This paper traces the history of China's reform of its monetary policy framework and analyzes its success and problems. In the context of financial marketization and the failure of the quantity-targeting framework, the People's Bank of China transformed its monetary policy framework toward one that targets interest rates. The reform includes two important institutional changes: establishing an interest rate corridor and decreasing the difficulty the Open Market Operations room faces in estimating the market demand for reserves. The new monetary policy framework successfully stabilizes the interbank offered rate. However, this does not mean that the new framework is sufficient. One important problem remaining to be solved is how to manage the effects of fiscal activities on monetary policy operations. This paper analyzes the fiscal effects on reserves in China's Treasury Single Account system. The missing role of the Treasury in monetary policy operations increases the difficulty for the central bank to achieve its interest rate target. A further reform is therefore needed to provide a coordination mechanism between the Treasury and the People's Bank of China.


Both humanists and scientists need to grapple with the ethical and social issues presented by science and technology. Many issues in contemporary politics and social policy derive from the social consequences of scientific and technological developments. The votes of average citizens determine the funding and implementation of many policies that involve science and technology. Nonscientists need to be able to distinguish scientific evidence from political propaganda and pseudoscience. They need to be able to separate genuine scientific data from rhetoric and propaganda used to advocate policy positions. Despite the ever-growing body of scientific knowledge to convey to undergraduates in lectures and laboratories and the increasing importance of science and technology to society, there is even less room in science courses to cover the social issues of science and technology. As a result, more institutions are working to incorporate the sociology and history of science into integrative general education programs for all students. This is not an easy task. In this article, we discuss the imperative for this trend, the banners to integrating the sociology and history of science into the curriculum, and an approach to science studies adopted by the University of Southern Maine at Lewiston-Aubum (USM-LA). In todays world, students are bombarded by "scientific" claims. Even science majors often lack the conceptual tools to evaluate pseudoscientific claims outside their specialties. In our own teaching, we have encountered physics majors claiming to have magical and psychic powers and senior biochemistry majors who believe in young earth creationism. Additionally, many students have a naive and simplistic conception of the relation of science to technology and lack an understanding of the social, ethical, economic, and political dimensions oi science and technology. Knowledge and skills in the' sciences and in technology are of growing importance in modern life. Colleges struggle to provide an appropriate balance between science and the other disciplines in the curriculum. Likewise, many current revisions of general education stress interdisciplinary approaches and a focus on civic-mindedness. Increased "scientific literacy" can result from creatively weaving the history, sociology, and philosophy of science and technology' (science studies) throughout general education curricula. The History, Sociology, and Philosophy of Science There are several strands of recent scholarship that can inform efforts to incorporate these important science studies issues into the general education curriculum. Through the study of the history and philosophy of science, students come to realize that there are, in fact, a number of different scientific methods. A historical perspective can teach students that different scientific disciplines today emphasize different methods, systems of logic, and even notions of epistemology than they did in other historical periods. For instance, some sciences have been primarily descriptive, such as natural history or early astronomy. Other sciences have been primarily inductive and experimental: earlier in the history of physics and chemistry and later in biology and psychology. Still other sciences have been primarily deductive, such as earlier celestial mechanics or string theory today. Recent scholarship on the relation between science and technology can also be very useful in these courses. Because of the extent to which an understanding of technology depends on theoretical science, many people assume that technology is simply pure science applied. Students may not understand how social and political concerns influence technological choices and developments or the extent to which technological innovations are the result of tinkering and accident. Finally, arguably the newest and most controversial strand of scholarship is the sociology of scientific knowledge, which builds on the insights of Thomas Kuhn and addresses the role of authority, negotiation, and prestige in the growth of scientific consensus about a fact or theory. …


South East Queensland has been one of the fastest growing regions of Australia, both in terms of its rapidly growing population and an ever-expanding built environment. It is also one of the most vulnerable regions likely to suffer from the adverse impacts of climate change, especially increased flooding, storms, coastal erosion and drought. Responding to Climate Change: Lessons from an Australian Hotspot brings together the results of cutting-edge research from members of the Griffith Climate Change Response Program, showing how best to respond to anticipated changes and how to overcome barriers to adaptation. The authors treat climate change adaptation as a cross-cutting, multi-level governance policy challenge extending across human settlements, infrastructure, ecosystems, water management, primary industries, emergency management and human health. The research focuses on, but is not limited to, the experience of climate change adaptation in the recognised climate hotspot of South East Queensland. The results of this research will be of interest to planners, policy makers and other practitioners engaged in urban and environmental planning, coastal management, public health, emergency management, and physical infrastructure at the local, regional and metropolitan government scales. [Book Synopsis]


Assistance in creating high-quality exams would be welcomed by educators who do not have direct access to the proprietary data and methods used by educational testing companies. The current approach for measuring question difficulty relies on models of how good pupils will perform and contrasts that with their lower-performing peers. Inverting this process and allowing educators to test their questions before students answer them will speed up question development and utility. We cover two methods for automatically judging the difficulty and discriminating power of MCQs and how best to build sufficient exams from good questions.


This research project is concerned with the development of a realistic model for e-procurement adoption by organisations and groups observing Rules of Islamic Sharia (RIS). This model is intended to be based on the behavioural control, subjective norms, and the recognition of the benefits and risks of e-procurement adoption. The developed model, "E-Procurement Adoption Model" (E-PAM), combined and extended two existing models previously used for information technology adoption. Central to the design of the E-PAM is the principle that a realistic model should take into account all relevant psychological, social, cultural, demographic and religious factors. The mediating components "mediators" that determine the final model are thus determined by the specific aforementioned factors pertaining to the development of an e-procurement approach in the context of the Rules of Islamic Sharia. Therefore, in the design of the research model, factors including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, organisational facilitators, organisational leadership, critical success factors, challenges, barriers and benefits were taken into account. These factors in turn gave rise to the two mediating components of 'Attitude' and 'Rules of Islamic Sharia'.
A number of hypotheses were made in order to establish links between the contributing factors, the mediators and the adoption of e-procurement as the final dependent variable output of the model. An online questionnaire survey was conducted to validate the hypotheses using a structural equation model. The descriptive analysis of the survey data provided demographic details of the questionnaire participants and their employers and statistical analysis methods were used to correlate the contributing factors and mediators. The analysis of the survey data confirmed the existence of positive relationships between Benefits and Rules of Islamic Sharia, Organisational Facilitators and the Adoption of e-procurement, Organisational Facilitators and Organisational Leadership, and Rules of Islamic Sharia and the Adoption of e-procurement. It was observed that Perceived Usefulness and Organisational Leadership do not influence the adoption of e-procurement. Furthermore, the analysis suggested that Rules of Islamic Sharia is not influenced by Critical Success Factors.
This model successfully validated most of the initial hypotheses made regarding e-procurement adoption. The results of this research strongly encourage organisations observing Rules of Islamic Sharia to adopt e-procurement practices.


type="main" xml:id="ecor12093-abs-0001"> Survey data from over 3,000 academic scientists show that nearly half of these scientists report that their choice of research projects has been affected (to some degree) by the presence of third-party patents. Our evidence suggests that the operation of this patent-induced effect is through (i) restrictions patent owners place on the timing of follow-on publications and (ii) disincentives for open exchange of information between scientists. While the need to translate science into commercial use is potentially a valuable source of productivity growth, this should be balanced against the need for openness and information sharing in the scientific realm.


The Austroalpine and Upper Penninic nappes in eastern Switzerland represent a passive continental margin and the adjacent ocean of Jurassic-Cretaceous age, imbricated by Late Cretaceous-Tertiary orogenic shortening. Well-preserved, rift-related faults allow reconstruction of the passive margin and ocean-continent transition zone and yield new information on the kinematics of rifting. Rifting evolved from pure-shear stretching to detachment-controlled, asymmetric stretching and resulted in complete exhumation of subcontinental mantle rocks at the sea floor.

After precursory normal faulting in the Late Triassic, Jurassic rifting occurred in two phases. During the first rifting phase (Hettangian-Sinemurian), predominantly east-dipping normal faults developed in the upper crust; their dips decreased in the middle to lower crust, where they probably graded into anastomosing shear zones in the lower crust and mantle lithosphere. The resulting overall geometry approximated pure-shear stretching. During the second rifting phase (Toarcian-Middle Jurassic), a system of west-dipping detachment faults formed, penetrating the whole lithosphere and accommodating asymmetric extension. During progressive stretching, subcontinental mantle rocks were tectonically exhumed and exposed at the sea floor in two areas, represented by the Platta and Malenco nappes (Penninic). The intervening Margna and Sella continental nappes are interpreted as an extensional allochthon belonging to the Apulian margin. Finally, a mid-ocean ridge may have formed west of the Margna-Sella allochthon. The Austroalpine realm thus represents the lower-plate margin—and the Brianconnais, the upper-plate margin-of the Piemont-Liguria ocean. This scenario is in qualitative agreement with the subsidence histories of the two margins.


