The existing ISO 9002 standard of quality management systems being the only internationally accepted would offer companies gaining registration a position to increase their ability by meeting the requirements set out and also incorporating the requirements of the ISM code. The ISM code is based upon the ISO 9002 standard and is basically a recognised standard for the safe management and operation of ships and for the prevention of pollution. As a result many shipping companies have turned towards the so-called "quality assurance" although a great number of them have discovered the cost benefits of introducing systems of safety, documentation and management. This paper will examine a proportion of the legal implications introduced through the implementation of the ISM code on ship-owning and ship-managing companies by illustrating some previous and recent cases of English and U.S. law. Suffice to say that safety and environmental protection is cot only a matter for the ship owner. Other parties such as classification societies, P & I clubs, banks and insurance companies will play their role and must assure their responsibilities with regard to safety matters.


MediaPublishing is an application project within the BERKOM programme. More and more publications for different target groups are produced on mu ltimedia basis. By using high speed communication networks and standardized protocols, distributed appli- cations and scenarios for planning, editing, production and partially also for usage of multi- media publications became possible. In the realisation and test of such complex, distributed production chains for the development of media in distance teaching lies the goal of the project MediaPublishing. The first course produced with the editorial environments and communication facilities now in progress is "Technical data security in communication networks".


After 10 years of impressive growth, India is now the fourth largest economy in the world. Yet, to date, India's impact on global commodity markets has been muted. The authors examine how India's domestic and trade policies have distorted and constrained its demand for commodities. They find that India's industrial policies have altered the expansion path of its economy, putting the service sector to the forefront and likely reducing India's demand for metals. Sector-specific policies, such as those promoting self-sufficiency in agriculture, have altered India's demand for food commodities and its supplies of those commodities to international markets. Recent policy reforms in manufacturing have boosted output, which coincides well with an increase in India's demand for metals over the past 4–5 years. Continued policy reforms are likely to diminish the distorting influence of India's domestic and trade policies. India's demand for energy and metals should rise as some rebalancing occurs in its economic structure.


The credit-to-GDP gap has a prominent role in the Basel Committee's framework for a countercyclical capital buffer under Basel III. The Committee uses a one-sided Hodrick-Prescott filter to calculate the trend of credit-to-GDP. In this paper we suggest applying the filter to a sample of the indicator where the historical observations have been augmented with forecasts of the indicator. This may provide a more robust estimate of the gap (deviation of indicator from its trend) and thereby a more reliable early warning of a crisis. We analyse Norges Bank's four key indicators for identifying a build-up of imbalances: credit-to-GDP, house prices-to-income, real commercial property prices and the wholesale funding ratio of Norwegian credit institutions. We find that we can reduce revisions in the gaps and improve their signalling quality as indicated by a ROC/AUC analysis even by using forecasts based on a relatively simple method. The forecast is an average of the quarterly indicator variables over the last 4 quarters and the forecast horizon is 5 years.


This paper aims to find an answer to the questions of what principles of electoral law are entrenched in the Constitution of 1992; what is their content and importance. In the Constitution expressis verbis are entrenched four principles of Parliamentary, Presidential and Municipal elections: universal, equal, direct suffrage and secret ballot. The Constitutional Court has exclusive powers to construe the Constitution officially and to provide the official concept of the provisions of the Constitution, so in order to find an answer to the above mentioned questions it is necessary to analyse not only the text of the Constitution itself, but also the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court. The jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court reveals that not only the above-mentioned four principles, but also other principles of electoral law, inter alia the constitutional principle of free and democratic elections, the principle of publicity, the principle of honest competition in elections, the principle of transparency of the election process are entrenched in the Constitution. There is no finite list of the principles of electoral law. The analysis of the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court shows that the main principles, whose content was best revealed, are universal, equal, direct, free suffrage and secret ballot. The content of the principles of electoral law are revealed in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court case by case. In every case the Constitutional Court reveals as much of the content of the particular principle as is necessary for the fair resolution of the case. The constitutional principles of electoral law are applicable not only in the elections of national representative political institutions, but also in the elections of the European Parliament which is the representative political institution of the European Union. The constitutional principles of electoral law are important for the implementation of both active and passive electoral rights. These principles are the criterions on the grounds of which the democracy of the elections and the validity of the results of the election, are assessed and they are the criterions for assessment whether the representative political institutions are instituted properly, whether the constitutional rights to vote and to stand for election are not violated.


This article is a republication, by permission, of a chapter of the author's book Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing (University of Chicago Press, 2014). The piece provides a beginner's guide to techniques and devices used in esoteric writing. Among the techniques and devices described are the following: dissembling the true message (sometimes by presenting it as from a disputant, beggar, or buffoon, sometimes by arguing against it in ways that enhance awareness of its truth); dissembling the true target (exoterically speaking of Y when the real target is some other thing Z); developing a compelling argument and then taking it back; textual incongruity (for example, departing from a declared plan); conspicuous inconsistency or self-contradiction; the commission of errors that the author's demonstrated competence and mastery would not allow (for example, altering a quotation in a significant way); dispersal (dispersing argumentation for a tacit viewpoint throughout the text); expressing very striking or intense thoughts in an oblique or ancillary fashion, such as in a meandering digression or in the notes; meaningful silence or conspicuous omission (as when the text creates expectations of coming to something that then remains unaddressed or unstated); alluding subtly to the writings or opinions of a significant figure; and placing thoughts of particular significance in middle of the text or in the exact center of a list or sequence.


This thesis contains the results of the work that was carried out between February 2009 and September 2012 in the area of high brightness light sources for defence applications. The work follows two main themes, namely nonlinearity in optical fibres and optical parametric oscillators (OPOs). Initially, the prospect of creating an ultrafast light source from solid core microstructured fibre via the phenomenon of modulation instability is discussed alongside supercontinuum generation and its value as a broad bandwidth source in countermeasures. What follows concerns OPOs in the infrared, both external (extracavity) and internal (intracavity) to a laser cavity, with the former is of benefit for high power applications, whereas the latter allows the OPO to operate more effectively at lower powers. The extracavity OPO section discusses a 2-stage conversion from 1064nm to 2128nm with the second stage design for conversion to ~5000nm, and the intracavity work is directed at both enabling a single frequency source for spectroscopy and examining the relationship between output coupling and the resonant OPO and laser fields. Table of


Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of syndromic management for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in comparison with the strategies currently used in STD clinics in Taiwan. Methods: Between July 2004 and June 2005, all male patients with genitourinary symptoms attending two hospitals were included in this study. Current clinical procedures (presumptive treatment and laboratory tests), aetiological diagnosis and syndromic management were compared in terms of diagnostic accuracy, treatment appropriateness, costs and effectiveness. Results: 473 patients met the inclusion criteria and were enrolled in the study. 335 patients (71%) had urethral symptoms (discharge, dysuria or painful urination) and 138 (29%) had genital ulcers, sores and skin rashes. For the current approach, the sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) for the detection of chlamydial, gonococcal and combined forms of infection were 100%, 40.0% and 60.4%, respectively. In contrast, the sensitivity, specificity and PPV for the detection of syphilis were 100%, 86.7% and 70.2%, respectively. For syndromic management, the sensitivity, specificity and PPV detection of chlamydial, gonococcal and combined forms of infection were 85.0%, 40.0% and 56.4%, respectively. In contrast, the sensitivity, specificity and PPV for the detection of syphilis were 78.8%, 18.1% and 23.2%, respectively. The average cost of implementing a correct treatment using the current approach was US$54.27 and US$30.74 for urethritis and syphilis, respectively. For the aetiological approach, the average cost of implementing a correct treatment was US$32.83 and US$21.58 for urethritis and syphilis, respectively. For the syndromic approach, the average cost for a correct treatment was US$3.86 and US$14.30 for urethritis and syphilis, respectively. Conclusions: In this sample of patients attending STD clinics in Taiwan, syndromic management was found to be a more cost-effective protocol in terms of cost per treated STD patient compared with the current and aetiological protocols for STD.


This paper presents a solely thermal flare, which we detected in the microwave range from the thermal gyro- and free–free emission it produced. An advantage of analyzing thermal gyro emission is its unique ability to precisely yield the magnetic field in the radiating volume. When combined with observationally deduced plasma density and temperature, these magnetic field measurements offer a straightforward way of tracking evolution of the magnetic and thermal energies in the flare. For the event described here, the magnetic energy density in the radio-emitting volume declines over the flare rise phase, then stays roughly constant during the extended peak phase, but recovers to the original level over the decay phase. At the stage where the magnetic energy density decreases, the thermal energy density increases; however, this increase is insufficient, by roughly an order of magnitude, to compensate for the magnetic energy decrease. When the magnetic energy release is over, the source parameters come back to nearly their original values. We discuss possible scenarios to explain this behavior.


