Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is frequently detected in the aquatic environment and has been implicated as an endocrine disruptor in fish. In the present study, 4‐month‐old zebrafish (Danio rerio) were exposed to 1 of 4 concentrations of PCP (0.1, 1, 9, and 27 µg/L) for 70 d. The effects of PCP exposure on plasma thyroid hormone levels, and the expression levels of selected genes, were measured in the brain and liver. The PCP exposure at 27 µg/L resulted in elevated plasma thyroxine concentrations in male and female zebrafish and depressed 3, 5, 3'‐triiodothyronine concentrations in males only. In both sexes, PCP exposure resulted in decreased messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels of thyroid‐stimulating hormone β‐subunit (tshβ) and thyroid hormone receptor β (trβ) in the brain, as well as increased liver levels of uridine diphosphoglucuronosyl transferase (ugt1ab) and decreased deiodinase 1 (dio1). The authors also identified several sex‐specific effects of PCP exposure, including changes in mRNA levels for deiodinase 2 (dio2), cytosolic sulfotransferase (sult1 st5), and transthyretin (ttr) genes in the liver. Environmental PCP exposure also caused an increased malformation rate in offspring that received maternal exposure to PCP. The present study demonstrates that chronic exposure to environmental levels of PCP alters plasma thyroid hormone levels, as well as the expression of genes associated with thyroid hormone signaling and metabolism in the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐thyroid (HPT) axis and liver, resulting in abnormal zebrafish development. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:170–176. © 2013 SETAC


New Annenberg survey results indicate that marketers are misrepresenting a large majority of Americans by claiming that Americans give out information about themselves as a tradeoff for benefits they receive. To the contrary, the survey reveals most Americans do not believe that 'data for discounts' is a square deal. The findings also suggest, in contrast to other academics' claims, that Americans' willingness to provide personal information to marketers cannot be explained by the public's poor knowledge of the ins and outs of digital commerce.Our findings, instead, support a new explanation: a majority of Americans are resigned to giving up their data — and that is why many appear to be engaging in tradeoffs. Resignation occurs when a person believes an ndesirable outcome is inevitable and feels powerless to stop it. Rather than feeling able to make choices, Americans believe it is futile to manage what companies can learn about them. Our study reveals that more than half do not want to lose control over their information but also believe this loss ofcontrol has already happened.By misrepresenting the American people and championing the tradeoff argument, marketers give policymakers false justifications for allowing the collection and use of all kinds of consumer data often in ways that the public find objectionable. Moreover, the futility we found, combined with a broad public fear about what companies can do with the data, portends serious difficulties not just for individuals but also — over time — for the institution of consumer commerce.


'Institutions matter because they structure the incentives and constraints facing individuals. However...the same institutions work differently in different circumstances, particularly in the absence or presence of open access systems' (North et al. 2010, p. 256).
Development agencies typically recommend that fragile states adopt a range of standardised public financial management (PFM) 'good practices' that reflect the forms and functions of PFM systems utilised in advanced economy settings where strong democratic institutions prevail. Rules are established that limit discretion in decision-making and systems are put in place that generate better information to government officials and the public, with the expectation that this will lead directly to improved outcomes. In fragile states, however, PFM systems work in a very different institutional context to that which is present in advanced economies. The state does not exert a monopoly over violence, the rule of law is weak or contested, and political order is maintained through systems of patronage. In this context 'good practice' PFM rules, laws, and practices may be only inconsistently implemented or ignored wholesale. Further, even when such laws are followed, increased transparency and information provision may have only a limited impact on outcomes because the incentives of public servants and policymakers are shaped by patrimonial relationships rather than by performance accountability or policy-based electoral pressures. In this paper I present a conceptual framework showing how the institutional transmission mechanisms linking PFM 'good practices' to improved outcomes are typically missing in fragile states. I illustrate the framework through application to the extreme-case fragile state of Afghanistan, where there is an apparent contradiction between strong adoption of 'good practice' PFM systems and deteriorating outcomes. I conclude with some implications for the future design of PFM reform efforts in fragile states.


The increasing demand for quality information systems (IS), has become quality the most pressing challenge facing IS development organisations. In the IS development field it is generally accepted that the quality of an IS is highly dependent on decisions made early in its development. Given the relevant role that data itself plays in an IS, conceptual data models are a key artifact of the IS design: Therefore, in order to build "better quality " IS it is necessary to assess and to improve the quality of conceptual data models based on quantitative criteria. It is in this context where software measurement can help IS designers to make better decision during design activities. We focus this work on the empirical validation of the metrics proposed by Genero et al. for measuring the structural complexity of entity relationship diagrams (ERDs). Through a controlled experiment we will demonstrate that these metrics seem to be heavily correlated with three of the sub-factors that characterise the maintainability of an ERD, such as understandability, analysability and modifiability.


This thesis consists of an introduction and five articles devoted to optimal stopping problems of American type options. In article A, we get general convergence results for the American option rewards for multivariate Markov price processes. These results are used to prove convergence of tree approximations presented in papers A, B, C and E.In article B, we study the problem of optimal reselling for European options. The problem can be transformed to the problem of exercising an American option with two underlying assets. An approximative binomial-trinomial tree algorithm for the reselling model is constructed. In article C, we continue our study of optimal reselling of European options and give the complete solution of the approximation problem. In the article D, we consider general knockout options of American type. A Monte-Carlo method is used to study structure of optimal stopping domains generated by combinations of different pay-off functions and knockout domains.In article E the American option with knock out domains is considered. In order to show convergence of the reward functional the problem is reformulated in such a way that the convergence results in paper A can be applied.


My service as a trial court judge began on June 30, 2011. Since then, I presided over several jury and bench trials (some civil and some criminal), ruled on numerous motions and other matters, and served as a settlement judge in numerous cases. I also learned a few things sitting on this side of the bench that I wish I had known back when I was a trial lawyer. To be fair, I probably had heard most of these points before taking the bench, but things just look different when one is serving as a neutral decision-maker under the rule of law rather than as an advocate. A trial judge tries to correctly apply principles of law (some of which are clearer than others) to facts that are often in dispute. Depending upon the specifics of a case, there may or may not be much room left for the exercise of discretion. A trial judge, however, may also be called upon expressly to exercise discretion and is afforded a fair amount of latitude when doing so. In the context of civil litigation, examples include resolving discovery disputes (especially those involving the "rule of proportionality" under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2)(C)(iii)), disagreements over scheduling and extensions, and requests for temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive relief where the judge is often required to balance the hardships and equities facing the parties and also consider the "public interest." In order to be able to persuade a judge or jury, it is helpful and maybe even critical for the advocate to be able to look at the specific dispute from the perspective of the decision-maker and see things as that person will see them. That is the first thing that I wish I had known (or, at least, fully absorbed) back when I was a trial lawyer. The additional points that I am about to make build on this insight. They are not original or new; in fact, the first three are more than two thousand years old. They go back to Aristotle and his discussion of the three primary modes of persuasion or argument and have withstood the test of time. (1) For these three points, the only thing that is new (at least to me) is my first-hand confirmation since beginning my service as a federal district judge that Aristotle's advice works. The principles that I have seen succeed can be remembered with a mnemonic device using the acronym P-L-E-A, which, to a lawyer, refers to an allegation made by a party in support of a cause. To persuade and advocate for a plea is the heart of the work of the trial lawyer, so P-L-E-A should be easy to remember. But I am going to go beyond Aristotle's three ancient principles and add one more from modern learning based on the latest developments in cognitive science, psychology, and behavioral economics. To remember this additional point, it might be easier to remember the word "P-L-E-A-S-E." Every trial lawyer needs to be respectful and polite to his or her audience, whether judge or jury, in order to be persuasive. This requires the use of the word "please" or at least that attitude. Looked at another way, every advocate hopes that his or her argument will "please" the decision-maker; the classic opening for any legal argument is, after all: "May it please the court." P-L-E-A-S-E it is, then. It stands for: Pathos, Logos, Ethos, and the Alternative Systems [of Thinking] by Everyone. 1. Pathos Pathos refers to emotion. As used by Aristotle, it means trying to create a certain favorable disposition in the audience. It is a form of argument that appeals to the emotions of the listener or the reader. This can mean different things to different people. In the legal context, I consider pathos to have two dimensions. First, it is an appeal to "justice." It is an argument that seeks to persuade the decision-maker that justice requires, or at least supports, a particular outcome. Some may think this is inconsistent with a neutral application of the rule of law. Judge Learned Hand tells the story of when he and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. …


Ecological risk assessment, aiming at evaluating a wide range of undesirable consequences initiated by a possible eco-environmental hazard, has been the center of concern for ecosystem management in recent years. However, when it comes to disturbed natural ecosystems, most models developed for ecological risk assessment are restricted to instant cause–effect computation of single factors and often ignore the indirect effects, therefore fail to implement a holistic assessment at an ecosystem scale when interactions of different risk receptors are obvious. In this study, we developed a risk-based network model based on a new control analysis termed control allocation and a conceptual conversion of flow currency in NEA. By taking a river ecosystem intercepted by dam construction as an example, risk propagation between all functional guilds of the ecosystem concerning both direct risk and integral risk dynamic were quantified and illustrated in the network model. The results of this new risk assessment showed that there were significant differences between network integral risk and input risk, and although the phytoplankton received the instantaneous impact of chromium pollution among all the functional guilds, it was the piscivorous fish which obtain the greatest overall risk threat. On the basis of the model results, we proposed the network-based indicators for assessing the system-wide risk condition and componentspecific risk scenarios of disturbed ecosystems exposed to single or multiple stressors. This study could provide a novel perspective and methodology for assessing ecological risk at the system scale, and concurrently, serve as an elicitation of how we can effectively evaluate ecosystems on the same analytic basis of information-based networks.


