Radial patterns of optical flow produced by observer translation could be used to perceive the direction of self-movement during locomotion, and a number of formal analyses of such patterns have recently appeared. However, there is comparatively little empirical research on the perception of heading from optical flow, and what data there are indicate surprisingly poor performance, with heading errors on the order of 5 degrees-10 degrees. We examined heading judgments during translation parallel, perpendicular, and at oblique angles to a random-dot plane, varying observer speed and dot density. Using a discrimination task, we found that heading accuracy improved by an order of magnitude, with 75%-correct thresholds of 0.66 degrees in the highest speed and density condition and 1.2 degrees generally. Performance remained high with displays of 63-10 dots, but it dropped significantly with only 2 dots; there was no consistent speed effect and no effect of angle of approach to the surface. The results are inconsistent with theories based on the local focus of outflow, local motion parallax, multiple fixations, differential motion parallax, and the local maximum of divergence. But they are consistent with Gibson's (1950) original global radial outflow hypothesis for perception of heading during translation.


Gas hydrates have received considerable attention due to their important role in flow assurance for the oil and gas industry, their extensive natural occurrence on Earth and extraterrestrial planets, and their significant applications in sustainable technologies including but not limited to gas and energy storage, gas separation, and water desalination. Given not only their inherent structural flexibility depending on the type of guest gas molecules and formation conditions, but also the synthetic effects of a wide range of chemical additives on their properties, these variabilities could be exploited to optimise the role of gas hydrates. This includes increasing their industrial applications, understanding and utilising their role in Nature, identifying potential methods for safely extracting natural gases stored in naturally occurring hydrates within the Earth, and for developing green technologies. This review summarizes the different properties of gas hydrates as well as their formation and dissociation kinetics and then reviews the fast-growing literature reporting their role and applications in the aforementioned fields, mainly concentrating on advances during the last decade. Challenges, limitations, and future perspectives of each field are briefly discussed. The overall objective of this review is to provide readers with an extensive overview of gas hydrates that we hope will stimulate further work on this riveting field.


Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been suggested to play a role in the pathophysiology of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and may contribute to increased risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) in affected individuals. Vitamin D (VitD) supplementation improves multiple clinical parameters in VitD-deficient women with PCOS and decreases VEGF levels in several other pathologic conditions. Unveiling the basic mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of vitamin D on PCOS may enhance our understanding of the pathophysiology of this syndrome. It may also suggest a new treatment for PCOS that can improve it through the same mechanism as vitamin D and can be given regardless of vitamin D levels. Therefore, we aimed to explore the effect of VitD supplementation on serum VEGF levels and assess whether changes in VEGF correlate with an improvement in characteristic clinical abnormalities of PCOS. This is a randomized placebo-controlled trial conducted between October 2013 and March 2015. Sixty-eight VitD-deficient women with PCOS were recruited. Women received either 50,000 IU of oral VitD3 or placebo once weekly for 8 weeks. There was a significant decrease in serum VEGF levels (1106.4 ± 36.5 to 965.3 ± 42.7 pg·mL–1; p < 0.001) in the VitD group. Previously reported findings of this trial demonstrated a significant decrease in the intermenstrual intervals, Ferriman-Gallwey hirsutism score, and triglycerides following VitD supplementation. Interestingly, ∆VEGF was positively correlated with ∆triglycerides (R2 = 0.22; p = 0.02) following VitD supplementation. In conclusion, VitD replacement significantly decreases serum VEGF levels correlating with a decrease in triglycerides in women with PCOS. This is a novel molecular explanation for the beneficial effects of VitD treatment. It also suggests the need to investigate a potential role of VitD treatment in reducing the incidence or severity of OHSS in VitD-deficient women with PCOS.


Collision Course: The Strange Convergence of Affirmative Action and Immigration Policy in America. By Hugh Davis Graham (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Pp. x, 246. Index. Cloth, $30.00). Parish Ministry in a Hispanic Community. By Charles W. Dahm (New York: Paulist Press, 2004. Pp. xiii, 296. Paper, $22.95). These two books fill important lacunae in U.S. history, with particular relevance for the study of Mexican Americans, the largest Latino immigrant subgroup. Hugh D. Graham's Collision Course: The Strange Convergence of Affirmative Action and Immigration Policy in America brings to the table a thoughtful, multifaceted examination of perhaps the biggest, and often controversial, items on the contemporary civil rights agenda-affirmative action programs and federal immigration policy. Meanwhile, Charles Dahm, in his eloquent Parish Ministry in a Hispanic Community, offers insights into religious practices among his mostly Mexican-American parishioners at St. Pius V, the most populous church in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, which he has led since 1986. The meticulous scholarship of both books does justice to their main themes. Civil rights and religion, often difficult to teach objectively and thoroughly in the classroom, can be equally elusive as topics of historical research. The authors muster the creative scholarship needed to overcome barriers of political partisanship, in the first case, and reflexive academic apathy toward religion, specifically Catholicism, in the second. Graham takes on the daunting task of unraveling the unintended consequences of the mid-1960s nondiscrimination laws-the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, aimed at the time at redressing historical inequities suffered by African Americans-as well as the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act, which ended the national origins immigration quotas imposed in the 1920s. Graham points out the tendency of proponents of affirmative action to avoid the entire topic of immigrant participation, which owes partly to the tendency of federal courts since the 1960s to recognize equal protection for persons living within the governmental jurisdiction of the United States, as individuals, rather than merely by their citizenship status. This approach, of course, integrates immigrants-undocumented and documented alike-into the constitutional body politic. Collision Course argues that the civil rights coalition evolved in support of both affirmative action and liberal immigration policies without connecting them. The coalition sought to preserve itself within the evolving political landscape of the 1960s and 1970s, redefined itself in the 1980s and 1990s (to include the NAACP and, lastly, the AFL-CIO) and gained the support of elected officials and a wide range of interest groups. The counterpart to these "immigration expansionists" was not merely an obscurantist conservative coalition. Indeed, Graham points out that, during the 1980s, the libertarian "free market" wing of the Republican Party acquiesced in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), despite the act's ultimate vagueness on enforcement and identification procedures. Fractures in constituencies on both the Left and the Right have often obscured allegiances in the affirmative action debate (broadly but logically construed to include the several Voting Rights Act amendments as well). The book raises important questions. Why, we are asked, were Jewish Americans, with their long history of discrimination in America, excluded from affirmative action while, for example, Indonesian Americans, "a recent and prosperous group with no history of oppression in the United States, [were] given Small Business Administration grants and minority set-aside contracts under the federal government's 8(a) program?" Graham also questions why all women, regardless of socioeconomic class and income, were afforded "protected-class status" (12). The answers lie in understanding reconfigurations of national political parties and interest group strategies, as well as in changing definitions of what constitutes a minority. …


The potential long-term influences of mesobrowsers versus those of savannah elephants on woodland dynamics have not been explored. This may be a critical omission especially in southern African savannahs, where efforts to preserve existing woodlands are typically directed at elephant management. We describe a simple browse–browser model, parameterized from an extensive review of the literature and our own data, including quantitative assessment of impala impact, from the study site, iMfolozi Park, South Africa. As there is a paucity of species-specific demographic data on savannah woody species, we modelled, in a novel approach, functional groups of plant species typical of Acacia woodlands. Outputs suggest that over the long term (100 years), low-to-moderate densities of impala will have a similar impact on woodland structure, in terms of density of adult trees, as low-to-moderate densities of elephant. Further, the outputs highlight the apparently strong synergistic effect impala and elephant impacts combined have on woodland dynamics, suggesting that reduction or removal of either impala or elephant will radically reduce long-term destruction of savannah woodlands. Recorded changes in adult tree numbers in iMfolozi broadly supported the model's outputs.


This paper addresses a sub-problem of the broad annotation problem, namely "person annotation", associated with personal digital photo management and investigates approaches to enhancing person annotation in personal photo management applications. We study a number of approaches to enhance the performance of semi-automatic person annotation using real-life personal photo collections as the test data. To this end, face and body-patch features are employed to describe the appearance of a person as a means to more effectively capture the identities of re-appearing people in personal photo archives. Experiments are carried out to identify a suitable initial annotation method, compare the performances of event-constrained person matching with global person matching, and the effect of the size of initial annotation on the overall performance of person annotation in real-life personal photo archives. The evaluation results, presented in terms of H-Hit rate figures, illustrate that using event-constrained person matching with event-based initial annotation proves to be a better performing approach than global person matching for person annotation in personal photo archives.Results also clearly demonstrate the nature of compromise that needs to be made when annotating large photo collections in terms of accuracy against user-interaction.