In 1821, at the age of seventy-seven, Thomas Jefferson decided to "state some recollections of dates and facts concerning myself." His ancestors, Jefferson writes, came to America from Wales in the early seventeenth century and settled in the Virginia colony. Jefferson's father, although uneducated, possessed a "strong mind and sound judgement" and raised his family in the far western frontier of the colony, an experience that contributed to his son's eventual staunch defense of individual and state rights. Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary, entered the law, and in 1775 was elected to represent Virginia at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, an event that propelled him to all of his future political fortunes. Jefferson's autobiography continues through the entire Revolutionary War period, and his insights and information about persons, politics, and events-including the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, his service in France with Benjamin Franklin, and his observations on the French Revolution-are of immense value to both scholars and general readers. Jefferson ends this account of his life at the moment he returns to New York to become secretary of state in 1790. Complementing the other major autobiography of the period, Benjamin Franklin's, The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, reintroduced for this edition by historian Michael Zuckerman, gives us a glimpse into the private life and associations of one of America's most influential personalities. Alongside Jefferson's absorbing narrative of the way compromises were achieved at the Continental Congress are comments about his own health and day-to-day life that allow the reader to picture him more fully as a human being. Throughout, Jefferson states his opinions and ideas about many issues, including slavery, the death penalty, and taxation. Although Jefferson did not carry this autobiography further into his eventual presidency, the foundations for all of his thoughts are here, and it is in these pages that Jefferson lays out what to him was his most important contribution to his country, the creation of a democratic republic.


By now most of us are aware of the threats looming in the food world. The best-selling "Fast Food Nation" and other recent books have alerted us to such dangers as genetically modified organisms, food-borne diseases, and industrial farming. Now it is time for answers, and "Slow Food Nation" steps up to the challenge. Here the charismatic leader of the Slow Food movement, Carlo Petrini, outlines many different routes by which we may take back control of our food. The three central principles of the Slow Food plan are these: food must be sustainably produced in ways that are sensitive to the environment, those who produce the food must be fairly treated, and the food must be healthful and delicious. In his travels around the world as ambassador for Slow Food, Petrini has witnessed firsthand the many ways that native peoples are feeding themselves without making use of the harmful methods of the industrial complex. He relates the wisdom to be gleaned from local cultures in such varied places as Mongolia, Chiapas, Sri Lanka, and Puglia. Amidst our crisis, it is critical that Americans look for insight from other cultures around the world and begin to build a new and better way of eating in our communities here.


A fuel tank (or petrol tank) is a safe container for flammable fluids. Though any storage tank for fuel may be so called, the term is typically applied to part of an engine system in which the fuel is stored and propelled (fuel pump) or released (pressurized gas) into an engine. Fuel tanks range in size and complexity from the small plastic tank of a butane lighter to the multi-chambered cryogenic Space Shuttle external tank.


While a great deal of work has been done exploring non-visual navigation interfaces using audio and haptic cues, little is known about the combination of the two. We investigate combining different state-of-the-art interfaces for communicating direction and distance information using vibrotactile and audio music cues, limiting ourselves to interfaces that are possible with current off-the-shelf smartphones. We use experimental logs, subjective task load questionnaires, and user comments to see how users' perceived performance, objective performance, and acceptance of the system varied for different combinations. Users' perceived performance did not differ much between the unimodal and multimodal interfaces, but a few users commented that the multimodal interfaces added some cognitive load. Objective performance showed that some multimodal combinations resulted in significantly less direction or distance error over some of the unimodal ones, especially the purely haptic interface. Based on these findings we propose a few design considerations for multimodal haptic/audio navigation interfaces.


This is the final report of a SIMR Joining Technology Centre project concerning MIG-welding of aluminium. Welding aluminium alloys exhibit several difficulties, especially in terms of porosity. Today experience in the field evinces the necessity for education of the differences compared to welding of steels. Extraordinary measures have to be taken to avoid contamination of the weldment, especially of hydrogen containing elements such as moisture. Hydrogen readily dissolves in liquid aluminium forming high levels of porosity upon solidification if not avoided. Porosity in aluminium weldments decreases strength, particularly in terms of fatigue strength. Every aluminium alloy must be treated separately in the choice of filler metal and factors to consider are for example: strength, weldability, appearance and susceptibility to corrosion. Alloys in this investigation were selected to AA6063 and AA5052. The aim was to investigate welding aspects of these alloys in terms of the effect of weld parameters such as wire feed speed, welding speed, voltage, shielding gas, gun angle and surface quality of the weldments. Weldment quality was defined in terms of porosity, penetration, spatter, cracking, precipitation profile and tensile strength. Process optimisation work in mechanised welding is central for the investigation, what concerns choice of filler metal and appropriate cleaning demands. For AA6063 the filler metals AlMg3, AA5554 (OK Autrod 18.13), and AlSi12, AA4047 (OK Autrod 18.05), were used. For AA5052 the filler metal AlMg5, AA5356 (OK Autrod 18.15), was used. Shielding gases used were: ARGON, MISON Ar (Argon + 0.03% NO), HELON 30 (Argon-Helium30) and MISON He30 (Argon-Helim30 + 0.03% NO). Joint geometry was selected to lap joints of 3 mm sheet metal for AA6063 and 2.5 mm for AA5052. The weldments of the aluminium alloys AA5052 and AA6063 with the filler metals used in this investigation obtained high weldment quality when the welding procedure was correct. Spatter was most easily avoided on AA6063 by using the filler metal OK Autrod 18.18. Pulsed welding reduced spatter significantly on both AA5052 and AA6063. The porosity level was generally low if appropriate welding procedures were followed. High heat-input and high deposition rates (high wire feeding and/or low welding speed) were advantageous for low levels of porosity. Helium in the Argon shielding gas resulted in nearly porosity free weldments. A low welding voltage had favourable impact on the level of porosity. Penetration varied significantly over the length of the weldments when the arc instabilities were experienced. The heat-input and deposition rate (low wire feeding and/or high welding speed) had a strong effect on both arc stability and penetration. High voltages decreased penetration significantly, despite the increased heat input. Helium in the Argon shielding gas resulted in a significantly increased penetration. Strength of weldments was found to be at about 50% of the parent metal and the strength of HAZ could be approximated to 70% of parent metal for AA6063 and 90% for AA5052. High porosity levels decreased tensile strength significantly. The Precipitation profile variations due to variations of heat-input had a negligible effect on tensile strength, and softened zones could not be detected in the thin sheet metal welding of aluminium practised in this project..


Description: This new edition of a successful, bestselling book continues to provide you with practical information on the use of statistical methods for solving real-world problems in complex industrial environments. Complete with examples from the chemical and pharmaceutical laboratory and manufacturing areas, this thoroughly updated book clearly demonstrates how to obtain reliable results by choosing the most appropriate experimental design and data evaluation methods. Unlike other books on the subject, Statistical Methods in Analytical Chemistry, Second Edition presents and solves problems in the context of a comprehensive decision-making process under GMP rules: Would you recommend the destruction of a $100,000 batch of product if one of four repeat determinations barely fails the specification limit? How would you prevent this from happening in the first place? Are you sure the calculator you are using is telling the truth? To help you control these situations, the new edition: Covers univariate, bivariate, and multivariate data Features case studies from the pharmaceutical and chemical industries demonstrating typical problems analysts encounter and the techniques used to solve them Offers information on ancillary techniques, including a short introduction to optimization, exploratory data analysis, smoothing and computer simulation, and recapitulation of error propagation Boasts numerous Excel files and compiled Visual Basic programs-no statistical table lookups required! Uses Monte Carlo simulation to illustrate the variability inherent in statistically indistinguishable data sets Statistical Methods in Analytical Chemistry, Second Edition is an excellent, one-of-a-kind resource for laboratory scientists and engineers and project managers who need to assess data reliability; QC staff, regulators, and customers who want to frame realistic requirements and specifications; as well as educators looking for real-life experiments and advanced students in chemistry and pharmaceutical science. From the reviews of Statistical Methods in Analytical Chemistry, First Edition: "This book is extremely valuable. The authors supply many very useful programs along with their source code. Thus, the user can check the authenticity of the result and gain a greater understanding of the algorithm from the code. It should be on the bookshelf of every analytical chemist."-Applied Spectroscopy "The authors have compiled an interesting collection of data to illustrate the application of statistical methods . . . including calibrating, setting detection limits, analyzing ANOVA data, analyzing stability data, and determining the influence of error propagation."-Clinical Chemistry "The examples are taken from a chemical/pharmaceutical environment, but serve as convenient vehicles for the discussion of when to use which test, and how to make sense out of the results. While practical use of statistics is the major concern, it is put into perspective, and the reader is urged to use plausibility checks."Journal of Chemical Education "The discussion of univariate statistical tests is one of the more thorough I have seen in this type of book . . . The treatment of linear regression is also thorough, and a complete set of equations for uncertainty in the results is presented . . . The bibliography is extensive and will serve as a valuable resource for those seeking more information on virtually any topic covered in the book."-Journal of American Chemical Society "This book treats the application of statistics to analytical chemistry in a very practical manner. [It] integrates PC computing power, testing programs, and analytical know-how in the context of good manufacturing practice/good laboratory practice (GMP/GLP) . . .The book is of value in many fields of analytical chemistry and should be available in all relevant libraries."-Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems


The contents of this abstract (introduction) before in declaration of freedom Unity State Republic of Indonesian, Directionary/Kingdom was very dominating in province of the archipelago. The Freedom there was partly of province was still used the system Directionary/Kingdom begun of the chance with gather with freedom/sultanate partly with Unity State Republic of Indonesian. In era new order government with Suharto's era, Directionary of the Freedom/Sultanate in the last shift to the culture eras, where the Directionary and authority Directionary/Kingdom only take
care the culture in each province one of each was lead the central government in Jakarta city.
With legislature no. 32, 2004 years about province of government (autonomy province) the noblesse begun to return with struggle and the local of politic fights especially in Bima regency.
From this reality on the written above, contained some statements of the problems are: causing of the return of noblesse (H. Ferry Zulkarnain, ST/Bima regency) in Bima regency, existence of noblesse in the local of politic, and any reasons of society Bima in choosing of noblesse become
their chief. In this research methodology the writer used descriptive qualitative with the instruments are interview, documentation, and observation with the data analysis that was collected.
The result of this research can be known by the writer with the happening in Bima province that the return of the kingdoms to calyx Directionary in Bima regency was causing in noblesse preceding Bima Kingdoms had been around in politic until declaration freedom Unity State Republic of Indonesian. Until one of the generation of nobility H. Ferry Zulkarnain, ST as Bima regency periods 2005-2010 continuing aspiration of Sultan in days of yore, and observed declaration was going off by Sultan Muhammad Salahuddin at date November 22 ,1945, until the existence of the Bima noblesse in local politic and society given major effect because charismatic and characteristic Bima regent which was opinion as the figure that still young and
leadership of the future for Bima society. The strategy used by Bima noblesse in clutched society support from a symbol sultanate and the symbol of religion. And perception of the Bima society concerning the his leadership as generation of Bima nobility was very enthusiastic by the
positive answered, because Bima society missed the leadership can be brought the Bima society to safety. As like as noblesse was used as long time. With there was not dualism leadership in the Bima government between regent and sultan because the regent organized and had authority in the case the province of government, whereas sultan organized and had authority in the case of culture.
It can be conclude that the return of noblesse to calyx Directionary in Bima regency, presence by law No. 32, 2004 years, there was regulation of government No. 25, 2005 years about the center of authority and province, not only from generation nobility, but also carrying on aspiration of the sultan last time, and existence of Bima noblesse in local politic given color itself to Bima society. Recommendation or tool which given are Bima regency must be given attention announcement November 22, 1945, continuing sultan aspirations' the last time, there was not corruption, collusion, and nepotism as well as become protector, and support the society especially of the Bima society. Amin


Web page authoring poses a double challenge as both a technical and a writing task. During fall 2000, Watauga College offered two linked
courses aimed at providing first-year students with both the technical and editorial know-how to write for online audiences. Tom Van Gilder, computer consultant for the College of Arts and Sciences, taught "Exploration of a Wired World," a hands-on course designed to give the students
the technical background needed to create content for the World Wide Web. These same students enrolled in Derek Stanovsky's sections of
Watauga College's "Tools of Human Understanding," an interdisciplinary writing course required of all entering Watauga College students.


The precise date of the Council of Serdica is so important because it is essential for establishing the chronology of numerous events in fourth-century Christianity, and thus for reconstructing its overall history and developments. Unfortunately, this date has been under debate for nearly two centuries. Traditionally, the council was dated to 347 C.E., but discoveries in the 18 th and 19 th centuries led scholars to favor first 344 and then 343. In the early 20 th century, Eduard Schwartz inaugurated a new stage in the debate when he argued for 342. In his wake, most French, Italian, and English-speaking scholars argued for 343, whereas most German-speaking scholars followed Schwartz9s authority and endorsed 342. In 1974, Marcel Richard advanced a novel argument in favor in 342 that appeared to cement this date for its advocates. Recently, however, 343 appears to be the preferred date even in German scholarship. After more than a century of debate, it seems, a consensus has been reached. This essay offers the most comprehensive reassessment of this debate to date to see if it really should be considered concluded. It re-examines all the evidence and all the arguments made in support of one date or another, in particular those of Schwartz and Richard, and argues that the case for the Council of Serdica9s having been held in the autumn of 343 should be considered conclusive; thus, the lengthy debate can rightly be closed.


The Naming of Names traces the search for order in the natural world, a search that for hundreds of years occupied some of the most brilliant minds in Europe. Redefining man's relationship with nature was an important feature of the Renaissance. But in a world full of plaques and poisons, there was also a practical need to name and recognise different plants: most medicines were made from plant extracts. Anna Pavord takes us on a thrilling adventure into botanical history, travelling from Athens in the third century BC, through Constantinople, Venice, the medical school at Salerno to the universities of Pisa and Padua. The journey, traced here for the first time, involves the culture of Islam, the first expeditions to the Indies and the first settlers in the New World. In Athens, Aristotle's pupil, Theophrastus, is the first man ever to write a book about plants. What should these things properly be called, he asks. How can we sort and order them? The debate continues still, two thousand years later. Gradually, over a long period in Europe, plants assumed identities and acquired names. Artists painted the first pictures of them. Plants acquired the two-part names that show how they are related to other plants. But who began all this work, and how was it done? Sumptuously illustrated in full colour, The Naming of Names gives a compelling insight into a world full of intrigue and intensely competitive egos.


Summary Virtual 3D worlds such as Second Life 2 and online gaming environments are attracting educationalists' interest. This paper reports upon the first European Teen Second Life educational project for 13-17 year olds: the Schome Park NAGTY (National Association for Gifted and Talented Youth) Pilot. This project aimed to collect evidence about fresh approaches to education beyond the existing curricula of formal schooling through exploring the educational potentials and pitfalls of Second Life. Diverse quantitative and qualitative data sources are drawn upon to investigate issues relating to engagement, development of domain-specific and knowledge age skills as well as challenges for educators. Engagement data showed that only approximately one quarter of students accounted for almost all time spent in Schome Park. Frequency was associated with high levels of use of the wiki and forum. Evidence from self-reports and documentation on the wiki demonstrated very high levels of Second Life skills. Knowledge age skills were assessed within a framework with four levels for four dimensions. In respect of Communication, all students who engaged achieved the first level and a substantial minority initiated and moderated discussions and/or organised events. In respect of Teamwork, tensions were evident early on; however, a substantial number demonstrated their abilities to operate at the highest level being actively involved in solving governance problems. With support students moved from hierarchical approaches to the formation of governance groups, each with department officers, thus furnishing evidence of distributed Leadership at level one. Evidence from a rich and diverse programme of events illustrates an atmosphere which fostered Creativity, permitting explorations, collaborations and the encouragement to risk mistakes. Our experience suggests the importance of understanding the role of teachers in this kind of innovative environment, not as the possessors of relevant knowledge but as facilitators and promoters of a cooperative ethos. We conclude that, despite multiple challenges, there is evidence to support dramatic new possibilities for pedagogic redesigns. Students who engaged with the virtual island, the wiki and the forum demonstrated higher levels of the knowledge age skills of communication, leadership, teamwork and creativity.


An in-situ carbon coated Li2MnSiO4/C composite was synthesized by a nanocomposite gel precursor route using starch as the carbon source. Our approach enabled a uniform coating of amorphous carbon on Li 2MnSiO4 with an orthorhombic crystalline structure, which was confirmed by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Raman studies. Conducting-atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) images also revealed the presence of high current interconnected domains in the composite, indicating the ability of the carbon coating to facilitate electron movement. Galvanostatic charge-discharge studies demonstrated outstanding initial charge and discharge capacities, respectively, of 330 and 195 mAh g-1 at 0.05 C-rate for the composite, and after 30 cycles a reversible capacity of 115 mAh g -1 was retained. The electrochemical performance of the neat silicate was dismal (10.6 mAh g-1 at 0.05 C-rate), which again reiterated the role of carbon in improving the conduction and Li-ion storage capacity of the silicate. An insignificant change in charge transfer resistance, with cycling, as inferred from impedance spectroscopy illustrated that charge transfer and transport processes remain facile with cycling, thus demonstrating Li 2MnSiO4/C to be promising cathode Li-ion batteries.


A three-tier application is organized as three layers: human users interact with front-end clients (e.g browsers); middle-tier application servers (e.g. Web servers) contain the application's business logic, and perform transactions against back-end databases. Although three-tier applications are becoming mainstream, they usually fail to provide sufficient reliability guaranteesto the users. Usually, replication and transaction-processing techniques are applied to specific parts of the application, but their combination does not provide end-to-end reliability. The aim of this paper is to precisely define a desirable, yet realistic, specification of end-to-end reliability in three-tier applications. We present the specification in the form of a problem, called Exactly-Once Transactions, which encompasses both safety and liveness properties in such environments. We also describe a practical protocol that solves the problem and we discuss its implementation and performance in a practical setting.


The thrust bearing is an essential element of a hydropower machine. Not only does it carry the total axial load but it also introduces stiffness and damping properties in the system. The focus of this study is on the influence of the thrust bearing on the lateral vibrations of the shaft of a 72-MW propeller turbine. The thrust bearing has a non-conventional design with a large radius and two rows of thrust pads. A numerical model is developed to estimate natural frequencies. Numerical results are analyzed and related to experimental measurements of a runaway test. The results show the need to include the thrust bearing in the model. In fact, the vibration modes are substantially increased towards higher frequencies with the added properties from the thrust bearing. The second mode of vibration has been identified in the experimental measurements. Its frequency and mode shape compare well with numerical results.


