Background Sarcolipin (SLN), myoregulin (MRLN), and dwarf open reading frame (DWORF) are transmembrane regulators of the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium transporting ATPase (SERCA) that we hypothesized played a role in recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis (RER). Objectives Compare coding sequences of SLN, MRLN, DWORF across species and between RER and control horses. Compare expression of muscle Ca2+ regulatory genes between RER and control horses. Animals Twenty Thoroughbreds (TB), 5 Standardbreds (STD), 6 Quarter Horses (QH) with RER and 39 breed‐matched controls. Methods Sanger sequencing of SERCA regulatory genes with comparison of amino acid (AA) sequences among control, RER horses, human, mouse, and rabbit reference genomes. In RER and control gluteal muscle, quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction of SERCA regulatory peptides, the calcium release channel (RYR1), and its accessory proteins calsequestrin (CASQ1), and calstabin (FKBP1A). Results The SLN gene was the highest expressed horse SERCA regulatory gene with a uniquely truncated AA sequence (29 versus 31) versus other species. Coding sequences of SLN, MRLN, and DWORF were identical in RER and control horses. A sex‐by‐phenotype effect occurred with lower CASQ1 expression in RER males versus control males (P < .001) and RER females (P = .05) and higher FKBP1A (P = .01) expression in RER males versus control males. Conclusions and Clinical Importance The SLN gene encodes a uniquely truncated peptide in the horse versus other species. Variants in the coding sequence of SLN, MLRN, or DWORF were not associated with RER. Males with RER have differential gene expression that could reflect adaptations to stabilize RYR1.


The genus Rosa L. (Rosaceae) is an important ornamental crop with a high economic value in floriculture, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. Turkey is an important country in rose cultivation with unique species and cultivars, especially for rose oil production. Breeding programs of different rose genotypes are crucial for the development of new commercial varieties. In this study, genetic relationships among the old rose cultivars locally grown in Isparta were assessed by DNA fingerprinting. Inter-simple sequence repeats markers (ISSRs) were used to investigate the genetic diversity among nineteen locally grown rose genotypes. Nineteen ISSR primers yielded a total of 413 scorable amplified fragments. Nei?s genetic identity values ranged from 0.545 to 0.951. Nei?s genetic distance was used to construct a dendrogram using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) cluster analysis. The dendrogram grouped the nineteen rose genotypes into four distinct clusters, and the principal coordinate analysis revealed similar genetic groups. The results confirmed the usefulness of ISSR markers to assess the genetic diversity among the selected old rose genotypes for genetic conservation and plant improvement.


A tephra layer originating from the mid-second millennium BC (3300 14C yr BP) 'Minoan' eruption of Santorini (or Thera) in the Aegean has been found in lake sediments at G6lhisar in southwest Turkey. Microstratigraphic analyses of tephra shard concentration (TSC), pollen, diatoms, sponge spicules and nonsiliceous microfossils in sediments from Gtlhisar permit the impact of this major volcanic eruption on terrestrial and aquatic biota to be investigated quantitatively. Partial redundancy analysis and associated Monte Carlo permutation tests suggest that TSC alone cannot be shown to have had a demonstrable independent and statistically significant effect on terrestrial pollen, non-siliceous microfossil or diatom assemblages. The lack of any clear, discernible change in the terrestrial pollen composition following tephra deposition suggests that there was minimal impact on regional vegetation over decadal-to-century timescales. However, evidence that the deposition of Santorini tephra may have had an impact on the lake system comes from the combined effect of lithology and TSC (which significantly covary) that explains a significant amount of variance in the aquatic data sets. In particular, diatoms and non-siliceous algae show increases in concentration following tephra deposition, exhibiting what appear to be decadal response times to perturbation. These imply enhanced lake productivity due to accelerated input of silica and other nutrients following tephra dissolution.


John Locke understood human happiness to amount to the removal of "uneasiness." This paper argues that,to the extent that the United States is a nation dedicated to "the pursuit of happiness" understood as the removal of "uneasiness," same-sex unions or marriages should be given legal recognition. While Locke defended a variation on traditional marriage on the grounds of progenitiveness and care for dependent offspring, his more foundational commitment to the importance of the removal of uneasiness precludes, on pain of inconsistency, limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. This paper argues, furthermore, that conservatives and neo-conservatives who celebrate this nation's being "the first creedal nation" in history are, when they come to oppose same-sex marriage, hoist of their own creedal petard; "the pursuit of happiness" leads, for some people, to same-sex union. Locke followed his own logic to a defense of polygamy, and the same logic leads to same-sex unions. The paper concludes that truly principled opposition to same-sex marriage requires the embrace of politics rooted in man's summum bonum, the very project modernity has been out to eradicate. The Catholic Church would be a help to the state in leading man to achieve his summum bonum, but Locke's tolerance does not extend to the liberty of the Church (libertas Ecclesiae), nor, not accidentally, does the U.S. Constitution recognize the liberty of the Church per se. This paper originated as an invited contribution to a symposium on "Whether Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage is Constitutionally Required," held at BYU's J. Reuben Clark School of Law in November, 2012. The Lockean logic of Justice Kennedy's majority opinion in United States v. Windsor is unmistakable (if unnamed), even if the Court stopped slightly short of taking that logic for all that it is worth. Given Justice Kennedy's Lockean principles, there is no principled basis for not announcing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, as Justice Scalia recognized in dissent.


Abstract. Trajectory statistical methods that combine in situ measurements of trace gas or particle concentrations and back trajectories calculated for corresponding times have proven to be a valuable approach in atmospheric research; especially in investigating air pollution episodes, but also in e.g. tracing the air mass history related to high vs. low concentrations of aerosol particles of different sizes at the receptor site. A concentration field method was fine-tuned to take the presumable horizontal error in calculated trajectories into account, tested with SO 2 and validated by comparison against EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) emission data. In this work we apply the improved method for characterizing the transport of atmospheric SO 2 , NO x , O 3 and aerosol particles of different size modes to a Finnish measurement station located in Hyytiala (61°51' N, 24°17' E). Our method did not reproduce the EMEP emission soures, but proved useful for qualitative analysis on where the measured compounds come from, from one measurement station point of view. We applied it to study trends and seasonal variation in atmospheric pollutant transport during 13 yr at the SMEAR II (Station for Measuring Ecosystem-Atmosphere Interactions) station.


Title of dissertation: PERSISTENCE AND SURVIVAL ASPECTS OF FLUCTUATION PHENOMENA IN SURFACES Magdalena Constantin, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation directed by: Professor Sankar Das Sarma Department of Physics Controlling the stability of nanostructures is an important fundamental issue in nanoscience. A key problem in this respect is the random stochastic interface dynamics associated with equilibrium nanometer scale thermal fluctuations, which can be understood by applying first–passage statistical concepts, such as the temporal persistence [survival] probability P (t) [S(t)]. P (t) [S(t)] measures the probability of the step height not returning to the original [average] value within a given time interval. In this study, we measure the persistence exponent θ associated with the power–law decay of P (t) at large time scale and also the survival time scale, τs, describing the exponential decay of S(t) for several nonequilibrium surface growth processes and fluctuating steps on solid surfaces. We show that for growth models in the Molecular Beam Epitaxy universality class, the nonlinearity of the underlying equation is clearly reflected in the difference between the measured values of the positive and negative persistence exponents. We also find that the survival time scale provides useful information about the physical mechanism underlying step fluctuations. An exact relation between long-time behaviors of the survival probability and the autocorrelation function is established and numerically verified. The dependencies of the persistence and survival probabilities on the system size and the sampling time are shown to be described by simple scaling forms. We introduce the generalizations of the persistence and survival probabilities for surface fluctuations. Our measurements of the persistent large deviations probability and associated family of exponents show good agreement with the corresponding quantities measured experimentally using scanning tunneling microscopy dynamical images of step fluctuations. The spatial persistence and survival probabilities are also theoretically analyzed. Finally, we investigate the connection between the generalizations of the spatial and temporal persistence probabilities. PERSISTENCE AND SURVIVAL ASPECTS OF FLUCTUATION PHENOMENA IN SURFACES


Quantifying human impacts on the natural environment requires credible reconstructions of reference conditions. Anthropogenic acidification of surface waters is strongly influenced by total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations. Because both the degree of acidification and recovery are dependent on historical TOC concentrations, simple models to estimate changes in surface water TOC between reference conditions (1860) and the present day (2012) are needed. We used visible near infrared spectroscopy (VNIRS) of lake sediments to reconstruct reference condition TOC and long-term monitoring data to predict recent changes. Two empirical models were developed to predict: (i) historical TOC trends between reference conditions (1860) and peak acidification (1980) and (ii) trends in TOC between 1988 and 2012. The models were statistically robust with adj. R(2) of (i) 0.85 and (ii) 0.71, respectively. Models were driven by lake and catchment area, wetlands, historical sulfur deposition and water chemistry. Present day TOC concentrations are similar to VNIRS-reconstructed and modeled reference condition TOC in Swedish lakes. The results are valuable for understanding drivers of TOC changes in lakes and for more credible assessments of reference conditions needed for water management in Europe and elsewhere.


The effects caused by nonresonant nonlinear interaction between noncollinear self-focusing beams are considered in two-dimensional optical samples by use of multiscale analysis. An analytical expression for beam trajectory shifts that are due to mutual interaction is derived, and the range of parameters is given, beyond which the mentioned consideration fails. We compare our results with the naive geometrical-optics model. It is shown that these two approaches give the same results. This justifies use of the geometrical-optics approach to describe elastic and almost-elastic collision processes both in Kerr and saturable nonlinear media. The results we obtained could be useful for the design of phase independent nonlinear photonic switches and all-optical logic elements.