Seasonal and circular migration is an important livelihood strategy for workers in developing countries and the construction industry is one of the largest recipients of such labour. The impact of labour migration to this industry on workers and their families is an important research issue with significant policy implications. The Migrating out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium conducted a three-country study on migrant construction workers in South Asia (India, Nepal, and Bangladesh). The country studies used similar methodologies and the principal findings are based on surveys of migrant construction workers and their families at source and destination. This policy brief presents the findings of the India study, which showed that while migrants have the opportunity for higher remuneration in the construction sector they also face significant work-related risks and difficult living conditions at destination. The brief concludes with policy recommendations to help ameliorate these challenges.


Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is strongly linked to hypertension and generally occurs later in life than coronary artery disease (CAD). Three quarters of the patients with symptomatic CVD are above 65 years of age. The risk factors are the same for CVD and CAD, but the relative importance of the vascular risk factors differs greatly.Genetic causes of stroke are relatively rare. Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leucoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a hereditary disease which causes CVD in young adults and middle-aged people, with migraine, stroke, psychiatric illness and dementia as clinical manifestations.The subject of this thesis is vascular function in stroke and CADASIL. Endothelium-dependent vasodilation (EDV) and arterial stiffness were investigated by different methods in stroke patients and CADASIL patients compared with healthy controls. Venous occlusion plethysmography with intra-arterial acetylcholine was used to evaluate EDV in the forearm resistance vessels. Flow-mediated vasodilation of the brachial artery was used to evaluate EDV in a conduit artery. Stroke patients displayed reduced EDV in resistance vessels compared with a healthy control group, but this reduction was not significant when, in a larger group of stroke patients, adjustments were made for blood pressure, antihypertensive treatment and other risk factors. Flow mediated vasodilation of the brachial artery was reduced in the stroke patients even after adjustment for risk factors. Compared with controls, the CADASIL patients showed similar EDV in the conduit artery, but reduced EDV in resistance vessels.Arterial compliance was evaluated by augmentation index from pulse wave analysis, by a ratio of cardiac stroke volume and pulse pressure, and by the distensibility of the carotid artery in relation to pulse pressure. Stroke patients and CADASIL patients did not display any significant increase in arterial stiffness when evaluated by these methods.


Cardiovascular disease is one of the largest killers in the UK representing 30% of all global deaths. The underlying processes of the disease are thought to begin in childhood. Whilst traditional risk factors of CV disease (e.g. hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity, smoking, stress and sedentary lifestyles) are becoming increasingly prevalent within the younger generation there remains the need for the establishment of earlier or "pre-clinical" markers of future CV disease risk or current atherosclerotic load such as left ventricular (LV) mass, diastolic function and carotid intima-media thickness( cIMT). Further, assessing the association of these markers to other risk factors and then determining the impact of physical activity (PA) interventions is warranted. Initially we assessed the impact of body composition, PA and cardiorespiratory (CR) fitness upon left ventricular LV mass, carotid-intima media thickness (cIMT) and LV diastolic function in 218 9-11 year old primary schoolchildren. Pubertal status was assessed through a maturity offset calculation. LV mass, cIMT, and LV diastolic function were assessed via ultrasound. Body mass index was assessed via anthropometry whilst fat mass [FM] and lean mass [LM] were determined via dual X-ray absorptiometry. Average 3-day PA was recorded via a uni-axial accelerometer and CR (VO?peak) was determined from a graded treadmill test. Relationships were analysed using bivariate correlations and forced entry multiple regression. All children were classified as being below their peak height velocity. Together LM, FM, sex and moderate to vigorous (MV)PA accounted for 59% of the variance in LV mass with LM being the most important predictor (P<0.005). Sex, LM, FM and VO?peak explained only 19% variance in cIMT and just 9% of the variance in LV diastolic function was accounted for by LM, FM blood pressure and sex. Data for MVPA had no significant relationship to any cardiovascular (CV) variables although was negatively correlated with FM. The strong association between LV mass and body composition likely represents normal growth. The limited shared variance between predictor variables and cIMT and LV diastolic function suggests that those pre-peak height velocity children in the current cohort who were overweight, inactive and unfit were not yet at an increased CV disease risk. Thus there is a window of opportunity for intervention programmes to be implemented that reduce CV disease risk before adolescence and adulthood. Following this, an exploratory trial was conducted to introduce the use of PA interventions in pre-pubertal children. Sixty-one 10-11 year old Liverpool primary school children volunteered and were randomly assigned by school to a STEX programme (2 x 60 min sessions per week at a heart rate of ~145 beats min??), a PASS programme (weekly physical activity tasks and pedometer challenges) and a control (CON; no intervention). Pre-clinical CV measures and body composition were measured before and after the 9-week intervention period. The primary outcome variable was cIMT, with LV mass, LV diastolic function, and body composition defined as secondary outcomes. Delta (?) scores were analysed by ANCOVA, with baseline scores as the covariate. For the primary outcome, the probability that the population effect of the intervention is at least as great as the pre-specified minimum clinically importance difference (MCID) was estimated, to evaluate clinical relevance. All participants met 75% compliance criteria for STEX and PASS. The effect of the STEX intervention (compared with CON) was a mean benefit of -0.018mm for average maximum cIMT (90% CI, -0.039 to 0.002mm), and -0.016mm for average mean cIMT (90 % CI, -0.040 to 0.008mm). The probability (% chances) that the true population effect of the STEX intervention would be clinically beneficial was 79% for average maximum and 71% for average mean cIMT. The PASS intervention did not result in clinically important effects, and no other substantial changes were observed for the secondary outcome variables. The relatively high probability of clinically beneficial effects of the STEX intervention suggests that a larger, "definitive" randomised trial with longer follow-up is warranted to define the effectiveness of the intervention more precisely. As a consequence the longer PA intervention study observed 152 children aged 9 to 10 years over 12 months. All of the echocardiographic, body composition, CR fitness and PA variables mentioned were assessed as previously discussed. Children were randomly assigned by school to an intervention group. Control (no intervention), PASS (as before except delivered during school hours to enhance compliance), high intensity physical activity (the same as STEX but renamed due to the addition of another structured exercise group) or fundamental movement skill ([FMS] 2x 60 min sessions per week of skill based activities). These interventions took place over a year period with participants being assessed at baseline, approximately mid-way through and post-test (52 weeks). Initial factorial ANOVA analysis comparing all 3 intervention groups and a control group before, during and after the 12 month intervention period, found limited statistically significant evidence for a positive impact of PA interventions compared to controls in pre-pubertal children. However, after adjusting for confounding variables in an ANCOVA analysis some sporadic benefits of PA interventions on CV variables were uncovered. An increase in LV mass over 12 months, after adjustment, was lower in the HIPA group compared to CON group (11.5 g; 90% CI, 2.0 to 21.0 g). This change was also lower in the FMS group compared to CON group (13.8 g; 90% CI, 4.6 to 23.1 g). The ANCOVA adjusted change scores for both mean and max cIMT were less in the intervention groups compared to CON group but only in the PASS group were these differences significant (P<0.05). PASS increased its mean cIMT (-0.014mm less than control (90% CI, -0.002 to -0.030)). Somewhat surprisingly the intervention programmes had no positive effect on CR fitness (indeed this decreased), PA measures and/or body composition over and above changes observed due to growth. This thesis has provided a unique insight into the 'pre-clinical' CV disease risk factors in pre-pubertal children and the impact of differing PA activity interventions with this group. Interestingly the research has shown that within this population overweight/obese, inactive low CR fit individuals are generally not at a higher CV disease risk than their aged matched 'healthier' counterparts. When PA interventions are introduced in the short term positive changes in cIMT were seen, however, this is not reciprocated in longer PA interventions possibly due to a larger maturation effect over 12 months. Interestingly year long interventions provide some attenuation of growth-related changes in CV disease risk factors but these changes are generally small and sporadic. It is suggested that further research over a longer period of time with more 'at risk' populations is needed. The PA interventions adopted achieved high attendance and compliance records and thus may be transferable out of the research process. It is interesting to also speculate that future research may not need to administer high impact activity, as previously thought, as some positive data was obtained in more general lifestyle interventions involving more knowledge transfer.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the frequency and background of the use of assessment instruments for the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment by clinical geriatricians and internists in geriatric medicine; the secondary aim was to make an inventory of the willingness to standardise the assessment instruments used.

DESIGN
A descriptive questionnaire study.

METHOD
In December 2016, we sent out a digital questionnaire (Survey Monkey) to all the hospitals in the Netherlands. Respondents were asked which instruments they used for specific domains of the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment, what their choice of instruments was based on, if these instruments had added value, and if they were prepared to change the instruments they used.