In this work, a simple and effective numerical model is proposed for solving the problem of a threedimensional elastic and isotropic half-space subjected to surface vertical displacements and pressures. For this purpose, the Galerkin Boundary Element Method for a three-dimensional half-space is introduced, and both surface displacement and pressure fields are discretized in order to obtain fast and accurate numerical solution. Assuming a piecewise constant discretization of both surface displacement and pressure fields, several numerical tests are performed showing the effectiveness of the model, for instance by determining accurately the translational and rotational stiffness of a rigid rectangular foundation on elastic half-space, together with the displacements generated by a uniform surface pressure over a rectangular area. Key-Words: Elastic half-space, Boundary Element Method, Boussinesq solution, rigid foundation stiffness, rigid indenter, half-space surface displacement, half-space surface pressure.


The eye-antennal imaginal discs of Drosophila melanogaster form the head capsule of the adult fly. Unlike the limb primordia, each eye-antennal disc gives rise to morphologically and functionally distinct structures. As a result, these discs provide an excellent model system for determining how the fates of primordia are specified during development. In this study, we investigated how the adjacent primordia of the compound eye and dorsal head vertex are specified. We show that the genes wingless (wg) and orthodenticle (otd) are expressed throughout the entire second instar eye-antennal disc, conferring a default fate of dorsal vertex cuticle. Activation of decapentaplegic (dpp) expression in the posterior eye disc eliminates wg and otd expression, thereby permitting eye differentiation. We also demonstrate that otd is activated by wg in the vertex primordium. Finally, we show that early activation of dpp depends on hedgehog (hh) expression in the eye anlage prior to morphogenetic furrow formation.


This study discusses the structure of Turkish National Innovation System (NIS) and challenges faced in the last decade in the context of the digital transformation. As a developing country and a member of G-20, how these challenges of Turkish NIS are mitigated and further be dealt with. It comprises lessons and provides cases for various similar NISs. In order to evaluate and provide policy recommendations for accelerating the transformation of Turkish economy, it benefits from systems approach as a basic academic framework. It is found that Turkey faces four key structural challenges calling for urgent response for their targets of 2023 (hundredth year of the Republic), namely productivity, growth, employment and investment. Implementing a relatively simple rule compatible with the peculiarities of the system and focusing on the diversity of policy mix, the study proposes ways to mitigate these structural challenges towards digital transformation.


One would be hard-pressed to find an era more inhospitable to either Christianity or humanism than that of the nascent Cold War in France, which severely tested affirmations of both perspectives. First, and doubtless most formidable, was the challenge of history. The devastating carnage of World War II and the Nazi genocide was stamped indelibly on the minds of all who had lived through the cataclysm. Humans had given a chilling demonstration of their capacity for destruction and, in the process, shattered eighteenth- and nineteenth-century notions of perfectibility through universal enlightenment, science, and technology. In the face of Auschwitz and Hiroshima, it seemed not only ingenuous but also indecent to affirm that humanity enjoyed some special dignity or unique status. The stark political alternatives appearing at the outset of the Cold War in 1947 also fueled an intellectual hostility to Christianity and humanism. For the French literati, the postwar ideological fault lines were simply too wide and too deep for genteel musings in the Renaissance tradition of "humanities" or the twentieth-century aestheticism consecrated by Andre Gide and La Nouvelle Revue Francaise (Sirinelli 141-49, 153-60). France's crushing defeat and humiliating occupation by the Germans had definitively discredited the witty, eclectic, skeptical yet optimistic humanism so prominent in the prewar philosophy of Alain and in the plays of Jean Giraudoux. History had trumped aesthetics: from the staunchly communist Louis Aragon and Paul Eluard, to the fiercely independent (if fellow-traveling) Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and even to those such as Albert Camus and Jean Paulhan who sought to transcend bipolar ideology, writers found themselves penning vehement editorials and arguing over the fate of collaborators and the future of a planet dominated by the Soviet Union and the United States. Francois Mauriac was no exception in addressing all these issues. Without serving as a standard-bearer for any political group or school of thought and without elaborating any general philosophy or ideological system, Mauriac nevertheless consistently articulated a Christian humanism in approaching a wide range of subjects. Amid the intellectual disarray of a world no longer rotating around the political, cultural, and economic axes of Europe, and much less France, he continued to place human beings at the forefront. In the face of unspeakable degradations by which humans had violated every recognized standard of moral behavior and profaned all notions of dignity and worth, Mauriac persisted in affirming the individual person as the locus of value, the basis of ethics, and the focus of knowledge. Confronting the uncompromising ideological and political rivalries taking shape not only in the Cold War but also in bloody colonial conflicts, he affirmed a common, universal humanity transcending ideological allegiances, national origins, and religious creeds. Moreover, Mauriac grounded his universal humanism in Christianity. Tzvetan Todorov has recently maintained that Christianity proves to be incompatible with a humanist perspective because it values human thought, action, and love only to the extent that they serve as stepping stones to the divine (Devoirs 226). Taking the contrary view, I shall explain how Mauriac's Christianity not only is compatible with universal humanism but also structures his portrayal of humankind's predicament in the later 1940s and early 1950s. After receiving the Nobel Prize for literature in 1952 largely on the basis of his psychological novels, Mauriac achieved even greater notoriety through a series of highly influential press articles known as the Bloc-notes (literally "notepad"), for which he is now widely recognized as France's most distinguished editorialist of the twentieth century. My focus here is the set of editorials from the dawn of the Cold War, edited and republished in 1999 by Jean Touzot. …


The study addressed the issue of teacher motivation as an essential factor for classroom effectiveness and school improvement. Teacher motivation has to do with teachers' desire to participate in the education process. 772 (10%) public primary and secondary school teachers selected through strategic random sampling technique from the south eastern part of the country participated in the study. Data was collected using a survey instrument designed by the researcher. Analysis of data revealed that the participating teachers almost unanimously agreed that teacher motivation is a vital factor for classroom effectiveness and school improvement. It was therefore recommended that in this era of materialism and display of wealth in the face of widespread poverty teachers need to be adequately motivated (salaries must be paid as at when due and teaching facilities made available) for an effective viable school system. Introduction Motivation is not completely a new term. What is interesting about it is that it is commonly assumed to be a good thing that goes in influencing individual's behaviour and performance at work. Teacher motivation naturally has to do with teachers' attitude to work. It has to do with teachers desire to participate in the pedagogical processes within the school environment. It has to do with teachers' interest in student discipline and control particularly in the classroom. Therefore it could underlie their involvement or non-involvement in academic and non-academic activities, which operate in schools. The teacher, is the one that translates educational philosophy and objective into knowledge and skill and transfers them to students in the classroom. Classroom climate is important in teacher motivation. If a teacher experiences the classroom as a safe, healthy, happy place with supportive resources and facilities for teaching for optimal learning, he/she tends to participate more than expected in the process of management, administration, and the overall improvement of the school. The teacher commands and emits the image of one who improves knowledge and the physical conditions of the classroom through orderliness, discipline and control. He makes diagnosis of student's feelings and attitudes inferred by their behaviour and response in the classroom environment. Hence Lash and Kirkpatrick (1990) concluded that in the absence of school programmes the major responsibility of working with children in the school rests with the teacher. Likewise, Maehr and Midgley (1991) affirm that what takes place in the classroom, even though the classroom itself is not an island, is critical. Therefore, depending on the degree of congruence with classroom practices and school environment, teachers teaching activities may dilute or enhance students' performance. Effectiveness is the "what of change" while improvement is the "how of change" (Stoll and Fink 1996). Teacher motivation, therefore, is anything done to make teachers happy, satisfied, dedicated and committed in such a way that they bring out their best in their places of work so that both students, parents and the society will greatly benefit from their services. Teachers have both intrinsic and extrinsic needs. A teacher who is intrinsically motivated may be observed to undertake a task for its own sake, for the satisfaction it provides or for the feeling of accomplishment and self-actualization. On the other hand, an extrinsically motivated teacher may perform the activity/duty in order to obtain some reward such as salary. Extrinsic motivation plays an important part in people's life. It is pre-eminent in influencing a person's behaviour. Therefore, the aim of the organization should be to build on and enhance the intrinsic motivation for teachers to teach effectively and at the same time, to supply some extrinsic motivation along the way for school improvement(O'neil, 1995). Review of Literature Educators are aware that reformers of education may establish new schools, effect changes in structure and curriculum, recommend and prescribe teaching methods and aids, in the end, the teacher will be solely responsible for applying them. …


A ten year retrospective study (2000-2009) of Marek's disease (MD) was conducted in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. 3,039 different poultry diseases were recorded, MD represents 4.9%. 63% of MD was recorded in birds 10 to 20 weeks old, 9.3% in birds above 30 weeks and 2.0% in birds below ten weeks. MD occurred mainly during the pre-rainy to rainy seasons with a progressive yearly increase. Strong association existed between season and MD (p < 0.05), risk estimate was also relevant (OR-2.4). A clinical analysis of birds affected with MD over the years revealed uneven growth and progressive weight loss as major complaints; ruffled feathers and whitish-yellow diarrhea were the major observable signs. Major gross lesions were severe emaciation, thickened proventriculus and flabby heart with loss of coronary fats. Histopathology revealed focal to diffuse neoplastic lesions in the affected organs. MD mainly affected chickens aged 10 to 20 weeks. The disease is endemic and on the increase in Zaria and its environs. We recommend that an effective MD vaccination technique and schedule be established for this region, purchase of point of lay chickens for production should be discouraged and standard biosecurity measures must be enhanced in hatcheries and farms to prevent primary exposure.