Magnetic Droplet When a solitary wave travels atop the surface of a fluid, its shape generally changes with time, with some of its components traveling at velocities slightly different than others. In nonlinear media, this spreading effect may be countered by a slimming effect stemming from the non-linearity, which generates an object with perfectly preserved shape, called a soliton. Solitons have been observed in fluids, granular media, and other systems. Mohseni et al. (p. 1295) detected a dissipative soliton (one that also balances gain and dissipation) in a magnetic system, in the form of a magnetic droplet consisting of a core of spins pointing opposite to the external magnetic field. The droplet exhibited peculiar dynamics and could be controlled by electric current. Transport measurements reveal a self-reinforcing traveling wave in a magnetic system. Dissipative solitons have been reported in a wide range of nonlinear systems, but the observation of their magnetic analog has been experimentally challenging. Using spin transfer torque underneath a nanocontact on a magnetic thin film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), we have observed the generation of dissipative magnetic droplet solitons and report on their rich dynamical properties. Micromagnetic simulations identify a wide range of automodulation frequencies, including droplet oscillatory motion, droplet "spinning," and droplet "breather" states. The droplet can be controlled by using both current and magnetic fields and is expected to have applications in spintronics, magnonics, and PMA-based domain-wall devices.


Morphology is an important factor in locomotion. It may guide the control strategies that an animal or a robot uses for efficient locomotion. In this paper we try to understand the locomotion strategies of a lizard with a distinctive feature, the long-tailed lizard Takydromus sexlineatus. We recorded the performance of real animals in terms of forward speed and then developed a simulation model respecting the morphometric characteristics of long-tailed lizards. We then run systematic tests altering several control parameters of the model. The simulation experiments suggested possible control strategies for effective locomotion given this type of morphology. The experiments were not constrained or guided by any prior knowledge on specific animal angular kinematics. Therefore, the good match between the suggested kinematics for optimal speed and the kinematics of the real animal suggests that our framework is capable of exploring in the future the effects of morphosis on the locomotion strategies of animals, e.g. to perform the same study with shorter or no tail.


The effect which the oil price time series has on the long run properties of Vector AutoRegressive (VAR) models for price levels and import demand is investigated. As the oil price variable is assumed to be weakly exogenous for the long run parameters, a cointegration testing procedure allowing for weakly exogenous variables is developed using a LU decomposition of the long run multiplier matrix. The likelihood based cointegration test statistics, Wald, Likelihood Ratio and Lagrange Multiplier, are constructed and their limiting distributions derived. Using these tests, we find that incorporating the oil price in a model for the domestic or import price level of seven industrialized countries decreases the long run memory of the inflation rate. Second, we find that the results for import demand can be classified with respect to the oil importing or exporting status of the specific country. The result for Japan is typical as its import price is not influenced by GNP in the long run, which is the case for all other countries.


Abstract This paper explores the time-inconsistency problem of audience costs in international disputes. The nature of democracy makes it difficult for leaders to back down from earlier diplomatic positions in an international dispute, out of fear of domestic political costs. Few studies have addressed the temporal aspect of such costs. This study argues that election timing impinges on the extent to which the audience cost mechanism works, and consequently, on state conflict behavior. While competitive elections are central to the political accountability inherent in a democracy, voters typically lack enough opportunities to punish unsatisfactory leaders in a timely way, because of fixed election timing, and also may disregard foreign policy missteps that occurred in the distant past. Democratic leaders therefore have an incentive to choose strategically, with the electoral calendar in mind, when selecting a form of conflict behavior. Leaders can retreat from their demands without paying high audience costs when the upcoming election is in the distant future. To test this argument, the authors conduct a natural experiment featuring territorial disputes between Russia and two Baltic republics – Estonia and Latvia. Despite the commonalities in the disputes, as well as in their political systems and socioeconomic backgrounds, the governments of the two Baltic countries showed a sharp contrast in their diplomatic decisions. This paper argues that only the temporal gap in electoral timing can explain this variation, imparting the ironical implication that frequent democratic elections can obstruct peaceful conflict resolutions, and that excessive democratization may well hinder the very goal of peace.


In general, the M2 subtype of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors has the highest sensitivity for allosteric modulators and the M5 subtype the lowest. The M2/M5 selectivity of some structurally diverse allosteric agents is known to be completely explained by M2177Tyr and M2423Thr in receptors whose orthosteric site is occupied by the conventional ligand N-methylscopolamine (NMS). This study explored the role of the conserved M2422Trp and the adjacent M2423Thr in the binding of alkane-bisammonio type modulators, gallamine, and diallylcaracurine V. Experiments were performed with human M2 or M5 receptors or mutants thereof. It was found that M2422Trp and M2423Thr independently influenced allosteric agent binding. The presence of M2423Thr may enhance the affinity of binding, depending on the allosteric agent, either directly or indirectly (by avoiding sterical hindrance through its M5 counterpart 478His). Replacement of M2422Trp and of the corresponding M5477Trp by alanine revealed a pronounced contribution of these epitopes to subtype independent baseline affinity in NMS-bound and NMS-free receptors for all agents except diallylcaracurine V. In a few instances, this tryptophan also influenced cooperativity and subtype selectivity. Docking simulations using a three-dimensional M2 receptor model revealed that the aromatic rings of M2177Tyr and M2422Trp, in a concerted action, might fix one of the aromatic moieties of alkane-bisammonio compounds between them. Thus, M2422Trp and the spatially adjacent M2177Tyr, as well as M2423Thr, form a cluster of amino acids within the allosteric binding cleft that is pivotal for both M2/M5 subtype selectivity and baseline affinity of allosteric agents.


This paper provides a comprehensive overview of previous experimental studies on rendaku. Some major questions that have been addressed in this body of work include: (1) is rendaku grammatical or lexicalized? (2) are specific aspects of rendaku, such as the Right-Branch Condition, psychologically real in the minds of contemporary speakers of Japanese? (3) how does Lyman's Law interact with rendaku in experimental settings? and (4) are there any aspects of rendaku that emerge in experimental settings even though they are not observed as existing patterns in the lexicon? After the review of studies addressing these issues, the paper concludes with a number of remaining questions which should be addressed in future experimental studies of rendaku.


Many
 reports emphasize that the main aim of education reform has been
improved student performance. Reform efforts have focused on curricula
content, the professional development of educators, the development of
non-traditional teaching and assessment methods and giving parents more
choice in their children's educational experiences. Yet, after 20 years
of reforms, it remains unclear what actually works to raise student
achievement. Student achievement is measured using different types of
assessments. Because they use the results of these assessments to
evaluate their students, and have evaluation information available to
them, educators are able to learn from the process of evaluating their
students. Q methodology was used to investigate such 'process use' and
to understand how educators gain lessons from the evaluation process
that can contribute to the success of education initiatives. The four
perspectives which emerged were shaped by student qualities, the
educators' relationships with their stakeholders, the relationships
among colleagues, the purpose or stakes associated with the evaluation
activity, the relationships among the stakeholders in the teaching
context and the assessment approach employed.


The trend of augmented reality has currently switches to the study of interactive augmented reality. The main goal of this project is to develop an interactive augmented reality system that enables user to manipulate or perform standard transformation on 3D virtual object by using fingertips markers. Fingertip casing is invented to fit the fingertip marker on top of fingers. New markers are generated as the system requires multiple marker patterns. Interaction techniques such as selection and manipulation techniques are applied in order to perform standard transformation on 3D virtual object. Computation of distance and angle between markers are integrated with the interaction applied to perform standard transformation. Experiments analysis is done by conducting tests on factors that affect the marker detection. From the result of light condition tests, observation concludes that initial markers detection for dim lighting test is in a range of 2 to 5 markers, while moderate lighting test detects markers in a range of 4 to 6 markers. Comparisons between dim lighting and moderate lighting tests show that dim lighting test has less potential to detect more markers, thus concludes that markers detection works better in adequate lighting supply. However, number of markers that detectable in motion is yet inconsistent, hence proves to be the limitation of ARToolKit. On the other hand, results of distance tests show that shorter distance between markers and camera yields better result of 6 markers detected while longer distance gives the result of a range of 5 to 6 markers. Conclusion of the tests is the farer the distance between markers and camera, the harder the markers to be detected. For frame rate test, the frame rate is 4 frames per second before interaction is applied to the system with all markers detected, and the rate goes up to 10 frames per second after interaction between fingertips markers begins. The result shows the average memory consumption of the program is 35.05 MB after 20 sets of experiments are done to calculate the average memory consumption of the program. In conclusion, future study can be focused on lighting condition that affects marker detection in ARToolKit as well as motion capture by ARToolKit in order to produce smoother interaction between user and the virtual world.


