the
polymers were investigated using headspace gas chromatography, and it was
found that pre-adsorption of the EO onto the organically modified Laponite® RD
more than doubled the time the EO molecules were retained in comparison to
the directly added controls.
It has been shown that EO can be used to obtain antimicrobials with broad
spectrum antimicrobial activity, and that said activity can be successfully
conferred onto polymer materials. Adsorption of the EO onto layered silicates
before addition to polymers improved the retention of the EO molecules,
thereby increasing the antimicrobial lifetime. Further work will be undertaken to
optimise the EO polymer formulations, to combine the best possible
antimicrobial activity with EO molecule retention that will make the materials a
viable commercial product. The mechanical properties of the polymers; such as
hardness, strength and toughness, will be optimised to ensure commercial
viability.


I critically examine Goodenough's explanation for the experimentally observed phase transition in LiVO$_2$ using microscopic calculations based on density functional and dynamical mean field theories. The high-temperature rhombohedral phase exhibits both magnetic and dynamical instabilities. Allowing a magnetic solution for the rhombohedral structure does not open an insulating gap, and an explicit treatment of the on-site Coulomb $U$ interaction is needed to stabilize an insulating rhombohedral phase. The non-spin-polarized phonon dispersions of the rhombohedral phase show two unstable phonon modes at the wave vector $(\frac{1}{3},-\frac{1}{3},0)$ that corresponds to the experimentally observed trimer forming instability. A full relaxation of the supercell corresponding to this instability yields a nonmagnetic state containing V$_3$ trimers. These results are consistent with Goodenough's suggestion that the high-temperature phase is in the localized-electron regime and the transition to the low-temperature phase in the itinerant-electron regime is driven by V-V covalency.


Summary
Histochemical studies indicate that Oncomelania eggs are protected from the toxic effects of copper sulfate in greater or less degree by several mechanisms. The mucus in the mud capsule binds copper, as does also the "protein bath" surrounding the embryo. This latter, however, is eaten before hatching and the embryo, as well as the adult, disposes of ingested copper by concentrating it as deposits in certain large cells in the tissue surrounding the stomach and proximal intestine. Copper absorbed into the systemic blood of adults appears to be detoxified principally in the digestive gland by large cells, morphologically similar to those of the stomach wall. These cells congregate and shrivel, principally along the inner wall of the hemocoel of the digestive gland.


2-Mercaptothioxanthone (TX-SH), a hydrogen abstraction type photoinitiator for free radical polymerization, is synthesized and characterized. Its capability to act as an initiator for the polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA), styrene (St), and multifunctional monomers is examined. The relative efficiencies of TX-SH, the parent thioxanthone (TX), and their combination with an amine synergist such as N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) are compared in the photopolymerization. The postulated mechanism is based on the intermolecular reaction of triplet, 3TX-SH*, with the thiol moiety of ground-state TX-SH. Thus, when TX-SH is irradiated in the presence of a monomer, it can serve as both a triplet photosensitizer and a hydrogen donor. The resulting thiyl radicals initiate the polymerization. Incorporation of TX-S groups into polymers was demonstrated by spectroscopic methods.


The role of timing information is considered as the key to an information theoretic understanding of communication networks. In this dissertation, we focus on the analysis of problems related to timing information in data networks from an information theoretic perspective.One problem is that of identifying the timing capacity of network components, i.e. the maximum information rate achievable by encoding information in the timing of packets. We first consider the timing capacity of discrete-time queues in which at most one packet may arrive or finish service in a slot, and demonstrate the extremal nature of the geometric service time distribution among such queues. We then analyze a discrete-time queueing model with batch arrivals and a batch service mechanism that is related to the leaky bucket flow control system. Within this model, we obtain a closed form expression for the timing capacity of the queue that can serve a geometrically distributed number of packets in a slot. We also establish a connection between the extremal nature of the geometric server and a queueing theoretic property of such queues. Finally, we obtain an upper bound to the timing capacity of a queueing system with multiple servers having i.i.d. geometrically distributed packet service times.Another problem is that of quantifying the amount of information about the times at which messages arrive at the source that must be transmitted to the destination to enable it to decode the messages within a finite amount of time. Suppose that messages are transmitted one at a time, and are decoded in the same order they arrived at the source. By viewing the message arrival and decoding processes as the arrival and departure processes from a hypothetical single-server queue, we can associate a service time with each message. The rate-distortion function of the message arrival process with message service time as the distortion measure is a lower bound for the amount of information about message arrival times that the receiver must receive. We explicitly obtain this rate-distortion function for the Poisson message arrival process.