 Key words: Marek's disease, occurrence, diagnosis, Zaria.


Objective This research aims to develop a more scientific and reasonable performance evaluation indicator system for the implementation of an essential drug system in community health service institutions. Methods The Delphi method was used to establish an indicator system based on three rounds of expert consultations, and the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was used to determine the weights of the indicators. Results The participation in the three rounds of consultations were 100% (10/10), 90% (18/20), and 85% (17/20), which showed that the experts had real enthusiasm for participating in this research. The authority coefficients of the first-, second-, and third-level indicators were 0.75, 0.76, and 0.76, respectively, which showed that the consultation results were dependable. The concordance coefficients of the second and third rounds were 0.489 and 0.487, respectively (P <0.001), indicating that the expert opinions were highly consistent. The performance evaluation indicator system consisted of three first-level indicators (supporting, implementation, and effect indicators), nine second-level indicators, and 21 third-level indicators. Conclusion In this new performance evaluation indicator system, the selected experts were representative, the consultation results were dependable, the constructed evaluation indicator system was reasonable, and the setting of weights was scientific.


ABSTRACTThe Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) is used to simulate the long-range transport of biomass burning (BB) pollutants from Southeast Asia (SEA) towards the Taiwan Central Mountain Range (CMR) in March and April 2010. The results show that a proportion of the BB plume was blocked and compressed at the windward side of CMR. High-altitude BB plume is shown to influence air quality on the ground via three mechanisms: (1) the subsidence in the anticyclone, (2) the downward motion in the cold surge, and (3) the vertical mixing of the boundary layer over land. Two case studies are further investigated to probe the chemical evolution of the air parcel approaching Mt. Lulin. The first case shows that the third mechanism also explained the increase in the concentrations of peroxyacyl nitrate (PAN), higher peroxyacyl nitrate (PANX), NH3, SO2, and volatile organic compounds in the BB plume when entering the land over western Taiwan. Meanwhile, the percentage of NO3– in the plume is also significantly increased. The second case reveals that valley wind transported air pollutants from the ground to the mountains. The air parcel, accompanied with considerable concentrations of PAN, PANX, SULF, and anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol, moved up Mt. Lulin. The pollutant concentrations, except for elemental carbon, in the air parcel decreased on approach to Mt. Lulin because the air parcel was mixed with a clean air.


This book is a commanding assessment of labour market theory across the social sciences. It provides a radically original critique of labour market theory, which draws constructively but critically on existing literature. The work: * contributes to the debates on key issues in labour economics such as unemployment, gender, equal pay and the minimum theory * illustrates the policy implications in empirical studies * supplements existing orthodox labour market theory texts.


This article explores the growth of online mobilizations using data from the indignados (outraged) movement in Spain, which emerged under the influence of the revolution in Egypt and as a precursor to the global Occupy mobilizations. The data track Twitter activity around the protests that took place in May 2011, which led to the formation of camp sites in dozens of cities all over the country and massive daily demonstrations during the week prior to the elections of May 22. We reconstruct the network of tens of thousands of users and monitor their message activity for a month (April 25, 2011, to May 25, 2011). Using both the structure of the network and levels of activity in message exchange, we identify four types of users and analyze their role in the growth of the protest. Drawing from theories of online activism and research on information diffusion in networks, this article centers on the following two questions: How does protest information spread in online networks? And how do different actors contribute to the growth of activity? The article aims to inform the theoretical debate on whether digital technologies are changing the logic of collective action and to provide evidence of how new media facilitates the emergence of massive offline mobilizations.


T he development of e-Research infrastructure has enabled data to be shared and accessed more openly. Policy mandates for data sharing have contributed to the increasing availability of research data through data repositories, which create favourable conditions for the re-use of data for purposes not always anticipated by original collectors. Despite the current efforts to promote transparency and reproducibility in science, data re-use cannot be assumed, nor merely considered a 'thrifting' activity where scientists shop around in data repositories considering only the ease of access to data. The lack of an integrated view of individual, social and technological influential factors to intentional and actual data re-use behaviour was the key motivator for this study. Interviews with 13 social scientists produced 25 factors that were found to influence their perceptions and experiences, including both their unsuccessful and successful attempts to re-use data. These factors were grouped into six theoretical variables: perceived benefits, perceived risks, perceived effort, social influence, facilitating conditions, and perceived re-usability. These research findings provide an in-depth understanding about the re-use of research data in the context of open science, which can be valuable in terms of theory and practice to help leverage data re-use and make publicly available data more actionable .


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the risk of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and ulcers associated to the use of low-dose aspirin (ASA) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) treated with cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) drugs, to clarify the controversy in the literature.

METHODS
Using a longitudinal databank, a prospective study using Cox proportional hazards models was performed in patients receiving COX-2 therapy for RA or OA to examine the effect of ASA on GI events. In 4 separate analyses patients reported dyspeptic symptoms and GI ulcers at semiannual intervals for up to 3 years. Ulcers were validated by review of medical records.

RESULTS
Among 4240 patients taking COX-2-specific inhibitors, with no ulcer at study start, the age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratios for the effect of ASA on the development of epigastric pain, heartburn, nausea, and ulcers, without these previous events, were 1.11 (95% CI 0.97-1.29), 1.00 (95% CI 0.88-1.15), 1.32 (95% CI 1.13-1.54), and 1.27 (95% CI 0.78-2.05). The use of a propensity score to account for the risk of ASA prescription showed an even lower effect of ASA among all GI variables. This risk occurs within the setting of no prior GI symptoms or GI events, and independently of the use of proton pump inhibitors, other GI drugs, other nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, prednisone, or methotrexate.

CONCLUSION
In actual practice, the use of low-dose ASA has a small effect on the risk of developing dyspeptic symptoms in a group of patients with rheumatic disease.


Abstract Gross and microscopic examination of the tongue and hyolingual apparatus of the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) revealed numerous dis-tinct differences from those of other toothed whales and dolphins, largely reflecting the tongue's atypi-cal position, relations, and size, and its primary role in suction ingestion, rather than prey prehen-sion or transport, as in many other odontocetes. Unlike other odontocetes, the sperm whale has a short, wide tongue that is uniquely situated at the rear of the open oral cavity. Since the tongue does not extend to the tooth row, which runs along the elongated median mandibular symphysis, it cannot easily reorient grasped prey items, yet it can posi-tion them to be swallowed or sucked directly into the oropharyngeal opening. The scarcity of intrin-sic lingual musculature (m. lingualis proprius), coupled with the relatively large paired extrinsic muscles inserting in the tongue—notably the m. hyoglossus, whose profuse fibers comprise much of the tongue root, and the m. genioglossus—suggests the tongue mainly undergoes positional, rather than shape, changes as it is retracted by the hyoid to generate negative intraoral pressures to capture and ingest prey items via suction. The tongue possesses numerous longitudinal folds or plicae, but almost no free tip; its slightly convex dorsum bears deep fissures and few sensory receptors in a multilayered and predominantly aglandular horny epithelium.Key Words: sperm whale, Physeter macrocepha-lus, tongue, hyoid, myology, morphology, suction feeding


A high power cryogenic cooling Tm-doped (2%) GdVO4 laser double-end-pumped by fiber-coupled-diode with the center wavelength of 804.5 nm at 21 Celsius degree is reported. The highest continuous-wave (CW) power of 2.35 W at 1903 nm is attained at pump power of 24 W. The slope efficiency is 12.5% and the threshold is 3.2 W. Single- and double-end-pumped types are investigated.


Sectarian violence in the Middle East; religious nationalism in South Asia; threats of religious extremism in the West; interreligious battles in Africa; religious suppression in East Asia. These realities suggest that religion plays a significant role in the modern world and, by implication, U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. government, despite its own secular tradition, is challenged by the intersections between the role of religion and other international objectives. Misunderstanding or even dismissing religion proves to be deadly. Over the last few years, the government has made some attempts to better accommodate contemporary religious issues, but the results are limited. Actions and reactions continue to be based on a cursory understanding of religion's influence, an outdated understanding of conflict and a misguided response to the interplay of the two. If attention is paid to religion, the focus remains on the extremist beliefs and actions of a minority, rather than the ways it guides and inspires the majority and can be harnessed for good. Further, there is widespread recognition and much evidence that today's conflicts differ significantly from those of the Cold War era (i.e., the majority of contemporary conflicts are not between nation states; rather they involve state and non-state actors and are often based on identity). (1) Despite this shift, we have not always responded with corresponding changes in the methods used to resolve conflicts. In general, current government approaches continue to discount the complexity of religion and conflict, especially at the local level, in favor of immediate action and oversimplified "us versus them" explanations. This response is problematic. When we view religion as strictly a promoter of violence or dismiss it as irrelevant to our goals, we risk misunderstanding the local dynamics of conflict and simultaneously overlook a potent resource for addressing urgent conflicts. Religion, with its unmatched authority among many communities in every region of the world, carries within it a diverse set of traditions and methodologies that promote peace. Individuals who have the knowledge, credibility and inclination to tap into these resources--local, peace-seeking religious leaders--may carry some of the answers to combating those who abuse religion to ignite violence. This article argues that in an increasingly globalized and religiously diverse world, local religious peacemakers are critical partners in diplomacy. An in-depth knowledge of their communities is critical for building societies conducive to stability and development and meeting national foreign policy goals. Following a brief description of its methodology, this article presents a concise background on how religion is a challenge for U.S. foreign policy. This will be followed by a discussion on religion's contemporary place in world affairs, the changing nature of conflict and its resolution, and how these two factors necessitate a closer look at the role of individual religious peacemakers working at the grassroots level. Based on interviews with local religious peacemakers, coupled with research on their work in armed conflict zones, this article then examines their important roles in and contributions to their countries' peace processes. Finally, some recommendations are offered on how U.S. government officials and diplomats can benefit from the efforts of local religious peacemakers and enhance their chances of reaching their security and policy objectives. METHODOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS Since 1993, the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding has been identifying, supporting and studying the work of relatively unrecognized religiously-motivated peacemakers working in areas of armed conflict around the world. (2) This article is based on a series of interviews with and research on members of Tanenbaum's Peacemakers in Action network. Although these men and women are from vastly different cultures, conflict situations and religious backgrounds, they share a set of characteristics distinguishing them from other actors. …