The purpose of the present study was to examine high school adolescent pupils' self-regulatory strategies in relation to psychological well-being and subjective well-being (i.e., temporal life satisfaction and affect) using the affective profiles model as the backdrop for the analysis. Participants were categorized into Self-fulfilling (high positive, low negative), High affective (high positive, high negative), Low affective (low positive, low negative) and Self-destructive (low positive, high negative) profiles according to their responses on the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule. The participants also self-reported self-regulation ("assessment" and "locomotion"), temporal life satisfaction (past, present and future) and psychological well-being (e.g. Self-acceptance, environmental mastery, personal growth). Self-fulfilling adolescents, in contrast to Self-destructive adolescents, expressed high levels of temporal life satisfaction and psychological well-being. The self-regulatory "locomotion" dimension was associated to high positive affect profiles, higher life satisfaction and psychological well-being whereas the self-regulatory "assessment" dimension was associated with high negative affect profiles, lesser life satisfaction and psychological well-being. Taken together, the well-being outcomes linked to the "locomotion" dimension seem to contribute to an upward 'spiral of empowerment', reinforcing approaching or agentic behavior; while the outcome linked to the "assessment" dimension appear to consist of a downward 'spiral of disempowerment' or inaction.


Along with classical interferometers based on the principle of amplitude division of the light wave and creation of working and reference wave fronts, there are also interferometers, known as shearing interferometers, that are based on the principle of shearing the amplitude-split working wave front. They require no reference optical elements and are insensitive to vibrations. The main disadvantage of traditional shearing interferometers is the lack of obviousness and the comparative difficulty of interpreting the interference pattern in order to quantitatively evaluate the errors of the system being investigated. This paper is devoted to a solution of the indicated problem and opens up the path of computerized automatic interpretation of interferograms. This substantially simplifies the interpretation operations, makes them more efficient and obvious, and makes it possible to determine the quantitative characteristics of the errors and the quality of the system being investigated. This creates the conditions for using shearing interferometers in wide practice.


Wireless sensor networks are prone to node misbehavior arising from tampering by an adversary (Byzantine attack), or due to other factors such as node failure resulting from hardware or software degradation. In this paper, we consider the problem of decentralized detection in wireless sensor networks in the presence of one or more classes of misbehaving nodes. Binary hypothesis testing is considered where the honest nodes transmit their binary decisions to the fusion center (FC), while the misbehaving nodes transmit fictitious messages. The goal of the FC is to identify the misbehaving nodes and to detect the state of nature. We identify each class of nodes with an operating point (false alarm and detection probabilities) on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Maximum likelihood estimation of the nodes' operating points is then formulated and solved using the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm with the nodes' identities as latent variables. The solution from the EM algorithm is then used to classify the nodes and to solve the decentralized hypothesis testing problem. Numerical results compared with those from the reputation-based schemes show a significant improvement in both classification of the nodes and hypothesis testing results. We also discuss an inherent ambiguity in the node classification problem which can be resolved if the honest nodes are in majority.


This paper proposes a difference-in-differences strategy to decompose the contributions of various types of discrimination to the black-white wage differential. The proposed estimation strategy is implemented using data from the Young Physicians Survey. The results suggest that potential discrimination plays a small role in the racial wage gap among physicians. At most, discrimination lowers the hourly wages of black physicians by 3.3 percent. Decomposition shows that consumer discrimination accounts for all of the potential discrimination in the physician market, and that the effect of firm discrimination may actually favor black physicians. Interpretations of the estimates, however, are complicated by the possibility that, relative to white physicians, black physicians negatively self-select into self-employment.


Abstract. The Basic Education teachers in Brazil face difficulties inherent in working with the geographical categories: Landscape, territory, region and place. These difficulties are related to the training of teachers who do not understand these categories and the lack of appropriate didactic material. The absence of local thematic maps prevents the understanding of the place as a living space and as a correlation of stories in the different scenarios of the city "The study of the place as a proposal for the continuing education of teachers of Basic Education from the School Atlas" is a project that allows teachers and students of the DF to approach these categories. The project is divided into two stages. The first stage was the preparation of the Geographic, Historical and Cultural School Atlas of the Federal District (AEGHC DF), completed in 2018. The second stage will be the training course for Basic Education teachers with exercises that involve the place category as a daily space that allows the construction of identities. The purpose of this article is to investigate the use of the AEGHC DF as an important mediator in the construction of spatial categories such as place and landscape in Geography classes. The Atlas is presented as a teaching methodology and strategy in the development of cartographic skills in the development of spatial reasoning. The AEGHC DF invites students and teachers to know more about maps, visualizing spaces, creating narratives and getting to know the place where they live.


Sharing Knowledge is considered an important part of managing new product development (NPD) research on the process of NPD and Knowledge Management methods have influenced industry in various ways. For example the management of the NPD process, the use of tools, techniques and the organisation of teams, and the integration of the marketing and manufacturing have resulted in considerable progress within NPD process. Prior studies on the NPD problems have delivered various models of the NPD process and a variety of supporting methods, tools and techniques in a generic context. A more realistic scenario however, is to consider the needs of firms that develop products on a Make-to-Order (MTO) or Engineer-to-Order (ETO) basis.The research methodology adopted was based on extracting a preliminary ETO model supported by variety of Knowledge Management methods, tools and techniques from the review of literature. To examine the applicability of these models and methods and also the influential factors on the NPD process a survey by questionnaire and structured interviews in UK industrial companies was carried out. Findings were bound together to provide a generic model of the ETO process and a framework for the knowledge sharing on the specific needs of ETO manufacturing companies. IDEFO technique was used to develop the preliminary and the generic models.The objective of this research is to construct a structured and practical framework for supporting the opportunity for knowledge sharing within one-off projects. The knowledge sharing framework referred to as 'Sharing-ETO-Knowledge' (SETOK) was translated into a computer program using the "MS Visio' enterprise modelling systems. It was examined by applying the system program to the data of the two cases that had been obtained at the case study stage. The framework has been fruitful in the provision of a guideline for the implementation of the knowledge sharing in various NPD-ETO projects.The SETOK framework may be viewed as a practical, robust generic tool to assess the process performance of ETO manufacturing projects. The outcome of this study would help ETO manufacturing companies in their knowledge sharing and decision making processes with regards to NPD-ETO manufacturing projects.


Here we present an in-depth study of the behaviour of the Fast Folding Algorithm, an alternative pulsar searching technique to the Fast Fourier Transform. Weaknesses in the Fast Fourier Transform, including a susceptibility to red noise, leave it insensitive to pulsars with long rotational periods (P > 1 s). This sensitivity gap has the potential to bias our understanding of the period distribution of the pulsar population. The Fast Folding Algorithm, a time-domain based pulsar searching technique, has the potential to overcome some of these biases. Modern distributed-computing frameworks now allow for the application of this algorithm to all-sky blind pulsar surveys for the first time. However, many aspects of the behaviour of this search technique remain poorly understood, including its responsiveness to variations in pulse shape and the presence of red noise. Using a custom CPU-based implementation of the Fast Folding Algorithm, ffancy, we have conducted an in-depth study into the behaviour of the Fast Folding Algorithm in both an ideal, white noise regime as well as a trial on observational data from the HTRU-S Low Latitude pulsar survey, including a comparison to the behaviour of the Fast Fourier Transform. We are able to both confirm and expand upon earlier studies that demonstrate the ability of the Fast Folding Algorithm to outperform the Fast Fourier Transform under ideal white noise conditions, and demonstrate a significant improvement in sensitivity to long-period pulsars in real observational data through the use of the Fast Folding Algorithm.


Mutation testing assesses test suite efficacy by inserting small faults into programs and measuring the ability of the test suite to detect them. It is widely considered the strongest test criterion in terms of finding the most faults and it subsumes a number of other coverage criteria. Traditional mutation analysis is computationally prohibitive which hinders its adoption as an industry standard. In order to alleviate the computational issues, we present a diff-based probabilistic approach to mutation analysis that drastically reduces the number of mutants by omitting lines of code without statement coverage and lines that are determined to be uninteresting - we dub these arid lines. Furthermore, by reducing the number of mutants and carefully selecting only the most interesting ones we make it easier for humans to understand and evaluate the result of mutation analysis. We propose a heuristic for judging whether a node is arid or not, conditioned on the programming language. We focus on a code-review based approach and consider the effects of surfacing mutation results on developer attention. The described system is used by 6,000 engineers in Google on all code changes they author or review, affecting in total more than 13,000 code authors as part of the mandatory code review process. The system processes about 30% of all diffs across Google that have statement coverage calculated. About 15% of coverage statement calculations fail across Google.