Partially migratory populations comprise both resident and migratory individuals. These tactics may coexist if their demographic contribution to future generations (i.e. fitness) are equal or vary temporally with environmental conditions, or if individuals switch between being migrant and resident. Alternatively, the choice of movement tactic can be based on individual attributes such as age, competitive ability or personality. In the latter cases, the two tactics are not expected to have similar average fitness. In this study, we examined the effect of movement tactic on reproductive performance and survival of 82 GPS-marked female moose and their offspring in a partial migratory population in central Norway. The results indicated higher growth in the migrating part of the population because migrating females produced more twins than resident females. We found no differences in pregnancy rates or survival of adults or their offspring, indicating a net fitness benefit of being migrant. We found the average shoulder height of residents to be slightly lower than of migrants, but doubt that this affected their migration ability. A more likely explanation is that migratory females are both more fecund and grow bigger because of better conditions in their summer ranges. This may be a temporal phenomenon if the fitness differences between migratory and resident moose vary according to environmental fluctuations.


A Parry number is a real number β > 1 such that the Renyi β-expansion of 1 is finite or infinite eventually periodic. If this expansion is finite, β is said to be a simple Parry number. Remind that any Pisot number is a Parry number. In a previous work we have determined the complexity of the fixed point uβ of the canonical substitution associated with β-expansions, when β is a simple Parry number. In this paper we consider the case where β is a non-simple Parry number. We determine the structure of infinite left special branches, which are an important tool for the computation of the complexity of uβ. These results allow in particular to obtain the following characterization: the infinite word uβ is Sturmian if and only if β is a quadratic Pisot unit.


A recent controversy over the American Law Institute's draft Restatement of the Law of Consumer Contracts (the "Draft") raises four questions: (i) What is the state of basic contract principles such as formation or unconscionability with respect to consumer contracts; (ii) does the Draft get the existing law right; (iii) how much can contract law do to give consumers a leg up in the modern economy; and (iv) should the Draft do more?

The positive critiques of the Draft are weak. Cases that do not contradict the Draft are cited as showing that it is wrong, district court opinions that have not even been adopted in their home circuit are praised as "leading cases," and the rules of formation are decried as unsettled and messy, when the standard is clear. The answers to questions (i) and (ii) are that the cases are reasonably settled on principles that are accurately reflected in the Draft.

Normative questions (iii) and (iv) are interesting and hard. Critiques of the Draft presume that contract law could do a lot to help consumers but that the Draft would thwart such efforts. There are limits to what contract law can do to give consumers a leg up, however, and the Draft does not narrow those limits. Sweeping statements, such as that the Draft "if adopted, would drive a dagger through consumers' rights," are excessive, even if limited only to doctrines such as unconscionability. Critics are notably short on cases that go their way under current law but which would come out differently under the Draft.

The Restatement project presumes the exercise of nonpartisan judgment. Some criticisms of the draft, notably those contained in a letter signed by numerous state attorneys general, are more political tracts than analytic critiques. Because the Draft does a good job analyzing and distilling the law, the real question in this debate is whether the ALI and the Restatement project as a whole can withstand efforts, such as the AGs' Letter, to use the tools and standards of retail politics to defeat the analytic approach of the Draft. To the extent such efforts succeed, the Restatement concept as a whole will fail.


Cylindrocladium pauciramosum C.L. Schoch & Crous (teleomorph Calonectria pauciramosa C.L. Schoch & Crous), described as a member of the Cylindrocladium candelabrum Viégas complex (4), was recently reported from Europe (3). In southern Italy, the fungus has caused extensive losses, and chemical control measures are necessary, especially in ornamental nurseries. Several researchers have found benzimidazole fungicides to be effective for control of different species of Cylindrocladium, however, in fungicide trials conducted on myrtle plants infected by C. pauciramosum, benomyl was ineffective (2). Another study showed that mycelial growth of six isolates was completely inhibited by carbendazim at a concentration of 1 μg a.i./ml whereas, concentrations of 10, 100, and 500 μg a.i./ml did not completely inhibit growth of four isolates (1). To examine benzimidazole resistance in C. pauciramosum, 200 single-conidia isolates were tested. These were collected during 1996 and 1997 from several symptomatic hosts in different nurseries located in Sicily and Calabria and identified through morphological characteristics as well as mating-type studies with tester strains. Sensitivity to benomyl was determined by plating mycelial plugs on potato dextrose agar (PDA) amended with benomyl at 1, 10, 100, and 500 μg a.i./ml. For 20 benomyl-resistant isolates, fungal growth was also determined at the same concentrations on carbendazim-amended PDA. Sensitivity was expressed as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) (the lowest fungicide concentration that completely prevented fungal growth). Isolates that did not grow on benzimidazole-amended PDA were classed as sensitive. Isolates were considered resistant to benzimidazole if MIC values were greater than 1 μg a.i./ml. Of the 200 isolates tested, 58% were resistant to benomyl. The benomyl-resistant isolates tested for carbendazim sensitivity were cross-resistant to carbendazim. Most resistant isolates grew in the presence of benomyl at 500 μg a.i./ml. On agar culture, the isolates were either the fast-growing or slow-growing type. The slow-growing phenotype appears to be related to the higher level of resistance (500 μg a.i./ml). On the basis of these data, the use of benzimidazole for the control of this pathogen should be seriously questioned. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the prevalence of benzimidazole resistance in a population of C. pauciramosum. References: (1) G. Polizzi. Inf. Fitopatol. 11:39, 2000. (2) G. Polizzi and A. Azzaro. Petria 6:117, 1996. (3) G. Polizzi and P. W. Crous. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 105:407, 1999. (4) C. L. Schoch et al. Mycologia 91:286, 1999.


We study the transmission of liquidity shocks from one sector of the economy to other sectors in a general equilibrium model with multiple trading venues connected by profit-seeking arbitrageurs. Arbitrageurs effectively provide liquidity to investors by inter-mediating trades between venues. The welfare impact on venue k of a liquidity shock on venue l can go in either direction, depending on whether inter-mediated trades on k behave as complements or substitutes for such trades on l. In addition to this direct effect through the arbitrage network, there is a feedback effect of an adverse shock reducing liquidity and arbitrageur profits, which leads to a lower level of inter-mediation, further reducing liquidity. We illustrate this contagion with examples of high-frequency trading in equity markets, shocks to one tranche of a collateralized debt obligation impacting investors in the other tranches, carry trade crashes, shocks to cross-country bank lending following the global financial crisis, and the bursting of the Japanese bubble in the early 1990s.


Onion is an important cash crop for smallholder farmers in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. However, the yield of the crop is low owing to a number of constraints out of which soil nutrient depletion and inappropriate soil fertility management practices are the most important ones.A field experiment was carried out for two consecutive years of 2011 and 2012 using irrigation at Melkassa, Central Rift Valley Region of Ethiopia, to assess the response of onion to different levels of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers and to identify economical rates of the fertilizers for optimizing the yield and quality of the crop. The treatments consisted of five levels of nitrogen (0, 34.5, 69, 103.5 and 138 kg ha-1) and four levels of phosphorus (0, 46, 92, and 138 kg P2O5ha-1). The experiment was carried out as a randomized complete block design in a factorial arrangement with three replications.The results of the study revealed that the main effect of nitrogen significantly (P≤0.05) affected most of the growth parameters and bulb characters which all attained maximum values at 138 kg N ha-1. The main effect of P significantly (P ≤ 0.05) influenced leaf number, leaf length, and bulb diameter. Nitrogen and phosphorus interacted to influence total and marketable bulb yields. Application of N at the rate of 103.5 kg N ha-1combined with 138 kg ha-1P2O5led to the production of the highest total and marketable bulb yield of onion. However, results of the economic analysis revealed that application of N at the rate of 103.5 kg ha-1and P2O5at 92 kg ha-1led to the highest net return.


We study the effects of liquidity constraints and start-up costs on the relationship between wealth and the fraction of entrepreneurs in an economy. We develop a dynamic occupational choice model with endogenous wealth and entry into entrepreneurship. The model predicts that, with liquidity constraints, the probability of entering entrepreneurship is an increasing function of individual wealth while the introduction of start-up costs tends to flatten this relationship. The theoretical predictions can be tested on cross-sectional data with exogenous variation in liquidity constraints (e.g. access to credit) and business start-up costs. We use three highly comparable micro datasets (SHARE, ELSA and HRS) providing harmonized data on wealth and work status in 9 countries that characterized by very different levels of start-up costs and liquidity constraints. Our results support our theoretical predictions. While higher liquidity constraints yield a positive relationship with wealth profile for the fraction of workers in entrepreneurship, start-up costs weaken this relationship by depressing the marginal value of being an entrepreneur as a function of wealth. Countries with high start-up costs such as Italy, Spain and France have flatter wealth gradients.


An extended theory of Maker fringes, applicable to extraordinary waves, is presented for the exact estimation of nonlinear-optical coefficients d31 and d33 of anisotropic films with C∞υ symmetry, such as poled and Langmuir-Blodgett films. Numerical data show that, while the value of d31 decreases with increasing anisotropy of the refractive index at the harmonic frequency, the value of d33 increases remarkably. Therefore, if anisotropy of a few percent is neglected, as in conventional estimations, the values of d31 and d33 are overestimated and underestimated, respectively, and large errors occur. Moreover, d33 strongly depends on the anisotropy at the fundamental frequency.