Modeling the hidden neuronal and hemodynamic sources of the blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signal allows for location-dependent parameter estimation that potentially contains more information about brain activation than the general linear model. Here we propose a generalization of the Buxton-Mandeville-Friston BOLD model for more than one neuronal population sharing common hemodynamics within a voxel and demonstrate that new hemodynamic response functions can result. Further, it is demonstrated that two neuronal contributions can be disentangled by parameter estimation from simulated data under certain conditions including differing neuronal efficacies and relaxation parameters. Finally, previously unexplained observations in optogenetic fMRI data are successfully modeled using this approach. This mapping of neuronal and hemodynamic sources could provide novel functional markers for not necessarily optogenetic clinical applications in a more specific way than standard clinical MRI protocols.


The introduction of modular multilevel converters (MMCs) created a new momentum in the field of high voltage direct current (HVDC). HVDC is not anymore used only in point-to-point links embedded in ac systems or between asynchronous areas. It is now also used to transport power from offshore wind farms (OWF) far from shore to land and multi-terminal direct current (MTDC) systems are becoming a reality. With the expected massive development of renewable energy sources and the limited rights-of-way to create new overhead lines in many countries, the power system must evolve and HVDC technologies will have a major role to play. This presentation will remind the motivations for dc and MTDC solutions and give a brief state-of-the-art of HVDC converters. Some examples of MTDC will be presented. An insight on the stepwise development of MTDC will highlight new functional needs which can be provided thanks to devices involving power electronics: DC current breakers, DC/DC converters, power flow controllers (or current flow controllers), integration of energy storage elements… For these needs, some technologies and their status of development will be reviewed.


Gompertz empirical law of mortality is often used in practical research to parametrize survival fraction as a function of age with the help of just two quantities: the Initial Mortality Rate (IMR) and the Gompertz exponent, inversely proportional to the Mortality Rate Doubling Time (MRDT). The IMR is often found to be inversely related to the Gompertz exponent, which is the dependence commonly referred to as Strehler-Mildvan (SM) correlation. In this paper, we address fundamental uncertainties of the Gompertz parameters inference from experimental Kaplan-Meier plots and show, that a least squares fit often leads to an ill-defined non-linear optimization problem, which is extremely sensitive to sampling errors and the smallest systematic demographic variations. Therefore, an analysis of consequent repeats of the same experiments in the same biological conditions yields the whole degenerate manifold of possible Gompertz parameters. We find that whenever the average lifespan of species greatly exceeds MRDT, small random variations in the survival records produce large deviations in the identified Gompertz parameters along the line, corresponding to the set of all possible IMR and MRDT values, roughly compatible with the properly determined value of average lifespan in experiment. The best fit parameters in this case turn out to be related by a form of SM correlation. Therefore, we have to conclude that the combined property, such as the average lifespan in the group, rather than IMR and MRDT values separately, may often only be reliably determined via experiments, even in a perfectly homogeneous animal cohort due to its finite size and/or low age-sampling frequency, typical for modern high-throughput settings. We support our findings with careful analysis of experimental survival records obtained in cohorts of C. elegans of different sizes, in control groups and under the influence of experimental therapies or environmental conditions. We argue that since, SM correlation may show up as a consequence of the fitting degeneracy, its appearance is not limited to homogeneous cohorts. In fact, the problem persists even beyond the simple Gompertz mortality law. We show that the same degeneracy occurs exactly in the same way, if a more advanced Gompertz-Makeham aging model is employed to improve the modeling. We explain how SM type of relation between the demographic parameters may still be observed even in extremely large cohorts with immense statistical power, such as in human census datasets, provided that systematic historical changes are weak in nature and lead to a gradual change in the mean lifespan.