RESULTS
We received 66 responses (response: 82%). The most frequently-used instruments were: Mini Mental State Examination in combination with the clock drawing test (21%), Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (45%), Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living-6 (75%), Lawton and Brody (48%), Mini Nutritional Assessment(-short form) (outpatient; 56%) and Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire (inpatient: 36%), Experienced Burden Informal Care (46%), Charlson Comorbidity Index (35%), Timed Up and Go (76%), and the Safety Management System (VMS) fall risk question (21%). The most frequently used instruments were used in a large number of hospitals (35-97%).The variation of tests was the greatest in the domains of cognition, malnutrition, and mobility/physical functioning. Many respondents saw the added value of a consensus set of instruments (median: 70%; interquartile range (IQR): 50-86), and most were willing to change the instruments they use (median: 80%; IQR: 65-90).

CONCLUSION
This inventory shows that the instruments used in most domains were reasonably uniform. Taking the willingness to change into account, a national set of basis instruments seems to be an achievable aim.


Author(s): Morgan, SG; Spilseth, SA; Page, HM; Brooks, AJ; Grosholz, ED | Abstract: The utility of the lined shore crab Pachygrapsus crassipes as an indicator of small-scale variation in the condition of salt marshes was determined by conducting detailed mark-recapture studies of the spatial and temporal patterns of movement in 2 marshes in northern and southern California, and by conducting a stable isotope study along a nutrient gradient at one of the marshes. Crabs (1158) were captured from creek bank and vegetated marsh habitats, tagged, and released. Most crabs were recaptured in the same trap where they were originally tagged, and on average, they traveled less than 5 m from the site of first capture. The mean distance traveled did not increase significantly with the time between captures. A high percentage of crabs (62.1%) tagged near the creek bank remained there; fewer tagged crabs moved between the creek bank and the marsh plain (18.2%) or remained on the marsh plain (12.6%). Crabs moved least along creek banks and farthest when crossing creeks, although few of them did the latter (6.2%). During spring tides, crabs moved from tidal creeks onto the marsh plain. The nitrogen isotope data mirrored the gradient in nutrient input, supporting the conclusion that P. crassipes remained and fed within a localized area. Thus, the lined shore crab can serve as an indicator of small-scale differences in contaminant exposure. Furthermore, semiterrestrial species that are readily sampled and move little are abundant around the world, making them ideal indicators of habitat condition. © Inter-Research 2006.


Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) is a pathogen related to enteric and respiratory diseases in cattle worldwide. Enteric (BECoV) strains of BCoV are predominant in South America, and genetic investigations have been conducted to identify its relationship with isolates of respiratory origin (BRCoV). In this study, we used a BRCoV strain (BR-UEL11) derived from an outbreak of respiratory disease in feedlot cattle in southern Brazil, and compared the partial sequence of the polymorphic region of Spike (which was detected and sequenced by two distinct reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactions) with those of other BCoV strains. The phylogenetic relationship of BR-UEL11 with Brazilian BCoV, which is associated with calf diarrhea and winter dysentery (enteric, BECoV; respiratory, BRCoV), and classical reference prototypes was analyzed. The analysis showed that the BRCoV strains from Brazil clustered with a clade that was distinct from most isolates associated with calf diarrhea (BECoV) and ancestral prototype strains such as Mebus, Nebraska, and LYVB. Furthermore, the BRCoV strains from Brazil clustered with a clade that contained recent strains associated with winter dysentery, showing 98-99% nucleotide identity with those strains. These results suggested that the Brazilian BCoV evolved from being solely enteric to a dual enteric and respiratory tropic virus.


Bhakti, as a religious movement had its far reaching impact on the political and cultural changes in India. It was a movement as well as a religious reformation which first took place in Tamil Nadu and began to spread to the north during the
 late medieval ages when north India was under Islamic rule. There is a mark of resemblance between the Bhakti movement and the movement of American Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism in America was not only a philosophical or literary movement but
 as F. I. Carpenter has observed "American Transcendentalism was primarily religious rather than philosophical." Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was not only an exponent of this Bhakti Movement but considered to be the incarnation of Lord Sri Krishna. Apart
 from this there are a number of similarities in the philosophy of lord Chaitanya and the basic Ideas of Transcendentalism. Lord Chaitanya believed that the human souls are in a fallen state and it is only through the "Bhakti Marg" or true devotion
 that the human soul can achieve God's grace and end up the "Karma Chakra" or soul's transmigration. He rather preferred "Bhakti Marg" than "Mukti Marg".


In early 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") deployed nationwide a new automated risk assessment tool to help determine whether to detain or release noncitizens pending their deportation proceedings. Adapted from similar evidence-based criminal justice reforms that have reduced pretrial detention, ICE's initiative now represents the largest pre-hearing risk assessment experiment in U.S. history — potentially impacting over 400,000 individuals per year. However, to date little information has been released regarding the risk assessment algorithm, processes, and outcomes. This article provides the first comprehensive examination of ICE's risk assessment initiative, based on public access to ICE methodology and outcomes as a result of Freedom of Information Act requests. This article argues that immigration risk assessment in its current form will not reduce current over-detention trends. The unique aspects of immigration enforcement, laws, and the impacted population will likely frustrate accurate calibration of the risk tool, and effective implementation of even a calibrated tool — in turn frustrating constructive impact of ICE's risk assessment initiative on over-detention. Consequently, the immigration risk assessment may only add a scientific veneer to enforcement that remains institutionally predisposed towards detention and control. Additionally, this article argues that even if more accurate, evidence-based immigration detention were achieved under a future risk assessment regime, it would nonetheless likely be accompanied by several disadvantages. Particularly, risk assessment could facilitate a transition from mass detention to mass supervision of an even wider net of supervisees, by justifying lesser deprivations of liberty such as electronic supervision.


In the 1960s, as the styles of counterculture psychedelia came to be incorporated into many parts of mainstream visual culture including advertising, what remained of its initial liberatory promise? In album cover design, light shows, and psychedelic artwork these visual vocabularies of typically hallucinatory experiences were the counterpart to contemporary music, both experimental and popular, that used electronic guitar and vocal effects, as well as tape loops and early synthesizers, to generate sonic qualities evoking the effects of hallucinogens. At the same time, popular and underground music samples were being used by experimental and commercial film, like Bruce Conner's Looking for Mushrooms, Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider, Barbet Schroder's More, or Jud Yalkut's Turn! Turn! Turn! as soundtracks for works with explicit hallucinatory imagery.

How effectively did music and imagery complement one another to facilitate a comprehensive immersion into quasi-hallucinatory experiences or even serve as aids to experimentation with hallucinogens? What were the circumstances for image montage, stroboscopic light effects, and rotating mandala forms to become the visual tropes accompanying drug-referencing music? Alternately, what kinds of music were optimally used to accompany imagery, particularly in films, about drugs? Is it possible to identify an alternative aesthetics developing from within this plethora of immersive music and imagery, given that the abandonment of analytical criticality seems intended?

An unlikely outcome perhaps, without his prior composition Mescaline Mix, Terry Riley's 1964 In C amplified zones of sensory pleasure newly accessed by LSD pioneers. How was this compatible with the rigorously conceptual compositional structure of In C and the technological focus of the San Franscisco Tape Center where it was first performed? And what was the impact on compositional innovations of the SF Tape Center of the concerns of its members, particularly Pauline Oliveros, for Ramon Sender's unexpected departure into the radical outer fields of LSD experimentation and commune life? The splintering of tendencies in popular music was in part accelerated by differences of opinion about drug use. Wallace Berman spoke about the stifling effects of heroin on creativity compared with the transformative motivations deriving from hallucinogens, yet his silent film Aleph depicts both drug uses, seemingly uncritically, while featuring imagery of Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones, amongst other musical references. Frank Zappa's derisory lyrics in 'Plastic People' referred to Andy Warhol's Plastic Inevitable and the Velvet Underground's proclivity for heroin, although like his sometime musical partner, Captain Beefheart, he was hardly any more tolerant of hallucinogen use. Is it possible to differentiate Zappa's and Beefheart's inventive and bizarre customizing of psychedelia in their approaches to music and visual design as a critical aesthetics set apart from their LSD enthusiast peers? Can a difference of aesthetics be discerned between such critical musical positions and the immersive, interminable drift of hallucinatory music, as well as the slump, cacophony and sonic darkness of narcotic-inspired songs, and, if so, what qualities are possessed by their respective imagery archives?