At this point in Hemingway studies, it is well understood that in "Big Two-Hearted River" Nick Adams seeks a return to simplicity after his harrowing experience in World War I and that Hemingway's prose replicates the veteran's internal quest for manageable simplicity. At story's end, Nick avoids the physical swamp at the edge of the stream, and by doing so keeps at bay the metaphorical swamp of his own psyche. But as we enter the eighty-fifth year of "Big Two-Hearted River" exegesis--a practice begun by Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Hemingway himself--a crucial question remains unasked: Is Nick's strategy--to return to the Michigan woods of his youth, by himself, systematically replacing the thoughts of the trauma of the war with immediate stimulation from nature and camping--benign and productive or self-defeating and doomed from the start? Just as with former New York Giants football star Lawrence Taylor's notoriously dubious scheme of battling withdrawal from drug addiction by playing innumerable hours of golf, a program of self-treatment he asserts "literally saved his life" (Newport 3), Nick's strategy of rehabilitation depends upon focused self-distraction--to consider a more agreeable topic instead of confronting the source of his unpleasant memories. "Big Two-Hearted River" is a drama of metacognition; in his solitude, Nick's thoughts are occupied by his own thoughts. Therefore, the condition of Nick's consciousness becomes the narrative's primary concern. In ways unsurpassed in all of Hemingway, the text presents extended external metaphors to illuminate psychological corollaries. Mental control, a slippery concept in the philosophy of mind, describes when people "suppress a thought, concentrate on a sensation, inhibit an emotion, maintain a mood, stir up a desire, squelch a craving, or otherwise exert influence on their own mental states" (Wegner and Pennebaker 1). Inherent in this definition is an implicit anxiety with the way a person feels, has felt, or soon might feel. If a person knew he would remain permanently and unalterably content, he would not exert energy trying to maintain positive feelings or alter negative ones. Likewise, in the unconscious thought avoidance that Freud analyzed, he found that "the motive and purpose of repression was nothing else than the avoidance of unpleasure" (153). Therefore, in their endeavors to control their mental states, Hemingway's heroes possess a level of introspection and self-awareness not always granted them. "Big Two-Hearted River" demonstrates the subtlety and complexity with which Hemingway understood mental control in that Nick wishes to adjust his cognitive activity as neatly as one might manipulate sound levels on the equalizer of a stereo. In his metacognitive drama, Nick is forced to ask: Am I satisfied with my thoughts? Are they pleasant? Are they productive? If so, how I can I sustain them? Or, are they painful and harmful? If so, how might I eliminate them? Once Nick disembarks the train in Seney, he is not just able to access the actual stream that is full of trout, but he can also better monitor the internal stream of his thoughts. Beside the helpful baggage man, who is referred to but unseen, and his old friend Hopkins, who appears only in the story's single extended reminiscence, Nick is alone. The only other characters spring from nature, and Nick relates to each one differently: grasshoppers, trout, a mosquito, a mink, a kingfisher. These creatures elicit telling reactions from Nick, but he has made the crucial decision to fish and camp alone. In an early draft of the story, which more closely adheres to its autobiographical inspiration, Nick is accompanied by a group of friends. By changing the narrative to one man's solo journey, Hemingway allows Nick to focus more meticulously upon his stated objective: escaping "the need for thinking, the need to write, other needs" (Short Stories 210). Nick's quest to control his surroundings and his preference for solitude is clear: "Nick did not like to fish with other men on the river. …


The predictability of weather and climate forecasts is determined by the projection of uncertainties in both initial conditions and model formulation onto flow-dependent instabilities of the chaotic climate attractor. Since it is essential to be able to estimate the impact of such uncertainties on forecast accuracy, no weather or climate prediction can be considered complete without a forecast of the associated flow-dependent predictability. The problem of predicting uncertainty can be posed in terms of the Liouville equation for the growth of initial uncertainty, or a form of Fokker-Planck equation if model uncertainties are also taken into account. However, in practice, the problem is approached using ensembles of integrations of comprehensive weather and climate prediction models, with explicit perturbations to both initial conditions and model formulation; the resulting ensemble of forecasts can be interpreted as a probabilistic prediction. Many of the difficulties in forecasting predictability arise from the large dimensionality of the climate system, and special techniques to generate ensemble perturbations have been developed. Special emphasis is placed on the use of singular-vector methods to determine the linearly-unstable component of the initial probability density function. Methods to sample uncertainties in model formulation are also described. Practical ensemble prediction systems for prediction on timescales of days (weather forecasts), seasons (including predictions of El Niño) and decades (including climate change projections) are described, and examples of resulting probabilistic forecast products shown. Methods to evaluate the skill of these probabilistic forecasts are outlined. By using ensemble forecasts as input to a simple decision-model analysis, it is shown that probability forecasts of weather and climate have greater potential economic value than corresponding single deterministic forecasts with uncertain accuracy.


BACKGROUND Central nervous system (CNS) mature teratoma is a rare disease with symptoms that can vary according to tumor location. Most lesions are benign; rarely, malignancy can develop in any of the somatic components. Elevated levels of tumor markers such as α-fetoprotein and β-human chorionic gonadotropin are not usually found in patients with CNS mature teratoma, and no reports have described an association with carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9). OBSERVATIONS A 64-year-old woman with headache was found to have a mass lesion in the anterior cranial fossa. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain suggested a mature teratoma. Serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tests showed significant CA19-9 elevations (2,770 U/mL and 4,387 U/mL, respectively). Other examinations, including whole-body 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, did not detect the origin of elevated CA19-9, suggesting that the high CA19-9 levels were caused by intracranial tumor. The patient underwent tumor removal. The histopathological diagnosis was mature teratoma with positive CA19-9 staining. CA19-9 levels in serum and CSF decreased significantly after tumor removal. LESSONS The histopathological findings and postoperative decreased CA19-9 levels established the diagnosis of CA19-9–producing CNS mature teratoma. CNS mature teratoma can cause elevations in CA19-9 in cases with absence of neoplasms in the trunk.


This paper presents a critical review of several applications of drama-related methods to design, discussing their benefits and limitations and providing comment on practical aspects of their implementation. Drama-related methods can shed light on the contexts in which a new product will be used, helping to clarify any potential issues users may have with the design. These methods can improve communication and facilitate more fruitful collaboration between the various stakeholders. Improvisation can be used to improve the effectiveness and reliability of brainstorming sessions. However, the level of acting skill required of the participants needs consideration, and must be appropriate to the purpose of the evaluation. Also, drama methods generally add resources to the design process, and there is a lack of validation studies of tangible improvements to the designed product. We provide recommendations for design-drama approaches with the potential to benefit different stages of a product's development.


The resegregation of our schools presents a loss for many suburban students who now lack the 'meaningful social contact' that is necessary for successfully integrating into a multicultural society. What happens when white students are denied the opportunity to regularly connect with people of other races and backgrounds? What kind of thinking do we construct when we racially isolate our suburban students and how do we deconstruct that thinking so that they can become more tolerant, self-aware, liberated human beings? In this narrative essay, a teacher asks her suburban, mostly white students to examine their notions, experiences and identities regarding race through journaling and class discussion. A dynamic dialogue ensues and is shared, along with the author's own journal responses to prompts about race, white identity and interracial relationships. What is revealed is the other side of the implications of resegregation.


Yingge Tower Ceramic Sculpture selected for 2016 Latvia Ceramics Biennale by a panel of international judges. Yingge Tower now becomes part of the permanent collection of the Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia. From Website below:The 1st Latvia International Ceramics Biennale will begin with July 15, 2016, with an opening of 'Martinsons Award' exhibition and the exhibition of Daugavpils ceramists 'Welcome to Daugavpils' at Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre. 298 outstanding applications from artists form 44 countries had been received for the 'MARTINSONS AWARD' exhibition. The International Jury represented by Elaine O. Henry (USA), Bernd Pfannkuche (Germany), Sirin Kocak Ozeskici (Turkey), Jane Jermyn (Ireland), Simcha Even-Chen (Israel), Ilona Romule (Latvia), and Valentins Petjko (Latvia) has selected 110 artworks by International artists and 26 artworks by National artists to participate in the exhibitions.


Over thirteen centuries, Baghdad has enjoyed both cultural and commercial pre-eminence, boasting artistic and intellectual sophistication and an economy once the envy of the world. It was here, in the time of the Caliphs, that the Thousand and One Nights were set. Yet it has also been a city of great hardships, beset by epidemics, famines, floods, and numerous foreign invasions which have brought terrible bloodshed. This is the history of its storytellers and its tyrants, of its philosophers and conquerors. Here, in the first new history of Baghdad in nearly 80 years, Justin Marozzi brings to life the whole tumultuous history of what was once the greatest capital on earth.


With Flann O'Brien now widely acknowledged as a subversive genius of early post-modernism, Flore Coulouma gives the "question of language" a central position in his literary identity. Tracing O'Brien's philosophy of language to the convoluted structure of his writing, Coulouma demonstrates how his bilingualism and ambiguous relation to language inspired his satirical fiction and chronicles, and develops a series of narrative oppositions: orality and literacy, truth and fiction, authority and legitimacy, native and national language(s). Using such dialectical oppositions to stage O'Brien's literary representation of the diglossic relationship of speakers to their native tongue, this book casts light on O'Brien's own intuitions about the failures and achievements of language, the logic of fiction, the relation between language and knowledge, and the impossibility of a nation cut off from its original tongue finding its linguistic identity.