This experimental study evaluated whether communicating the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change is likely to be effective with the American public. Drawing on a large national sample (N = 6,301), we set out to replicate and extend the findings of van der Linden et al. (2015). Consistent with the original study, we find robust and replicated evidence that communicating the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change leads to significant and substantial changes in perceived scientific agreement among conservatives, moderates, and liberals alike. These findings prove robust, even among those predisposed to receive counter-attitudinal information (e.g., Fox-news watchers, global warming skeptics). Further, among conservatives, we find the greatest change in perceived consensus among the subset whose own friends and family are least likely to believe in human-caused global warming. In short, we find little evidence of identity-protective cognition and no evidence of belief polarization across these groups. We further find that communicating the scientific consensus has (positive) direct effects (across the political spectrum) on belief that climate change is happening, human-caused, and a serious threat that requires societal action. We also find that these direct effects are mediated by changes in perceived scientific consensus. In other words, public perception of the scientific consensus is an important gateway cognition. Results also show that belief in the scientific consensus is more influential in driving public engagement than perceived consensus among other groups (e.g., Americans). Lastly, although public understanding of the scientific consensus is low, we find that conservatives and moderates are significantly less aware of the scientific consensus than liberals.


Studies have shown that deception in the hiring process is common. Since more people are using computer mediated communication for job interviewing, it is important to understand how those modes of communication affect deception and its detection. Differences in gender may affect the communication process. Very little research has been conducted on gender and deception via electronic media. This paper presents hypotheses concerning gender differences in deception and detection in job interviewing situations using various electronic communication media. Theories of deception, media richness, social presence and research on gender differences form the basis for hypotheses concerning the influence of gender and social presence on deception and its detection. The hypotheses were tested in a laboratory experiment. Results show that there was a statistically significant difference in deception detection for gender. Females were better at detection than males. These results suggest that future research in gender and deception is warranted.


The extensive literature on research co-creation is mostly based on problems being treated as clearly defined and solvable. What is the impact on co-creation when problems are complex, with the following characteristics: difficult to delimit, contested definitions, multiple uncertainties
 and unresolvable unknowns, constraints on what can be done, and no perfect solution? Co-creation on such problems requires a research mindset that appreciates that stakeholders have an essential role in making complexity evident and that limiting stakeholder involvement also limits the ability
 to understand and effectively act on complex problems. The Integration and Implementation Sciences (i2S) framework is introduced as a way to systematically take into account multiple stakeholders with multiple relevant inputs. In addition, one specific tool, the research-relevant modified
 International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) spectrum, is described as a way of exploring stakeholder engagement. For complex problems this modified spectrum can be used to describe different ways of including stakeholders, to reflect on appropriate forms of engagement, as well
 as to take into account both level of researcher control and different categories of stakeholder groups. A research programme examining the feasibility of prescribing pharmaceutical heroin as a treatment for heroin dependence stimulated thinking about co-creation on complex problems and is
 used as a practice example to illustrate the points covered.


This paper uses a survey of 1281 New Zealand exporters to investigate the role of firm characteristics in setting export prices. Larger, and more pro-ductive firms, are more likely to differentiate prices across markets. Primary sector firms are more likely to price to market than firms in other sectors, even taking into account other firm characteristics. This contrasts sharply with the commonly-held view that the price of these products is determined on the international market. In a further contribution to the literature, we find that service sector firms can also price to market, at similar rates to manufacturers manufacturers.


ABSTRACT This study examined whether visual-spatial attention could predict Chinese reading achievement longitudinally beyond some well-established reading precursors. A total of 257 second- and third-grade Hong Kong Chinese-speaking children participated in the study. Visual-spatial attention was measured by visual search tasks, which assessed the skills in highly inefficient and efficient searches. Chinese character reading, word reading fluency and reading comprehension skills were measured 1 year later. Latent variable path analysis showed that the skill in inefficient search uniquely predicted later word reading after the model controlled for phonological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, orthographic awareness, age and nonverbal IQ; while its effect on reading comprehension was completely mediated by word reading. Moreover, the skill in highly efficient search was not a unique predictor of both reading skills. The findings indicated the roles of top-down visual-spatial attention for word- and text-level Chinese reading.


Existing and planned reliance on thermoelectric power plants—facilities that burn oil, natural gas, coal, and biomass, or fission atoms—depends too heavily on assumptions of widespread, abundant water resources. As the Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated, power plants in the United States take in almost triple the average amount of water flowing over Niagara Falls each minute to meet their cooling needs. 1 Or, put another way, on a typical day more than 500 billion liters of fresh water travel through power plants in the United States—more than twice the amount flowing through the entire Nile River. 2 Yet water is a critical constraint often overlooked in electricity and energy decisions. When considered, it challenges us to think more broadly about integrated resource planning, reliability challenges, and resource selection.


© The Author(s) 2020. As a consequence of responding to colleagues who asked about the publication of the original article [1], the authors have determined that the data published in Table 4 of the paper are incorrect. A number of moderate to strong correlations were identified in the corrected data that were not identified in the original manuscript. The corrected table is shown below. These corrections affect the following sentences in the Discussion, but do not affect the remainder of the findings in the paper, or the summary of data in the Abstract. The following sentences in the Discussion "Table 4 shows that the correlation between event timing was low in most instances. Interestingly, the duration between thelarche and menarche was not correlated with age at thelarche or age at menarche, but was highly correlated with age at regular periods, but not with age at menarche or age at regular periods. These high correlations suggest that these risk factors may be acting through the same pathway as each other or one may be a marker for the other" should be replaced by "Table 4 shows that the duration between thelarche and menarche was only modestly correlated (- 0.37 and 0.39) with age at thelarche or age at menarche, and was poorly correlated with age at regular periods (0.19). Strong (> 0.70) correlations were observed, however, for age at regular periods with respect to durations to this age from thelarche and menarche, for the duration between menarche and reaching adult height with age at reaching adult height, between the duration from menarche to regular periods and from thelarche to regular periods, and between ages at menarche and thelarche". (Table presented).


Background Heavy use of alcohol is commonly associated with heavy smoking (nicotine intake). Although many factors, including mood effects of these two drugs may contribute to their co-use, the exact neurobiological underpinnings are far from clear. It is well known that chronic alcohol exposure induces neuroinflammation that may precipitate depressive-like behavior, which is considered an important factor in alcohol relapse. Nicotine, on the other hand, possesses anti-inflammatory and antidepressant effects. Purpose In this study, we sought to determine which proinflammatory markers may be associated with the depressogenic effects of chronic alcohol and whether nicotine pretreatment may normalize these changes. Study design For this purpose, we treated adult male Wistar rats with alcohol (1.0 g/kg, IP), nicotine (0.3 mg/kg, IP) or their combination once daily for 14 days. Two prominent proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and TNF-α) in two primary brain regions, namely the hippocampus and frontal cortex that are intimately involved in mood regulation, were evaluated. Results Chronic alcohol resulted in increases in both cytokines in both regions as determined by Western blot. Nicotine completely blocked alcohol-induced effects in the hippocampus, but not in the frontal cortex. These data suggest that nicotine may mitigate the inflammatory effects of alcohol in brain-selective region. Hence, the previously observed depressogenic effects of alcohol and the antidepressant effects of nicotine may at least be partially mediated through manipulations of proinflammatory cytokines in the hippocampus. Conclusion These findings suggest possible therapeutic potential of anti-inflammatory cytokines in combating alcohol-induced depression and/or relapse.