The conflict in Northern Ireland is one of the longest conflicts in post-war
Europe. It is often described as a sectarian conflict between Catholics and
Protestants. Certainly, there is no other religious division in the English-speaking
world such as that which is witnessed in this British province.
Although there is a formidable amount of literature on this subject, there is
limited discourse on the relationship between the major confessions and the
relationship between the Churches and the conflict. In order to gain an
understanding of this relationship, and for the purposes of clarity this study
attempts to define the terms 'religion' and 'politics'. Moreover, this study
examines the relationship between religion and politics and between Church
and State in a variety of experiences. Such an inquiry identifies patterns of
ecclesiastical and political behaviour. In order to demonstrate this, a
historical-comparative method is employed, accompanied with an
investigation of the Irish experience from early times to the contemporary
period. Thus, in this instance, it is a case study.
However, in the latter part of the twentieth-century, we witnessed efforts at
attempting greater church unity. The meeting of the Second Vatican Council,
held between 1962 and 1965, was a concerted effort by the Roman Catholic
Church to achieve this end. Interestingly, this Council was held before the
eruption of the current conflict. Thus, this study also examines the
ramifications of Vatican II, particularly in the context of Northern Ireland.
Also, in 1965, the Corrymeela Community was founded in Belfast as an
ecumenical organisation. Its latter objectives focus on peace and reconciliation
in Northern Ireland, which also means religious and social healing between
the Protestant and Catholic communities. Peace movements and
organisations seeking social justice are not altogether new phenomena in
Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, it is necessary to examine the variants, which
exist in a changed Irish society, since the beginning of the conflict. These
variants include phenomena such as demographical changes, European
Union membership, secularisation, constitutional amendments, paramilitary
criminality and denominational intransigence. Thus, some of these variants
can be viewed as 'adversities' that confront the Corrymeela Community. This
examination also enables this study to assess the viability and potential of the
Corrymeela Community, not only as an ecclesiastical actor, but also its
position in the political sphere. In other words, this inquiry also considers the
Community's efficacy in a political environment, which has experienced
several significant popular developments, such as the Peace Process, and the
referendums held in the Republic of Ireland and in the province of Ulster in
1998. At the same time however, the above do not necessarily detract from the
Corrymeela Community's efforts of achieving peace and reconciliation.


We investigate the magnonic band structure of in-plane magnetized two-dimensional magnonic crystals composed of cobalt dots embedded into a permalloy antidot lattice. Our analysis is based on the results of numerical calculations carried out by the plane wave method. The complex magnonic band structure found in square-lattice magnonic crystals is explained on the basis of the spin wave dispersion relations calculated in the empty lattice model. We show that four principal effects influence the formation of a magnonic band structure in planar two-dimensional bi-component magnonic crystals: a folding effect, Bragg scattering, hybridization between various spin wave modes, and a demagnetizing field. While the first two effects are found for other types of waves in periodic composites, the third one exists in an anisotropic medium and the last one is specific to spin waves propagating in magnonic crystals with magnetization in the film plane. The strong anisotropy in the dispersion relation of spin waves in thin ferromagnetic films results in the crossing and anti-crossing of the fast, Damon–Eshbach-like mode with a number of other spin waves folded to the first Brillouin zone. The demagnetizing field can induce the formation of channels for spin waves which are propagating perpendicular to the external magnetic field direction, but this property exists only in the limiting range of the thicknesses and the lattice constants of the bi-component magnonic crystals. Based on the model analysis we propose a modification of the magnonic crystal structure by changing its thickness, lattice constant and aspect ratio along the direction of the applied magnetic field to significantly modify the magnonic band structure and obtain partial magnonic band gaps.


Lesbian gay bisexual youth face formidable risks caused by societal stigmatization of homosexuality. Responding to these needs requires approaches beyond traditional and individualizing counselling supports. The Lesbian Gay and Bisexual Youth Program (LGBYP) of Central Toronto Youth Services can serve as a unique model for those wishing to develop more appropriate community-based services for these youth. Its programs enhance quality of life for lesbian gay and bisexual youth through empowerment- focussed counselling action research advocacy and community development and community education. This article outlines LGBYPs programs the principles which guide them and the unique role they play in addressing the broad needs of lesbian gay and bisexual youth. (authors)


Morphological building index (MBI) is a recently developed approach for automatic indication of buildings in high-resolution imagery. However, MBI is subject to commission errors due to the similar characteristics between buildings, bare soil and roads. Furthermore, omission errors occur in dark and heterogeneous roofs. In this study, a systematic framework for building extraction from high-resolution imagery is proposed, aiming to alleviate both commission and omission errors for the original MBI algorithm. The improvements include three aspects: 1) a morphological shadow index (MSI) is proposed to detect shadows that are used as a spatial constraint of buildings; 2) a dual-threshold filtering is proposed to integrate the information of MBI and MSI; 3) the proposed framework is implemented in an object-based environment, where a geometrical index and a vegetation index are then used to remove noise from narrow roads and bright vegetation. The proposed framework was validated on an Ikonos image of Washington DC Mall with 1-m resolution and an 8-channel WorldView-2 image of Hangzhou, east of China, with 2-m resolution. By comparison with the ground truth references, it was shown that our method achieved over 90% overall accuracy for discrimination between buildings and backgrounds for both datasets. In the comparative study, it was revealed that the proposed method improved the original MBI significantly. Furthermore, the proposed method was more accurate than the support vector machine interpretation with the differential morphological profiles (DMP) and multiscale urban complexity index (MUCI).


Artificial intelligence technologies are receiving high levels of attention and 'hype', leading to a range of speculation about futures in which such technologies, and their successors, are commonly deployed. By looking at existing AI futures work, this paper surveys, and offers an initial categorisation of, several of the tools available for such futures-exploration, in particular those available to humanities scholars, and discusses some of the benefits and limitations of each. While no tools exist to reliably predict the future of artificial intelligence, several tools can help us expand our range of possible futures in order to reduce unexpected surprises, and to create common languages and models that enable constructive conversations about the kinds of futures we would like to occupy or avoid. The paper points at several tools as particularly promising and currently neglected, calling for more work in data-driven, realistic, integrative, and participatory scenario role-plays.


Mucus secretions play a number of functions related to polychaete physiology and ecology. Under stress conditions, the polychaete Halla parthenopeia (Oenonidae) produces a purple mucus after mechanical stimulation, whose function is still unknown. Here, we assessed the toxicity of this purple mucus by means of both acute toxicity bioassays on the polychaete Dinophilus gyrociliatus and commercial ecotoxicological kits (Microtox®, Rotoxkit® and Artoxkit®). Palatability was also tested with the fish Oryzias melastigma . After emitting purple mucus, H. parthenopeia quickly moves away and starts releasing transparent mucus. Acute toxicity bioassays showed that the mucus was harmless (transparent), or lethal even when diluted about 1000 times (purple). Purple mucus was toxic at different concentrations, the LC50 ranging from 0.7-0.3 g l –1 for D. gyrociliatus to 76 g l –1 for Artemia franciscana (Artoxkit®). Freeze-dried brine shrimp coated with transparent or purple muci were both consumed by O. melastigma . We hypothesized that the purple mucus is involved in the chemical defence of H. parthenopeia against competitors and parasites, and that its colour and toxicity are due to hallachrome, a 1,2-anthraquinone found in the skin of H. parthenopeia .


This essay is a slightly modified version of the remarks delivered at the 14th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia in October 2017.

As always, I bring you greetings from the land of Midkiff, the land of Kaiser Aetna. The jurisdiction in which the legislature thought it was a good idea to try and drive gasoline prices lower by adopting a rent control statute for certain gas stations on the theory that the station owners would naturally pass on the savings to consumers. As you recall, the United States Supreme Court in Lingle held that this scheme should not be analyzed under the Just Compensation Clause, but under the Due Process Clause. The Court concluded that as a question of due process and government power, Hawaii's scheme survived the rational basis test, even though in reality—and predictably—the statute did not come anywhere close to accomplishing what it purportedly set out to accomplish: Hawaii continues to have some of the highest gasoline prices in the nation, thank you very much.

I raise all this both as an introduction to my remarks and as background for our panel, "The Future of Land Regulation and Tribute to David Callies." But before we can talk about land use law's future, we must delve into its past. Because the rational basis test, which we have now seen over the years inexorably creep into takings and eminent domain law—had its genesis as we all know, in zoning and land use law. Today, I'll focus on two cases, one old, one new.


Alcoa 560 is a proprietary, non-heat-treatable, aluminum-magnesium-manganese alloy developed by Alcoa in the late 1990s for high pressure die cast structural components. This alloy develops the required strength and toughness in the as-cast condition, thus eliminating or minimizing numerous production problems, such as distortion, blistering, property variations, and heat treatment logistics. The application of this alloy is limited to simple-shaped components due to its high hot cracking tendency. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, elasticity, and tensile properties. It also includes information on corrosion resistance as well as casting and joining. Filing Code: Al-478. Producer or source: Alcoa Corporation.


Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is an important vegetable crop in Ethiopia. The yield of the crop is often constrained by low and unbalanced nutrient supply in the soil. This study was undertaken to assess effect of vermicompost (VC) on growth, quality and economic return of garlic variety Chelenko I during 2016 main rainy season in Haramaya University main campus, Ethiopia. The treatment consisted of four levels of vermicompost (0, 2.5, 5 and 7.5 tons ha-1) laid out in a randomized complete block design in three replication. Data were collected and analyzed on days to emergency, plant growth, quality, and economic return of garlic. Results revealed early emergency (8.07 days) with application of 7.5 tons ha-1 of vermicompost while late emergency (10.13 days) was at nil application of vermicompost. Significant (P<0.05) maximum leaf area (37.05 cm2), leaf area index (1.36) and biomass (61.54 g) were recorded with application of 7.5 tons ha-1. Besides to this, maximum total dry matter (32.71%) and total soluble solid (12.72 Brix°) were also recorded at the rate of 7.5 tons ha-1.  Due to application of 7.5 tons ha-1 fertilizer, the economic analysis showed the highest net benefit cost of 431,188 ETB ha-1 and marginal rate of return (168.87%) with incurred highest total variable cost of 79,350 ETB ha-1. Thus, it can be reasonably generalized that on short time basis, the application of high amounts of VC fertilizers can result in higher economic return than the low dose of VC fertilizer. Therefore, it can be concluded that, the maximum growth and quality and economic return of garlic was obtained with application of 7.5 tons of VC ha-1 fertilizer as it gave the highest net benefit cost. However, since the experiment was done only once and at one location, similar experiments should be carried out using additional higher rates of VC fertilizer over several seasons and locations to make a conclusive recommendation.

 Key words: Chelenko I, economic return, marginal rate return, net benefit, total soluble solids.


Reduced form price equations were estimated to compare market demand responses from two data sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) beef price and price spread data per revisions in 1978 and per revisions in 1990. The latest revisions were necessary to account for changing beef industry technology and product consumption in the 1980s. Results indicate the elasticities of retail and derived demands average about 25 and 17% lower, respectively, when using the 1990 revised data. Trends and lag adjustments played an important role. The analyses suggest careful interpretation of demand responses when time series data lag technology conditions in the market.


BACKGROUND
Prenatal lead exposure (umbilical cord blood lead concentration > 10 (micrograms/dl) may impair cognitive development. Childhood lead poisoning is infrequent in Israel, and there are no data on lead exposure in immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate prenatal blood lead concentrations in Israeli newborns whose mothers were born in Israel and in those whose mothers recently immigrated from Russia, and to compare data of prenatal lead exposure in Israel with those reported from other countries.

METHODS
We compared the UCBLC of 35 newborns of new immigrants from Russia with a group of 35 newborns whose mothers were born in Israel. Venous BLC was also measured in 50 mothers. Data are compared with similar reports on prenatal lead exposure internationally.

RESULTS
The UCBLC in all 70 newborns (mean +/- SD) was 3.53 +/- 1.6 micrograms/dl, and mothers' BLC (mean +/- SD) was 3.90 +/- 1.39 micrograms/dl. UCBLC and BLC in the 50 mother-newborn pairs correlated (r = 0.36, P < 0.01). All newborns except one had UCBLC < 8.0 micrograms/dl. There was no significant difference between UCBLC in the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Prenatal lead exposure among the study subjects in both groups was low. In this sample the newborns of mothers born in Israel and those whose mothers recently immigrated from Russia were not found to be at risk for lead poisoning. Prenatal lead exposure in this sample was low compared to that reported from various parts of the world.


Wolf ( Canis lupus ) predation on livestock can cause economic and emotional hardships for livestock producers, complicating the balance of wolf conservation with other human interests. New management tools that decrease risk of predation may offer additional flexibility or efficiency for both livestock producers and management agencies. I examined 1) the efficacy of electrified fladry compared to fladry at protecting a food source from wolves in captivity, 2) the efficacy of electrified fladry for reducing wolf use of pastures and preventing depredations, and 3) the applicability of electrified'-fladry. In captivity I tested the reaction from 15 groups (46 wolves) to the presence of fladry, electrified fladry, or no barrier within their enclosures. During trials, a deer carcass was provided in one corner of the pen, and a strand of fladry (n = 5 pens), or electrified fladry (n = 5 pens), was strung across the pen to protect the food resource. Failure of the barriers was defined by at least one animal in a group moving across the barrier. Both fladry and electrified fladry effectively excluded wolves from a food resource for short durations of time (1'-14 days), but electrified fladry was more effective. My research indicated that although electrified fladry has the potential to reduce wolf depredations, animal learning, motivation, and personality play critical roles in the effectiveness of fladry systems. In Montana, I assigned 9 livestock operations to randomly receive a treatment (electrified fladry, n=6 pastures) or control (not receiving electrified fladry, n=6 pastures). I measured cost per kilometer for purchasing materials, number of people and hours required for installing and maintaining, as well as recording observations of potential difficulties with electrified fladry. I formed and distributed an exit'-survey to each rancher who participated in the study to assess opinions about the use of the technique. Wolf activity at the ranches was insufficient and I was not able to determine if electrified fladry was successful or unsuccessful for preventing livestock depredations. I found, however, that electrified fladry may be limited by costs associated with its purchase and that the application and effectiveness of electrified fladry may limit its usefulness for addressing wolf'-livestock conflict. The understanding of human perceptions of management tools is critical to determining the success of implementing management techniques and fostering participation and cooperation among stakeholders.


Ridge regression is a parameter estimation method used to address the collinearity problem frequently arising in multiple linear regressions. The methodology defines a class of estimators indexed by a non‐negative scalar parameter, k. When utilizing ridge regression, the analyst eventually chooses a particular value of k which, in turn, uniquely determines the regression parameter estimates within the ridge class. Many such methods of determination, both deterministic and stochastic, have been proposed and evaluated in the literature. A plot of the ridge regression estimates as a function of k, the so‐called ridge trace, is often used in the selection process. In this article, one such criterion, the square of the correlation coefficient of the actual dependent variable and its predicted values, is examined. It can be used, along with a ridge trace and other quantitative measures, as another important tradeoff between using ordinary least squares estimates and estimates from the ridge class. WIREs Comp Stat 2010 2 695–703 DOI: 10.1002/wics.126


The base analog 6- N -hydroxylaminopurine (HAP) induces bidirectional GC → AT and AT → GC transitions that are enhanced in DNA polymerase ϵ and δ 3′ → 5′ exonuclease-deficient yeast mutants, pol2-4 and pol3-01 , respectively. We have constructed a set of isogenic strains to determine whether the DNA polymerases δ and ϵ contribute equally to proofreading of replication errors provoked by HAP during leading and lagging strand DNA synthesis. Site-specific GC → AT and AT → GC transitions in a Pol→, pol2-4 or pol3-01 genetic background were scored as reversions of ura3 missense alleles. At each site, reversion was increased in only one proofreading-deficient mutant, either pol2-4 or pol3-01 , depending on the DNA strand in which HAP incorporation presumably occurred. Measurement of the HAP-induced reversion frequency of the ura3 alleles placed into chromosome III near to the defined active replication origin ARS306 in two orientations indicated that DNA polymerases ϵ and δ correct HAP-induced DNA replication errors on opposite DNA strands.


IntroductionInpatient datasets in the UK are primarily organised by episodes (periods of care under an individual consultant), while researchers often want to measure admissions (periods of stay in hospital). We developed a standardized method for identifying admissions in inpatient data, while accounting for differences between the four UK nations.
Objectives and ApproachAll UK inpatient datasets include date variables, permitting chronological sequencing of episodes. They include flags describing whether an episode is a transfer of care, although structures and definitions differ. Data quality is variable leading to concurrent and overlapping episodes, duplication and "orphan" or "childless" transfer episodes, where no originating or destination episode can be identified.
Our objective was to define a method for classifying individual episodes into a continuous period of stay in hospital, which would be consistently applicable to the analysis of inpatient datasets of all four UK nations, while prioritising clinical meaningfulness. Three permutations were considered.
ResultsFor each permutation, episodes for an individual were linked when they related to the same individual and met the following criteria:

Zero or one day gap between episode end and subsequent episode start
Evidence of transfer according to admission method or discharge destination variables
Episode overlapping or completely nested within another episode

Permutations:

a and b
a only
a and c

Permutation three was adopted, as it was felt to be the most clinically meaningful approach, was not dependent on accurate recording of transfers and captured nested or overlapping episodes, which may occur for example when a patient is in a long-stay psychiatric or elderly care ward but requires care from a different specialty. Importantly it permitted consistent analysis of episodes across all UK nations.
Conclusion/ImplicationsThe output of this work provides a useful guide for the classification of inpatient episodes into more clinically meaningful periods of care, and is applicable to the inpatient datasets of all four UK nations. It describes important issues to consider when classifying episodes of care, particularly relating to data quality.


With tourism in South Africa expanding, the number of avitourists increases. The increase in infrastructure and human activities in protected areas, if not managed properly, can be harmful to birds. Flight initiation distances (FID) can be used as a method to monitor habituation to disturbances. This study was performed at the Barberspan Bird Sanctuary, North West province, South Africa, to determine the levels of habituation among waterbirds and make appropriate recommendations regarding the management of the reserve. Our results indicated a 0.29 m increase in FID per gram reported mean biomass. Compared with conspecific or congeneric birds from Australia, Europe and North America, South African birds have relatively larger FIDs to human disturbance, which may indicate lower habituation. We also calculated buffer zones based on the maximum FID of the waterbirds for three mass groups. These buffer zones were then matched with the spatial distribution of the birds along the shoreline. We recommend that the mean FID for the blacksmith lapwing, Vanellus armatus (62 m), can be used as approach distance outside the breeding season in areas where the birds are sparsely distributed and 104 m during the breeding season in breeding areas. A large buffer of 200 m is suggested for areas with threatened, sensitive and skittish species. However, it is still preferable for avitourists to use the bird hides along the shores. Conservation implications: This study provides information for conservation management at Barberspan, based on typical birder activity. Smaller birds would need smaller buffer zones, while larger birds need much greater distances from observers to minimise disturbance. Similar studies can be applied elsewhere.