Using carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) has been widely cited as a potential catalyst for gigatonne-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment. Carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery could provide revenues for CO2 capture projects in the absence of strong carbon taxes, providing a means for technological learning and economies of scale to reduce the cost of CCS. We develop an open-source techno-economic Model of Iterative Investment in CCS with CO2-EOR (MIICE), using dynamic technology deployment modeling to assess the impact of CO2-EOR on the deployment of CCS. Synthetic sets of potential CCS with EOR projects are created with typical field characteristics and dynamic oil and CO2 production profiles. Investment decisions are made iteratively over a 35 year simulation period, and long-term changes to technology cost and revenues are tracked. Installed capacity at 2050 is used as an indicator, with 1 gigatonne per year of CO2 capture used as a benchmark for successful large-scale CCS deployment. Results show that current CO2 tax and oil price conditions do not incentivize gigatonne-scale investment in CCS. For current oil prices ($45 per bbl–$55 per bbl), the final CO2 tax must reach $70 per tCO2 for gigatonne-scale deployment. If oil price alone is expected to induce CCS deployment and learning, oil prices above $85 per bbl are required to promote the development of a gigatonne-scale CCS industry. Nonlinear feedbacks between early deployment and learning result in large changes in final state due to small changes in initial conditions. We investigate the future of CCS in five potential 'states of the world': an optimistic 'Base Case' with a low CO2 tax and low oil price, a 'Climate Action' world with high CO2 tax, a 'High Oil' world with high oil prices, a 'Depleting Resources' world with an increasing deficit in oil supply, and a 'Forward Learning' world where mechanisms are in place to drive down the cost of CCS at rates similar to other clean energy technologies. Through multidimensional sensitivity analysis we outline combinations of conditions that result in gigatonne-scale CCS. This study provides insight levels of taxes, learning rates, and oil prices required for successful scale-up of the CCS industry.


Recharge modelling has been undertaken using the distributed recharge model ZOODRM to estimate recharge to an alluvial aquifer in the Borders region of Scotland. The alluvium is flat lying and lies on bedrock which outcrops to form the adjacent hills. Recharge is calculated by the ZOODRM model for a water balance for use in a groundwater flow model of the alluvium. ZOODRM estimates the daily run-off as a percentage of the daily rainfall using run-off coefficients and applies a simple approach to route the run-off to rivers based on an aspect map derived from a topographical map. The comparison of simulated river flows to those observed allows the calibration of the recharge model without using the groundwater flow model. Monte Carlo simulations have been undertaken to estimate the run-off coefficient values of the two topographically different zones and to place confidence limits around these values. The run-off coefficients are either specified (Method 1) or related exponentially to the surface gradients and the antecedent soil moisture conditions (Method 2). The advantages and disadvantages of using these methods are discussed. Both methods produced simulated river flows that are in good agreement with those observed but Method 2 provided a slightly better match because run-off coefficient values were dependent on the antecedent soil moisture.


We study the implementation of Bolsa Familia, a program that conditions cash transfers to poor families on children's school attendance. Using unique administrative data, we analyze how beneficiaries respond to the enforcement of conditionality. Making use of random variation in the day on which punishments are received, we find that school attendance increases after families are punished for past noncompliance. Families also respond to penalties experienced by peers: a child's attendance increases if her own classmates, but also her siblings' classmates (in other grades or schools), experience enforcement. As the severity of penalties increases with repeated noncompliance, households' response is larger when peers receive a penalty that the family has not (yet) received. We thus find evidence of spillover effects and learning about enforcement.


Optical trapping is an increasingly important technique for manipulating and probing matter ranging from nanometers to millimeters. In this paper, the theories of optical trapping to date are reviewed briefly. The typical conventional far field trapping design is introduced. A 5-micron yeast cell is trapped and manipulated with a 1.25 numerical aperture (NA) oil-immersion, 100X magnification objective by a 780 nm trapping beam at 16 mW in our experiment. Furthermore, the development of near-field optical trapping associated with evanescent wave is also discussed. Several proposed near-field trapping schemes, respectively using laser-illuminated metal tip, metal-coated fiber probe in the scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) and focused evanescent wave, are also described.


Beowulf, the major surviving poem in Old English, is composed in a language that is rich but often difficult. This fully annotated edition makes the poem more accessible in its original language, while at the same time providing the materials necessary for its detailed study at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. To facilitate understanding and fluent reading of the poem, the Old English text of Beowulf is here accompanied by an extensive running glossary which includes the greater part of the vocabulary of the poem. Words that occur more than once are glossed on each occasion. The inclusion of marginal glosses will enable readers who may be at an early stage in the study of Old English to cope more easily with the complex vocabulary of the poem. But this edition is not meant only for those who are approaching Old English for the first time; it is designed to be suitable for students at any stage, and those who are already familiar with Old English will find the marginal glosses of value in enabling Beowulf to be read more fluently. George Jack's introduction considers the origins and transmission of the poem, and provides a survey of its constituent materials. A full commentary on textual and interpretative problems, points of grammar and meaning, and matters of literary and historical context is provided, as is a guide to further reading on Beowulf. The text of the Finnsburh Fragment has also been included, because of its special relevance to Beowulf, and it is likewise accompanied by marginal glosses and notes.


Microbial fuel cells are a new technology that can be used for treating landfill leachate and simultaneously producing electricity. Three designs were tested in batch cycles using landfill leachate (908-3200 mg/L COD): a Square (995 mL), Circle (934 mL) and a Large Scale MFC (18.3 L). A total of seven cycles were completed for each the Square MFC and Circle MFC and two cycles for the Larger Scale MFC. Maximum power densities of 24-31 mW/m2 (653 mW/m3-824 mW/m3) were achieved using the Circle MFC and a maximum voltage of 635 mV was produced using the Larger Scale MFC. BOD, TOC, and Ammonia were removed at 50-72%, 17-53 %, and 7-69%, respectively. The Larger Scale MFC achieved 47-86% BOD removal, 51 % TOC removal and 60% ammonia reduction while operating over 52 days. These results demonstrate MFCs can be used to treat landfill leachate with the benefit of power generation.


Cloud computing provides many advantages for both the cloud service provider and the clients. It is also infamous for being highly dynamic and for having numerous security issues. The dynamicity of cloud computing implies that dynamic security mechanisms are being employed to enforce its security, especially in regards to access decisions. However, this is surprisingly not the case. Static traditional authorization mechanisms are being used in cloud environments, leading to legitimate doubts on their ability to fulfill the security needs of the cloud. We propose a risk adaptive authorization mechanism (RAdAM) for a simple cloud deployment, collaboration in cloud computing and federation in cloud computing. We use a fuzzy inference system to demonstrate the practicability of RAdAM. We complement RAdAM with a Vulnerability Based Authorization Mechanism (VBAM) which is a real-time authorization model based on the average vulnerability scores of the objects present in the cloud. We demonstrated the usefulness of VBAM in a use case featuring OpenStack.


The fourth industrial revolution is considered as a result of the convergence of a number of technologies in industrial operations. These technologies include, but are not limited to robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, 3D printing, biotechnology and technology integration with the human body. Fourth generation industrial revolution is characterized by the emergence of supercomputers, smart robots, vehicles without drivers, genetic editing and neurotechnology development which allows humans to further optimize brain function. Unlike the previous era where competition was marked by 'big vs. small', the 4.0 industrial revolution was characterized by 'fast vs. slow' jargon. Competition in the industrial world no longer depends on the size of the company, but how fast and creative business people see opportunities. This concept does not only occur in the industrial world but also affects the education sector, and the library. The emergence of the trend of e-resources has changed many things in the world of libraries, not only regarding access but also the role of librarians. The convergence of information technology with communication technology causes information and communication technology (ICT) to have an impact on the emergence of the modern library digital landscape. The paradigm shift in the librarian profession is suspected to be the result of the ICT revolution. The speed of change has created a new role for librarians in terms of services and activities, which in turn has an impact on the roles, competencies, skills and knowledge of librarian professionals. The ever-changing information needs of users bring an expansion and new role for librarians to equip themselves with various skills to remain relevant to the digital environment. Blended skills become a familier concept among librarians today. This concept requires many skills that must synergize with institutions or the surrounding environment. Blended librarians are a necessity and librarians must be able to implement in their respective environments. Keyword: Blended librarians, Blended skills, Future librarians, Fourth industrial revolution


We report the development of a forcefield capable of reproducing accurate lattice dynamics of metal-organic frameworks. Phonon spectra, thermodynamic and mechanical properties, such as free energies, heat capacities and bulk moduli, are calculated using the quasi-harmonic approximation to account for anharmonic behaviour due to thermal expansion. Comparison to density functional theory calculations of properties such as Grüneisen parameters, bulk moduli and thermal expansion supports the accuracy of the derived forcefield model. Material properties are also reported in a full analysis of the lattice dynamics of an initial subset of structures including: MOF-5, IRMOF-10, UiO-66, UiO-67, NOTT-300, MIL-125, MOF-74 and MOF-650.


The college years represent an important developmental period in the lives of young women, who report health-related difficulties such as sleep disturbance and body/eating concerns. This study explored whether expressive writing (EW) can decrease health-relevant complaints among college women. College females (n = 111) were randomised into an EW condition (writing about body concerns) or a control writing condition and completed three 15-min writing sessions. Results indicate that participants in the EW condition reported less sleep difficulty and less body-focused upward social comparison at 8-week follow-up, relative to control participants. For individuals who reported higher perceived stress at baseline, the EW condition resulted in less eating disturbance and less social comparison, relative to the control condition. The effect of EW on eating disturbance for those who were high in stress was partially mediated by the change in upward social comparisons focused on one's body. These findings suggest that EW about body image and appearance concerns may positively influence the trajectory of risk for, or resilience against, future complications as a result of sleep difficulty, eating disturbance and body dissatisfaction.


The optical carrier suppression in optical quadruple frequency modulation by cascaded external modulators is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that the optical carrier suppression ratio is related with not only the initial phase difference of electrical signals applied on the two modulators, but also the optical phase shift between the two modulators. The maximum suppression ratio can be achieved when the total phase difference is equal to n\pi+\pi/2 (n=1,2,...), which is verified by experiments. By properly controlling the total phase shift, 40-GHz millimeter-wave is generated by using a 10-GHz radio frequency (RF) source and the modulators.