(Barremian) of Las hoyas (Cuenca province, Spain). Two new Lepidotes Agassiz, 1832 species are described from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) lacustrine beds from Las Hoyas (Cuenca Province, Spain). Lepidotes microrhis n. sp. and Lepidotes tanyrhis n. sp. are represented by articulated specimens. They are defined by the coexistence of characters either unknown in Lepidotes (infraorbitals at the posteroventral corner of the orbit posteriorly extended, reaching the preoperculum only in L. microrhis n. sp.), exceptional (extrascapular commissure passing through the parietal, two suborbitals, edentulous maxillary) or variously distributed (lack of tritoral teeth, unpaired vomer). Lepidotes is frequent at Las Hoyas. It differs from the rare specimens described at Montsec (Province of Lerida, Spain), a usually Berriasian-Valanginian locality that presents numerous elements in common with Las Hoyas.


A combination of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), adriamycin, and cyclophosphamide (FAC) was compared to a combination of 5-FU, adriamycin, and ifosfamide (FAI) in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. All patients in the FAC and FAI groups also received nonspecific immunotherapy with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and levamisole. Of 117 evaluable FAC patients, 19 (16%) achieved complete remission and 66 (56%) achieved partial remission. In the FAI group, eight of 49 (16%) evaluable patients achieved complete remission and 24 (50%) achieved partial remission. The response rates, durations of remission, and survival were similar in both groups. The combination of two immunotherapeutic agents (BCG and levamisole) did not have an additive effect since their results were similar to our previous experience with FAC-BCG and FAC-levamisole. In the FAI group, 25% of the patients had hematuria, while none of the patients in the FAC group had urinary complications. Nausea and vomiting were more severe in FAI-treated patients and some patients required iv fluids to correct dehydration. Ifosfamide in combination with 5-FU and adriamycin was more toxic than and not superior to cyclophosphamide.


The aims of the research were to study 1) Potency of beef cattle farming development in Kaliori District
Rembang Regency and 2) Factors affecting potency of beef cattle farming development. Research has been
conducted from February to March 2007.
Six villages were chosen using Stratified Random Sampling, i.e. those with high, medium and low popula-tion
of livestock. Livestock farmer samples were chosen by Random Sampling. Every village was representated
by 15 farmers, so there were 90 samples of farmers. Data was collected based on the primary and second-ary
data. Primary data were collected from result of interview with livestock farmer using of questionaire
that has been prepared. Secondary data were collected from institution that related to the research matter.
Data were analyzed descriptively and statistically. L/Q (Location Quotient) was used to know expansion
potency. Statistic analysis was done by using multiple regression model, in which to know factors affecting
t he development pot ency of public livest ock, using t he equat ion of regression are : Y = a
+b 1 x 1 +b 2 x 2 +b 3 x 3 +b 4 x 4 +b 5 x 5 +b 6 x 6 +b 7 x 7 +e, where Y = population of livestock, x1: land space, x2 : the avail-ability
of forage, x3 :labour effusing, x4 : capital, x5: behavior of zootechnic business, x6 : level of education
and x7: farming experience.
The result showed that potency of livestock development for level of district pertained potential (LQ =
1,12), while 6 location of village yields potential storey of : Maguan (1,23; potential), Dresi Wetan (1,22;
potential), Meteseh (1,20; potential) Sendang Agung (1,20; potential), Banyudono (1,00; balance) and Tasikharjo
(0,87; less potential). Factors of x1 (farm wide), x2 (the availability of forage), x3 (labour effusing), x4
(capital), x5 (behavior of zooteknik business), x6 (level of education) and x7 (farming experience)were highly
significantly different (P<0,01) on development of public livestock, with regression equation : Y = -1,746 +
0,008x 1 + 0,139x 2 + 0,023x 3 + 0,011X 4 + 0,018x 5 + 0,025x 6 + 0,022x 7 + e and R 2 value = 0.923. Parsially,
factor having effect was farm wide, feed availability of forage, labour and capital, while behavior of zootechnic,
level of education and farming stripper, factors were not significant.
Keywords: Development potency, Livestock.