The offshore region in the vicinity of the Beach Haven and Little Egg Inlets of New Jersey is the site of the proposed Atlantic Generating Station, a floating nuclear power plant to be constructed 2.8 n. mi. offshore by Public Service Electric and Gas Company (Figure 1A). In order to assess the impact of this proposed project on the region, a comprehensive study of the nearshore and offshore region was conducted. A complete synopsis of this study is available in PSESG (1976). This paper presents the results of the investigations into the sedimentary processes operative in the offshore region. The dynamics and coastal evolution of the nearshore region is summarized in DeAlteris et al, (1976; this conference). The proposed Atlantic Generating Station (AGS) is located offshore of the complex and transi.ent tidal inlet system of Beach Haven and Little Egg Inlets. These inlets are the major hydraulic connections between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Bay and Little Egg Harbor estuaries. A large, roughly triangular ebb-tidal delta is present at the mouths of and between the two inlet channels. The major offshore bathymetric feature is a broad linear sand ridge, the Beach Haven Ridge, which trends northeast and reaches a maximum elevation of -28 feet (NLW) (Figure 1A). The AGS site is located on the landward flank of the ridge and partially in the adjacent trough in about 40 feet of water. Landward of the wide, northward-deepening trough, the ocean bottom slopes gently up towards the ebb-tidal delta of Beach Haven and Little Egg Inlets. The offshore zone adjacent to the proposed AGS is separated from an extensive tidal marsh lagoon system by a broken chain of barrier islands, from Long Beach Island on the north to Little Beach and Brigantine Islands on the south. The Beach Haven Ridge is one of a system of sand ridges which occur on the shelf surface. In recent years the origin of these features has been the subject of a number of studies. Duane et al, (1972) studied the sand shoals on the inner portions of the eastern continental shelf of the United States. Swift et al, (1973) review the question of the ridge and trough topography of the Middle Atlantic Bight. A detailed description of the geomorphic elements of the inner New Jersey continental shelf for this region is presented in PSESG (1975). Duane et_al, (1972) suggested that the shoreface- connected ridges originated in a shallow nearshore environment in response to the interaction of south-trending, shore-parallel, wind-driven currents and waves during winter storms. They suggest that as sea level rises, and the shoreface retreats, the shoals are abandoned and isolated as "relict" features on the shelf surface. This .concept was proposed i(n part by Moody (1964) from studies of the ridge system at Bethany Beach, Delaware.


L-type Ca2+ channel (LTCC) blockers, represented by amlodipine and verapamil, are widely used antihypertensive drugs that also have antiinflammatory activities. Plasminogen (Plg) is an important mediator of macrophage recruitment, and this role depends on its interaction with Plg receptors (Plg-Rs). Plg-Rs include histone 2B, α-enolase, annexin 2, and p11, all proteins which lack signal sequences for cell surface export. When human or murine monocytoid cells were induced to differentiate into macrophages, their Plg binding and Plg-R expression increased by 4-fold. These changes were suppressed by pretreatment with verapamil and amlodipine. Expression of the Cav1.2 LTCC pore subunit was induced in differentiated macrophages, and siRNA against this subunit suppressed the upregulation of Plg binding and Plg-Rs. In vivo, amlodipine and verapamil suppressed peritoneal macrophage recruitment in response to thioglycollate by >60% at doses that did not affect blood pressure. In drug-treated animals, macrophages migrated into but not through the peritoneal membrane tissue and showed reduced surface expression of Plg-Rs. These findings demonstrate that Plg-R expression on macrophages is dependent on Cav1.2 LTCC subunit expression. Suppression of Plg-Rs may contribute to the antiinflammatory effects of the widely used LTCC blockers.


The site of Dar es Salaam must have always been attractive for human settlement. However, until a few months ago, it was readily accepted that the importance of Dar es Salaam went no further back than the 1860's when Sultan Majid, feeling insecure at Zanzibar. decided to start a seat of refuge on the mainland which since that time is known as ""Heaven of Peace"" (in Swahili: Dar es Salaam). The discovery of sgraffiato pottery in 1966 allegedly indicates that this site might have been an important settlement some seven hundred years ago. But interesting and controversial as the origin of Dar es Salaam is, it has little bearing on the present study of the town. The decree of the German government in January 1891, which made Dar es Salaam the capital of their colonial possessions in East Africa. can be considered to have been a dominant factor in initiating its growth.


This paper proposes a new algorithm -- the \underline{S}ingle-timescale Do\underline{u}ble-momentum \underline{St}ochastic \underline{A}pprox\underline{i}matio\underline{n} (SUSTAIN) -- for tackling stochastic unconstrained bilevel optimization problems. We focus on bilevel problems where the lower level subproblem is strongly-convex and the upper level objective function is smooth. Unlike prior works which rely on \emph{two-timescale} or \emph{double loop} techniques, we design a stochastic momentum-assisted gradient estimator for both the upper and lower level updates. The latter allows us to control the error in the stochastic gradient updates due to inaccurate solution to both subproblems. If the upper objective function is smooth but possibly non-convex, we show that {\aname}~requires $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^{-3/2})$ iterations (each using ${\cal O}(1)$ samples) to find an $\epsilon$-stationary solution. The $\epsilon$-stationary solution is defined as the point whose squared norm of the gradient of the outer function is less than or equal to $\epsilon$. The total number of stochastic gradient samples required for the upper and lower level objective functions matches the best-known complexity for single-level stochastic gradient algorithms. We also analyze the case when the upper level objective function is strongly-convex.


We provide an integrated view of patients' and clinicians' perspectives on the communication challenges faced when patients present their medical issues to the clinicians. By combining the results of a literature review from both the HCI and medical literature with the results of clinician interviews explicitly about in-clinic communication issues, we are able to offer a more complete picture of these crucial in-clinic communication challenges. We discuss similarities and subtle but important differences between patients' and clinicians' perspectives. While patients and clinicians are often talking about the same issue, we found that they differ considerably in opinion and attitude. Drawing upon these subtle yet significant differences and ideas raised by the interviewed clinicians, we offer research suggestions for the design of future in-clinic communication tools.


The architecture of two-tiered sensor networks, where storage nodes serve as an intermediate tier between sensors and a sink for storing data and processing queries, has been widely adopted because of the benefits of power and storage saving for sensors as well as the efficiency of query processing. However, the importance of storage nodes also makes them attractive to attackers. We use SafeQ, a protocol that prevents attackers from gaining information from both sensor collected data and sink issued queries. SafeQ also allows a sink to detect compromised storage nodes when they misbehave. To preserve privacy, SafeQ uses a novel technique to encode both data and queries such that a storage node can correctly process encoded queries over encoded data without knowing their values. To preserve integrity, we propose two schemes—one using Hidden Markov Model to generate integrity verification information so that a sink can use this information to verify whether the result of a query contains exactly the data items that satisfy the query. To improve performance, we use an optimization technique using Bloom filters to reduce the communication cost between sensors and storage nodes.


Mobile interactions with public displays are often indirect and not very convenient for multiple users at the same time. In this paper we use the physical, touch-based interaction with Near Field Communication (NFC) to investigate direct mobile interactions with public displays for multiple users. For that purpose, we adopt the Whack-a-Mole game for dynamic NFC-displays, which combine the physical interaction with NFC-tagged objects and the visual output capabilities of public displays. We show that a grid of NFC-tags can be used to implement direct mobile interaction with public displays in general and a highly interactive multiplayer game in particular. Our study shows that users appreciate this physical, NFC-based mobile interaction, although technical advances are still necessary in order to improve its recognition rate of about 70%. The study also indicates that users are willing to interact with large displays in public, but prefer private or semi-public places, where their interactions attract less attention.


Pulmonary blastoma (PB) is an exceedingly rare and aggressive malignant lung neoplasm that has distinct biphasic morphology. In this report, we document rare manifestations and molecular alterations in PB. A 59-year-old non-smoker female, presented with cough and hemoptysis for 4 months. The high-resolution computed tomography chest scan showed a 3.5x2.7 cm mass in the basal segment of the left lung. Positron emission tomography and computed tomography revealed a fluorodeoxyglucose avid lobulated mass in the superior segment of the lower lobe of the left lung. On core biopsy, the diagnosis of pleomorphic carcinoma in a background of adenocarcinoma was made. A definite diagnosis of pulmonary blastoma was established on the left lung lobectomy specimen based on morphological and immunohistochemical findings. Post-surgical biopsy from the scalp swelling showed metastatic deposits. On Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), in addition to conventional CTNNB1 gene mutation, new pathogenic MYCN and ATM gene mutations were detected. Post-chemotherapy, the patient was doing well after 10 months of close follow-up. PB exhibited rare associations in the form of non-smoker status, scalp metastasis, and MYCN and ATM gene mutations on NGS in addition to conventional CTNNB1 gene mutation. Large cohort studies are required to discover the incidence, significance and therapeutic implications of these co-existing pathogenic molecular alterations in PB.