Monitoring people with diabetes by repeatedly estimating blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin levels is invasive which becomes appalling and expensive over time. Potential of saliva as a diagnostic tool could be exploited in this regard. 26 diabetes patients were compared with 21 age matched non-diabetic healthy controls for Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), salivary glucose (SG), salivary pH (SpH), Oral health status and markers of oxidative stress in saliva namely Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive substance (TBARS) or Malondialdehyde (MDA) and Total antioxidant activity (AOA). Significantly high FPG (p=0.005) along with high salivary AOA (p < 0.0001) levels, markedly lesser SpH and MDA were found in the diabetic group. Changes in SG levels between the groups were of no consequence. FPG showed positive correlation to SG (r = 0.410) and even better correlation with salivary MDA (r = 0.562) only in diabetes. Since SG levels did not differ between the two groups, the study concludes that conventional marker like FPG is a better indicator of glycemic status. Lower MDA seen in saliva of diabetic group may be probably due to the exceptionally high AOA activity seen in these people


Exploiting a window of opportunity in Vietnam, this paper examines the impact of social health insurance on target population groups. Significant inequalities in the coverage of service utilization and financial protection are found across groups. Persons with disabilities, and retirees to a lesser extent, experienced relatively high rates of service utilization and were most at risk of health care-induced poverty. A higher level of targeting in the design of benefit packages is recommended.


Over the last fifteen years, some form of peace has been constructed in Northern Ireland, a peace that today not only seems to be holding – just – but according to the commentariat, contains all sorts of meaningful lessons for other deeply divided societies at war with themselves. This report, made possible by the Airey Neave Trust and the LSE Annual Fund, asks what we really can learn from the history of peacebuilding in Northern Ireland, and critically assesses the applicability of the Northern Irish experience to contemporary counter-terrorism policy.


This paper presents the combinations of single-top-quark production cross-section measurements by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations, using data from LHC proton-proton collisions at = 7 and 8 TeV corresponding to integrated luminosities of 1.17 to 5.1 fb(-1) at = 7 TeV and 12.2 to 20.3 fb(-1) at = 8 TeV. These combinations are performed per centre-of-mass energy and for each production mode: t-channel, tW, and s-channel. The combined t-channel cross-sections are 67.5 +/5.7 pb and 87.7 +/5.8 pb at = 7 and 8 TeV respectively. The combined tW cross-sections are 16.3 +/4.1 pb and 23.1 +/3.6 pb at = 7 and 8 TeV respectively. For the s-channel cross-section, the combination yields 4.9 +/1.4 pb at = 8 TeV. The square of the magnitude of the CKM matrix element V-tb multiplied by a form factor f(LV) is determined for each production mode and centre-of-mass energy, using the ratio of the measured crosssection to its theoretical prediction. It is assumed that the top-quark-related CKM matrix elements obey the relation |V-td|, |V-ts| << |V-tb|. All the |f(LV)V(tb)| (2) determinations, extracted from individual ratios at = 7 and 8 TeV, are combined, resulting in |f(LV)V(tb)| = 1.02 +/0.04 (meas.) +/0.02 (theo.). All combined measurements are consistent with their corresponding Standard Model predictions.


Today, a microprinted electronics circuits are gaining more and more importance, but still printed electronic devices such as transistors or OLEDs are unstable in air and shows a poor performance. Moreover, printed microelectronic elements do not meet quality and high-reliability requirements, essential in electronics applications. To fulfill these needs, hybrid electronic circuits, combining printed technology, and surface-mount technology, are recommended. This approach gets advantages from both methods:Surface-mount devices (SMD) elements provide a high device functionality whereas a printed pattern ensures the device flexibility and efficiency. In this work, silver nanoparticle-based aerosol jet ink (AgNP ink) is used to realize the approach of a hybrid circuit with aerosol jet printed pads and surface-mount devices. The ultrasonic atomization process ensures the high printing resolution and appropriate line formation. Electrical and mechanical characterization was performed to present the connection performance and quality. Cross section view and morphological inspection explain the joint high quality and good performance. Resistance characterization presents the high current conductance comparable with connections made by silver epoxy or ink-jet printing. Shear test results show an excellent connection strength complying with USA Military Standard. Finally, a flexible hybrid conductance touch sensor is manufactured, demonstrating the feasibility of the presented assembling solution.


Admired all over the world and loved by locals for its natural beauty, Sydney Harbour is enjoyed by thousands of people every day. But rarely do we look below the surface where, beneath all the hustle and bustle, lively communities go about their business. With underwater forests and gardens, hundreds of species of fish and thousands of invertebrates, Sydney is as colourful and diverse below the water as it is above!
Underwater Sydney celebrates Sydney's incredible harbour and coast through eclectic stories and stunning underwater photography. It also explores the challenges the harbour is facing today after more than 200 years of coastal development and the role that marine science plays in maintaining the harbour's health. Underwater Sydney will open your eyes to the rich marine life that makes the Sydney estuary and coast so special.


This article reports the findings of an empirical analysis of the relative ages of patents litigated by practicing and non-practicing patentees. Studying all infringement claims brought to enforce a sample of recently expired patents, I find considerable variance. Product-producing companies predominately enforce their patents soon after issuance and complete their enforcement activities well before their patent rights expire. NPEs, by contrast, begin asserting their patents relatively late in the patent term and frequently continue to litigate to the verge of expiration. This variance in litigation timing is so dramatic that all claims asserting the average product-company patent are resolved before the average NPE patent is asserted for the first time. Further, I find that NPEs are the dominant source of patent enforcement in the final few years of the patent term. NPEs, enforcers of just twenty percent of all studied patents, are responsible for more than two-thirds of all suits and over eighty percent of all infringement claims litigated in the final three years of the patent term. These findings cast serious doubt on the utility of the last few years of the patent term and suggest that Congress should, at a minimum, consider increasing the frequency and magnitude of maintenance fee payments in the latter half of the patent term.


There are many skeptics about the contributions of Total Quality Management (TQM) to education because of its roots in the world of business. TQM says nothing about actual production but stresses the process of management and collaboration within the system to reach quality output. Any quality-conscious organization, despite the nature, should understand this. This paper will not present any innovative ideas but will define TQM and focus on its influence on the various facets of an institution of higher education. TQM helps to provide better services to its primary customers-students and the community. Moreover, TQM focuses on continuous improvement and growth that can offer an enhanced and challenging learning environment for all involved. Thus, a more effective and efficient corporate culture emerges.


In this paper, we analyze various mortgage contracts and their implications for housing tenure and investment decisions using a model with heterogeneous consumers and liquidity constraints. We find that different types of mortgage contracts influence these decisions through three dimensions: the downpayment constraint, the payment schedule, and the amortization schedule. Contracts with lower downpayment requirements allow younger and lower income households to enter the housing market earlier. Mortgage contracts with increasing payment schedules increase the participation of first-time buyers, but can generate lower homeownership later in the life cycle. We find that adjusting the amortization schedule of a contract can be important. Mortgage contracts which allow the quick accumulation of home equity increase homeownership across the entire life cycle.


We propose an active probing method, called Differential Probing or DiffProbe, to detect whether an access ISP is deploying forwarding mechanisms such as priority scheduling, variations of WFQ, or WRED to discriminate against some of its customer flows. DiffProbe aims to detect if the ISP is doing one or both of delay discrimination and loss discrimination. The basic idea in DiffProbe is to compare the delays and packet losses experienced by two flows: an Application flow A and a Probing flow P. The paper describes the statistical methods that DiffProbe uses, a novel method for distinguishing between Strict Priority and WFQ-variant packet scheduling, simulation and emulation experiments, and a few real-world tests at major access ISPs.


The hydrodynamic forces acting on a solid particle in a viscous, incompressible fluid medium at low Reynolds number flow is investigated mathematically as a prerequisite to the understanding of transport processes in two-phase flow involving solid particles and fluid. Viscous interaction between a small number of spherical particles and continuous solid boundaries as well as fluid interface are analyzed under a "point-force" approximation. Non-spherical and elastic spherical particles in a simple shear flow area are then considered. Non-steady motion of a spherical particle is briefly touched upon to illustrate the transient effect of particle motion. A macroscopic continuum description of particle-fluid flow is formulated in terms of spatial averages yielding a set of particle continuum and bulk fluid equations. Phenomenological formulas describing the transport processes in a fluid medium are extended to cases where the volume concentration of solid particles is sufficiently high to exert an important influence. Hydrodynamic forces acting on a spherical solid particle in such a system, e.g. drag, torque, rotational coupling force, and viscous collision force between streams of different sized particles moving relative to each other are obtained. Phenomenological constants, such as the shear viscosity coefficient, and the diffusion coefficient of the bulk fluid, are found as a function of the material properties of the constituents of the two-phase system and the volume concentration of solid. For transient heat conduction phenomena, it is found that the introduction of a complex conductivity for the bulk fluid permits a simple mathematical description of this otherwise complicated process. The rate of heat transfer between particle continuum and bulk fluid is also investigated by means of an Oseen-type approximation to the energy equation.


Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is a serine-threonine kinase that regulates neural development, particularly normal neuronal migration, but the paucity of known interacting molecules has made it difficult to understand molecular interactions that regulate this function. Zukerberg et al. have identified a protein that interacts with both Cdk5 and the tyrosine kinase Abl, called Cables. Cables associated with both kinases in a ternary complex in transfected cells, and all three proteins colocalized to axonal growth cones of cultured cortical neurons. Cables is phosphorylated by Ckd5 and by Abl, and phosphorylation of Cdk5 by Abl increased Cdk5 activity. Because Abl does not directly associate with Cdk5, Cables likely facilitates their interaction by acting as an adaptor protein. Expression of an antisense Cables construct in cortical neurons inhibited neurite outgrowth. The authors propose that phosphorylation of Cdk5 by Abl may cause dissociation of the Cdk5-Cables-Abl complex and thus allow Cdk5 to interact with its regulatory subunit p35 and to phosphorylate substrates that are involved in neurite outgrowth. Zukerberg, L.R., Patrick, G.N., Nikolic, M., Humbert, S., Wu, C.-L., Lanier, L.M., Gertler, F.B., Vidal, M., Van Etten, R.A., and Tsai, L.-H. (2000) Cables links Cdk5 and c-Abl and facilitates Cdk5 tyrosine phosphorylation, kinase upregulation, and neurite outgrowth. Neuron 26: 633-646. [Online Journal]


This chapter introduces ABMs, their construction, and the pros and cons of their use. Although relatively new, agent-based models (ABMs) have great potential for use in ecotoxicological research – their primary advantage being the realistic simulations that can be constructed and particularly their explicit handling of space and time in simulations. Examples are provided of their use in ecotoxicology primarily exemplified by different implementations of the ALMaSS system. These examples presented demonstrate how multiple stressors, landscape structure, details regarding toxicology, animal behavior, and socioeconomic effects can and should be taken into account when constructing simulations for risk assessment. Like ecological systems, in ABMs the behavior at the system level is not simply the mean of the component responses, but the sum of the often nonlinear interactions between components in the system; hence this modeling approach opens the door to implementing and testing much more realistic and holistic ecotoxicological models than are currently used.


Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the utilization and diagnostic yields of CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA)using the Revised Geneva score and Wells' criteria, in patients with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE). Methods: One hundred and twelve adult patients underwent CTPA for suspected PE were participated in this study. The outcome was positive or negative CTPA for PE. Revised Geneva and Wells' scores were calculated. The relationship between the results obtained rom these two scores and the available risk factors were compared. Descriptive analysis such as frequency and mean as well as analytical statistics including chi-square were done. The data analysis was performed using SPSS (v. 22). Results: In this study, according to the Wells' criteria calculated for the patients, 33.9% of the patients had low clinical, 56.3% intermediate and 9.8% high clinical probability. Among the 11 high clinical patients, 9(81.8%) were CTPA positive. Based on the revised Geneva score, 65 patients (58%) had low clinical, 36 (32.1%) intermediate and 11(9.8%) high clinical probability. Among the 1 high clinical patients, 8 were CTPA positive. Positive predictive value of the low clinical patients based on Wells' criteria and the revised Geneva score was 18.4% and 30.8%, respectively. Also, positive predictive value for high clinical probability of Wells' criteria and the revised Geneva score was 81.8% and 72.8% respectively. Conclusion: Under/overuse of CTPA in diagnosing PTE is a common problem especially in university hospitals. It is possible to avoid unnecessary CTPA requests using scholarly investigations and more accurate clinical risk assessments.


Summary and Conclusions -A novel methodology is proposed for designing fault-tolerant real-time multi-processor systems-on-a-chip to achieve optimal productivity. The methodology employs the heterogeneous built-in-self-repair (BISR) based on graceful degradation and yield enhancement techniques as an embedded optimization engine. The technique exploits the flexibility provided in task-level scheduling and algorithm selection steps. A hardware fault model is developed for modern super-scalar processors and multi-processors which enables an efficient treatment of the synthesis and compilation goals. For the first time, heterogeneous BISR is used at the task level. The key idea is to adapt scheduling and algorithm selection to the available nonfaulty resources. If there is a fault in memory, the algorithms that use less memory are selected and the scheduler exploits the other abundant resource, viz, the processors, more vigorously to compensate for the loss of part of memory. Similarly, a fault in a processor is backed up by memory. The synthesis approach minimizes the degradation in performance for single or multiple faults using simulated annealing-based algorithm selection, scheduling, and assignment algorithms. On the large set of examples this adaptive algorithm selection and scheduling technique has achieved important improvement of throughput compared to conventional nonadaptive schemes. The experimental results also indicate that important improvement in productivity can be achieved by using the extra throughput gained from the technique.


Although most models of environmental compliance are based on a variation of the rational polluter model, regulated entities may not always intentionally decide to violate based on the relative costs and benefits of doing so. According to the complexity critique, a significant amount of noncompliance may be the result of ignorance about the requirements of the law. Using hazardous waste regulations as a case study, this paper examines the role that rationality and complexity play in environmental compliance. The results suggest that both are necessary to explain hazardous waste compliance behavior. In support of the rational polluter model, the results show that factors which increase the cost of compliance also increase the likelihood of a violation while factors that increase the likelihood of inspections and detection decrease the probability of a violation. In support of the complexity critique, the results show that larger facilities and facilities of multi-plant companies are less likely to violate, while facilities that are subject to more complex regulations are more likely to violate. Also in support of the complexity critique, facilities learn from past inspections and facilities in states with programs directed toward reducing complexity are less likely to violate. This mixed support holds across various subgroup of facilities, although there does appear to be some difference in the factors that contribute to different types of violations. In particular, non-management violations appear to be driven less by a rational comparison of the costs and benefits of violations than by the complexity of regulations.


Pluriactivity is the usual survival strategy adopted by smallholders. This strategy is effective when it is accompanied by considerable gender role flexibility that allows the combination of men's and women's farm work and farm management contributions. Interviews with 296 smallholders in rural Greece showed that the most adaptive survival strategy is adopted when pluriactive male partners legally transfer the farmer status to their wife by transferring land ownership and/or the farm management to her. The large majority of these women become integrated in the agricultural occupation both at the institutional and the farm level, their integration indicating a high degree of gender role flexibility within the farm household. Such a high degree of gender role flexibility, however, is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for farm survival. It is the official institutional recognition of women's farmer status that constitutes the determining factor for farm survival.


Graptolites from the Yass district of New South Wales include important material from: low in the Black Bog Shale; from the Yarwood Siltstone Member; 2 levels high in the Black Bog Shale; 2 levels low in the Rosebank Shale; low in the Cowridge Siltstone; and in the lower part of the Elmside Formation. The faunas from the lower 4 levels are late Ludlow (early Late Silurian), and the higher 4 levels are P^ ridoli (late Late Silurian). Twenty-seven graptolite taxa, a considerable increase on previous records from Yass, have been identified in the late Ludlow and P^ ridoli of the district. These taxa enable the Ludlow-P ^boundary to be identified some 20 m above the base of the Rosebank Shale (Booroo Ponds Group); our stratigraphically highest collection from the Elmside Formation is latest P ^ supporting the previous placement of the base of the Devonian approximately midway through the Elmside Formation (Barambogie Group). The following graptolite Biozones have been identified: praecornutus, cornutus, parultimus, bouceki and transgrediens. Twenty Yass taxa are described, including the new species Bohemograptus paracornutus, Pristiograptus shearsbyi, Neocucullograptus? yassensis and N.? mitchelli and the new subspecies Monograptus perneri elmsidensis and M. formosus jenkinsi. The following are recorded from Australia for the first time: Bohemograptus praecornutus Urbanek, 1970; Crinitograptus operculatus Munch, 1938; and Pristiograptus kolednikensis P^ 1940. Dictyonema sp. cf. D. sherrardae Rickards et al., 1995 and D. elegans Bulman, 1928 are considered late evolutionary derivatives of long-ranging dendroid species. Linograptus posthumus introversus Rickards & Wright, 1997 is interpreted as a short-lived, late Ludlow offshoot of the long-ranging L. p. posthumus Richter, 1875. Bohemograptus praecornutus is regarded as the ancestor of B. paracornutus, the B. cornutus evolutionary plexus being recognised for the first time in Australia. Late forms of Pristiograptus dubius (Suess, 1851) probably gave rise to P. shearsbyi n.sp. and Pristiograptus kolednikensis probably arose in the basal P^ ridoli from the late Ludlow P. fragmentalis (Boucek, 1936). Some material described and discussed by Brown & Sherrard (1952) is reinterpreted. Bohemograptus paratenuis n.sp. is proposed for material assigned by Urbanek (1970) to B. bohemicus aff. tenuis (Boucek, 1936); this species is known only from Poland.


This paper is an annual publication issued by the Microeconomic Analysis service of the National Bank of Belgium. The Flemish maritime ports (Antwerp, Ghent, Ostend, Zeebrugge), the Autonomous Port of Liege and the port of Brussels play a major role in their respective regional economies and in the Belgian economy, not only in terms of industrial activity but also as intermodal centers facilitating the commodity flow. This update paper1 provides an extensive overview of the economic importance and development of the Flemish maritime ports, the Liege port complex and the port of Brussels for the period 2009 - 2014, with an emphasis on 2014. Focusing on the three major variables of value added, employment and investment, the report also provides some information based on the social balance sheet and an overview of the financial situation in these ports as a whole. These observations are linked to a more general context, along with a few cargo statistics. Annual accounts data from the Central Balance Sheet Office were used for the calculation of direct effects, the study of financial ratios and the analysis of the social balance sheet. The indirect effects of the activities concerned were estimated in terms of value added and employment, on the basis of data from the National Accounts Institute. As a result of the underlying calculation method the changes of indirect employment and indirect value added can differ from one another. The developments concerning economic activity in the six ports in 2013 - 2014 are summarised in the table on the next page: In 2014 the growth of maritime traffic in the Flemish sea ports was once again due solely to developments in the port of Antwerp. However, that did not necessarily mean that direct value added followed the same trend: except for the port of Zeebrugge, all other lemish ports recorded an increase. Direct employment is continuing to decline, except in the port of Ghent where it remains steady. Investment appears to be picking up, after last year's weak figures. Cargo traffic in the ports of Liege and Brussels was up in 2014, but that did not result in any increase in value added. The decline in direct employment also persisted, certainly in the port of Liege. This report provides a comprehensive account of these issues, giving details for each economic sector, although the comments are confined to the main changes that occurred in 2014. This report is available for download at the following address http://www.nbb.be.