Educating for active citizenship is a pressing issue for educational policymaking in the Nordic countries, not least in the current neoliberal climate defined by economic and social change and by calls from different quarters for increased pluralism. Growing demands from the European Union on its member states to provide for active citizens through education fuels this task. In this text, Swedish education policy will be taken as a case in point in order to highlight how this issue is being handled in this Nordic policy setting. It is argued that its citizen fostering agenda is marked out by a deepened neoliberal orientation as regards the depiction of citizenship. This deepening takes place in the face of a historical rupture in Swedish education policy on citizenship, and consists of a replacement of the historically established society-centred citizenship with a consumer-oriented one that centres on the individual and on 'freedom of choice' as vital hubs. It is further argued that this shift highlights two problematic notions involved in the prevalent, neo liberally oriented framing of active citizenship through education: it tends to gloss over collective and antagonistic dimensions of citizenship necessary for encountering today's societal demands. By drawing on Chantal Mouffe's (2005, 2009) conceptualisation of 'the political' the overall aim of this text is highlighted: to seek for feasible openings for an altered way of framing the concept of active citizenship, where education is not depicted in terms of choice, but in terms of voice.


The Alma Product Working Group has assembled a spreadsheet of suggested data cleanup projects in preparation for migration to Alma from some Alma "pioneers." We invite your contributions! Please send your additions to Diane Baden (firstname.lastname@example.com) and Megan Lee (email@example.com).
There are 3 tabs on the spreadsheet: the first describes the cleanup activities, the second gives some additional ideas on migration and data retrieval, and the third provides contact information for follow-up.


Who is creative...and why? And what does it mean to be creative? Is a creative individual a master-of-all trades or a master of one? In other words, is creativity a generalized attribute or is it a domain-specific attribute? In Creativity: The Psychology of Creative Potential and Realization, authors ponder these questions and discuss the attributes that lead people to be creative in various fields such as the arts and letters, the sciences, and business. The emphasis of this volume is on the theoretical issue of whether the attributes that lead to creativity in one domain are the same as those that lead to creativity in another domain. Researchers and students alike will find these discussions delightfully intriguing. The study of creativity is burgeoning and multidisciplinary, in that it involves approaches of social, personality, cognitive, clinical, biological, differential, developmental, and educational psychology. The book will be of interest a wide range of psychologist, researchers and students.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of empathy in the student service experience. Taking a dyadic perspective, both students' and staff's perceptions are analyzed to determine if empathy matters to both actors alike; and which differences in perceptions about the role of empathy between these actors exist.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopt a multi-method approach and used data from 256 usable survey responses from 11 higher education service providers in Singapore. Empathy was operationalized by six cognitive and affective independent variables and multiple multivariate analyses are applied, such as multivariate analysis of variance, discriminant analysis and multiple regression analysis.

Findings
Results show that both students and staff alike evaluate empathy as important in the co-created service experience. The provision of individualized attention to students to positively influence student experience in learning was deemed important by both staff and students. Yet, there are also distinct differences. For students, it is essential that staff members have students' best interests at heart; for staff members, knowledge of students' needs and show of care and concern are important.

Practical implications
Students and staff perceive empathy in higher education service provision differently. Interestingly, whilst staff think caring for students is important, students feel that too much care and concern from staff has a negative effect on their experience. Hence, too much care and concern might cause potential issues with the students' perception of "over-servicing" which might manifest as "spoon-feeding." Instead, students are asking for individualized and professionalized attention to be taken seriously and to be involved in the co-creation of the education service experience.

Originality/value
This study advances the understanding of affective and cognitive aspects of empathy and their influence on students' service experiences.