We propose a simple construction of the solution to the conti nuum parabolic Anderson model onR which does not rely on any elaborate arguments and makes exte nsive use of the linearity of the equation. A logarithmic reno rmalisation is required to counterbalance the divergent product appearing in the eq uation. Furthermore, we use time-dependent weights in our spaces of distributions i n order to construct the solution on the unbounded space R.


The ethanolic extract of the dried fruit of Solanum nigrum Linn. (Family: Solanaceae) was assessed for its possible analgesic, antidiarrhoeal, antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activity. Phytochemical screening of the ethanolic extract revealed the presence of carbohydrate, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, steroids, glycosides, and gums. In acetic acid induced writhing in mice, the ethanolic extract (250 and 500mg/kg) exhibited significant (p<0.05 & p<0.01) inhibition of writhing reflex 51.39% and 66.67% respectively compared to standard diclofenac sodium. The fruit extract showed a significant (P<0.01 and P<0.001) antidiarrhoeal activity against castor oil induce diarrhoea in mice in which it decreased the frequency of defecation and increased the mean latent period at the dose of 250mg/kg and 500mg/kg body weight. The ethanolic extract showed moderate antibacterial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. In the qualitative antioxidant assay using DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl) the extract showed free radical scavenging properties. In the brine shrimp lethality test, the extract showed cytotoxicity significantly with LC 50 = 63.10μg/ml and LC 90 = 160μg/ml. All the results tend to justify the traditional uses of the plant and require further investigation to identify the chemicals responsible for these effects. Key words: Solanum nigrum Linn; analgesic activity; antidiarrheal activity; antimicrobial activity; antioxidant activity; cytotoxic activity. DOI: 10.3329/sjps.v3i1.6796 S. J. Pharm. Sci. 3(1): 38-45


Ni powder samples and Ni powder compacts were oxidized at 450, 500 and 550°C up to 40 h in air. The change of oxidation fraction as afunction of time obeyed, for Ni powder samples, the Jander equation withan activation energy of 0.948×105 J/mol. For the Ni powder compactsthe increase of oxidation fraction was similar, at the beginning, to thatfor free powders but gradually diminished, the final fraction being lessthan unity. The Jander's model was modified, for powder compacts, byintroducing the effect of decrease of concentration difference ofdiffusing species in each particle due to packing of oxide between theparticles. This modified model for compacts gave an activationenergy of 1.113×105 J/mol. The activation energy of oxidation of bulk Ni samples are much higher than the present ones for powdersor powdrer compacts, The two possible reasons for the discrepancy werediscussed with regard to the difference of oxidation temperatures and tothe tensile stress formed between Ni particles and oxide shells aroundthe paticles.


We describe in the following pages a subset of the experiments as well as some of the results gathered in the context of our doctoral dissertation, defended in April 2008. The aim of our research was to show both the semantic and pragmatic value of certain types of nonverbal expression. We therefore conducted a study of perceptions of postural, mimetic and gestural (PMG) elements and of prosodic indicators in order to compare perceptions of certain feelings and attitudes in French, on the basis of visually enacted oral discourse, using several advertising films. In this article, after specifying the various theoretical fields used for our study, we will present an experiment concerning the perception of the attitudes of anger, determination, threat, involvement and conviction, enthusiasm, perplexity, command, Questioning and dissatisfaction, as they are expressed from consistent PMG elements conveying the objects of the "Totext" by native speakers of a language (the control group) and non-native informants, FFL learners from American, Chinese and Japanese cultures, in order to determine their ability for making correlations between the visual and auditory dimensions.


Just as the electronics industry can increase productivity with web-based tools, web-based design offers opportunities to improve education in the area of electronics and integrated circuits. This work describes a variety of web based design and analysis projects for a junior level electronics course and assesses their impact on student learning. Since the course using the projects comprises the second quarter of electronics instruction subsequent to introductory circuit analysis courses, the projects focus on relatively well-defined electronics subsystems. The projects exercise students' skills with a range of course learning objectives, ranging from lower level calculation, analysis and circuit simulation objectives to higher level integrative and design objectives. The projects also give students experience using the web as a form of technical communication and collaboration. Our working hypothesis predicts that having students practice analysis within the environment of web based design problems strengthens their analysis abilities more than conventional drill style problem solving. As measured by survey data of student attitudes, students view the projects enthusiastically and believe the projects contribute to their technical understanding. However, as measured by tests requiring problem solving, project results do not always correlate significantly with students' abilities to master the course objectives. Also, great variation exists in the correlation between student performance on traditional problem solving exercises and student ability to master the course objectives. This work summarizes project results and student performance over eight years of course offerings.


In recent years, the constitutional freedom of association has assumed a relatively low profile. Today, the most extended discussions of the right consider it as a second-order countervailing claim in civil rights cases involving questions of identity and the right to exclude. This article provides a brief overview of the right at a time when it was one of the most widely discussed, first-order constitutional rights, and when those discussions centered not on the right to exclude but on the question of "guilt by association." The article provides a sampling of the way that right was considered in the immediate post-World War Two years in the writings of some of the era's most prominent civil libertarian thinkers – Leo Pfeffer, Milton Konvitz, Robert Cushman, Henry Steele Commager, Zechariah Chafee, Jr., and Sidney Hook. These writings demonstrate that doctrinal development concerning the right was driven by its implication in two of the major political issues of the day: domestic security at the height of the Cold War and civil rights. The article concludes by arguing that, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the ongoing fight against terrorism, free association questions are likely to assume renewed prominence. It argues further that, in a contemporary context, those thinking about the most pressing freedom of association questions would profit by looking less to the more recent discussions of the right as a matter of the right to exclude, and more to the highly-relevant discussions of "guilt by association" by the currently less well known mid-century civil libertarians.


Abstract. The automatic classification technology of remote sensing images is the key technology to extract the rich geo-information in remote sensing images and to monitor the dynamic changes of land use and ecological environment. Remote sensing images have the characteristics of large amount of information and many dimensions. Therefore, how to classify and extract the information in remote sensing images has become a crucial issue in the field of remote sensing science. With the development of neural network theory, many scholars have carried out research on the application of neural network models in remote sensing image classification. However, there are still some problems to be solved in artificial neural network methods. In this study, considering the problem of large-scale land classification for medium resolution and multi-spectral remote sensing imagery, an improved machine learning algorithm based on extreme learning machine for remote sensing classification has been developed via regularization theory. The improved algorithm is more suitable for the application of post-classification change monitoring of features in large scale imaging. In this study, our main job is to evaluate the performance of ELM with A-optimal design regularization (here we call it simply as A-optimal RELM). So the accuracy and efficiency of A-optimal RELM algorithm for remote sensing imagery classification, as well as the algorithms of support vector machine (SVM) and original ELM are compared in the experiments. The experimental results show that A-optimal RELM performs the best on all three different images with overall accuracy of 97.27% and 95.03% respectively. Besides, the A-optimal RELM performs better on the details of distinguish similar and confusing terrestrial object pixels.


Prediction of popularity has profound impact for social media, since it offers opportunities to reveal individual preference and public attention from evolutionary social systems. Previous research, although achieves promising results, neglects one distinctive characteristic of social data, i.e., sequentiality. For example, the popularity of online content is generated over time with sequential post streams of social media. To investigate the sequential prediction of popularity, we propose a novel prediction framework called Deep Temporal Context Networks (DTCN) by incorporating both temporal context and temporal attention into account. Our DTCN contains three main components, from embedding, learning to predicting. With a joint embedding network, we obtain a unified deep representation of multi-modal user-post data in a common embedding space. Then, based on the embedded data sequence over time, temporal context learning attempts to recurrently learn two adaptive temporal contexts for sequential popularity. Finally, a novel temporal attention is designed to predict new popularity (the popularity of a new user-post pair) with temporal coherence across multiple time-scales. Experiments on our released image dataset with about 600K Flickr photos demonstrate that DTCN outperforms state-of-the-art deep prediction algorithms, with an average of 21.51% relative performance improvement in the popularity prediction (Spearman Ranking Correlation).


Corporate lobbying activities are designed to influence legislators, regulators and courts, presumably to encourage favorable policies and/or outcomes. In dollar terms, corporate lobbying expenditures are typically one or even two orders of magnitude larger than spending by Political Action Committees (PAC), and, unlike PAC donations, lobbying amounts are direct corporate expenditures. We use data made available by the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to examine this more pervasive form of corporate political activity. We find that, on average, lobbying is positively related to accounting and market measures of financial performance. These results are robust across a number of empirical specifications. We also report market performance evidence using a portfolio approach. We find that portfolios of firms with the highest lobbying intensities significantly outperform their benchmarks in the three years following portfolio formation.


Compression and encryption applications are important components of modern multimedia workloads. These workloads are typically executed on application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application specific processors (ASPs), or general purpose processors (GPPs). GPPs are flexible and allow changes in the applications and algorithms better than ASICs and ASPs. However, executing these applications on GPPs is done at a high cost. In this paper, we analyze media compression and encryption applications from the perspective of executing them on a programmable general purpose processor versus ASPs. We select 12 programs from various types of compression and encryption applications. The instruction mix, data types of memory operations, and memory access workloads during the execution of these programs are analyzed. Most of these applications involve processing the data through execution phases (e.g., quantization, encoding, etc.) and temporary results are stored and retrieved between these phases. A metric called overhead memory-access bandwidth per input and output byte is defined to characterize the temporary storage and retrieval of data during execution. We observe that more than 90 percent of the memory accesses made by these programs are temporary data stores and loads arising from the general purpose nature of the execution platform. We also verify the robustness of the proposed metric on different experimental environments using various input data properties and compiler optimizations.