We study the problem of designing state‐feedback controllers to track time‐varying state trajectories that may exhibit jumps. Both plants and controllers considered are modeled as hybrid dynamical systems, which are systems with both continuous and discrete dynamics, given in terms of a flow set, a flow map, a jump set, and a jump map. Using recently developed tools for the study of stability in hybrid systems, we recast the tracking problem as the task of asymptotically stabilizing a set, the tracking set, and derive conditions for the design of state‐feedback tracking controllers with the property that the jump times of the plant coincide with those of the given reference trajectories. The resulting tracking controllers guarantee that solutions of the plant starting close to the reference trajectory stay close to it and that the difference between each solution of the controlled plant and the reference trajectory converges to zero asymptotically. Constructive conditions for tracking control design in terms of LMIs are proposed for a class of hybrid systems with linear maps and input‐triggered jumps. The results are illustrated by various examples. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Several recent reports support the hypothesis that aldosterone contributes to the progression of renal injury. Mineralocorticoids increase the expression of serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible protein kinase 1 (SGK1), which is upregulated in several fibrotic diseases. It was hypothesized that SGK1 may mediate the effects of aldosterone on glomerular fibrosis and inflammation. In primary cultures of rat mesangial cells, aldosterone stimulated the expression, phosphorylation, and kinase activity of SGK1, as well as SGK1-dependent NF-kappaB activity. Furthermore, aldosterone augmented the promoter activity and protein expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), which modulates the inflammatory response, and the profibrotic cytokine connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in an SGK1- and NF-kappaB-dependent manner. Similar to the in vitro results, uninephrectomized rats that were treated with aldosterone demonstrated increased glomerular expression of SGK1, ICAM-1, and CTGF proteins than untreated rats; these changes were accompanied by hypertension, glomerulosclerosis, and inflammation. In conclusion, these findings suggest that aldosterone stimulates ICAM-1 and CTGF transcription via the activation of SGK1 and NF-kappaB, effects that may contribute to the progression of aldosterone-induced mesangial fibrosis and inflammation.


Automatic analysis of spoken conversations has recently searched for phenomena like agreement/disagreement in collaborative and non-conflictual discussions (e.g., meetings). This work adds a novel dimension investigating conflicts in spontaneous conversations. The study makes use of broadcasted political debates where conflicts naturally arise between participants. In the first part, an annotation scheme to rate the degree of conflict in conversations is described and applied to 12 hours of recordings. In the second part, the correlation between various prosodic/conversational features and the degree of conflict is investigated. In the third part, we perform automatic detection of the level of conflict based on those features showing an F-measure of 71.6% in three-level classification tasks.


Domestic abuse at the last stage of the life cycle is becoming increasingly recognized
as a social problem in many countries and is of concern to health professionals,
legislators, policymakers, criminal justice professionals, and academics across a
number of disciplines. Elder abuse takes a number of forms and can occur within
domestic and institutional settings, which makes definition, detection, and
intervention problematic. Despite legislative reforms to prevent, protect, and provide
for the victims of such abuse, elder abuse in the home continues to lurk at the margins
of much mainstream debate on domestic violence and family abuse. It is necessary for
professionals to extend their knowledge about domestic abuse to older women.
Research suggests that the social conditions of caregivers have a direct relation to
elder abuse in domestic settings, and there is a strongly gendered dimension to this.
This article draws on existing literature on domestic violence and elder abuse in two
geographic locations to analyze social strain as a key determinant in the abuse
experienced by some women at the last stage of the life cycle.


The focus of debate around the issue of equity and schooling has concentrated mainly upon
access as a rights conditional to social justice, rather than the curriculum undertaken by
students who are included in regular schools. This study first sought to describe and find
priorities for the curriculum needs of young adolescents with Mild Intellectual Disabilities
(MID) and second, to determine criteria by which stakeholders might evaluate the
appropriateness of curriculum undertaken by MID students.
Individuals from a spread of stakeholder groups were surveyed. They responded to paragraph length
vignettes which described the schooling experiences of six students from both regular
and special settings in a school District of North-eastern Tasmania. The stakeholder groups
were teachers, parents, peers, employers, community agency professionals, administrators and
taxpayers. Complementing the surveys, separate interviews were conducted over a two-and a
half-year period with the six target students, their parents and their teachers. Research
questions focused on the curriculum needs of MID adolescents, agreement in the perceptions of
stakeholders with regard to the needs expressed, the balance of curriculum domains available to
students in regular secondary school programs and the discrepancy between the 'needed' and the
'undertaken' curricula.
Results indicated that: (1) the content and outcomes of non-academic curriculum domains were
clearly favoured over those of the traditional academic curriculum domain; (2) the students'
highest priorities (i.e., of social adjustments and life skills) were not reflected in the
assessment records given most attention by teachers and the educational system; (3) alternative
programs and assessment models were recognised by stakeholders as most important to school
and post-school outcomes; (4) community-referenced, ecologically planned, cross-contextual
learning was valued highly but not readily available; (5) while employers favoured more
academic domain engagement for MID adolescents than did other stakeholders, they placed
greatest importance on non-academic skills (e.g., punctuality and impulse control) of
employees; and (6) proximal stakeholders and employers favoured earlier and more workplace
experience for MID adolescents.
The results have been used to propose several criteria for appropriate curriculum. Through a
consideration of these, educators and advocates might design provisions that better meet the
curriculum needs of students with Mild Intellectual Disabilities. The study has indicated that
secondary schools' curricula fall short of meeting several of the criteria derived from the
results. Given that students with Mild Intellectual Disabilities are the largest group affected by
several states' inclusion initiatives, the study has strong implications for equity in the
researched context and beyond.


"Cajun Women and Mardi Gras" is the first book to explore the importance of women's contributions to the country Cajun Mardi Gras tradition, or Mardi Gras "run." Most Mardi Gras runs - masked begging processions through the countryside, led by unmasked captains - have customarily excluded women. Male organizers explain that this rule protects not only the tradition's integrity but also women themselves from the event's rowdy, often drunken, play. Throughout the last century, and especially in the last fifty years, women in some prairie communities have insisted on taking more active and public roles in the festivities. Carolyn E. Ware traces the history of women's participation as it has expanded from supportive roles as cooks and costume makers to increasingly public performances as Mardi Gras clowns and (in at least one community) captains. Drawing on more than a decade of fieldwork interviews and observation in Mardi Gras communities, Ware focuses on the festive actions in Tee Mamou and Basile to reveal how women are reshaping the celebration as creative artists and innovative performers.


Fitspiration has been positioned as an online interchange featuring images and text designed to inspire fitness and healthy eating. Given its ubiquity as an emerging social media trend, and its unintended impact on body image disturbance mediated by social comparison, Fitspiration has been understudied. This review draws on theoretical perspectives associated with traditional and new media impact on young women's body image concerns, and overviews strategies to engage students in adopting a healthier body image. The manuscript also provides educational implications and directions for practice, particularly guided by media literacy models that may serve to intervene with body comparisons, inspire deeper learning and a renewed vision of fitness, health, and well-being.


Natural selection commonly drives the origin of species, as Darwin initially claimed. Mechanisms of speciation by selection fall into two broad categories: ecological and mutation-order. Under ecological speciation, divergence is driven by divergent natural selection between environments, whereas under mutation-order speciation, divergence occurs when different mutations arise and are fixed in separate populations adapting to similar selection pressures. Tests of parallel evolution of reproductive isolation, trait-based assortative mating, and reproductive isolation by active selection have demonstrated that ecological speciation is a common means by which new species arise. Evidence for mutation-order speciation by natural selection is more limited and has been best documented by instances of reproductive isolation resulting from intragenomic conflict. However, we still have not identified all aspects of selection, and identifying the underlying genes for reproductive isolation remains challenging.


An Mw 7.5 earthquake struck Palu in the northern coast of Sulawesi island, Indonesia, on 28 September 2018. Its focal mechanism was determined to be a left‐lateral strike‐slip fault, which is generally expected to not produce a tsunami. However, a large tsunami with runup heights of more than 6 m was observed along the coast of Palu city. Here, we show a complex triggering supershear source model as determined by teleseismic waveform inversion. Three asperities with different slip characteristics were found on the 120‐kilometer‐long rupture zone. Significant triggering rupture with a supershear speed was observed south of the epicenter, which was just beneath Palu city. This special rupture process can cause a strong directivity effect that produced anomalously large ground shaking with nonlinear effects in Palu area. The coseismic deformation determined from the inverted source model showed large horizontal displacements. These horizontal movements combined with complex bathymetry and topography could have pushed seawater to generate a tsunami even though the Palu earthquake was a strike‐slip event.


This paper develops an international-trade game with two locally regulated producers. They may freely export but have to sell in their local market at a price equal to their marginal cost. We consider a setting where local production is decided after exports. The rationale for this sequentiality in decision making is in the fact that exports are often set by contract long before expedition takes actually place. In the parlance of game theory, the game is played with a closed-loop information structure. We characterize sufficient conditions for existence and uniqueness of the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium in two scenarios, namely, without and with local regulation. In an asymmetric game with local regulation, we derive conditions under which dumping and cross-hauling take place. In the symmetric version of this game, we show that reciprocal dumping always occurs and that autarky Pareto-dominates this equilibrium. These elements are counter-telling the traditional viewpoint that price-making behavior is a necessary condition for dumping in a deterministic framework. Our model and results are of special interest in a context where locally regulated firms are playing a significant role in international trade.