This paper reports the development of a hand-held sketch map intended to help people find clinics and other facilities in a hospital Outpatients Department. The map illustrated the whereabouts of more than 50 locations which were divided between two floors, Considerable thought and consultation went into the design of the map. Empirical evaluation was carried out by asking members of the public to use the map to find specific locations in the building. This showed that some of the information on the map was not understood at all, some was misinterpreted and some was ignored. Analysis of people's difficulties suggested that over 20 revisions were needed and that these fell into six broad categories, which included readers' presuppositions about the labelling of the built environment, their interpretation of iconic information on the map, and their use of way-finding information both on and off the map. This led to a revised map, which further testing showed overcame the previous problems. However, subsequent requests for extra details on the map showed that the design solutions did not necessarily remain adequate when new information was introduced. Numerous subtle factors could cause ambiguities for readers and undermine the map's effectiveness. Although the error analysis pointed to general design principles for this kind of location diagram, these principles were goals rather than procedures which could guarantee the success of such maps. Empirical evaluation provides the only certain way of knowing that a location map is adequate for its purpose,


Abstract Trade negotiators and policy advisors are keen to know the relative contributions of different farm policy instruments to international trade and economic welfare. Nominal rates of assistance or producer support estimates are incomplete indicators, especially when (as in many developing countries) some commodities are taxed and others are subsidized, in which case positive contributions can offset negative contributions. This paper develops and estimates a new set of more-satisfactory partial equilibrium indicators of the relative contribution of different farm policy instruments to reductions in agricultural trade and welfare. It does so by drawing on the trade restrictiveness index literature and a recently compiled database on distortions to agricultural prices for 75 developing and high-income countries over the period 1960 to 2004. Results confirm earlier findings that border taxes are the dominant instrument affecting global trade and welfare, but they also suggest declines in export taxes contributed nearly as much as cuts in import protection to the trade and welfare effects of agricultural policy reforms since the 1980s.


Pertussis or whooping cough is a respiratory disease caused by Bordetella pertussis or Bordetella parapertussis that are only known to infect humans. This severe and acute respiratory disease presents epidemic cycles and became a vaccine-preventable disease in the 1940s/1950s when developed countries introduced vaccination. The first type of vaccine developed against this disease was a whole-cell pertussis (wP) vaccine containing inactivated B. pertussis bacteria. Most developed countries produced their own vaccine and given the pediatric nature of the disease at the time of licensure, infants and toddlers were the primary targets and were thus massively vaccinated. The characterization of few virulence factors produced by B. pertussis enabled the development of second-generation pertussis vaccines called the acellular pertussis (aP) vaccines. These only contain 1–5 purified, detoxified B. pertussis proteins and were first introduced in Japan around 30 years ago. Australia, Europe and North America introduced aP vaccines approximately 15 years later, which replaced wP vaccines since then.


Book synopsis: The Italian Risorgimentogives a succinct and original analysis of the period in Italian history (1815-60) known as the Risorgimento(or `resurgence'). Although Italy's pre-revolutionary rulers were restored in 1825 after the defeat of Napoleon, this restoration was vigorously opposed by a number of liberal nationalist opposition groups. In 1860, following a war between, on the one hand, France and the Northern state of Piedmont and, on the other, the Austrian Empire, the Restoration states collapsed and Italy was unified under Piedmontese leadership. National unification was seen as the culminating event of Italy's `resurgence' in the 19th century.

In the last two decades, many of the assumptions of Risorgimento historiography have been challenged. The Italian Risorgimentois the first book on the subject to take a thematic rather than narrative approach and place the Italian experience in a broader European context.


The use of autonomous systems is becoming increasingly common in many fields. A significant example of this is the ambition to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for both civil and military applications. In order for autonomous systems such as these to operate effectively, they must be capable of making decisions regarding the appropriate future course of their mission responding to changes in circumstance in as short a time as possible. The systems will typically perform phased missions and, owing to the uncertain nature of the environments in which the systems operate, the mission objectives may be subject to change at short notice. The ability to evaluate the different possible mission configurations is crucial in making the right decision about the mission tasks that should be performed in order to give the highest possible probability of mission success. Because binary decision diagrams (BDDs) may be quickly and accurately quantified to give measures of the system reliability it is anticipated that they are the most appropriate analysis tools to form the basis of a reliability-based prognostics methodology. The current paper presents a new BDD-based approach for phased mission analysis, which seeks to take advantage of the proven fast analysis characteristics of the BDD and enhance it in ways that are suited to the demands of a decision-making capability for autonomous systems. The BDD approach presented allows BDDs representing the failure causes in the different phases of a mission to be constructed quickly by treating component failures in different phases of the mission as separate variables. This allows flexibility when building mission phase failure BDDs because a global variable ordering scheme is not required. An alternative representation of component states in time intervals allows the dependencies to be efficiently dealt with during the quantification process. Nodes in the BDD can represent components with any number of failure modes or factors external to the system that could affect its behaviour, such as the weather. Path simplification rules and quantification rules are developed that allow the calculation of phase failure probabilities for this new BDD approach. The proposed method provides a phased mission analysis technique that allows the rapid construction of reliability models for phased missions and, with the use of BDDs, rapid quantification.


Results of analysis of CloudSat radar data collected during the first three months of operation are described. It is shown that the global tropical oceans (30N–30S) predominantly favor clouds with tops in two layers centered at about 2 and 12 km. Precipitating clouds occur primarily in three modes, a shallow mode that is the most frequent type, as well as a middle and deep mode. Regional features are also discussed. The Indian and western Pacific Oceans exhibit more predominantly high clouds and deeper precipitation features than the eastern Pacific and Atlantic. The occurrence of a mid‐level mode of cloudiness and precipitation is shown to vary regionally, being particularly significant in the western Pacific. For all regions examined, precipitating clouds are observed to be deeper than non‐precipitating clouds. Over the global tropical oceans, 18% of the clouds detected by CloudSat produce precipitation.


The development and application of methods quantifying the metabolic fluxes such as Flux Balance Analysis (FBA) has been one of the driving forces behind the successful growth of metabolic engineering. However, applications of FBA have been limited by the fact that FBA does not take into account kinetic properties of the network and therefore it cannot be used to identify rate-limiting steps and comprehend time course evolutions of the system. Dynamic mathematical descriptions of the metabolism offer a large advantage compared to constraint-based stoichiometric models, but unfortunately their development comes with inevitable difficulties due to: (i) structural uncertainties, such as incomplete knowledge about stoichiometry or about kinetic laws of the enzymes, and (ii) quantitative/parametric uncertainties such as lack of knowledge concerning kinetic parameters. Recent developments and vast resources of curated genome scale metabolic networks address to a great extent the issues around stoichiometric uncertainty. However, the knowledge about kinetic rate laws and in particular their parameters is to these days still limited. In this contribution, starting from large-scale stoichiometric models we use the ORACLE (Optimization and Risk Analysis of Complex Living Entities) framework that integrates available information in a set of stable log-linear kinetic models sharing the same steady state. These models are used to compute kinetic parameters of the enzymatic mechanisms in the metabolic network, e.g. the maximal velocities, Vmax, and Michaelis constants, Km. Using these kinetic parameters, we systematically develop populations of stable dynamic models having the same steady-state as the log-linear ones. The estimated parameters are comparable to the experimental information as seen in BRENDA and other databases. These non-linear estimations about the stable state can be therefore used to analyze properties of the system upon large perturbations and investigate time course evolutions in and around this steady state. We demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed approach by building a dynamic E. coli core model that includes ca. 200 metabolites and more than 400 reactions. We discuss the strengths and limitations of this approach and possible avenues for development.


Resource wars face greater difficulties to end conflict, as well as greater probabilities of relapse. In part, this is due to the persistence of resource-fueled criminal networks developed under the auspices of armed conflict. In this paper we focus on the Colombian armed conflict, one of the longest-lasting conflicts in the world. Recent evidence suggests that gold mining in Colombia has been permeated by illegal organizations linked to the drug trade, driving armed conflict and criminality. This reveals that attention to drugs alone as a conflict resource in this particular case has overshadowed the degree to which legal resources and economic activities have been permeated by illegal organizations and interests. This paper provides a framework of the gold–drugs relationship, which reveals the existence of resource portfolios, or the parallel participation and exchangeability of resources in the provision of funding for illegal organizations. We argue that, in addition to the impact of each resource on armed conflict and criminality, illegal organizations develop abilities to extract benefits of different resources at once or interchangeably (a resource portfolio), which should be taken into account when analyzing the consequences of war on countries' social and economic institutions. In addition, political or reputational factors have been insufficiently considered in analyzing groups' decisions to engage in or abandon specific economic activities. We show that, along with expectations of revenue, resource portfolios may also respond to political conditions, as illegal organizations accustomed to deriving income from coercive practices such as kidnappings—until recently a widespread phenomenon in Colombia—have caused increasing international and domestic outrage followed by pressure to stop this brutal violation of Human Rights. Based on field research in gold mining Colombian regions—combining more than seventy semi-structured interviews with first-hand observation during field trips—and a careful review of press, non-governmental organizations' and official reports in local, regional, and national media, the paper provides a general framework of this complex relationship, paying specific attention to the evolution of the links and interchangeable nature of gold and drugs as conflict resources throughout the production phases of the gold extraction process. At a time when Colombia's ongoing peace process is likely to put an end to the armed confrontation between guerrilla groups and the Colombian state, our paper raises a warning sign for scholars and policymakers to consider the potential transformations of illicit markets and their role in shaping the prospects of durable peace.