Eating disorders and low self-esteem among young women is a growing concern in today's society. Due to this growing concern, this subject has been given a lot of attention both in media and through academic research during recent years. One area that has been highly criticized and examined is the idealized ideals often presented in media and advertisement today. These ideals can, according to literature, harm young women due to social comparison with these idealized images. According to previous research, this social comparison can have a negative effect on both self-esteem and body satisfaction. Research also show that continued exposure to such ideals can lead to internalization of thin and beauty ideals, which in turn is proven to be a strong predictor for these images negative affect on self-esteem and body satisfaction. Because of these findings and the critique of these ideals in media, this is an important subject to study both because of the ethical concerns with continuing to reinforce these ideals in advertisement, and from a society's perspective in order to learn who might need extra protection in order to not be harmed by these ideals. Therefore, this study will firstly examine if we can see a negative effect on high school student's self-esteem and body satisfaction, after being exposed to idealized images (in our case thin-models). Our study will also examine, in a second part, if we can see, depending on the lifestyle of the students, if some girls are more vulnerable than others to the exposure of idealized images. The second part of the study will contribute with information of which young women that need extra protection and attention to not develop low self-esteem due to the pressure of living up to the ideals.The method of our study is mostly of a deductive nature since this is an extensively researched topic, where pre-established methods and theories can be found. However, as the second part of the study has not been previous research this part will use a combination of deductive and inductive strategy. To collect the primary data an experimental design is used, with pre-established measurements for self-esteem and body satisfaction. Moreover, statements regarding the participant's lifestyle are constructed with the help of AIOs lifestyle questionnaire as an inspiration. The experiment processes consists of two steps. First, the participants are exposed to two images, either thin-model images, normal sized woman images, or control images (which is images without any persons in it). After the exposure, the participants are asked to answer the questionnaire consisting of the self-esteem measurement, the body satisfaction measurement, and the lifestyle statements. The first part of our study did not show any sign of the thin-model image having any effect on the participant's self-esteem or body satisfaction. However, we found a significant difference between the girls of 15-17 years old and those who were 18-20 years old self-esteem and body satisfaction means. Where the girls 15-17 scored significantly lower in both. Our conclusion of these findings is that there still is a high internalization of unhealthy thin and beauty ideals especially among the younger girls. Therefore, idealized media still is harmful for these girls since they are reinforcing and contributing to these ideals in society. For the second part of the study, we found a significant difference between the Party lifestyle group and the Sport lifestyle group's self-esteem, where the Party Lifestyle group had a significantly lower self-esteem than the Sport lifestyle group. Further, we could also see a connection throw-out all of our results between self-esteem and body satisfaction, where those who scored low in self-esteem most often also scored low in body satisfaction and the other way around. This finding showed us that those with a party lifestyle are more vulnerable to idealized media exposure in that way that they are more likely to internalize unhealthy beauty and thin ideals.


ABSTRACT

Objective:The article has two aims. Firstly, it examined the relationships between leisure time activities and personality variables. Secondly, it was to develop a questionnaire for measuring leisure time activity. A total of 806 adults took part in two studies. As a result of exploratory and confirmatory analyses conducted, a 16-item was developed.

Results: Four subscales were distinguished in it: Socializing with Friends, Using the Internet, Leisure Time Management, and Winding Down. The reliability of the scale is acceptable, varying from .70 to .87 for different samples. There were significant correlations between leisure time and personality variables. The Socializing with Friends scale correlates positively with stimulation seeking, activity, endurance, extraversion, hedonistic present, and self-liking. Using the Internet correlates positively with stimulation seeking, activity, extraversion, hedonistic present, and positive past, and negatively with openness to experience and action-oriented decision-making. Leisure Time Management correlates positively with stimulation seeking, self-discipline, and hedonistic present. The Winding Down subscale correlates positively with self-discipline, future, and positive past.

Conclusions: The outcome of the study is the Leisure Time Activity Questionnaire (the LTAQ). The presented method is a reliable measure with confirmed theoretical validity.


Abstract I present marrow fat (MF) data from a large sample of white-tailed deer fawns killed by wolves and a sample of fawns that died by accident in a single area, and I use these data to explore the extent that poor nutritional condition may have predisposed fawns to wolf predation. Percent MF of 110 5–10-month-old white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns killed by wolves (Canis lupus) from November through April 1984–2002 in northeastern Minnesota, USA, was lower than MF for 23 fawns killed by accidents in the same area and period. The MF of both male and female wolf-killed fawns decreased over winter. The MF of male fawns decreased as a snow-depth index increased, but MF of females showed little relationship to the snow-depth index and was higher than that of males. Poor nutritional condition is one factor that predisposes deer fawns to wolf predation during winter and spring. This information expands our knowledge of wolf–prey relations by documenting that, even with younger prey animals that might be thought vulnerable because of youth alone, poor nutritional condition also is an important factor predisposing them to wolf predation.


We show how a passive image-rotating optical resonator can be used to convert a linearly polarised, lowest-order Gaussian beam into a radially polarized beam. The image and polarization rotation of the cavity removes the frequency degeneracy of the modes, making it possible to select the radially polarized mode by cavity tuning. With the addition of gain, the same cavity should operate as a radially polarized laser when injection seeded at the proper wavelength.


This article argues that deeds do not import consideration into those property transactions which are contractual rather than dispositive. For example, options, changes and purported assignments of future property depend for their efficacy upon equitable principles. Deeds, in equity, do not supply consideration, but operate as dispositive rather than as contractual instruments, a distinction which is often overlooked in analysis.


In this study, we examine the phenomenon of the decline in valuation of dot-com organizations and propose that dot-com organizations that have continuously altered their business model in response to the environment have been rewarded by superior valuations in the market place. We first present the dominant perspectives in organizational adaptation research, and discuss their relevance to the current study. Using the concept of business models, we investigate the strategic adaptation paths of 22 dot-com organizations in the period from 1998 through 2001 and correlate them against the performance of their share prices over the same period.


Abstract Against a range of injustices African women have made powerful challenges to structural, gender and repressive violence through their interventions in questions of justice, dialogue, creativity and transformation. This article addresses an activist's interventions against colonial oppression by examining gender as the central variable in the relationship between justice and activism in African women's creative literature. The poem 'For my Torturer, Lieutenant D ...' was written in prison by the Algerian activist Leila Djabal who navigated the silences and challenges of gender, age and national identity (postcolonial). It challenges the violence of colonial and patriarchal silencing to expose torture and rape by a prison official." Emerging from an abject position in a colonial jail the poet drew on the representational and allusive properties of poetry to heal and transform the role of victim so as to expose gross human rights abuses and hold colonial officials, the colonial state, and French culture to account. Predicated upon the recognition of very diverse audiences, the visionary poem invokes and explores emerging transitional justice and peace-making processes, decades before their formal appearance. It also demonstrates the value of creative communication strategies under conditions of extreme oppression and division. Using a Critical Theory lens with intersectional analysis, Djabali's text may be read as innovatively connecting individual testimony to the nascent national processes of transitional justice and peace-making. The work of Audre Lorde is used to interpret this bold and resourceful experiment in the generation of justice and transformation through literary art. Keywords: African women's literature; anti-colonial resistance and transformation; gender and literary activism; transitional justice and peace-making; Critical Theory; intersectional analysis Introduction "... of course I am afraid, because the transformation of silence into language and action is an act of self-revelation, and that always seems fraught with danger.... fear of contempt, of censure, or some judgment, or recognition, of challenge, of annihilation (Lorde, 1984, p. 42)." Colonialism was accompanied by diverse structural, coercive and cultural forms of oppression, which has meant that most people in the world, and particularly African women, have experienced many forms of tyranny, including racism, sexism and underdevelopment. Despite all the injustices African women have played vital though largely unrecognized roles in various struggles, often addressing their own oppression and marginalization at the same time. Their refusal to accept oppression is apparent in their powerful responses to the challenges of political and gender transformation. Despite operating in crisis situations, often with very few resources, a number of women acted with powerful sense of their priorities and agendas to create new roles for women, citizens and leaders, and negating stereotypes of being passive, submissive or muted. Drawing on gender as a central variable in the relationship between activism and creativity in African women's literature, the article examines how Leila Djabali's short poem records experiences of torture and rape, exposes a torturer's criminal practices, and challenges the oppression of the colonial regime. The poem also alerts fellow activists about what to expect in prison, about their options for challenging oppression; and alerts support groups in Algeria, France and other colonized and colonial countries. It also tries to educate torturers, colonial officials and settler colonial women about the real consequences of colonial oppression for themselves, their families, and the lives of their children. Demonstrating a range of engaged and transformative responses the poem also offers some surprising solutions to the stalemate of ongoing conflict. In these ways the article addresses the centrality of gender to the political transformation of a society experiencing colonial oppression. …


Advances in genetic testing have led to the identification of increasing numbers of novel gene mutations that underlie infantile-onset epileptic encephalopathies. Recently, a mutagenesis screen identified a novel gene, SZT2, with no known protein function that has been linked to epileptogenesis in mice. Thus far, two clinical reports have identified children with different recessive mutations in SZT2 and varying clinical phenotypes. One case report described patients with epileptic encephalopathy and the other noted patients with cognitive deficiencies, but normal MRI and no epilepsy. This case report identifies novel mutations (a compound heterozygous frameshift and a nonsense variant) in the SZT2 gene with distinct clinical and radiographic findings relative to those previously reported. Our patient presented with intractable epilepsy at 2 months of age. Seizures were refractory to numerous antiepileptic medications and the patient finally achieved seizure cessation at age 3 years with a combination of divalproex and lamotrigine. Our patient had similar facial dysmorphisms (macrocephaly, high forehead, and down-slanted palpebral fissures) to a previous case with truncating mutation. While developmental delay and cognitive deficiencies were present, our case had unique MRI findings suggesting migrational abnormalities not previously reported in other cases.