GI-TAE YEO PORT COMPETITIVENESS IN NORTH EAST ASIA: AN INTEGRATED FUZZY APPROACH TO EXPERT EVALUATIONS Despite the fact that the Northeast Asia (NEA) region, which had four of the top five and 20 of the top 30 container ports in the world in 2003, can be regarded as holding a central position in liner shipping and the handling of container cargo volumes, very little research has been done into the evaluation of its port competitiveness (EPC). For this reason, the EPC in NEA can be regarded as a problematic and urgent issue to be solved, and worthy of academic attention. From this aspect, this research set out to attempt to address the above issue by means of utilizing expert knowledge. However, the EPC contains problems of complex multipleattributes and multiple-hierarchies (CMAMH). In addition, difficulties concerning certain characteristics of evaluation such as complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity are also involved. To deal with such problems, in this research, the employment of integrated fuzzy evaluation (IFE) as a methodology was decided upon. As a result of the adaptation of the methodology, certain indications from this research to the theory and practice for container ports have emerged and are clearly identifiable. With regard to theory, this study has contributed to theoretical development significantly in four ways. First, the factors and taxonomy of port competitiveness for the container ports in NEA have been provided for the first time. Second, this is the first integrated approach for the EPC in NEA, the most competitive area in the world. Third, this research was also the first to attempt extracting critical weak points and/or influential factors affecting current port competitiveness. Finally, the adoption of IFE made it possible for the first time to uncover the interactive relationships between the competing container ports. In terms of practice, this research has also provided certain contributions of utmost importance. First of all, the study has provided a suggestion for the most recent port ranking in respect of port competitiveness. Moreover, changes in competitiveness power, which are dynamically and interactively affected by the relationship between the ports, have been successfully estimated and suggested. Thus, such changes in the competitiveness in NEA can now be easily forecasted by port actors. List of


The objectives of this study are to enhance cellular accumulation of gemcitabine with chitosan/glyceryl monooleate (GMO) nanostructures, and to provide significant increase in cell death of human pancreatic cancer cells in vitro. The delivery system was prepared by a multiple emulsion solvent evaporation method. The nanostructure topography, size, and surface charge were determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM), and a zetameter. The cellular accumulation, cellular internalization and cytotoxicity of the nanostructures were evaluated by HPLC, confocal microscopy, or MTT assay in Mia PaCa-2 and BxPC-3 cells. The average particle diameter for 2% and 4% (w/w) drug loaded delivery system were 382.3 ± 28.6 nm, and 385.2 ± 16.1 nm, respectively with a surface charge of +21.94 ± 4.37 and +21.23 ± 1.46 mV. The MTT cytotoxicity dose-response studies revealed the placebo at/or below 1 mg/ml has no effect on MIA PaCa-2 or BxPC-3 cells. The delivery system demonstrated a significant decrease in the IC50 (3 to 4 log unit shift) in cell survival for gemcitabine nanostructures at 72 and 96 h post-treatment when compared with a solution of gemcitabine alone. The nanostructure reported here can be resuspended in an aqueous medium that demonstrate increased effective treatment compared with gemcitabine treatment alone in an in vitro model of human pancreatic cancer. The drug delivery system demonstrates capability to entrap both hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds to potentially provide an effective treatment option in human pancreatic cancer.


The thesis describes Load Frequency Control techniques which may be used for real-time on-line control of large electrical power systems. Traditionally the frequency control of power systems has been carried out using standard fixed parameter control schemes, which give control over the immediate steady- state error and the long term accumulated frequency error, but do not account for the fact that system conditions can alter due to the change in consumer load and generating patterns. The thesis presents a method of controlling the system frequency using adaptive control techniques, which ensure that optimal control action is calculated based on the present system conditions. It enables the system operating point to be monitored so that optimal control may continue to be calculated as the system operating point alters. The proposed method of frequency control can be extended to meet the problems of system interconnection and the control of inter-area power flows. The thesis describes the work carried out at Durham on a fixed parameter control scheme which led to the development of an adaptive control scheme. The controller was validated against a real-time power system simulator with full Energy Management software. Results are also presented from work carried out at the Central Electricity Research Laboratories under the C.A.S.E award scheme. This led to the development of a power system simulator, which along with the controller was validated on-line with the Dispatch Project used by the Central Electricity Generating Board.


Abstract
Objective – Collaboration and working in teams are key aspects of all types of librarianship, but library and information studies (LIS) students often perceive teamwork and group work negatively. LIS schools have a responsibility to prepare graduates with the skills and experiences to be successful working in teams in the field. Through a grant from the university office of assessment, the assessment committee at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies explored their department's programmatic approach to teaching teamwork in the MLIS curriculum.
Methods – This research followed a multi-method design including content analysis of syllabi, secondary analysis of student evaluation of teaching (SET) data, and interviews with alumni. Syllabi were analyzed for all semesters from fall 2010 to spring 2016 (n = 210), with 81 syllabi further analyzed for details about their team assignments. Some data was missing from the dataset of SETs purchased from the vendor, resulting in a dataset of 39 courses with SET data available. Interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of alumni about their experiences with teamwork in the LIS program and their view of how well the LIS curriculum prepared them for teamwork in their careers (n = 22).
Results – Findings indicate that, although alumni remembered teamwork happening too often, it was required in just over one-third of courses in the sample period (fall 2010 to spring 2016), and teamwork accounted for about one-fifth of assignments in each of these courses. Alumni reported mostly positive experiences with teamwork, reflecting that teamwork assignments are necessary for the MLIS program because teamwork is a critical skill for librarianship. Three themes emerged from the findings: alumni perceived teamwork to be important for librarians and therefore for the MLIS program, despite this perception there is also a perception that the program has teamwork in too many courses, and questions remain about whether faculty perceive teaching teamwork as important and how to teach teamwork skills in the MLIS curriculum.
Conclusions – Librarians need to be able to collaborate internally and externally, but assigning team projects does not guarantee students will develop the teamwork skills they need. An LIS program should be proactive in teaching skills in scheduling, time management, personal accountability, and peer evaluation to prepare students to be effective collaborators in their careers.


Nearest neighbor search using random projection trees has recently been shown to achieve superior performance, in terms of better accuracy while retrieving less number of data points, compared to locality sensitive hashing based methods. However, to achieve acceptable nearest neighbor search accuracy for large scale applications, where number of data points and/or number of features can be very large, it requires users to maintain, store and search through large number of such independent random projection trees, which may be undesirable for many practical applications. To address this issue, in this paper we present different search strategies to improve nearest neighbor search performance of a single random projection tree. Our approach exploits properties of single and multiple random projections, which allows us to store meaningful auxiliary information at internal nodes of a random projection tree as well as to design priority functions to guide the search process that results in improved nearest neighbor search performance. Empirical results on multiple real world datasets show that our proposed method improves the search accuracy of a single tree compared to baseline methods.


This compilation of papers presented at the 2000 European Summer Meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic marks the centenial anniversery of Hilbert's famous lecture. Held in the same hall at La Sorbonne where Hilbert first presented his famous problems, this meeting carries special significance to the Mathematics and Logic communities. The presentations include tutorials and research articles from some of the world's preeminent logicians. Three long articles are based on tutorials given at the meeting, and present accessible expositions of devloping research in three active areas of logic: model theory, computability, and set theory. The eleven subsequent articles cover seperate research topics in all areas of mathematical logic, including: aspects in Computer Science, Proof Theory, Set Theory, Model Theory, Computability Theory, and aspects of Philosophy.


Most object classes share a considerable amount of local appearance and often only a small number of features are discriminative. The traditional approach to represent an object is based on a summarization of the local characteristics by counting the number of feature occurrences. In this paper we propose the use of a recently developed technique for summarizations that, rather than looking into the quantity of features, encodes their quality to learn a description of an object. Our approach is based on extracting and aggregating only the essential characteristics of an object class for a task. We show how the proposed method significantly improves on previous work in 3D object categorization. We discuss the benefits of the method in other scenarios such as robot grasping. We provide extensive quantitative and qualitative experiments comparing our approach to the state of the art to justify the described approach.


Aim: A possible molecular mechanism of clinically defined multidrug-resistant epilepsy involves drug efflux transporters such as P glycoprotein (P-gp), a member of the ATPbinding cassette subfamily B1 (ABCB1). We have investigated the prevalence of the C3435T, G 2677T/A, and T129C single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region of MDR1 gene, in Romanian epileptic patients. Methods: 70 epileptic patients evaluated in the Neurology Department of Cluj County Hospital were included in the study. The response to treatment was assessed by reviewing the seizure diaries and the patients were classified as responders or non-responders. Antiepileptic drug (AED) plasmatic concentrations were measured and the patients were divided into 2 groups: first group with AED concentrations in therapeutic range and the second one with sub-optimal AED concentrations. Genotyping the DNA samples, we investigated MDR1 gene polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results were expressed as genotype and allele frequencies per response group and compared between subgroups. Results: 33 patients (47.14%) were classified as responders, while the remaining 37 patients (52.86%) were classified as non-responders. A comparison of responders and non-responders revealed no significant difference in genotype frequency for any of the three mutations studied. The CT heterozygote for ABCB1 T129C had significantly lower AED concentrations (p=0.041), with no significant difference for the other polymorphisms studied. Conclusions: In our study we found an association of CT variant in ABCB1 C129T with lower AED plasmatic concentrations and no association between ABCB1 variants and the drug responsiveness.