THE WORK ENGAGEMENT AND JOB PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIP: EXPLORING THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF TRAIT EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE By Lisa Jackson This cross-sectional study examined the mediating effect of affect-related traits on the relationship between work engagement and job performance. Specifically, a sample of 225 students from a large state university was used to examine the effect of trait emotional intelligence (EI) on work engagement and both in-role and extra-role performance. It was found that work engagement directly impacted both in-role and extra-role performance, indicating that engaged workers are more likely to perform well both on job-related tasks (in-role performance) and also on going above and beyond what was expected of them in their job role (extra-role performance). In addition, work engagement was predictive of trait EI, indicating that engaged workers were more likely to use affect-related traits in the workplace than those less engaged. Further, trait EI was predictive of both in-role and extra-role performance, suggesting that effectively managing one's emotions, exhibiting strong social skills, demonstrating self-control, and displaying a general sense of well-being (i.e., trait EI) can lead to improved performance on the job. Lastly, work engagement and both in-role and extra-role performance were partially mediated by trait EI. This study provides new information about trait EI and its effect on job-related behaviors in an applied setting.


We are currently witnessing a convergence of several threads of technology and business imperatives. The idea of a virtual enterprise - a business built from both organisationally and geographically distributed units - is becoming an area of increasing interest to both computer scientists and business people.

Virtual enterprises are becoming feasible on account of a number of technology phenomena including CORBA, the World Wide Web, Java and component-based software; they are becoming attractive because of business trends such as downsizing and outsourcing. Set against these positive factors are a number of disincentives, including exposing key business processes to the hostile Internet, the extra complexities of cross-border contracts, and the fluidity of the software marketplace.

From a business perspective building a virtual enterprise involves contracts, cross-organisational management and statutory obligations. From a technical perspective, it involves confronting problems such as heterogeneity, distribution, authentication, privacy, and auditing. While each of these technologies is being applied piecemeal to address one more of the business imperatives - resulting in "creeping" virtual enterprises - an overall technical vision for their seamless integration remains elusive. It is now time to ask the questions: is object technology the right way to implement a virtual enterprise? If so, what technologies are appropriate? How should they be composed? And how should they be driven by the underlying business process? Given that the ingredients exist, what is the recipe? And what is the final dish?

The aim of the workshop is to bring together a complementary group of workers in the following fields:

 those building frameworks or infrastructures for virtual enterprises;
 those investigating the object/component methodologies and processes (both software and managerial) for constructing virtual enterprises
 those with experience in specific virtual enterprises.


Abstract Introduction: Challenges of direct-to-implant breast reconstruction (BR) are to achieve sufficient implant coverage and lower pole projection. We assessed reoperation rates, long-term patient satisfaction and aesthetic outcome after direct-to-implant BR without acellular dermal matrix (ADM) in women with high breast cancer risk. Methods: Women who underwent bilateral skin or nipple-sparing mastectomy and immediate direct-to-implant BR between 1994 and 2006 completed a survey on reoperations and the Breast-Q Reconstruction questionnaire. Photographs taken during follow-up were rated for long-term aesthetic outcome (scale 1–10) by five plastic surgeons. Outcomes were compared between women who never underwent unanticipated reoperations after immediate BR and women who underwent one or more reoperations, adjusted for potential confounders using multivariable linear regression. Results: Of 143 women, 70 (49%) were never reoperated and 73 (51%) had undergone reoperations. Median follow-up was 12 years in both groups (range 7–17 and 6–19 years, respectively). Baseline characteristics were comparable except for history of prophylactic oophorectomy with 81% in the no-reoperations group versus 66% in the reoperated group (p = .03). Breast-Q scores were 59.7 ± 17.3 versus 58.0 ± 17.8 (p = .67) for 'satisfaction with breasts' and 71.1 ± 20.3 versus 68.1 ± 22.9 (p = .47) for 'satisfaction with outcome' in the no-reoperation versus reoperation group, respectively. Aesthetic outcome was scored 5.8 ± 1.1 in the no-reoperation group versus 5.3 ± 1.3 in the reoperation group (p = .01). Conclusions: The single-stage intent did not prevent unanticipated surgical reinterventions in 51% of the patients. Long-term patient satisfaction was reasonable and not affected by reoperations. Aesthetic outcome, however, was only poor to reasonable and scores were significantly lower in the reoperated group.


The ability to take a different perspective is central to a tremendous variety of higher level cognitive skills. To communicate effectively, we must adopt the perspective of another person both while speaking and listening. To ensure the successful retrieval of critical information in the future, we must adopt the perspective of our own future self and construct cues that will survive the passage of time. Here we explore the cognitive underpinnings of perspective-taking across a set of tasks that involve communication and memory, with an eye toward evaluating the proposal that perspective-taking is domain-general (e.g., Wardlow, 2013). We measured participants' perspective-taking ability in a language production task, a language comprehension task, and a memory task in which people generated their own cues for the future. Surprisingly, there was little variance common to the 3 tasks, a result that suggests that perspective-taking is not domain-general. Performance in the language production task was predicted by a measure of working memory, whereas performance in the cue-generation memory task was predicted by a combination of working memory and long-term memory measures. These results indicate that perspective-taking relies on differing cognitive capacities in different situations.


To date, enormous energy has been devoted to researching interpersonal trust in organizational contexts. Yet despite widespread recognition that trust operates at multiple levels, and that an organization's reputation for trustworthiness is a key source of competitive advantage, little research has systematically and conceptually unpacked the notion of organization-level trustworthiness (OT) as distinct from interpersonal trustworthiness. In this symposium, we showcase emerging, multidisciplinary research addressing the nature of OT from the perspective of employees: that is, what makes employees trust or mistrust the organizations they work for? More specifically, in light of the conference theme 'The Questions We Ask', this symposium delivers insights into the following questions: How can OT be defined and what are its core dimensions? In what ways does trust at the organizational level differ to interpersonal conceptions? What are the antecedents of OT, and do they differ across cultures and contexts? How can OT be repaired? Using multiple methods (e.g. surveys, interviews, case studies, conceptual theorizing), the four papers address a variety of trust-related processes including initial building, evolution over time, and repair once ruptured. Collectively, the papers suggest that the antecedents and processes of trust building and repair at the organizational level differ to those at the interpersonal level. By drawing together and discussing the perspectives and insights of the individual papers, this symposium will contribute to and stimulate debate on the concept of OT, as well as provide practical insights into how to build and repair an organization's reputation for trustworthiness.


We demonstrate that universal scaling behavior is observed in the current coronavirus (COVID-19) spread in various countries. We analyze the numbers of infected people in selected eleven countries (Japan, USA, Russia, Brazil, China, Italy, Indonesia, Spain,South Korea, UK, and Sweden). By using the double exponential function called the Gompertz function, fG(x)=exp(-e-x), the number of infected people is well described as N(t)=N0 fG({gamma}(t-t0)), where N0, {gamma} and t0 are the final total number of infected people, the damping rate of the infection probability and the peak time of dN(t)/dt, respectively. The scaled data of infected people in most of the analyzed countries are found to collapse onto a common scaling function fG(x) with x={gamma}(t-t0) in the range of fG(x) {+/-} 0.05. The recently proposed indicator so-called the K value, the increasing rate of infected people in one week, is also found to show universal behavior. The mechanism for the Gompertz function to appear is discussed from the time dependence of the produced pion numbers in nucleus-nucleus collisions, which is also found to be described by the Gompertz function.