Rab8 Mediates TRPV4 Vesicle Trafficking to the Plasma Membrane in HGF-stimulated MDCK Cells Hillary Jean Haws Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology, BYU Master of Science Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process whereby epithelial cells, which act collectively through robust cell‐cell interactions, take on mesenchymal characteristics, breaking cell‐cell junctions to become solitary, invasive and motile. Our previous results show that a transient increase in calcium influxes through TRP channels at the plasma membrane is required for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)‐ stimulated EMT. Since this transient increase requires an intact microtubule cytoskeleton, we propose that HGF stimulation results in the mobilization of calcium channels to the plasma membrane from an intracellular compartment via microtubule‐dependent vesicle trafficking. Through immunofluorescence, we show that prior to HGF treatment, TRPV4 localizes to a perinuclear compartment that stains for rab11. After HGF stimulation, this colocalization is reduced and TRPV4 localizes more precisely to fibrous structures. Similarly, rab8 staining is seen throughout the cytoplasm prior to HGF treatment, but localizes primarily to tubular structures after HGF stimulation. This is indicative of endocytic recycling of TRPV4 via rab8. MDCK cells null for rab8 activator, rabin8, were developed using the CRISPR system and then analyzed for changes in epithelial scattering and trafficking of ion channels to the plasma membrane following HGF stimulation. Rabin8 KO cells had a decrease in TRPV4 vesicle trafficking. While rabin8 KO cells did undergo HGF-induced spreading and some disassembly of cell-cell junctions, they lost all motility. Also, HGF-treated rabin8 KO cells had similar calcium levels to untreated WT cells, which had fewer calcium spikes than HGF-treated WT cells. ERK1/2, a known downstream effector of HGF stimulation, has been shown to activate rabin8, and so we tested the effect of an ERK1/2 inhibitor on HGF-induced WT cells as well. These cells had decreased TRPV4 vesicle trafficking and loss of motility, similar to rabin8 KO cells, indicating that ERK1/2 may act upstream of rabin8 and rab8 in this pathway. Our results indicate that TRPV4 undergoes endocytic recycling via rab8 to the cell surface to allow a necessary calcium influx within one hour of HGF stimulation in MDCK cells, leading to EMT.


It is shown that conditional averages in the form of expected values of functions of the velocity at an arbitrary point given the velocities at a finite number of distinct points, appear naturally in certain types of turbulence theories and that the closure problems in such theories ultimately reduce to the approximation of these averages. Two exemplary theories are considered. The first is characteristic of turbu lence models formulated in terms of probability density functions whereas the second is related to the derivation of optimal algorithms for the numerical integration of the tur bulent Navier-Stokes equations at large Reynolds numbers. Some mathematical properties of conditional expected values, including relations between conditional and unconditional second order tensor moments and results for the special case of isotropic turbulence are also presented.


This article synthesizes recent studies of various fields in order to raise new questions about the past of the historical discipline. While studies of the history of the sciences dethroned the notion of the autonomous and heroic scientist (e.g. S. Shapin, M. Biagoli, B. Latour), the past of the historical discipline is dominantly comprehended as the history of "great men" and their "great ideas". This article demands a new approach of the past of our discipline. Studies about academic institutions refute both the commonly assumed thesis of a research imperative and the alleged determining power of Humboldt's reform. Instead older traditions like the "Family university" persisted throughout the 19th century and the role of Humboldt turns put to be a myth invented at the beginning of the 20th century. Thus, the question how historical research was performed and under which concrete circumstances researchers achieved historical knowledge remains unanswered. A synthesis of published studies in the field of literary studies, gender studies, media studies and especially the history of sciences allows the development of various dimensions of research: First, the concrete performance of doing research is scrutinized, for females, amateurs, assistants were crucially involved in the production of knowledge. Second, the articles examines diverse sites and places of historical research (such as private homes of scholars, states archives etc.) and the role which these sites played in forming academic knowledge. Third, the article emphasizes different actions of research such as the writing, collecting evidence etc. Moreover, the article highlights the role of emotions by examining Ranke's letters about his findings in the Viennese Court Library. Finally, the article raises the point of self-fashioning, for in a period when "Bildung" was an unquestioned maxim, self-fashioning of researchers allowed researchers to promote their activities and distinguish themselves from their competitors.


The analysis of gratings of arbitrary depth, profile, and permittivity is conducted by cutting the modulated region into different slices for which the differential theory of gratings is able to compute the diffracted field for both TE and TM polarization without numerical instabilities. The use of a suitable transition matrix (R matrix) then allows one to analyze the entire stack without encountering the numerical instabilities that generally occur with use of the T-transmission matrix, which is well known in stratified media theory. The use of the R-matrix propagation algorithm provides a breakthrough for grating theoreticians in the sense that it not only permits the study of grating of arbitrary depth but also eliminates the numerical instabilities that have plagued the differential theory in TM polarization during the past 20 years.


Received 06.10.2011 Accepted 23.12.2011 Published 08.03.2012 Conservation of forest genetic resources is essential for sustaining the environmental and productive values of forests. One of the environmental values is the conservation of the diversity that is assessed through the amount of genetic diversity stored by forests, their structure and dynamics. The current need for forest conservation and management has driven a rapid expansion of landscape genetics discipline that combines tools from molecular genetics, landscape ecology and spatial statistics and is decisive for improving not only ecological knowledge but also for properly managing population genetic resources. The objective of this study is to show the way to establish the safeguard of genetic diversity through this approach using the results obtained in sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) that has provided a better understanding on the species genetic resources. In this respect, we will show how the information provided by different types of molecular markers (genomic and genic) offer more accurate indication on the distribution of the genetic diversity among and within populations assuming different evolutionary drivers. Keywords


This paper presents a hybrid audio time stretching technique in which the trade-off between vertical and horizontal phase coherence can be freely controlled by a single parameter. Depending on that parameter, the proposed technique sounds like a time domain technique at one extreme, like a phase-locked vocoder at the other extreme, or anywhere in between. By properly choosing the value of the control parameter, it is possible to manually adjust the algorithm to the characteristics of the audio signal being transformed in order to get an optimal result. Furthermore, appropriate middle values yield good results for a wide range of audio signals with mixed content.


Aims: Exposure to a structured curriculum in reproductive medicine during medical school is helpful given the high frequency of fertility and pregnancy-related issues that future physicians will encounter. This study sought to evaluate a new reproductive medicine module for medical students. Study Design: Prospective cohort study. Place and Duration of Study: Dublin, Ireland; 2008-2010. Methodology: A new educational module in reproductive medicine for upper-level medical students was initiated in 2008 at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). The module included reproductive endocrinology lectures, laboratory sessions, and direct observation of clinical consultations as a required component of an obstetrics and gynaecology rotation. Students were assigned to this module on the basis of random allocation by departmental administration. The current investigation used an anonymous questionnaire and a MCQ exam to measure academic performance and student acceptance of this module, at launch and again two years later. The first sampling was from the pilot class in 2008 and a second group was evaluated in 2010. No student was in both groups. Results: 42 of 66 students completed the evaluation in 2008, and 71 of 98 did so in 2010. Mean±SD medical student age and average examination scores were comparable for the two groups. In both samples, most students (95.5%) had no prior lectures on reproductive endocrinology, and most indicated improvement in their level of understanding after the module. Both laboratory and clinical features were scored highly by students. Conclusion: At present, there is no standardised medical student curriculum for reproductive medicine in Ireland. This report is the first to describe a structured learning experience in this subspecialty area for medical students in Ireland. Additional studies are planned to track knowledge acquisition and career impact specific to reproductive medicine based on this module.


thesis is developed from a real life application of performance evaluation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. The thesis presents two main methodological developments on evaluation of dichotomous environment variable impacts on technical efficiency. Taking into account the selection bias the thesis proposes a revised frontier separation approach for the seminal Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model which was developed by Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes (1981). The revised frontier separation approach is based on a nearest neighbour propensity score matching pairing treated SMEs with their counterfactuals on the propensity score. The thesis develops order-m frontier conditioning on propensity score from the conditional order-m approach proposed by Cazals, Florens, and Simar (2002), advocated by Daraio and Simar (2005). By this development, the thesis allows the application of the conditional order-m approach with a dichotomous environment variable taking into account the existence of the self-selection problem of impact evaluation. Monte Carlo style simulations have been built to examine the effectiveness of the aforementioned developments. Methodological developments of the thesis are applied in empirical studies to evaluate the impact of training programmes on the performance of food processing SMEs and the impact of exporting on technical efficiency of textile and garment SMEs of Vietnam. The analysis shows that training programmes have no significant impact on the technical efficiency of food processing SMEs. Moreover, the analysis confirms the conclusion of the export literature that exporters are self selected into the sector. The thesis finds no significant impact from exporting activities on technical efficiency of textile and garment SMEs. However, large bias has been eliminated by the proposed approach. Results of empirical studies contribute to the understanding of the impact of different environmental variables on the performance of SMEs. It helps policy makers to design proper policy supporting the development of Vietnamese SMEs.