The emerging biofuel sector has drawn great interest as an alternative source of fuel for transportation. The expansion of biofuels greatly impacts world agricultural markets, since currently, the primary feedstocks for ethanol and biodiesel production are field crops and their derived products. There is great interest in the potential of countries to expand their biofuel sectors through increased production of feedstocks. The long-term potential for developing first-generation biofuels in many countries depends on a large and constant supply of feedstocks. This may be achieved in two ways: land extensification and/or land intensification. However, expansion of land area comes with a number of environmental challenges highlighted by the recent debate on indirect land use change brought about by biofuel expansion (Searchinger et al., 2008; Fargione et al., 2008). Therefore, land intensification through yield growth, and production of second-generation biofuel feedstocks, such as crop residues and perennial grass on marginal land, are generally seen as critical factors for sustainable development of biofuels as well as mitigation of land use changes. In this context, it is essential to gain a better understanding of the yield trends and the future yield potential of biofuel feedstocks to help determine the impact of biofuel expansion on agricultural markets. Therefore, the aim of this analysis is to review and analyze historical and projected trends of crop yields, particularly for crops used in biofuel production. One of our major interests is the impact of crop prices on yields in the long run, given that the increased production of biofuels from crops has created a perceived permanent increase in crop prices. Based on this analysis, we draw conclusions regarding the yield potential of biofuel feedstocks. We focus our analysis on APEC economies because of their rapidly growing interest in biofuel development and the diversified agricultural production among member countries. Comparing average annual growth in crop yields across APEC economies and across crops, we find that the crop yield growth rates vary significantly. Corn ranks among the crops with the largest yield improvement in a significant number of the APEC economies, mostly due to increased fertilizer use and biotechnology. The analysis also reveals that sugarcane yields have been fairly stable with the exception of significant growth in China, Philippines and Thailand. One of the highest soybean yields is seen in the United States, which is a major producer. Soybean yields in China and Indonesia are lower relative to the United States, but show much lower variability over time. In the past decade, palm oil yields have increased dramatically in Indonesia. Further analysis reveals that an economy, like the United States, which already has high yield levels for the majority of crops, experiences relatively lower yield growth rates relative to other economies. On the other hand, economies like Philippines and Malaysia have relatively lower corn yields but high yield growth rates, which indicate a higher potential for increasing crop production through yield increases rather than land expansion. Yield growth rates for most crops in most APEC economies fall in the lower to medium range although there is significant variance in yields among the economies. This variation could be due to the fact that some economies have adopted mechanization and new technologies in their crop production, whereas other economies rely heavily on labor and basic inputs. Hence, economies with high technical advantage have the potential to improve crop yields by continuous development in biotechnology. In contrast, economies with less technological resources may enhance crop yields through increasing input utilization including more capital intensive inputs. We also compute yield elasticities with respect to a time trend variable for the major crops in APEC economies. For most but not all APEC economies, the coefficient estimates are statistically significant. There is wide variation in the magnitude of the elasticities among economies and crops, some even with a negative elasticity. When comparing among crops, we see that corn yields show relatively higher elasticities with respect to time trend. Across APEC economies, China shows consistent yield response over time for all crops. Across crops, sorghum has the highest elasticity in China, corn in the Philippines, sugar beet in Canada, wheat in New Zealand, rice in Indonesia, and sugarcane in Malaysia. In addition to the increased production in primary crops, yield growth would also translate to an increase in available crop residues. According to Milbrandt and Overend (2008), ethanol from currently available crop residues could potentially displace about 33% of gasoline consumption in the APEC region, assuming that cost-competitive technologies for production of ethanol from second-generation lignocellulosic feedstocks can be deployed. Thus, given average yield growth projections for certain crops in APEC economies, our calculations show that the United States could potentially displace an additional 2% of gasoline from corn residue, Australia an additional 9% of gasoline from wheat residue, and Thailand an additional 3.5% from sugarcane residue, without increasing land for biofuel production. The analysis concludes that in terms of first-generation biofuels, yield growth is imperative for the long-term potential of biofuel expansion if land extensification is to be minimized. Biofuel expansion may imply increased land use for feedstock production in the medium term, but growth in feedstock yields will tend to mitigate the impact on crop prices and land use over the longer term. Additionally, long-term expansion of biofuels may have to rely on the economic viability of production from lignocellulosic feedstocks. Based on the data analysis, APEC economies have the capability and the capacity to increase feedstock yields for biofuel production, particularly the economies that have relatively lower yield levels and are further away from their yield plateau levels. However, this requires targeting yield-enhancing activities including investments in agricultural R&D, better farm practices, and increased input use. Some of the practices that already have resulted in yield improvements in some countries, such as extension services and fertilizer subsidies, could be transferred to other economies. Countries could also provide incentives, such as tax reductions or government payments, which have proven to be successful in inducing farmers to invest in yield-improving technologies. However, it is crucial that each economy should identify its own advantage in terms of productivity improvements for its agricultural commodities. To achieve yield growth, countries should create an environment conducive to technological change and diffusion of new technology through public R&D and incentives for private R&D investments. References: Fargione, J., J. Hill, D. Tilman, S. Polasky, and P. Hawthorne. 2008. "Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt", Science, February 29: 1235-1238. Milbrandt, A. and R.P. Overend. 2008. "Survey of Biomass Resource Assessments and Assessment Capabilities in APEC Economies." Energy Working Group, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC# 208-RE-01.9. Searchinger, T., R. Heimlich, R. Houghton, F. Dong, A. Elobeid, J. F. Fabiosa, S. Tokgoz, D. J. Hayes, T. Yu. 2008. "Factoring Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Land Use Change into Biofuel Calculations", Science, February 29:1238-1240.