From Jawless to Jawed The earliest vertebrates were jawless. Past reconstructions have assumed that the primitive jawed condition was much like that found in sharks. Trinajstic et al. (p. 160, published online 13 June; see the Perspective by Kuratani) describe fossil musculature from the early jawed placoderms (an extinct class of armored prehistoric fish) that show that the basal structure was distinct from that found in sharks, having a notable dermal joint between the skull and shoulder girdle. Fossilized muscles in an ancient armored fish reveal a distinctive neck musculature that differs from that of sharks. [Also see Perspective by Kuratani] The transition from jawless to jawed vertebrates (gnathostomes) resulted in the reconfiguration of the muscles and skeleton of the head, including the creation of a separate shoulder girdle with distinct neck muscles. We describe here the only known examples of preserved musculature from placoderms (extinct armored fishes), the phylogenetically most basal jawed vertebrates. Placoderms possess a regionalized muscular anatomy that differs radically from the musculature of extant sharks, which is often viewed as primitive for gnathostomes. The placoderm data suggest that neck musculature evolved together with a dermal joint between skull and shoulder girdle, not as part of a broadly flexible neck as in sharks, and that transverse abdominal muscles are an innovation of gnathostomes rather than of tetrapods.


OBJECTIVE The authors compared the efficacy and safety of arthroplasty using the Prestige LP cervical disc with those of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) for the treatment of degenerative disc disease (DDD) at 2 adjacent levels. METHODS Patients from 30 investigational sites were randomized to 1 of 2 groups: investigational patients (209) underwent arthroplasty using a Prestige LP artificial disc, and control patients (188) underwent ACDF with a cortical ring allograft and anterior cervical plate. Patients were evaluated preoperatively, intraoperatively, and at 1.5, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively. Efficacy and safety outcomes were measured according to the Neck Disability Index (NDI), Numeric Rating Scales for neck and arm pain, 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), gait abnormality, disc height, range of motion (investigational) or fusion (control), adverse events (AEs), additional surgeries, and neurological status. Treatment was considered an overall success when all 4 of the following criteria were met: 1) NDI score improvement of ≥ 15 points over the preoperative score, 2) maintenance or improvement in neurological status compared with preoperatively, 3) no serious AE caused by the implant or by the implant and surgical procedure, and 4) no additional surgery (supplemental fixation, revision, or nonelective implant removal). Independent statisticians performed Bayesian statistical analyses. RESULTS The 24-month rates of overall success were 81.4% for the investigational group and 69.4% for the control group. The posterior mean for overall success in the investigational group exceeded that in the control group by 0.112 (95% highest posterior density interval = 0.023 to 0.201) with a posterior probability of 1 for noninferiority and 0.993 for superiority, demonstrating the superiority of the investigational group for overall success. Noninferiority of the investigational group was demonstrated for all individual components of overall success and individual effectiveness end points, except for the SF-36 Mental Component Summary. The investigational group was superior to the control group for NDI success. The proportion of patients experiencing any AE was 93.3% (195/209) in the investigational group and 92.0% (173/188) in the control group, which were not statistically different. The rate of patients who reported any serious AE (Grade 3 or 4) was significantly higher in the control group (90 [47.9%] of 188) than in the investigational group (72 [34.4%] of 209) with a posterior probability of superiority of 0.996. Radiographic success was achieved in 51.0% (100/196) of the investigational patients (maintenance of motion without evidence of bridging bone) and 82.1% (119/145) of the control patients (fusion). At 24 months, heterotopic ossification was identified in 27.8% (55/198) of the superior levels and 36.4% (72/198) of the inferior levels of investigational patients. CONCLUSIONS Arthroplasty with the Prestige LP cervical disc is as effective and safe as ACDF for the treatment of cervical DDD at 2 contiguous levels and is an alternative treatment for intractable radiculopathy or myelopathy at 2 adjacent levels. Clinical trial registration no.: NCT00637156 ( clinicaltrials.gov ).


This article examines the vicissitudes that affect the migration trajectories of many Nigerian women who experienced trafficking before arriving in Italy, and end up in Centers for Identification and Expulsion (CIE) for undocumented migrants. Their life stories, collected within the CIE of Ponte Galeria (Rome), revealed violence as "a rule of action" with which these women are obliged to cope with at different levels. Moreover, they highlighted the failure of traditional security approaches to human trafficking, and the necessity to rethink the measures adopted to ensure survivors' protection and rights. As it is conceived, the system of immigration control prevents the full guarantee of survivors' rights, often labelling them as "illegal migrants". Finally, there is the need to extend protection to all survivors of human trafficking even if the crime against them has not happened in Italy.


Background Fluticasone furoate/vilanterol (FF/VI) is a novel once-daily (OD) inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting β2 agonist combination in development for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. Trial design A multicentre, randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled study. Methods Participants were patients with moderate-to-severe COPD treated with placebo or FF/VI 400/25 μg OD for 4 weeks. Study objectives were to assess the safety and efficacy of FF/VI 400/25 μg OD administered for 4 weeks via a novel dry powder inhaler. Co-primary end points were change from baseline in weighted mean (wm) heart rate 0–4 h postdose at day 28 and the incidence of adverse events (AEs). Secondary end points included change from baseline in trough forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) (23–24 h postdose; day 29) and wm FEV1 (0–4 h postdose; day 28). Patients were randomised to receive FF/VI 400/25 μg or placebo in a 2:1 ratio; all patients and investigators were blinded to active or placebo treatment. Results 60 patients (mean age 64 years) were randomised (FF/VI: n=40; placebo: n=20), and all contributed data to the analysis. Mean screening post-bronchodilator FEV1 per cent predicted was comparable between groups (FF/VI: 58.5%; placebo: 60.1%). The wm heart rate 0–4 h postdose was similar between groups (difference: 0.6 beats per minute; 95% CI −3.9 to 5.1). More on-treatment AEs were reported in the FF/VI group (68%) compared with the placebo group (50%). The most common drug-related AEs in the FF/VI group were oral candidiasis (8%) and dysphonia (5%). There were no clinically relevant effects on laboratory values, including glucose and potassium, or on vital signs or ECGs/Holters. The FF/VI group had statistically greater improvements compared with placebo in trough FEV1 (mean difference 183 ml) and 0–4 h postdose wm FEV1 (mean difference 236 ml). Conclusion FF/VI has a good safety and tolerability profile and improves lung function compared with placebo in patients with COPD. Trial registration number clinical trials.gov—NCT00731822.


The design and fabrication of an ultracompact silicon-on-insulator polarization converter is reported. The polarization conversion with an extinction ratio of 16 dB is achieved for a conversion length of only 10 μm. Polarization rotation is achieved by inducing a vertical asymmetry by forming in the waveguide core two subwavelength trenches of different depths. By taking advantage of the calibrated reactive ion etch lag, the two depths are implemented using a single mask and etching process. The measured converter loss is -0.7 dB and the 3 dB bandwidth is 26 nm.


This study uses consumer survey data collected in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) to examine the linkages between subjective risk and benefit perceptions and willingness-to-pay a premium for non-genetically modified (non-GM) foods. While UK consumers were significantly more willing to pay a premium to avoid GM foods than US consumers, risk and benefit perceptions clearly translated into behavioral intentions as measured with willingness-to-pay in both countries. More importantly, this paper establishes that risk perception exerts a greater impact on willingness-to-pay than benefit perception.


Abstract An axially heterogeneous sodium-cooled fast reactor design is developed for converting minor actinide waste isotopes into plutonium fuel. The reactor design incorporates zirconium hydride moderating rods in an axial blanket above the active core. The blanket design traps the active core's axial leakage for the purpose of transmuting 241Am into 238Pu. This 238Pu is then co-recycled with the spent driver fuel to make new driver fuel. Because 238Pu is significantly more fissionable than 241Am in a fast neutron spectrum, the fissile worth of the initial minor actinide material is upgraded by its preconditioning via transmutation in the axial targets. Because the 241Am neutron capture worth is significantly greater in a moderated epithermal spectrum than the fast spectrum, the axial targets serve as a neutron trap that recovers some of the axial leakage lost by the active core. A low transuranic conversion ratio is achieved by a degree of core flattening that increases axial leakage. Unlike a traditional "pancake" design, neutron leakage is recovered by the axial target/blanket system. This heterogeneous core design is constrained to have sodium void and Doppler reactivity worth similar to that of an equivalent homogeneous design. Contrary to a homogeneous design, concentrating minor actinides (MAs) in an axial blanket mitigates the problem of above-threshold multiplication during sodium voiding. Because minor actinides are irradiated only once in the axial target region, elemental partitioning of the minor actinides from plutonium is not required. This fact enables the use of metal targets with pyroprocessing. After reprocessing, the target's newly bred 238Pu and remaining unburned MAs become the feedstock for the next batch of driver fuel.