We discuss some interesting aspects of the $\rm Q$-ball formation during the early oscillations of the flat directions. These oscillations are triggered by the running of soft $({\rm mass})^2$ stemming from the nonzero energy density of the Universe. However, this is quite different from the standard $\rm Q$-ball formation. The running in presence of gauge and Yukawa couplings becomes strong if $m_{1/2}/m_0$ is sufficiently large. Moreover, the $\rm Q$-balls which are formed during the early oscillations constantly evolve, due to the redshift of the Hubble-induced soft mass, until the low-energy supersymmtery breaking becomes dominant. For smaller $m_{1/2}/m_0$, $\rm Q$-balls are not formed during early oscillations because of the shrinking of the instability band due to the Hubble expansion. In this case the $\rm Q$-balls are formed only at the weak scale, but typically carry smaller charges, as a result of their amplitude redshift. Therefore, the Hubble-induced corrections to the flat directions give rise to a successful $\rm Q$-ball cosmology.


The study is essentially an exploratory analysis, which sets out to obtain pattern of Problem-Based Learning assessment (PBLa) and Conventional assessment (Ca) that has been carried out in Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. The main objective of this paper is to scrutiny on how PBLa and Ca might contribute to students' performance that leads to their final grade in total. A physics course (Waves and Optic, SF10603) has been chosen since it involved two lectures that thought the course for seven weeks each. Data was gathered from three (3) consecutive different batches of students who registered for the course. The course is offer in every second semester in each session (i.e., 2011/2012 (n=34); 2012/2013 (n=60); and 2013/2014 (n=54)). For the first seven weeks student has been exposed with PBLa approach where it is one of the students-centered learning method. The second part of the seven weeks, another lecturer took over. Students were undergone Ca of teaching and learning activities since then. The data analysis carried out a pattern where PBLa approach showed a positive consistency in students' achievement compare to its counterparts. This paper also discussed type of assessments that carried out in PBLa and conventional approach.


Interval Temporal Logic (ITL) is a flexible notation for the propositional and firstorder logical reasoning about periods of time that exist in specifications of hardware and software systems. ITL is different from other temporal logics since it can deal with both sequential and parallel composition and provides powerful and extensible specification and verification methods for reasoning about properties such as safety, time projection and liveness. Most imperative programming constructs can be seen as ITL formula that form the basis of an executable framework called Tempura that is used for the development and testing of ITL specifications. ITL has only future operators, but the use of past operators make specifications referring to history more succinct; that is, there are classes of properties that can be expressed by means of much shorter formulas. What is more, statements are easier to express (simplicity) when past operators are included. Moreover, using past operators does not increase the complexity of interval temporal logic regarding the formula size and the simplicity. This thesis introduces past time of interval temporal logic (ITL) where, instead of future time operators Chop, Chopstar, and Skip, we have past operators past Chop, past Chopstar and past Skip. The syntax and semantics of past time ITL are given together with its axiom and proof system. Furthermore, Security Analysis Toolkit for Agents (SANTA) operators such alwaysfollowed-by and the strong version of it has been given history based semantics using past time operators. In order to evaluate past time interval temporal logic, the problem of specification, verification of history based access control policies has been selected. This problem has already been solved using future time of interval temporal logic ITL but the drawback is that policy rules are not succinct and simple. However, the use of past time operators of ITL produces simple and succinct policy rules. The verification technique used to proof the safety property of history based access control policies is adapted for past time ITL to show that past time operators of interval temporal logic can specify and verify a security scenario such as history based access control policy.


The diverse, rapidly developing discipline of bioinformatics has become an integral component of all areas of biomedical research in recent years. The ability to manage, analyse and interpret large complex datasets hinges on having access to skilled researchers who have received adequate training in specialised technical areas. Currently in Africa, individuals with these specialised skills are sparsely scattered across the continent and there is an urgent need to develop sustainable training programs to improve bioinformatics capacity. As part of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative, a pan-African bioinformatics network for H3Africa (H3ABioNet) was established to develop bioinformatics infrastructure together with a sustainable high quality training program. Here, we discuss the various training events and approaches developed by H3ABioNet to address the lack of bioinformatics capacity in Africa, together with the valuable lessons learnt.


Abstract Subsistence adaptations to coastal environments and the capacity to take advantage of mangrove swamps has likely played an important role in the success of the maritime colonization of Southeast Asian and Wallacean islands by modern humans. Yet, ichthyoarchaeological studies remain rare in this part of the world. Bubog I rockshelter (Ilin Island, southwestern Mindoro, the Philippines) has yielded a stratigraphic filling extending from 30 ka to 4 ka, including a human-produced shell midden. Several remains from marine and terrestrial animals have been recovered from the site. We report here on an Australo-Melanesian subsistence behavior based on ichthyofaunal, crustacean, and large mammal remains. Their adaptation to successfully exploit different marine environments from open reef to mangrove swamps is demonstrated by the continuous presence of fishes from these marine zones throughout the stratigraphy and by the development of a range of fishing and foraging techniques. The increased hunting of Sus oliveri furthermore shows increased foraging in tropical rainforests after 6 ka. Interestingly, based on crustaceans analysis, mangrove foraging in Bubog I declined when the development of these swamps was at their maximum in other islands in the Philippines. Variability in subsistence strategies therefore appears to be a response to changing landscapes during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition with a strong marine specialization that only increased as mangrove habitats declined.


Visual approaches for conducting research during the design process often give voice to people and ideas that might otherwise remain obscured. Recent and increasing interest in visual research techniques has coincided with technological advances such as camera phones and visually oriented mobile applications. As a result of this close association between digital technologies and image-based research techniques, there are multiple opportunities and challenges within human–computer interaction (HCI) design practice to employ these strategies to improve user experiences. This article provides an overview of current visual approaches to research highlighting the role technology has played in facilitating and inspiring these techniques. A series of case studies are presented that provide a basis for understanding a breadth of visual approaches in HCI design practices as well as serve as a point of entry to a critical and reflective discussion about the use of these approaches in different circumstances. Based on these reflections, three value statements are offered as a means to encourage the use of these visual approaches more broadly and critically in HCI design studies.


Today's trade agreements include "trade-plus" provisions such as intellectual property, labor, and environment commitments and subject them to the same dispute settlement mechanisms as the traditional commercial provisions. This Article queries whether the institutional design in which such trade-plus provisions operate is both appropriate and appropriately theorized. It argues that the trade-plus commitments suffer from a mismatch between the obligations that they demand of states and their compliance mechanisms. The Article proceeds in three parts. Part I reviews the short evolution of the codification of selected trade-plus norms and their enforceability across a selection of international economic instruments from diverse states. Part II argues that the U.S.-Guatemala labor case under the CAFTA-DR demonstrates how the mechanics of the traditional trade agreement dispute settlement system do not accommodate one such trade-plus area (labor). Finally, Part III argues that trade-plus commitments need to be reconceived and that their enforcement mechanisms ought to be reevaluated. In the context of their efforts to modernize or update U.S. trade agreements, the Trump Administration and other governments ought to consider innovative institutional design that achieves enforcement on a principled basis. I argue that an alternative dispute settlement mechanism would better accommodate trade-plus enforcement in a way that traditional trade enforcement cannot. (September 2019 revision: this post now includes a link to a late-stage draft.)


Summary Genome-wide proximity ligation based assays like Hi-C have opened a window to the 3D organization of the genome. In so doing, they present data structures that are different from conventional 1D signal tracks. To exploit the 2D nature of Hi-C contact maps, matrix techniques like spectral analysis are particularly useful. Here, we present HiC-spector, a collection of matrix-related functions for analyzing Hi-C contact maps. In particular, we introduce a novel reproducibility metric for quantifying the similarity between contact maps based on spectral decomposition. The metric successfully separates contact maps mapped from Hi-C data coming from biological replicates, pseudo-replicates and different cell types. Availability Source code in Julia and the documentation of HiC-spector can be freely obtained at https://github.com/gersteinlab/HiC_spector Contact firstname.lastname@example.com


Purpose: Despite the increased awareness that all dialects are valid linguistic forms, perceptions of African American English (AAE) use are often negative in the general population. Students training for careers as speech-language pathologist (SLPs) are required to have coursework relating to cultural and linguistic diversity. However, little is known about the perceptions of AAE among students in SLP programs.Method: Seventy-three students from 46 randomly selected university programs in the United States completed an online survey including explicit statements regarding the validity of AAE and a matched-guide task assessing participants' implicit perceptions of AAE. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four audio pairings that differed in terms of the dialect spoken and the formality of the conversational context. Participants rated the speaker on 11 attributes (e.g., literate/illiterate, rich/poor) using the Revised Speech Dialect Attitudinal Scale.Results: Participants indicated positive opinions of statements on the validity of AAE. However, across three categories of personal attributes—sociointellectual, aesthetic, and dynamism—participants who heard the Mainstream American English recordings rated the speaker differently than recordings including AAE.Conclusions: Students in SLP programs express positive opinions regarding AAE, and yet, they rate speakers who speak AAE lower in personal attributes. The results highlight the importance of expanding training for future SLPs to include not only explicit statements about the value of AAE but also activities addressing implicit perceptions of dialect use. We provide a brief discussion of how the current data can be implemented for such an activity. Lesson plans and materials are provided as supplemental materials.Supplemental Material S1. How to: Increasing your cultural humility.Hendricks, A. E., Watson-Wales, M., & Reed, P. E. (2021). Perceptions of African American English by students in speech-language pathology programs. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_AJSLP-20-00339Publisher Note: This article is part of the Forum: Increasing Diversity in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Workforce, Part 1.