Real estate has gained wider acceptance as a legitimate institutional investment. The asset class continues to grow and adopt many of the features of the broader capital markets. International strategies, private equity strategies [with general partner - limited partner promoted fee structures], public REIT corporate governance, structured debt products (commercial mortgage-backed securities and commercial real estate collateralized debt obligations), hedge funds, as well as commercial real estate index-based derivatives are among the topics covered in this issue. Today real estate must compete in the alternative space with private equity, hedge funds, infrastructure and more. Yet, as several of the articles in this edition conclude, real estate retains its distinct features as an asset class; the role of real estate as a portfolio risk reducer looks sustainable over the long-term. Over long and short time periods, its return patterns are rarely in close synchronization with stocks and bonds, despite the adoption of the financial tools and techniques of the broader capital markets. This paradox-further integration with the broader capital markets, yet distinct and separate financial behavior-is the underlying theme of nearly all the articles in the issue.


Multidisciplinary studies indicate that auditory hallucinations may arise from speech perception neurocircuitry without disrupted theory of mind capacities. Computer simulations of excessive pruning in speech perception neural networks provide a model for these hallucinations and demonstrate that connectivity reductions just below a "psychotogenic threshold" enhance information processing. These data suggest a process whereby vulnerability to schizophrenia is maintained in the human population despite reproductive disadvantages of this illness.


Utilizing phase change material (PCM) in concentric tube and shell and tube latent heat exchangers known as latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) have been extensively studied due to the high ability and density in storing energy during the melting (charging) process. Inadequate melting in these systems reduces the thermal performance of LHTES systems. To facilitate and accelerate the melting process, innovative design of such systems is key. The present study proposes novel designs of toroidal tubes embedded in the LHTES system as a latent heat exchanger. The effect of the cross-section geometry of the tube on the thermal performance of the system is investigated through simulation and comparison of different cross-sectional geometric shapes. A mathematical model based on the enthalpy-porosity approach is developed and numerically solved by finite volume method to simulate the energy transport processes inside the system. Several transient heat transfer characteristics, e.g., thermal filed, melt fraction, Nusselt number, and energy storage during phase change, are determined and compared for all cases to evaluate their thermal performance and find the optimal geometry. The results indicate that downward triangular geometry for the cross-sectional shape of the tube shows the best performance as it significantly enhances the melting process resulting in a faster energy storage rate during the charging process. Compared with the circular toroidal tube as the base geometry, the downward triangular shape design for the toroidal tube can improve the charging power of the system by 21%.


The corporate stock option backdating scandal has dominated business page headlines since the summer of 2006. The SEC has launched investigations of more than one hundred companies with respect to the timing and pricing of stock options granted during the boom years of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the number of firms caught up in the scandal continues to increase. This Article contributes to our understanding of the backdating phenomenon by analyzing the economics of backdating and the characteristics of the firms under investigation. Its main points are the following: First, given the high volatilities of the stocks of the technology companies that dominate the list of firms under investigation and the fact that options granted to executives and employees typically may not be exercised for several years, press reports that focus on the size of the strike price "discounts" achieved by backdating significantly overstate the impact on the value per share of backdated options. In some cases, reducing the strike price by a dollar per share by backdating increased the Black-Scholes value of the option by less than twenty cents per share. Second, backdating dramatically reduced the apparent value of options, which reduced the total level of executive compensation reported to shareholders. However, because the size of executive stock option grants often is determined by first establishing the value to be delivered and then "backing into" the number of shares to be covered by the option, reducing the apparent value of option shares may have substantially increased the size and economic value of some backdated executive option grants. Third, comparison of semiconductor firms under investigation for backdating with peer companies that are not suggests an association between backdating and the use of options in compensating non-executive employees. This Article considers the effects of and several possible explanations for backdating non-executive options, including reducing apparent rank and file compensation. Finally, this Article argues that the backdating phenomenon is not an accounting scandal. Backdating has accounting consequences, but it is unlikely to have been accounting driven.


One golden summer afternoon in 1862, the young Oxford mathematics don Charles Dodgson shared a picnic with three little girls in a boat on the River Thames. One of the sisters, Alice Liddell, asked for a story "with plenty of nonsense in it". The adventure he created for her under the pen name Lewis Carroll and the unforgettable characters he invented - the White Rabbit, the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, amongst others - have enchanted generations of readers thoughout the world. The world of Lewis Carroll, whose powerful imagination gave us the timeless magic of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass", is here vividly brought to life.


Magnetic anisotropy fabrics were measured in 495 specimens collected from the Cascadia accretionary prism to characterize the development of mineral preferred orientation fabrics during deformation. Comparison of high-field and low-field susceptibilities was used to determine the relative contributions of the paramagnetic clay minerals and the ferrimagnetic trace minerals (magnetite, greigite, pyrrhotite) to the magnetic susceptibility fabrics. Sites 888 and 891 have anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) fabrics that are controlled primarily by the ferrimagnetic minerals. Sites 889/890 and 892 have AMS fabrics that are controlled, to varying degrees, by both paramagnetic clays and the ferrimagnetic minerals. Rock magnetic experiments indicate that both magnetite and magnetic sulfides (greigite and/or pyrrhotite) are present in nearly all the specimens. The AMS fabrics from all sites agree well with the observed structures in spite of the complex magnetic mineralogy in these sediments. In particular, Sites 888 and 891 appear to have comparable magnetic mineralogies, along with similar depositional environments, ages, and Hthologies. Using Site 888 as an undeformed reference, a weak tectonic fabric overprint is indicated by the Site 891 AMS results.


Leptin is a hypothalamic hormone that supresses food intake; cannabis is a well-known appetite stimulant (see Mechoulam and Fride). Di Marzo et al. show that leptin regulates the levels of endogenous cannabinoids, although the mechanism underlying this regulation remains ambiguous. Genetic deletion of the cannabinoid receptor CB1 decreases food intake, and this decrease in appetite can be reproduced in wild-type mice by antagonism of the CB1 receptor. Leptin injection decreases endogenous cannabinoid levels in the hypothalamus. Obese mice with defective leptin signaling [fa/fa Zucker mice, db/db mice (defective leptin receptor), and ob/ob mice (leptin deficient)] exhibit enhanced levels of endogenous cannabinoids, suggesting that uncontrolled cannabinoids' signaling may be contributing to the increased food intake in these animals. In ob/ob mice and db/db mice, treatment with the CB1 antagonist suppressed eating. In neuropeptide Y-deficient animals, treatment with the CB1 antagonist decreased food intake, suggesting that cannabinoids and neuropeptide Y may redundantly and independently regulate appetite. R. Mechoulam, E. Fride, Physiology: A hunger for cannabinoids. Nature 410, 763-765 (2001). [Online Journal] V. Di Marzo, S. K. Goparaju, L. Wang, J. Liu, S. Bátkai, Z. Járai, F. Fezza, G. I. Miura, R. D. Palmiter, T. Sugiura, G. Kunos, Leptin-regulated endocannabinoids are involved in maintaining food intake. Nature 410, 822-825 (2001). [Online Journal]


Parallel skeletons are essential structured design patterns for efficient heterogeneous and parallel programming. They allow programmers to express common algorithms in such a way that it is much easier to read, maintain, debug and implement for different parallel programming models and parallel architectures. Reductions are one of the most common parallel skeletons. Many programming frameworks have been proposed for accelerating reduction operations on heterogeneous hardware. However, for the Java programming language, little work has been done for automatically compiling and exploiting reductions in Java applications on GPUs. In this paper we present our work in progress in utilizing compiler snippets to express parallelism on heterogeneous hardware. In detail, we demonstrate the usage of Graal's snippets, in the context of the Tornado compiler, to express a set of Java reduction operations for GPU acceleration. The snippets are expressed in pure Java with OpenCL semantics, simplifying the JIT compiler optimizations and code generation. We showcase that with our technique we are able to execute a predefined set of reductions on GPUs within 85% of the performance of the native code and reach up to 20x over the Java sequential execution.


The current study uses Reynolds equation and the cross-film flow velocity profile to analytically determine pertinent locations for texture feature positioning in sliding hydrodynamic contacts. The position of textures is shown to have a significant effect on the lubricant film thickness, thus the load carrying capacity and generated friction and power loss. It is shown that textures, residing after the inlet lubricant recirculation boundary and prior to the position of maximum contact pressure enhance film thickness and reduce friction in the contact of real rough sliding surfaces. The methodology is applied to partial surface texturing of a thin compression ring of a high performance race engine, with the predicted results confirming the utility of the expounded analytical technique and its conformance to the findings of others reported in literature. The time–efficient analytical and fundamental approach constitutes the main contribution of the paper to furtherance of knowledge.