Women's schooling has long been regarded as one of the best investments in development. Using two different cross-nationally comparable data sets which both contain measures of schooling, assessments of literacy, and life outcomes for more than 50 countries, we show the association of women's education (defined as schooling and the acquisition of literacy) with four life outcomes (fertility, child mortality, empowerment, and financial practices) is much larger than the standard estimates of the gains from schooling alone. First, estimates of the association of outcomes with schooling alone cannot distinguish between the association of outcomes with schooling that actually produces increased learning and schooling that does not. Second, typical estimates do not address attenuation bias from measurement error. Using the new data on literacy to partially address these deficiencies, we find that the associations of women's basic education (completing primary schooling and attaining literacy) with child mortality, fertility, women's empowerment and the associations of men's and women's basic education with positive financial practices are three to five times larger than standard estimates. For instance, our country aggregated OLS estimate of the association of women's empowerment with primary schooling versus no schooling is 0.15 of a standard deviation of the index, but the estimated association for women with primary schooling and literacy, using IV to correct for attenuation bias, is 0.68, 4.6 times bigger. Our findings raise two conceptual points. First, if the causal pathway through which schooling affects life outcomes is, even partially, through learning then estimates of the impact of schooling will underestimate the impact of education. Second, decisions about how to invest to improve life outcomes necessarily depend on estimates of the relative impacts and relative costs of schooling (e.g., grade completion) versus learning (e.g., literacy) on life outcomes. Our results do share the limitation of all previous observational results that the associations cannot be given causal interpretation and much more work will be needed to be able to make reliable claims about causal pathways.


This is a short report on the conference "Teichmüller Space (Classical and Quantum) " held in Oberwolfach from May 28th to June 3rd, 2006. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 32G15; 30F60; 30C62; 57M50; 57N16; 53A35; 30F45; 14H15; 32G81; 81T40; 57R56; 55R40; 20J06; 57N05; 57M99; 57M60; 14H10; 14H15; 14H60; 14N35; 30F30; 30C35; 20F65; 20B25; 53D50; 53C15; 58D29. Introduction by the Organisers In a broad sense, the subject of Teichmüller theory is the study of moduli for geometric structures on surfaces. The progenitor of the subject is usually considered to be G. F. B. Riemann, who in a famous paper on Abelian functions, studied the moduli space of algebraic curves and stated that the space of deformations of equivalence classes of conformal structures on a closed orientable surface of genus g ≥ 2 is of complex dimension 3g− 3. This was explicated by O. Teichmüller who laid the foundations of the theory in a series of famous papers (during a remarkably brief period). Many prominent mathematicians including L. Ahlfors and L. Bers continued developing the theory over several decades. In the 1970s, W. Thurston introduced techniques of hyperbolic geometry in the study of Teichmüller space and its asymptotic geometry. In the 1980s, new combinatorial treatments of Teichmüller and moduli spaces evolved with a concurrent interplay of ideas from string theory in high-energy physics. Teichmüller theory is one of those precious subjects in mathematics which have the advantage of bringing together, at an equally important level, fundamental ideas coming from different fields. Among the fields associated to Teichmüller theory, one can surely mention complex analysis, hyperbolic geometry, discrete 1538 Oberwolfach Report 26/2006 group theory, algebraic geometry, low-dimensional topology, Lie groups, symplectic geometry, dynamical systems, topological quantum field theory, string theory, and many others. Teichmüller theory is growing at a fantastic rate, and the fact that it involves all these areas is probably a consequence of the fact that Teichmüller space itself carries a diversity of rich structures. As a matter of fact, this space can be seen from at least three points of view: as a space of equivalence classes of hyperbolic metrics, as a space of equivalence classes of conformal structures, and as a space of equivalence classes of representations of the fundamental group of a surface into a Lie group. Each of these points of view endows Teichmüller space with various structures, including several interesting metrics, a natural complex structure, a symplectic structure, a real analytic structure, an algebraic structure, cellular structures, various boundary structures, a natural discrete action by the mapping class group, interesting geodesic and horocyclic flows on the quotient Riemann moduli space, a quantization theory of its Poisson structure, and the list goes on and on. The quantization of Teichmüller space was developed in the last few years by L. Chekhov and V. Fock and independently in work by R. Kashaev. This theory produces noncommutative families of deformations of the Poisson or symplectic structure of Teichmüller space in the form of ∗-algebras, with an action of the mapping class group of the surface as an outer automorphism group. In particular, quantization of Teichmüller space leads to new invariants of hyperbolic threemanifolds. The conference brought together people in almost all of the active areas of Teichmüller theory. The fact that Teichmüller theory is a living and rich subject connecting several areas of mathematics was reflected in the richness of the talks that were presented, and in the variety of the new perspectives that were discussed at the problem session, on which we report separately. We note that many other attendees were ready to give interesting talks than time permitted. As a general rule, younger researchers were given the opportinity to present their own work. In this short report, we have divided the talks that were delivered in five groups: 1) Metric theory. U. Hametsädt reported on her recent work on the behaviour in moduli space of images of certain closed geodesics for the Teichmüller metric, namely, for every compact set K, one can find such images which do not intersect K. G. Schmithüsen reported on Teichmüller disks, which are embeddings of the Poincaré disks which are isometric with respect to the Teichmüller metric. G. Théret gave a talk on Thurston's asymmetric metric on Teichmüller space and presented results on the convergence of certain geodesics to points on Thurston's boundary. 2) Mapping class groups and the associated simplicial complexes. V. Markovich gave a review of several realization problems for the mapping class group and he reported on his result stating that for any closed surface S of genus ≥ 6, the natural projection from the space of homeomorphisms to the mapping class group has no section. This result answered a famous open problem. D. Kotschick gave Teichmüller Space (Classical and Quantum) 1539 a survey of his work on quasi-homomorphisms with applications to the mapping class group. J. McCarthy gave a talk in which he described the automorphism group of a recently introduced simplicial complex, the complex of domains of a surface (joint work with A. Papadopoulos). E. Irmak described recent results on superinjective simplicial maps of the curve complex, on the automorphism group of the complex of nonseparating curves, and on the Hatcher-Thurston complex of cut systems of curves (some of this work is joint with J. McCarthy and with M. Korkmaz). N. Wahl described a stability theorem for the homology of the mapping class group of non-orientable surfaces which is analogous to Harer's theorem for orientable surfaces. K. Fujiwara spoke on the geometry of the curve graph showing that the asymptotic dimension of this graph is finite, and that for surfaces of genus ≥ 2 with one bundary component, the dimension is at least two. A description of symplectic structures on Lefschetz fibrations using algebraic properties of the mapping class group was given by M. Korkmaz. At a more algebraic level, N. Kawazumi described recent work on characterictic classes in the mapping class group, in which he constructs higher analogues of the period matrix in order to obtain "canonical" differential forms that represent all the Morita-Mumford classes and their higher relations. R. Cohen gave a talk on joint work with I. Madsen on a generalized Mumford conjecture on the stable cohomology of the mapping class group and a general version of homology stability for that group in the setting of spaces of Riemann surfaces with appropriate boundary conditions in a simply connected target manifold. G. Mondello reported on his work relating the tautological classes to cycles of Witten and Kontsevich, which are constructed combinatorially (using fatgraphs). 3) Quantum theory. R. Kashaev described a new and elegant quantization of a homology bundle over Teichmüller space related to his earlier work. L. Chekhov reported (on his joint work with Penner) quantizing Thurston's projective lamination space for the once-punctured torus. V. Fock discussed an example from cluster algebras giving an explicit relationship between Teichmüller geometry and representation theory which is related to his recent work with A. Goncharov on higher Teichmüller spaces. Y. Gerber described a new construction of a collection of surface mapping classes with computable quantum invariants leading to new invariants for fibered knots. F. Bonsante gave a report on his recent work with R. Benedetti on constant curvature Lorentzian structures on manifolds that are topologically the product of a hyperbolic surface with the real line. 4) Dynamics. M. Möller reported on joint work with I. Bouw on billiards in relation to Veech surfaces, projective affine groups and Teichmüller curves in the moduli space of curves characterizing these curves by properties of the variation of Hodge structures. The talk by U. Hamenstädt, mentioned in 1) above, involved the Teichmüller geodesic flow on quotient of the space of quadratic differentials by the action of the mapping class group. M. Mirzakhani studied the ergodic properties of natural flows on moduli space in relation to the asymptotic behaviour of simple closed geodesics on hyperbolic surfaces. 1540 Oberwolfach Report 26/2006 4) Complex geometry. Y. Imayoshi gave a talk on joint work with T. Nogi on the complex analytic structure of moduli space together with its Deligne-Mumford compactification. Continuing ideas that originate in work of Kodaira, he described a cut-and-paste construction which produces holomorphic families of closed Riemann surfaces of genus two over a four-punctured torus, to which they associate two holomorphic sections. 5) Higher Teichmüller theory A. Wienhard gave a talk on her recent work with M. Burger and A. Iozzi on representations of the fundamental group of the surface into simisimple Lie groups of Hermitian type. G. McShane described geometric identities for surfaces that are related to Hitchin's a component of the representation variety of the fundamental group of a compact surface into SL(n,R). D. Dumas and S. Kojima spoke on complex projective structures on surfaces, the space P(S) of which (equivalence calsses) can be considered as a higher-analog of Teichmüller space. P(S) is a fibre bundle over Teichmüller space, and like Teichmüller space itself, can be studied from different points of view: complex analysis (via the Schwarzian derivative) and hyperbolic geometry(via Thurston's grafting map). Some of the most interesting questions in the theory of projective structures relate the two points of view, and the talk by Dumas focused on this relation. Kojima described a geometric parametrization of the moduli space of projective surfaces by cross ratios. He develops (together with S. Mizushima and S. P. Tan) a theory of circle packings in p