A novel technique for docking ligands to the beta 2-adrenergic receptor is described which exploits the domain structure of this class of receptors. The ligands (norepinephrine, an agonist; pindolol, a partial agonist; and propranolol, an antagonist) were docked into the receptor using the key conserved aspartate on helix 3 (D113) as an initial guide to the placement of the amino group and GRID maps (Goodford, P. J. J. Med. Chem, 1985, 28, 849) to identify the likely binding regions of the hydrophobic (and hydroxyl) moieties on the A domain (comprising of helices 1-5). The essence of the new approach involved pulling the B domain, which includes helices 6 and 7, away from the other domain by 5-7 A. During the subsequent minimization and molecular dynamics, the receptor ligand complex reformed to yield structures which were very well supported by site-directed mutagenesis data. In particular, the model predicted a number of important interactions between the antagonist and key residues on helix 7 (notably Leu311 and Asn312) which have not been described in many previous computer simulation studies. The justification for this new approach is discussed in terms of (a) phase space sampling and (b) mimicking the natural domain dynamics which may include domain swapping and dimerization to form a 5,6-domain-swapped dimer. The observed structural changes in the receptor when pindolol, the partial agonist, was docked were midway between those observed for propranolol and norepinephrine. These structural changes, particularly the changes in helix-helix interactions at the dimer interface, support the idea that the receptors have a very dynamic structure and may shed some light on the activation process. The receptor model used in these studies is well supported by experiment, including site-directed mutagenesis (helices 1-7), zinc binding studies (helices 2, 3, 5, and 6), the substituted cysteine accessibility method (helices 3, 5, and 7), and site-directed spin-labeling studies (helices 3-6).


Background: Analysis of chemicals in biological fluids is required
in many areas of medical sciences. Rapid, highly efficient, and reliable
dispersive and air assisted liquid–liquid microextraction methods followed by
gas chromatography-flame ionization detection were developed for the
extraction, preconcentration, and determination of 2-octanone in human plasma and
urine samples.

Methods: Proteins of plasma
samples are precipitated by adding methanol and urine sample is diluted with
water prior to performing the microextraction procedure. Fine organic solvent
droplets are formed by repeated suction and injection of the mixture of sample
solution and extraction solvent into a test tube with a glass syringe. After
extraction, phase separation is performed by centrifuging and the enriched
analyte in the sedimented organic phase is determined by the separation system.
The main factors influencing the extraction efficiency including extraction
solvent type and volume, salt addition, pH, and extraction times are
investigated.

Results: Under the optimized conditions, the proposed
method showed good precision (relative standard deviation less than 7%). Limit
of detection and lower limit of quantification for 2-octanone were obtained in
the range of 0.1–0.5 µg mL−1. The linear ranges were 0.5-500
and 0.5-200 µg mL−1 in plasma and urine, respectively (r2
≥ 0.9995). Enrichment factors were in the range of 13-37. Good recoveries
(55–86%) were obtained for the spiked samples.

Conclusion: Preconcentration
methods coupled with GC analysis were developed and could be used to monitor
2-octanone in biological samples.