Restorative justice processes have been promoted as an alternative to criminal adjudication for many years outside the United States and, in recent years, in the United States as well. In the United States, restorative justice processes are used in some jurisdictions in cases involving juvenile offenders or low-level, nonviolent offenses by adults, but they have rarely been used in cases of adult felony offenders charged with serious violent crimes. Whether restorative justice processes will be used more broadly depends largely on whether prosecutors become receptive to their use. A handful of newly elected "progressive prosecutors" have expressed interest in applying restorative justice processes in these and other kinds of felony cases involving adult defendants. But conventional prosecutors generally remain uninterested in or hostile to restorative justice, even though most accept problem-solving courts and other alternatives to prosecution and incarceration. This Article explores why mainstream U.S. prosecutors are disposed against restorative justice and suggest how their concerns might best be addressed by restorative justice proponents.


You can get paid for online ad placement with Google AdSense! If youve ever considered using AdSense to improve revenue for your Web site, Google AdSense For Dummies will get you started. Its loaded with tips to help you implement a successful AdSense program. AdSense lets you generate income with ad placement on blogs and Web sites. Google AdSense For Dummies shows you how AdSense works, how to analyze cost per click and track AdSense results, and how to earn money from your blog or Web site without selling a product. Discover how to: Register and set up an AdSense program Track results with server logs, AdSense reports, and Google Analytics Boost AdSense income with search engine optimization techniques Apply Google guidelines by including relevant links and content, making your site easy to navigate, using a sitemap, and keeping links in good repair Fine-tune your Web site with beefed-up content to please Google and boost effectiveness Earn more with AdSense for RSS, streaming video, and referral units Design appealing ads and search boxes, and deal with ads from competitors Add video units to your site, design mobile ad units, and understand referral units In Google AdSense For Dummies, author Jerri Ledford, a self-described Google geek, helps you make money with AdSense.


The design and development of a fibre optic evanescent wave refractometer for the detection of trace amounts of paraffin oil and palm oil in coconut oil is presented. This sensor is based on a side-polished plastic optical fibre. At the sensing region, the cladding and a small portion of the core are removed and the fibre nicely polished. The sensing region is fabricated in such a manner that it sits perfectly within a bent mould. This bending of the sensing region enhances its sensitivity. The oil mixture of different mix ratios is introduced into the sensing region and we observed a sharp decrease in the output intensity. The observed variation in the intensity is found to be linear and the detection limit is 2% (by volume) paraffin oil/palm oil in coconut oil. The resolution of this refractometric sensor is of the order of 10−3. Since coconut oil is consumed in large volumes as edible oil in south India, this fibre optic sensor finds great relevance for the detection of adulterants such as paraffin oil or palm oil which are readily miscible in coconut oil. The advantage of this type of sensor is that it is inexpensive and easy to set up. Another attraction of the side-polished fibre is that only a very small amount of analyte is needed and its response time is only 7 s.


Reports in literature of urinary bladder alterations in the equine species are few and far between Most excretory urinary tract inflammation pathologies are triggered by some sort of infection, although chemical and physical causes have also been evidenced, particularly in human medicine. Infrequent cases of phlogosis caused by toxins in the bloodstream (Cantharidin and Mycotoxin in the horse) have, however, been observed in veterinary medicine. The aim of this paper is to present a comparative study of equine cystitises and their analogies with the human species. To this end, the authors have examined 235 urine bladders taken from regularly slaughtered horses.


: The study investigated analysis of indiscriminate sexual relationship among undergraduate female students in tertiary educational institutions in Ebonyi state. Three research questions guided the study. The sample size comprised 250 respondents. The data collected were analyzed using mean scores. Results of the study revealed the causes of indiscriminate sexual relationships as students' lifestyle, cohabitation of students, quest for materialism, poor parental upbringing, etc. Further revelation was on the consequences of indiscriminate sexual relationships among undergraduate female students to include; poor academic performance, prostitution, unplanned pregnancy, unsafe abortion etc. The study suggested some remedies to include; introduction of sex education in tertiary educational institutions at 100 level, separation / divorce should be avoided at all costs among couples, financially poor parents should rather send their female children to learn trade instead of sending them to tertiary educational institutions and flamboyant lifestyle should be discarded by female students.


With the recent advent of COVID-19, more and more news has been spread throughout various media outlets of the negative behaviour stemming from citizens around the world This behaviour has led to a new word being popularised on the internet: covidiot With the arrival of such new words and new pathogens and viruses, further focus is being placed on globalisation and what a citizen must do or not do during the time of pandemics at the local, national and global level As Bell (2005) explains, for the past few decades in academia, there has been a renewal of attention in citizenship theory, which has resulted in a variety of adjectival citizenships being formed This paper, using the basis of global citizenship among others types of citizenships, such as environmental citizenship and caring citizenship, will look at how the recent focus on global health, has created a changing face of what is global citizenship, and how it must be more inclusive to reflect the changing times As globalisation continues to spread, in conjunction with new viruses, the need to constantly adapt what a global citizen is, must also evolve alongside This paper thus brings forth the new notion of pandemic citizenship: a citizenship inclusive of many other citizenships but unique in its focus on global health


This paper summarizes a comprehensive revision and update of UTIP.s work on the inequality of pay and incomes around the world, from 1963 to 2008. The new UTIP-UNIDO (University of Texas Inequality Project-United Nations Industrial Development Organization) dataset of industrial pay inequality has 4,054 country-year observations for 167 countries, while the revised EHII (Estimated Household Income Inequality) dataset of estimated gross household income inequality has 3,872 observations for 149 countries. The paper also provides comparisons of the EHII data with measures and estimates from other work. They show that EHII is a reliable reflection of trends, and a reasonable, though not perfect, estimator of the levels of inequality found in surveys.


Daily transportation mode choice is largely habitual, but transitions between life events may disrupt travel habits and can shift choices between alternative transportation modes. Although much is known about general mode switches following life event transitions, less is understood about differences that may exist between subpopulations, especially from a long-term perspective. Understanding these differences will help planners and policymakers introduce more targeted policy interventions to promote sustainable transportation modes and inform longer-term predictions. Extending beyond existing literature, we use data collected from a retrospective survey to investigate the effects of life course events on mode use situated within different long-term life trajectory contexts. We apply a machine-learning method called joint social sequence clustering to define five distinct and interpretable cohorts based on trajectory patterns in family and career domains over their life courses. We use these patterns as an innovative contextual system to investigate (1) the heterogeneous effects of life events on travel mode use and (2) further differentiation between gender and generation groups in these life event effects. We find that events occurring relatively early in life are more strongly associated with changes in mode-use behavior, and that mode use can also be affected by the relative order of events. This timing and order effect can have lasting impacts on mode use aggregated over entire life cycles: members of our "Have-it-alls" cohort—who finish their education, start working, partner up, and have children early in life—ramp up car use at each event, resulting in the highest rate of car use occurring the earliest among all the cohorts. Women drive more when having children primarily when their family formation and career formation are intertwined early in life, and younger generations rely relatively more on car use during familial events when their careers have a later start.


This essay explores how application of deliberative democracy and conflict resolution theories expose how the town hall meetings conducted on debates about recent American healthcare reform were poorly managed. The article suggests that for truly deliberative democracy to work, theory and practice must take account of three forms of discourse: rational-principled, bargaining-trading (utilitarian) and affective, emotional and value-based discourses. The article explores deliberative democracy and conflict resolution theory (e.g., Habermas, Hampshire), contrasts these to more nuanced analyses of what is possible in political deliberation processes (Elster, Sen, and Fishkin, among others) and describes how the town hall meetings were poorly executed in practice. Suggestions are offered for both theoretical issues (how are professional process experts, e.g. facilitators of consensus building fora to be justified in democratic theory) and practical variations on process themes, in the hopes that well structured and variable processes might still be designed and utilized for facilitating productive participation in the polity and more "consensus-seeking," and better and more flexible policy outcomes, even in highly contested political issues.


Aim: To investigate risk factors and probability of initial immunological graft rejection episodes after Descemet stripping with endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK). Methods: Outcomes of 598 DSEK cases from a single tertiary referral centre were reviewed. Risk factors and probability of rejection were assessed by multivariate Cox proportional hazards modelling. Results: Rejection episodes occurred in 54 eyes of 48 patients. Estimated probability of a rejection episode was 7.6% by 1 year and 12% by 2 years after grafting. Relative risk of rejection was five times higher for African–American patients compared with Caucasians (p = 0.0002). Eyes with pre-existing glaucoma (9%) or steroid-responsive ocular hypertension (27%) had twice the relative risk of rejection (p = 0.045) compared with eyes that did not have those problems. Patient age, sex and corneal diagnosis did not significantly influence rejection risk. Risk of rejection was not increased when fellow eyes were grafted within 1 year of the first eye (p = 0.62). Conclusions: Pre-existing glaucoma or steroid-responsive ocular hypertension and race were the two factors that independently influenced relative risk of rejection after DSEK. Rejection risk was not increased if the fellow eye was grafted within the prior year with DSEK.


Although the French c'est-cleft and the English it-cleft appear at first glance to share similar syntactic and pragmatic properties (they are both what Lambrecht 1994 calls "argument focus" constructions), their use in discourse is not always the same. One finds a number of situations in which the c'est-cleft is required but the it-cleft is pragmatically odd. The reason for this discrepancy has to do with French prosodic restrictions that do not exist in English, thus creating a motivation for the cleft in French that is not found in English. In addition, various c'est-cleft types and c'est-cleft "lookalikes" in French correspond to different types of constructions in English, demonstrating the importance of analyzing naturally occurring discourse to determine pragmatic well-formedness.