Synopsis Results of integrated seismic mapping, within the Firth of Forth in the offshore Midland Valley of Scotland, are presented and illustrate aspects of the subsurface structure and tectonic evolution of the Upper Devonian to Carboniferous succession. Evidence for three main phases of tectonic activity has been recognized: (1) Late Devonian to Dinantian fault-controlled subsidence; (2) basin-wide Silesian subsidence, localized inversion and growth folding; (3) Late Silesian dextral transtensional and transpressional strike-slip faulting. During the first phase of tectonic activity, the NNE-trending Mid Forth Fault is interpreted to represent a Late Devonian to Dinantian extensional fault, with a small, mainly Dinantian depocentre developed in the hangingwall block that has subsequently been inverted during Silesian times. A major Late Devonian to Dinantian depocentre also occurs in the hangingwall block of the NE-trending offshore continuation of the Crossgatehall Fault, although it remains unclear whether this mainly Dinantian depocentre was developed during pull-apart as a result of extension or transtensional strike-slip fault movement. The NNE-trending Leven Syncline and Mid Forth Anticline within the hangingwall block of the Mid Forth Fault are interpreted as Silesian synsedimentary growth folds that formed during the second phase of tectonic activity. The peak of this activity occurred during intra-Westphalian B to Westphalian C times. In the third phase, the ENE-trending Inchkeith Fault Zone is interpreted as a Late Silesian transtensional–transpressional strike-slip fault that dextrally offsets the axial trace of the Leven Syncline. Evidence from the Firth of Forth could provide support for regional tectonic models involving mainly dextral strike-slip fault activity during Devonian–Carboniferous times, or mainly sinistral strike-slip during Devonian to Early Carboniferous followed by dextral strike-slip during Late Carboniferous times, for the development of the Upper Devonian and Carboniferous succession. However, the latter model is preferred as it provides the more convincing explanation for our interpretation that the NNE-trending Mid Forth Fault represents a Late Devonian to Dinantian extensional or transtensional fault that was inverted during Silesian times. This inversion may therefore reflect a major change in the regional stress field.


Introduction: There is a clinical need for biomarkers that can help develop personalized medicine for prostate cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNA species which regulate gene expression by interacting with messenger RNAs (mRNAs). miRNAs are attractive candidates as biomarkers, since they are stably preserved in clinical samples, including FFPE tissues, serum and urine, and can be readily detected by PCR. In this study we highlight the potential of various miRNAs as biomarkers in prostate cancer.Methods: microRNAs of interest were selected by bioinformatics analyses performed on prostate cancer biopsy datasets held in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) repository. Expression of selected miRNAs (miR-205, miR-200c, miR-141, miR-24 and miR-210) were subsequently profiled by PCR in a panel of prostate cancer cell-lines and in a small cohort of clinical prostate biopsy specimens. Functional analysis, identification of targets and correlation with clinicopathological parameters were performed by in vitro bioassays and further in silico analysis. Result: TCGA analysis revealed several miRNAs that were significantly correlated with clinicopathological parameters (Gleason, TNM staging, PSA). Of these, we progressed to show in vitro that miR-210 is induced by hypoxia, an important factor in prostate cancer progression. In a small pilot dataset, we found miR-24 was down-regulated in tumour tissue compared to matched normal tissue. miR-200c and miR-141 displayed variable expression in these clinical samples, dependent on the methylation status of their shared promoter. mRNA targets and functional networks of each selected miRNA were identified, revealing the complex network of interactions that determine their functionality in prostate cancer. Discussion: In this study, we provide representative examples to illustrate that miRNAs play an important role in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer.Increasing our understanding of the functionality of specific miRNAs in prostate cancer will be instrumental in developing this exciting field of research so that it can inform precision medicine and improve patient outcome.


Bayesian inference is now widely established as one of the principal foundations for machine learning. In practice, exact inference is rarely possible, and so a variety of approximation techniques have been developed, one of the most widely used being a deterministic framework called variational inference. In this paper we introduce Variational Message Passing (VMP), a general purpose algorithm for applying variational inference to Bayesian Networks. Like belief propagation, VMP proceeds by sending messages between nodes in the network and updating posterior beliefs using local operations at each node. Each such update increases a lower bound on the log evidence (unless already at a local maximum). In contrast to belief propagation, VMP can be applied to a very general class of conjugate-exponential models because it uses a factorised variational approximation. Furthermore, by introducing additional variational parameters, VMP can be applied to models containing non-conjugate distributions. The VMP framework also allows the lower bound to be evaluated, and this can be used both for model comparison and for detection of convergence. Variational message passing has been implemented in the form of a general purpose inference engine called VIBES ('Variational Inference for BayEsian networkS') which allows models to be specified graphically and then solved variationally without recourse to coding.


"Snakes in Suits" is a compelling, frightening, and scientifically sound look at exactly how psychopaths work in the corporate environment: what kind of companies attract them, how they negotiate the hiring process, and how they function day by day. You'll learn how they apply their "instinctive" manipulation techniques-assessing potential targets, controlling influential victims, and abandoning those no longer useful-to business processes such as hiring, political command and control, and executive succession, all while hiding within the corporate culture. It's a must read for anyone in the business world, because whatever level you're at, you'll learn the subtle warning signs of psychopathic behaviour and be able to protect yourself and your company-before it's too late.


Interorganizational relationships enabled by information systems (IS) are formed under various contingencies. Past research in interorganizational collaborations has benefitted from employing rational choice and institutional theory separately but as organizations face dual pressures to improve performance and gain legitimacy in their social environments a fuller explanation must encompass both perspectives. This study examines the question of why ICT-enabled collaborations form in the public safety domain by employing rational choice and institutional theory perspectives as complementary. This study specifically examines the possibility of a neighbor effect in stimulating the establishment of interagency policing collaborations, while also attending to economic, geographic, and demographic factors influencing this decision to join-up. When completed, this study will contribute to IS knowledge by extending homophily research into the domain of public safety IS, and by incorporating institutional and rational perspectives as an analytical platform from which to apply findings from the public to the private sector.


The aims of the study are:
To research, and document, deaf pupils' experiences of inclusion, their perceptions of the way teachers view deafness, and to observe the effect of using sign language to educate the children within a mainstream setting.

This study has as its focus 5 deaf pupils who are part of a Hearing Impaired Unit of 20 deaf children within the Greenview mainstream primary school for 700 pupils. I focus on three research themes:
1) Inclusion. Firstly: how do deaf pupils describe/feel about their learning experience in an inclusive classroom? Secondly: are deaf pupils a unique group in tenns of their needs?
2) Pedagogy. Firstly: what educational strategies are in place to make inclusion of deaf pupils work? Secondly: how do teachers' perceptions of deafness affect their pedagogy?
3) Communication. How does the presence of a facilitator, and their participation in the classroom, influence the situation?

The philosophy influencing this study stems from a socio-constructivist perspective, and the three themes of inclusion, pedagogy and communication are revisited in each chapter. This study follows an ethnographic case study methodology, using an adaptation of Stake's (1995) 7 step methodology to address pupil issues, and Wood et aI's (1986) Moves Matrix codes to analyse pupl/teacher dialogue. Within its framework, the study uses observation and interview techniques to gain insights, from the child's perspective, as to how one school's 'inclusive' policy is experienced in practice. The study reveals surprising observations, finding that, for example:

Within the theme of inclusion:
Deaf pupils felt they could flourish within a mainstream classroom provided their unique identity and language needs were recognised and valued. They felt comfortable with "deaf aware" mainstream teachers who improved acoustic conditions within the classroom, managed audio equipment to amplify speech and kept background noise low.

Within the theme of pedagogy:
Experienced "deaf aware" teachers actively planned lessons with specialist staff to use a range of strategies suitable for deaf children's' learning. These experienced teachers adapted their communication strategies to use a more flexible approach to talking and listening.

Within the theme of communication:
BSL provides good language learning opportunities for the deaf pupils, but this is not always matched by the attitudes of mainstream staff. The mode of communication does not influence pupils as much as the strategy the teacher uses to introduce lessons. Deaf adults are necessary in the classroom to provide deaf children with mature BSL language experience and adult role models.

A summary emerges of the experiences of deaf pupils at Greenview, and the aspects of inclusion that they find most helpful to learning. Such a multi-faceted glimpse into the children's educational experience will be of interest to teachers, parents and all those involved in the disability/inclusion debate.


The Mediterranean and northern Arabian regions provide a unique natural laboratory to constrain geodynamics associated with arc–continent and continent–continent collision and subsequent orogenic collapse by analysing regional and temporal distributions of the various elements in the geological archive. This book combines thirteen new contributions that highlight timing and distribution of the Cretaceous to Recent evolution of the Calabrian, Carpathian, Aegean and Anatolian segments of the Africa–Arabia–Eurasia subduction zone. These are subdivided into five papers documenting the timing and kinematics of Cretaceous arc–continent collision, and Eocene and Miocene continent–continent collision in Anatolia, with westward extrusion of Anatolia as a result. Eight papers provide an overview and new data from stratigraphy, structure, metamorphism and magmatism, covering the geological consequences of the largely Neogene collapse that characterizes the segments of interest, in response to late stage reorganization of the subduction zone, and the roll-back and break-off of (segments of) the subducting slab.


Soil moisture is a key variable in most environmental processes, and the cosmic‐ray neutron probe (CRNP) fills a niche for intermediate‐scale soil moisture measurements. In this study, the CRNP estimated soil moisture was compared with a soil moisture measurement network including 108 time domain transmissometry (TDT) probes. We also used a Hydrus‐1D numerical model of measured soil moisture at targeted locations by inversely fitting soil hydraulic parameters used to simulate soil moisture in the near surface (0.03 and 0.05 m) during the growing seasons of 2011 and 2012. Both simulated and TDT‐measured soil moisture were used in constructing the depth‐weighted mean areal soil moisture for comparison with the CRNP estimates. The results showed that near‐surface soil moisture estimated by the numerical simulation improved the correlation between the sensor network and the CRNP estimation, especially during rainfall events. The CRNP estimates of soil moisture exhibited a dry bias under relatively wet conditions at the beginning of the snow‐free period because of the almost binary spatial distribution of soil moisture. Using a combination of soil moisture measurements and near‐surface simulations, the CRNP output was recalibrated to capture the wetter conditions, resulting in a RMSE (0.011 m3/m3) of less than half the original calibration RMSE (0.025 m3/m3). The calibration was validated using CRNP data from the 2013 growing season against independent soil moisture values.