This paper illustrates a successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership [KTP] carried out between Queen Margaret University College and Mrs Unis Spicy Foods, a manufacturer of South Asian Spicy foods based in Edinburgh. The project is believed to be one of the first of its kind to be carried out with a South Asian owned company and the unique cultural influences on project development and management. This paper highlights both the theoretical and practical processes of knowledge transfer and will illustrate the importance of business solutions that can be tailored to the culture within an individual company.
Mrs Unis Spicy Foods is a company that manufactures samosas, pakoras, nan and curries which are distributed throughout Scotland. The products sell mainly to corner shops, cash and carries, delicatessens, hospitals and universities. In addition, food for local exhibitions and conferences and Indian party food for the general public are also supplied. The potential market size for Asian foods is difficult to estimate, due to the differing modes of supply. The restaurant trade is currently estimated to be worth over £2 billion per annum in the UK, but this market is currently lacking in growth opportunities. The pre-packaged convenience food sector, however, is seeing strong levels of growth and the increased demand for convenience foods across all sectors is predicted to continue. The increase in the amount of shelf-space now given to convenience foods of ethnic origin in food retailers is clearly visible and the continuing market for the development of new products for this market is acknowledged. The primary aim of the project was to facilitate long-term knowledge transfer of business expertise from the University to the company and to encourage academics to increase their practical business experience. The development of new fusion products that blended South Asian and Scottish cuisine was a part of this project, designed to facilitate company and sales development and the targeting of new market sectors [Seaman et al, 2005].
Much that is already apparent within the literature regarding business culture and the development of appropriate business support systems is born out by the experiences of this team, with the key role played by cultural aspects emphasised by the South Asian culture apparent within the company. In addition, whilst developing and managing projects and production in an environment where English is not the first language is well documented, a business where a variety of languages are spoken, far fewer are written and some employees cannot communicate directly with the business owner is a challenging proposition. In practice, the programme heralded important changes in the structure and development of the company providing a model for the future and raising important questions about change-management and decision making. The importance of this project is threefold: to businesses it illustrates the advantages of engaging in such projects; to academics it illustrates both the importance of the cultural dimension and the potential for success and for those engaged in the development of business support systems it emphasises the importance of the individually tailored response for diverse companies.


The problem of medical standards is of pivotal importance for Lithuania. This importance arises first of all from the central role of medical standards ensuring the proper quality of health care services. This importance is even more enlarged because Lithuania only started developing its own medical standards system and the best foreign experience is highly helpful designing it. As far, Lithuanian medical standards are very different from ones issued in the most developed countries. Typical Lithuanian standards are very short (several pages) and present only very restricted basic knowledge. It is in sharp contrast with highly developed medical standards in USA, UK, Germany, and etc. The report aims to reveal and discuss the basic differences between Lithuanian and Great Britain medical standards. It is carried out using the comparative analysis of two selected typical Lithuanian and Great Britain (NICE) standards. Both standards are official, nation scale, having identical topic (management of angina chest pain). Eight fundamental differences between both standards have been revealed: the scale in which the latest achievement of the scientific research are used, algorithmic (vs. descriptive) exposition of recommendations, explicit (vs. covert) relation of recommendations with their supporting research data, exact (vs. indefinite) definition of borderline between doctor's duties and his discretion, active (vs. passive) prevention of possible errors, provision of recommendations on successful implementation of the standard, provision of recommendation on the most proper ways of auditing the implementation, scale of involvement of patients into implementation of the standard. The results of the analysis showed the prevalence of the highly developed NICE standard over Lithuanian one in accomplishing the most important aim of the medical standard- ensuring the proper quality of health care services. These outcomes were used as the basis to propose a set of basic recommendations for Lithuanian standards. The benefits of implementation of these recommendations for the national health care are discussed. It is shown that implementation of NICE –type standards in Lithuania can contribute to solution of the most urgent problems of the national health care: inadequate public expectations, irrelevant doctor's liability system, defensive medicine.


Lupinus polyphyllus plants were heavily nodulated at 10 field sites sampled across the South Island. Twenty-two bacterial isolates from these nodules formed functional nodules on L. polyphyllus indicating that rhizobia that nodulate L. polyphyllus were present across a wide range of sites in the South Island. Gene sequences identified all 22 isolates and the Group G commercial inoculant as Bradyrhizobium. Eleven isolates and the Group G inoculant were tested for their effectiveness on growth of L. polyphyllus plants in a high country soil in a glasshouse. All plants nodulated regardless of inoculum treatment but there was variability in effectiveness. This suggests that it may be beneficial to use a rhizobial inoculant for high country soils, but further work is required before a recommendation can be made.


This paper presents Meld, a programming language for modular robots, i.e., for independently executing robots where inter-robot communication is limited to immediate neighbors. Meld is a declarative language, based on P2, a logic- programming language originally designed for programming overlay networks. By using logic programming, the code for an ensemble of robots can be written from a global perspective, as opposed to a large collection of independent robot views. This greatly simplifies the thought process needed for programming large ensembles. Initial experience shows that this also leads to a considerable reduction in code size and complexity. An initial implementation of Meld has been completed and has been used to demonstrate its effectiveness in the Claytronics simulator. Early results indicate that Meld programs are considerably more concise (more than 20times shorter) than programs written in C++, while running nearly as efficiently.