The current study was carried out to elucidate the effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Cichorium endivia L. leaves (HCE) against acetaminophen-induced oxidative stress and hepatotoxicity in male rats. Oral administration of acetaminophen produced liver damage in rats as manifested by the significant increase in liver MDA and serum total lipids, total cholesterol, creatinine, total bilirubin and enzyme activities (AST, ALT and ALP). While a significant decrease in the levels of liver GSH, GST, SOD, CAT, serum total protein and albumin was recorded. Pre-treatment of rats with C.endivia leaves extract or silymarin for 21 days succeeded to modulate these observed abnormalities resulting from acetaminophen as indicated by the pronounced improvement of the investigated biochemical and antioxidant parameters. These results substantiate the potential hepatoprotective and antioxidant activity of C.endivia leaves extract. In addition, the hepatoprotective activity of HCE was found to be compatible with silymarin as a known hepatoprotective drug.


In 2006, amidst shareholder upset over CEO Robert Nardelli's compensation and Home Depot's declining stock price, Relational Investors decided to further investigate the situation. As experts in turning around underperforming and undervalued companies, Relational's principals saw opportunities for Home Depot to improve its stock price through changes in strategy, corporate governance and capital allocation. In particular, Relational felt Nardelli's growth plan for the company had caused the decline in the stock price. Relational decided to invest in Home Depot and intended to initiate a proxy fight if the board did not reassess the company's strategy. Shortly thereafter, Nardelli left Home Depot and the board offered Relational a board seat. This case describes Relational's analysis of the problems at Home Depot, why they decided to invest, and how they went about getting their recommendations implemented.


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This highly anticipated update of the acclaimed textbook draws on the latest research to give students the knowledge and tools to explore the mechanisms by which bacterial pathogens cause infections in humans and animals. Written in an approachable and engaging style, the book uses illustrative examples and thought-provoking exercises to inspire students with the potential excitement and fun of scientific discovery. Completely revised and updated, and for the first time in stunning full-color, Bacterial Pathogenesis: A Molecular Approach, Fourth Edition, builds on the core principles and foundations of its predecessors while expanding into new concepts, key findings, and cutting-edge research, including new developments in the areas of the microbiome and CRISPR as well as the growing challenges of antimicrobial resistance. All-new detailed illustrations help students clearly understand important concepts and mechanisms of the complex interplay between bacterial pathogens and their hosts. Study questions at the end of each chapter challenge students to delve more deeply into the topics covered, and hone their skills in reading, interpreting, and analyzing data, as well as devising their own experiments. A detailed glossary defines and expands on key terms highlighted throughout the book. Written for advanced undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in microbiology, bacteriology, and pathogenesis, this text is a must-have for anyone looking for a greater understanding of virulence mechanisms across the breadth of bacterial pathogens.
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Abstract 1 This article analyses current trends in the struggle for democracy in Africa, including the role of social movements. Such movements found early expression in the anti-colonial movement, while recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt are reminiscent of the second liberation struggles of two decades earlier. The article undertakes a critical evaluation of emerging democratic forces in Africa, arguing that such a review is vital to the analysis of the trends in the struggles for people power, and explores strategies for avoiding the pitfalls that undermined earlier waves of democratisation in the continent, particularly that of the 1990s when initial euphoria led to uncritical acceptance of movements that were later found to be opportunistic and undemocratic. The article concludes by examining the conditions under which an 'emanicipatory' African national democratic project—defined by an increase in people's participation in authoritative resource allocation—can be initiated and sustained in the face of a deepening crisis of the current neoliberal world order.


The Declaration on Human Rights and Climate Change responds to the profound crisis of human hierarchies now characterising the climate crisis. The Declaration, initiated prior to the 2015 COP21 meeting by scholars from the Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment (GNHRE), is one of a convergence of initiatives reflecting the need to understand human rights as intrinsically threatened by climate change. This article introduces the Declaration, the necessity for it, its philosophical and legal background and its support by contemporary cases providing evidence of the escalating legal need for such a tool. A key aim of the Declaration is to trace out a potential normative approach for establishing responsibility towards the planet and redressing unevenly distributed vulnerabilities and climate injustices while recognising that it is vital that respect for human rights should be understood as an indispensable element of any adequate approach to climate change. The Declaration strives to offer a compelling level of ethical appeal, as well as to be legally literate and philosophically rigorous. The drafting process engaged scholars and communities from across the world, prioritised indigenous involvement, and drew on indigenous ontologies and epistemologies. Newer philosophical approaches such as New Materialist understandings of lively materiality also informed the drafting process. Accordingly, the language of the Declaration creates space for non-Western ways of seeing and being as well as responding to insights emerging from new scientific understandings of the world.


Renewable-electricity support schemes are applied in almost 100 countries. Using EU as an example, we show that these support schemes can be divided in three categories: a fixed price replacing the electricity price (e.g., feed-in tariffs), a fixed subsidy on top of the stochastic electricity price (e.g., feed-in premium) or a combination of two stochastic prices (e.g., tradable green certificates). A more market-oriented scheme will result in a better working power market. Using a real options approach we show that: 1) risk difference between feed-in tariffs on one side and feed-in premium and tradable green certificates on the other is not so big, 2) an expected transition to a more market oriented scheme can result in smooth changes in investment rates in contrast to an unexpected transition, and 3) this will be the case even though the revision affects old and new installations alike.


A cross-sectional study with a sample of 420 drug users from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, was utilized to assess demographic variables, drug use, and risk behaviors for HIV infection. We used the Brazilian version of the Risk Assessment Battery. Overall HIV seropositivity was 22.6%; 39.3% of the subjects infected were at least 30 years old, and 69.5% were males. In the month prior to the interview, 56.8% of the sample had used marijuana, 43.6% had sniffed cocaine, 17.6% had injected cocaine, and 42.4% had used alcohol on a frequent basis. The variables that continued to be associated with HIV infection after logistic regression were age (30 or older) (OR: 2.89; 95%CI: 1.17-7.12), having less than seven years of schooling (OR: 2.10; 95%CI: 1.02-4.36), having a monthly family income of less than one minimum wage, or approximately U$90 (OR: 2.89; 95%CI: 1.32-6.32), and having injected drugs (OR: 5.18; 95%CI: 1.32-6.32). Seroprevalence in this sample is considered high, particularly since 70.0% of the sample reported no prior drug injection. Variables associated with HIV infection are similar to the national and international literature and agree with the theoretical model of risk behavior proposed by the first author.


Studies of the press as a modernizing agent in the first two decades of the twentieth century usually look at the mass media of the city dailies. I argue that the country edition of an Ottawa daily, the rural Journal, equally was a modernizing agent. It involved itself in the definition of expert knowledge at the agricultural fair, in demonstrating professional road-building to rural residents, and in mobilizing producers against the middlemen and "poor business practices" of the global cheese market. These stories give insight into how a city-run newspaper dressed itself in rural clothing while presenting a model of modernity.
In 1899 the newspaper was renamed from the Ottawa Semi-Weekly Journal to the Ottawa Valley Journal as a statement that it was a newspaper for rural residents. In 1917, it became the Ottawa Farm Journal with the intent of being a regional farm paper. But what made the rural Journal special was activism in the style of the 1890s urban New Journalism. The first two editors made news and not just reported it, but with differing approaches. Herbert Cowan was a city man who relied on the authority of experts for his initiatives. Robert Faith was a farm boy come to the city who saw himself as the voice of the farmer, following his own conscience on what was right.
The determination to be modern on their own terms led many of the readers to resist a hegemonic definition of modern based on technology and increased managerial government. They were interested in Cowan's spectacles of modernity but did not alter their behaviour. They responded to Faith's calls for mass protests as these expressed their ambivalence to "progress" and yet his "agitations" did not change rural conditions. Nonetheless, the rural Journal campaigns told readers that farm issues were important and affirmed readers' aspiration to be modern as well as their unease over the resulting sense of disruption. In doing so, the newspaper helped keep alive a radical spirit in the countryside but it was a spirit which did not challenge the capitalist structures in which producers were enmeshed.


Phenomena of the ski and snow boards vibrations generated in gliding are known for years. In the cross country and jumping skis such vibrations are not very obvious but can play quite positive role reducing the effective gliding friction. The research into the nature of friction-induced vibrations and the factors influencing their frequencies and magnitudes is driven by the desire to control them for improving ski gliding performance. Significant amount of experimental data acquired in the field and laboratory studies is already available making it possible to formulate certain qualitative conclusions. But so far it did not bring comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon and specifically of the mechanisms controlling such vibrations. Modeling is one of the potent tools allowing to deeper understand experimentally studied phenomena and it can provide much stronger quantitative prediction capacity. Present paper discusses possible approaches to modeling of the phenomenon and first results of constructing simplified models. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Centre for Sports Engineering Research, Sheffield Hallam University.