Many countries have squandered their natural resource endowments. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank routinely hector developing economies to save and invest more of their revenues from resources such as oil and gold for the benefit of future generations after the resources run out. But, can a country save too much of its resource revenues? Gagnon argues that since the first capital transfers to its Government Pension Fund Global in 1996, Norway has saved more than was needed to raise consumption of all generations equally. Norway's excess saving imposes a cost on the rest of the world during periods of weak aggregate demand and ultralow interest rates. Gagnon proposes a counterfactual saving policy that would have increased Norway's household consumption by nearly 9 percent on average from 1996 through 2017. The proposed policy would have reduced Norway's current account surplus by more than one-third, or $13 billion per year on average, from 1996 through 2017. Even now, Norway could raise current consumption by more than US$2,000 per capita, while keeping the contribution of oil wealth to future generations equally large.


The physical basis for various effects of atmospheric turbulence on laser systems is briefly discussed, and certain limitations of the theoretical results given by Tatarski are summarized. The most important conclusion is that Tatarski's results for amplitude and phase fluctuations, while they are not applicable for a laser beam of arbitrary diameter, do provide an adequate approximation when the beam diameter is at least a factor of 2 greater than the lateral correlation length for amplitude fluctuations, which is true in many applications. The effects analyzed in some detail are beam steering, beam spreading, image dancing, image blurring, scintillation, and phase fluctuations, certain of which are intimately related. As to specific applications, the signal-to-noise ratio for an AM signal passing through the turbulent atmosphere is derived in terms of the power fluctuation, and communication links are considered in terms of this ratio; the effect of power fluctuations on the probability of detection for the laser radar is discussed in general, and a special example is given; finally, the spot size on the moon's surface for a transmitter located on the earth's surface is calculated for different turbulence conditions.


We present a method for fast, approximate registration of whole-slide images (WSIs) of histopathology serial sections. Popular histopathology slide registration methods in the existing literature tend towards intensity-based approaches.1, 2 Further input, in the form of an approximate initial transformation to be applied to one of the two WSIs, is then usually required, and this transformation needs to be optimised. Such a transformation is not readily available in this context and thus there is a need for fast approximation of these parameters. Fast registration is achieved by comparison of the external boundaries of adjacent tissue sections, using local curvature on multiple scales to assess similarity. Our representation of curvature is a modified version of the Curvature Scale Space (CSS)3 image. We substitute zero crossings with signed local absolute maxima of curvature to improve the registration's robustness to the subtle morphological differences of adjacent sections. A pairwise matching is made between curvature maxima at scales increasing exponentially, the matching minimizes the distance between maxima pairs at each scale. The boundary points corresponding to the matched maxima pairs are used to estimate the desired transformation. Our method is highly robust to translation, rotation, and linear scaling, and shows good performance in cases of moderate non-linear scaling. On our set of test images the algorithm shows improved reliability and processing speed in comparison to existing CSS based registration methods.


Problem Statement : One way to delineate the main characteristics of effective teaching within the higher education system is to gather college students' opinions of an effective instructor. Research based on students' perceptions of efficient teaching revealed a series of teaching behaviors setting the distinction between good and poor teaching. However, studies also indicate differences across culture, and in Turkey, there has been little research on the topic. Purpose of Study : The goal of this study was to determine instructor and course characteristics and teaching dimensions that discriminate between instructors who received the highest and the lowest student ratings within a Turkish college setting, by incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methods. Method : A total of 23,814 students across different departments in the university rated 630 instructors on a scale developed to assess students' perceptions of instructors' performance. In addition, students were asked to respond to an open-ended question to provide their own impressions of each instructor. Then, students' ratings were analyzed by means of discriminative functional analysis, and written statements provided by students were analyzed via content-analysis techniques by using a combination of manual and computer-assisted methods (NVivo 9). Findings and Results : According to the quantitative analyses, although course and instructor characteristics were weak in discriminating the groups, all teaching dimensions (relationships with students, effective teaching, exams and evaluation, contribution to generic skills, class interaction, and organization and planning) were very useful in discriminating the instructors who received the best and the poorest ratings. Also, qualitative analysis revealed 4 themes consistently distinguishing the two groups: lecturing, relationship with the students, knowledge and expertise, and exams and evaluation. Conclusions and Recommendations : This study replicates the existing literature on student perceptions of effective teaching, with a culturally different, large sample. It also adds support to the notion that there are teaching behaviors, such as lecturing skills, fair evaluations, respect and interest toward students, and demonstrating expertise, that help draw the distinction between good and poor teaching in the eyes of students and that could therefore assist the improvements efforts of teacher education. Keywords :  Instructor effectiveness, poor teaching, college teaching, student evaluations Problem Statement : One way to delineate the main characteristics of effective teaching within the higher education system is to gather college students' opinions of an effective instructor. Research based on students' perceptions of efficient teaching revealed a series of teaching behaviors setting the distinction between good and poor teaching. However, studies also indicate differences across culture, and in Turkey, there has been little research on the topic. Purpose of Study : The goal of this study was to determine instructor and course characteristics and teaching dimensions that discriminate between instructors who received the highest and the lowest student ratings within a Turkish college setting, by incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methods. Method : A total of 23,814 students across different departments in the university rated 630 instructors on a scale developed to assess students' perceptions of instructors' performance. In addition, students were asked to respond to an open-ended question to provide their own impressions of each instructor. Then, students' ratings were analyzed by means of discriminative functional analysis, and written statements provided by students were analyzed via content-analysis techniques by using a combination of manual and computer-assisted methods (NVivo 9). Findings and Results : According to the quantitative analyses, although course and instructor characteristics were weak in discriminating the groups, all teaching dimensions (relationships with students, effective teaching, exams and evaluation, contribution to generic skills, class interaction, and organization and planning) were very useful in discriminating the instructors who received the best and the poorest ratings. Also, qualitative analysis revealed 4 themes consistently distinguishing the two groups: lecturing, relationship with the students, knowledge and expertise, and exams and evaluation. Conclusions and Recommendations : This study replicates the existing literature on student perceptions of effective teaching, with a culturally different, large sample. It also adds support to the notion that there are teaching behaviors, such as lecturing skills, fair evaluations, respect and interest toward students, and demonstrating expertise, that help draw the distinction between good and poor teaching in the eyes of students and that could therefore assist the improvements efforts of teacher education. Keywords :  Instructor effectiveness, poor teaching, college teaching, student evaluations


We present results of modeling dynamics of a forestry manipulator, in which we consider its mechanics, as well as its hydraulic actuation system. The mathematical model of its mechanics is formulated by Euler-Lagrange equations, for which the addition of friction forces is straightforward. Dynamics of the hydraulic system is modeled upon first principle laws, which concern flow through orifices and fluid compressibility. These models lead to a set of equations with various unknown parameters, which are related to the inertias, masses, location of center of masses, friction forces, and valve coefficients. The numerical values of these parameters are estimated by the use of least-square methods, which is made feasible by transforming the models into linear representations. The results of simulation tests show a significant correspondence between measured and estimated variables, validating our modeling and identification approach.


The Asian challenge to the universality of human rights has sparked off intense debate. This volume takes a clear stand for universal rights, both theoretically and empirically, by analysing social and political processes in a number of East and Southeast Asian countries. On the national arenas, Asian values are linked to the struggle between authoritarian and democratic forces, which both tend to convey stereotyped images of the 'west', but with reversed meanings.


Abstract Background: Differences in body fat (BF) distribution in patients with normal body mass index (BMI) with elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) remains poorly described. Objective: To determine the relationship between total BF, waist circumference (WC), insulin resistance (IR), and cardiometabolic risk profile in subjects with elevated ALT and normal BMI. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from 4,914 US participants in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database, who were ≥20 years of age, had normal BMI, and had body composition assessed by bioimpedance. Results: Mean ± SD age was 41.4 ± 0.3 years, and 58% participants were women. BF was 20 ± 0.1% in men and 29.9 ± 0.1% in women. As total BF increased by tertiles, there was a tendency towards a higher prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in men (6.1%, 6.5%, 9.5%, P = 0.13), but not in women (8.7%, 8.2%, 10.7%, P = 0.71). As WC increased by tertiles, there was a higher prevalence of elevated ALT in men (2.6%, 8.6%, 6.6%, P < 0.0001), but not in women. As ALT increased, men had significantly higher levels of nonhigh density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), increased apolipoprotein B, increased IR, and lower levels of C-reactive protein, whereas, women had higher levels of non-HDL-C and increased IR. Conclusion: In subjects with normal BMI, increased WC is associated with a higher prevalence of elevated ALT in men, but not in women. Higher levels of ALT correlated with a poor cardiometabolic risk profile.