Results of three different approaches to bubble measurement, multifrequency backscatter, pulse propagation, and complex dispersion measurements with an acoustic resonator, are compared. The multifrequency backscatter sonar has the advantage of being a remote sensor and provides high resolution up to the sea surface. However, the limited number of available frequencies and cumulative effects of attenuation due to bubble scatter complicate the inversion. The pulse propagation sonar is an in situ measurement depending on detection of travel time and attenuation for a pulse traveling between two transducers. It has the merit of providing a direct sound‐speed and attenuation measurement and may conveniently be operated at quite low frequencies. A resonator that allows simultaneous measurement of sound speed and attenuation spanning the resonant bubble frequency range of interest has been developed. Measurements in three open ocean deployments provide a basis for systematic comparisons between the different bub...


Abstract This paper provides a narrative review of the knowledge on inter-personal violence and abuse (IPVA) in adolescents' intimate relationships. It draws on the authors' own research, published reviews, and a rapid review on IPVA victimization and mental health outcomes for adolescents. The research reviewed identified associations between adolescent IPVA and substance misuse, depressive symptoms and PTSD, eating disorders and suicidal thinking, and behaviour in young people. Generally, girls appeared more likely to report severe mental health outcomes than boys. Adolescents rarely disclose IPVA to adults and delivering preventative programmes that promote knowledge and help seeking may offer a means of building on young people's tendency to seek help from friends. These preventative interventions, usually delivered in schools, need to be closely linked to support services for adolescents who disclose abuse. While there are some practice examples of emerging interventions for both victims and perpetrators of adolescent IPVA, there is as yet little robust evidence regarding their effectiveness.


In the past decade, we have come to rely on computers for various safety and security-critical tasks, such as securing our homes, operating our vehicles, and controlling our finances. To facilitate these tasks, chip manufacturers have begun including trusted execution environments (TEEs) in their processors, which enable critical code (e.g., cryptographic functions) to run in an isolated hardware environment that is protected from the traditional operating system (OS) and its applications. While code in the untrusted environment (e.g., Android or Linux) is forbidden from accessing any memory or state within the TEE, the code running in the TEE, by design, has unrestricted access to the memory of the untrusted OS and its applications. However, due to the isolation between these two environments, the TEE has very limited visibility into the untrusted environment's security mechanisms (e.g., kernel vs. application memory). In this paper, we introduce BOOMERANG, a class of vulnerabilities that arises due to this semantic separation between the TEE and the untrusted environment. These vulnerabilities permit untrusted user-level applications to read and write any memory location in the untrusted environment, including security-sensitive kernel memory, by leveraging the TEE's privileged position to perform the operations on its behalf. BOOMERANG can be used to steal sensitive data from other applications, bypass security checks, or even gain full control of the untrusted OS. To quantify the extent of this vulnerability, we developed an automated framework for detecting BOOMERANG bugs within the TEEs of popular mobile phones. Using this framework, we were able to confirm the existence of BOOMERANG on four different TEE platforms, affecting hundreds of millions of devices on the market today. Moreover, we confirmed that, in at least two instances, BOOMERANG could be leveraged to completely compromise the untrusted OS (i.e., Android). While the implications of these vulnerabilities are severe, defenses can be quickly implemented by vendors, and we are currently in contact with the affected TEE vendors to deploy adequate fixes. To this end, we evaluated the two most promising defense proposals and their inherent trade-offs. This analysis led the proposal of a novel BOOMERANG defense, addressing the major shortcomings of the existing defenses with minimal performance overhead. Our findings have been reported to and verified by the corresponding vendors, who are currently in the process of creating security patches.


Long non-coding RNA (lncRNAs) show a wide range of regulatory functions at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels both in the nucleus and cytoplasm. Recently, antisense lncRNAs (ASlncRNAs) were reported to up-regulate protein synthesis post-transcriptionally through a mechanism depending on an embedded inverted SINE B2 and 5' overlap to the target mRNAs. Such ASlncRNAs are also referred as SINEUPs. Synthetic SINEUPs with identical modular organization were also demonstrated to exert the same activity suggesting a functional relationship between SINE repetitive elements and ASlncRNAs. In order to gain a broader insight on the contribution of transposable elements (TEs) in the sequence composition of ASlncRNAs, I have developed a bioinformatic pipeline that can identify and characterize transcripts containing TEs and analyze TEs coverage for different classes of coding/non-coding sense/antisense (S/AS) pairs. I aimed at identifying if the functional activity of SINEUPs could be a widespread phenomenon across multiple similar natural ASlnRNAs in the transcriptomes of the extensively studied model organisms that have a well annotated catalog of IncNRAs. From my initial analysis I identified human and mouse are the two species that showed a significant coverage enrichment of SINE repeats among ASlncRNAs. I further performed several functional enrichment analysis for the sense coding genes overlapping to ASlncRNAs taking into consideration of different characteristics of the 5' binding domain and the 3' embedded SINE repetitive elements. This permitted me to identify the effect of these modular features over the functional associations of sense coding genes. The results of the analysis showed that the products of coding genes associated to ASlncRNAs containing SINEs are significantly enriched for mitochondrial localization. Further, to determine if these ASlncRNAs could exert SINEUP-like activity during stress, I analyzed the data from a published custom microarray experiment study, that were associated to the polysome fractions of MRC5 cell lysates in control and oxidative stress condition. The results revealed that the ASlncRNA carrying inverted or direct SINE repeats and their corresponding sense coding genes do not show any significant differential polysome loading in stress with respect to normal conditions, which is not a desired characteristic of a potential SINEUP. However, ASlncRNAs with inverted and direct SINE repeats corresponding to high translating polysome fractions showed a significantly higher ratio of means for RNA levels in stress over control, in contrast to noASlncRNA. This suggests that the ASlncRNA containing SINE elements are the key RNA molecules that are active during stress, although to determine if they are also involved in the increased polysome loading of their respective sense coding mRNAs, there is a need of further experimentation and exploration. Altogether, the work presented in this thesis provides a novel bioinformatics approach to study transcriptome-wide ASlncRNAs containing TEs and their functional association over the sense coding genes, and discover new significant functional features of ASlncRNA to be biologically validated.


Objective: Varying degrees of inter-organizational collaboration concerning children at risk has grown rapidly since the 1980s. Collaboration is understood to provide a more holistic view of the child's needs, lead to better care and treatment, more efficient law enforcement as well as increase knowledge in general. The aim of this presentation is to explore processes and effects, by highlighting dilemmas, barriers and possibilities, of inter-organizational and multi-professional collaboration between agencies investigating suspected child abuse cases within child welfare integrated services in Sweden. Methods: The results presented are collected within the research evaluation of pilot-projects of Children´s Advocacy Centers (CACs/Barnahus) at six locations in Sweden. The methods used are legal analysis, individual and group interviews, survey questionnaires and protocols of consultation meetings. Results: The study demonstrates overall differences in organization, and a quantity of variations between the six CACs in relation to target groups, levels of integration, efforts offered at the centers and interpretations of regulations. The results show several conflicts and dilemmas in the collaborative processes emanated from the tension between two inherent goals of the CACs, namely a) the therapeutic goal of child protection and support; b) the legalistic goal of making the (penal) legal process more efficient. The results point at a juridification tendency at the expense of child adjustment and support. Conclusions: Complex collaboration between many agencies leads to conflicts between several legislations and professional knowledge(s) which, if not addressed properly, can lead to negative outcomes in terms of the best interest of the child (including a family perspective). This implies the need for a critical perspective and further knowledge of collaborative organizing processes and the actual outcomes of collaboration viewed from a child perspective in contrast to agency perspective(s). (Less)


The problem of minimizing the execution completion time of a given total load, to be partitioned into interacting tasks and allocated to run on a generalized model of a heterogeneous centralized or distributed multiprocessing system, is examined. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear, nonconvex nonseparable, minimax resource- allocation, continuous, mathematical programming problem. It is assumed that the quantitative functional dependence of the individual processor execution time on the partitioned load allocation is known and specified in analytical or graphical formats of a fairly general nature with no a priori restrictions of differentiability, monotonicity, convexity, and unimodality commonly imposed in previous investigations of the problem. A Theorem stating the necessary and sufficient condition for minimum concurrent processing completion time is derived. The new result represents an analytical breakthrough applicable to a wide class of hitherto analytically unsolved optimization problems in various application disciplines. The derivation starts from a precise representation of the parallel execution time and proceeds through an exact analysis that does not resort to the simplifying assumptions or analytical approximations found in analogous previous investigations. The load partitioning is considered to vary over a continuum, thus allowing the achievement of ideal optimization through one-step repartitioning of the given load. The optimization procedure determines the set of all global minimum points of the completion time function as well as all its local minima, thus allowing further lexicographic optimization and suboptimal trade-offs. The conditions of the Theorem admit a straightforward graphical interpretation which facilitates its implementation and readily extends its applicability to empirically or simulationally determined models of the system.