Patent protection spurs innovation by raising the rewards for research, but it usually results in less desirable allocations after the innovation has been discovered. In effect, patents reward inventors with inefficient monopoly power. However, previous analysis of intellectual property has focused only on the costs patents impose by restricting price-competition. We analyze the potentially important but overlooked role played by competition on dimensions other than price. Compared to a patent monopoly, competitive firms may engage in inefficient levels of non-price competition -- such as marketing -- when these activities confer benefits on competitors. Patent monopolies may thus price less efficiently, but market more efficiently than competitive firms. We measure the empirical importance of this issue, using patent-expiration data for the US pharmaceutical industry from 1990 to 2003. Contrary to what is predicted by price competition alone, we find that patent expirations actually have a negative effect on output for the first year after expiration. This results from the reduction in marketing effort, which offsets the reduction in price. The short-run decline in output costs consumers at least $400,000 per month, for each drug. In the long-run, however, expirations do raise output, but the value of expiration to consumers is about 15% lower than would be predicted by a model that considers price-competition alone, without marketing effort. The non-standard effects introduced by non-price competition alter the analysis of patents' welfare effects.


This thesis addresses the problem of motion planning for cooperative robotic systems. The problem of motion planning for a robotic system is stated as: Given initial positions and orientations and goal positions and orientations for a collection, C, of robots, in workspace, W, generate a continuous trajectory for C avoiding contact with the obstacles, Oi, subject to various dynamical constraints of the system. Because robots are physical systems subject to continuous laws of motion and driven by continuous actuators, we formulate the motion planning problem as an unconstrained variational problem using tools from optimal control and calculus of variations in the first part of the thesis. We develop a general framework for solving motion planning problems involving equality and inequality constraints. In the second part of the thesis, we study planar human manipulation and develop a computational model for friction-assisted dual arm manipulation tasks incorporating the dynamics of the musculo-skeletal system. We show that our computational model predicts the force distribution and object trajectory in voluntary, relaxed movements. We further study similar tasks in the vertical plane and our experimental findings suggest that there is a great degree of repeatability in trajectories and velocity profiles across trials and subjects. In the third part, we focus on extending this computational model to plan and control cooperative robotic systems. We solve the dynamic motion planning problem for a system of cooperating robots in the presence of geometric and kinematic constraints, and test the resulting open-loop trajectories on the experimental testbed. In the last part of the thesis, we explore the application of the motion planning algorithms when the number of robots in C is very large. Because of increased computational time, we use optimal sensor-based closed loop motion plans. These are combined with the framework of graph theory and optimal control to guarantee provable measure on the performance of the entire system. The main contributions of the thesis are: (a) studying trajectory generation and force distribution in human dual arm manipulation; and (b) a set of motion planning algorithms for cooperating robot systems subject to dynamic constraints. Comments University of Pennsylvania Institute for Research in Cognitive Science Technical Report No. IRCS-98-27. This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/ircs_reports/72 MOTION PLANNING AND CONTROL OF COOPERATIVE ROBOTIC SYSTEMS JAYDEV P. DESAI


Consideration has been given to the toxicity of formaldehyde in the industrial environment. The available literature has been reviewed critically against a background of technological awareness of the usefulness of the material and the factors which influence the assessment of absorption by the body fluids following exposure are examined. Data from experimental work carried out in a number of factory locations has been analysed in an attempt to establish the relationships between somatic absorption and levels of formaldehyde found in ambient air. [Continues.]


This Article, written for a symposium hosted by the University of Chicago Legal Forum on the Disruptive Workplace, analyzes the most recent failures of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to determine a thoughtful and balanced approach in addressing racist speech. Imagine two employees in the private sector workplace are discussing the possibility of selecting a union to represent their interests regarding wages and working conditions. During this conversation, a black employee notes the importance of using their collective voices to improve working conditions and compares the activity of selecting a union with the Black Lives Matter protests aimed at addressing the killings of black men in a number of high-profile incidents within the last couple of years. The other employee, a white male, responds by telling the black employee that "nothing will be gained from mentioning Black Lives Matter in this union organizing campaign. Black Lives Matter just represents a crusade to address what happened to a bunch of N-word criminals who got what they deserved. All lives matter." The white male employee also stated "they need to stop being distracted by issues of race and focus on the only division that matters in the workplace, class."
One might be surprised to learn that the white male's statement could arguably be protected under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRB, the agency charged with enforcing the NLRA, has recently held that employees engaged in concerted activity on a picket line may utter racial epithets at black workers with impunity. Also, the NLRB has a long history of allowing employees engaged in concerted activity to respond to their supervisors with vile and disgusting language that arguably includes the use of racial epithets. Further, the NLRB places the burden on the employer to show that utterances of racial epithets in the workplace would clearly result in the same disciplinary action taken absent any concerted activity associated with the communications. The question of whether offensive and racist statements should be protected under the NLRA, when uttered by employees arguably engaged in concerted activity, raises a problem that has not yet been adequately addressed by the NLRB.
This Article asserts that the NLRB's decisions protecting employee use of racist speech while also engaged in concerted activity have failed to consider the important concerns that employers must address in preventing harassment in the workplace based on race under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Incidents of racism being highlighted nationally by the Black Lives Matter movement make this an important time for the NLRB, a federal agency concerned about workplace rights, to not send such a strong message that employees may utter racial epithets without any consequences. Further, these NLRB decisions send a broader, wrongful and even retaliatory message to black employees concerned about the use of racial epithets in the workplace, that nothing will happen if black employees protest this disruptive and offensive activity. This Article will review the important NLRB decisions regarding what is referred to as the audacity of protecting racist workplace speech under the NLRA. The Article will suggest an analytical change to how the NLRB should balance protection of concerted activity under the NLRA with the disruptive workplace activity of uttering racial epithets. The proposed change suggests an analytical framework that does not deter black employee protest of this disruptive behavior and accommodates Title VII's broad retaliation analysis.


of a thesis at the University of Miami. Thesis supervised by Professor Neil Hammerschlag. No. of pages in text. (100) Aquatic highly migratory species (HMS) are economically and ecologically important, however, their highly migratory nature makes them difficult to study and thus there are knowledge gaps relating to their movement and habitat use patterns. Highly migratory sharks are likely to interact with commercial longline fishing gear and be caught as target or bycatch, which can threaten their populations. Understanding the environmental factors that influence and drive the movements of highly migratory sharks may help researchers better predict their presence and subsequently identify areas where they are vulnerability to fisheries. Here I evaluated the overlap between habitat suitability and gear restricted zones for three co-occurring apex predatory sharks in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico (great hammerhead Sphyrna mokarran, tiger Galeocerdo cuvier, and bull sharks Carcharhinus leucas) to identify areas in this region where these species are vulnerable to and protected from commercial longline fishing. This research was accomplished in three integrated steps. First, I reviewed and summarized what is known about the environmental drivers of great hammerhead, tiger, and bull shark habitat use and movement patterns. Second, I used the results of this review to parameterize and subsequently generate habitat suitability models for these three species. Third, I used these models to spatially compare where each species' highly suitable habitat overlaps with longline gear restricted areas within the Southwest Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, to identify regions where these species were both vulnerable to and protected from longline fishing gear. The results of this thesis have implications to the management of these species as well as for the conservation of other highly migratory aquatic species.


The Sicily chain is a segment of the Apennines-Maghrebides belt. It is composed of foreland-verging tectonic units overridden onto a thick Mesozoic-Tertiary carbonate platform (Hvblean-Pelagian Block p.p.). The chain units are mostly composed of pelagic basin and thin carbonate platform rocks. The Hyblean-Pelagian Block has extensional deformation in Southeastern Sicily (foreland) and contractional geometries in Western Sicily, and had an indented fault-controlled margin during the Mesozoic and Tertiary. The orientation of the salients and recesses of this margin with respect to the Tertiary tectonic transport direction may have dictated the present-day structural arrangement of the Western Sicily belt, consisting of a curved map-view fold-and-thrust pattern, to form a salient geometry. The collected mesa-structural data along the western flank of the Sicily salient, between the S. Vito-Palermo Mts. in the north and the Sicani-Sciacca Mts. in the south suggest transpression during contractional tectonics. The convergent direction, not parallel to the deformed foreland plate fault-indenter margin, is represented by oblique-slip thrusting, with associated rotation, about vertical axes, of the overlying laterally tapered thrust sheets. Oblique convergence induces oblique ramp development, of regional extent, of the basinal chain units onto the Hyblean-Pelagian Block outcropping in Western Sicily.


This study explores the nature of Mozambicans' commitment to democracy by testing and examining cognitive and performance evaluation factors, using Round 2 of the Afrobarometer survey. It finds that Mozambicans are less committed to democracy than many other Africans but their levels of procedural understanding of democracy are higher. My main findings are as follows: First, levels of information are the main source of popular commitment to democracy. Second, both evaluations of economic and political performance matter for Mozambicans' commitment to democracy. Third, the effects of political performance matter more than economics. Fourth, people who have high levels of information (from news media use and formal education), discuss politics with friends or neighbors and obtain their information from relatively more independent sources (such as participation in collective action and contacting religious leaders) are more likely to be committed democrats. Fifth, procedural understandings of democracy are positively relevant for individual commitment to democracy.