BACKGROUND
Circumcisions and cesarian sections are common procedures. Although complications to the newborn child fortunately are rare, it is important to emphasize the potential significance of this problem and its frequent iatrogenic etiology. The authors present 7 cases of genitourinary trauma in newborns, including surgical management and follow-up.

METHODS
The authors relate 7 recent cases of genitourinary trauma in newborns from a children's hospital in a major metropolitan area.

RESULTS
Case 1 and 2: Two infants suffered degloving injuries to both the prepuce and penile shaft from a Gomco clamp. Successful full-thickness skin grafting using the previously excised foreskin was used in 1 child. Case 3, 4, and 5: A Mogen clamp caused glans injuries in 3 infants. In 2, hemorrhage from the severed glans was controlled with topical epinephrine; the glans healed with a flattened appearance. Another infant sustained a laceration ventrally, requiring a delayed modified meatal advancement glanoplasty to correct the injury. Case 6: A male infant suffered a ventral slit and division of the ventral urethra before placement of a Gomco clamp. Formal hypospadias repair was required. Case 7: An emergent cesarean section resulted in a grade 4-perineal laceration in a female infant. The vaginal tear caused by the surgeon's finger, extended up to the posterior insertion of the cervix and into the rectum. The infant successfully underwent an emergent multilayered repair.

CONCLUSIONS
Genitourinary trauma in the newborn is rare but often necessitates significant surgical intervention. Circumcision often is the causative event. There has been only 1 prior report of a perineal injury similar to case 7, with a fatal outcome.


Demand response is a proven and successful tool for utilities and for their customers. The interest in demand response programs is unprecedented. In the last 5 years, we have seen tremendous growth in installed DR solutions. We expect this growth to continue and increase. Demand response is a cost effective, rapidly deployed resource that provides benefits to utilities and customers. This presentation will discuss the effective business models being used to create this unprecedented growth as well as analyze the tools and technologies being deployed and developed which make Demand Response an integral part of the SmartGrid initiatives that many utilities are pursuing.


Visualization of circuits is an important research area in electronic design automation. One commonly accepted method to visualize a circuit aligns the gates to layers and uses orthogonal lines to connect the gates. In our model we assume that between two consecutive layers every net is allowed to occupy only one track. This avoids unnecessary bends in the wires and helps to improve the clarity of the drawing. Then a crossing reduction step is applied to further improve the readability of the circuit schematics. First we assume that the nodes have already been fixed on a layered hypergraph structure. We consider the problem of assigning the hyperedges between two layers to tracks. The idea is to minimize the total number of hyperedge crossings. We prove that finding the best solution is NP-hard. Then, in contrast to many other approaches which route all the wiring after placing all nodes we focus on a new approach which dynamically reorders the nodes within the layers to further reduce the number of hyperedge crossings. An efficient algorithm is presented that minimizes the hyperedge crossings. Experimental results are provided which show that the drawings can be improved significantly while the running time remains moderate.


The Author carries out here close research into the anthropological thought of Martin Buber, highlighting the psychological and psychotherapeutic implications of his philosophy, as well as the Jewish philosopher's interest in interdisciplinary dialogue. The fact of the matter is that Buber was a man of dialogue, who was open to the multidimensionality of the human being, and who privileged encounter (Begegnung) over confrontation (Vergegnung). Hence an enriching exchange and comparison with psychologists and psychiatrists of the stature of Freud, Jung, Sullivan, von Weizsacker, Binswanger, Jaspers, Rogers and Frankl.


Mildred Lewis Rutherford, as one of the most prominent members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, has been scantly researched in the past, however her speeches and writing had a profound impact on southern historical consciousness during the New South Period. Her influence, interestingly, was not entirely based in reality. A poststructural analysis of her speeches reveals that she strategically fabricated and excluded information in order to create a specific memory of the past in the minds of southerners. Rutherford had difficulty discerning whether or not the economic benefits of industrialization outweighed the accompanying social consequences. Yet, she used the power of text in an attempt to recreate the Old South social structure based on a racial hierarchy that was bound to be defeated by the rising tide of industrialization. INDEX WORDS: Mildred Lewis Rutherford, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Lost cause, New South, Marxism, Poststructuralism, Memory WRITING HER WAY BACK TO THE OLD SOUTH: HISTORY, MEMORY, AND MILDRED LEWIS RUTHERFORD'S BATTLE AGAINST THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF INDUSTRIALIZATION IN THE NEW SOUTH PERIOD


Future users of large data banks must be protected from having to know how the data is organized in the machine (the internal representation). A prompting service which supplies such information is not a satisfactory solution. Activities of users at terminals and most application programs should remain unaffected when the internal representation of data is changed and even when some aspects of the external representation are changed. Changes in data representation will often be needed as a result of changes in query, update, and report traffic and natural growth in the types of stored information.
Existing noninferential, formatted data systems provide users with tree-structured files or slightly more general network models of the data. In Section 1, inadequacies of these models are discussed. A model based on n-ary relations, a normal form for data base relations, and the concept of a universal data sublanguage are introduced. In Section 2, certain operations on relations (other than logical inference) are discussed and applied to the problems of redundancy and consistency in the user's model.


Toward the end of his dissent in Garcia v. Google, Judge Alex Kozinski remarked that "[w]hen modern works, such as films or plays, are produced, contributors will often create separate, copyrightable works as part of the process." Judge Kozinski's characterization of plays (or even films) as "modern works" opens the door to an examination of that claim with respect to another genre of modern work: the photograph. This essay focuses on the treatment of claimed authorial contributions by photographic subjects to the photographs in which they are portrayed. It traces the analysis of this issue from the early photography cases (and provides the relevant litigated images) to present times. What emerges is a forceful line of precedent that largely did not consider, accept, or emphasize a photographic subject's authorial contributions to a finished photographic image. Coming full circle, I argue that longstanding judicial instincts on this front may help explain the outcome in the Garcia case.


The prominence of disease transmission between individuals in confined environments is a concern, particularly in the educational environment. With respect to school feeding schemes, food contact surfaces have been shown to be potential vehicles of foodborne pathogens. The aim of this study was to assess the cleanliness of the surfaces that come into contact with food that is provided to children through the National School Nutrition Programme in central South Africa. In each school under study, microbiological samples were collected from the preparation surface and the dominant hand and apron of the food handler. The samples were analysed for total viable counts, coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and yeasts and moulds. The criteria specified in the British Columbia Guide for Environmental Health Officers were used to evaluate the results. Total viable counts were high for all surfaces, with the majority of colonies being too numerous to count (over 100 colonies per plate). Counts of organisms were relatively low, with 20% of the surfaces producing unsatisfactory enumeration of S. aureus and E. coli and 30% unsatisfactory for coliforms. Yeast and mould produced 50% and 60% unsatisfactory counts from preparation surfaces and aprons, respectively. Statistically significant differences could not be established amongst microbial counts of the surfaces, which suggests cross-contamination may have occurred. Contamination may be attributed to foodstuffs and animals in the vicinity of the preparation area rather than to the food handlers, because hands had the lowest counts of enumerated organisms amongst the analysed surfaces.


Australia's export‐oriented large natural resources sectors of agriculture and mining, the ways large‐scale services, such as nutrition, water, housing, transport and mobility, and energy are organized, and the consumption patterns of Australia's wealthy urban households, create a unique pattern of overall resource use in Australia. In an attempt to contribute to a new environmental information system compatible with economic accounts, we represent Australia's resource use by employing standard biophysical indicators for resource use developed within the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) context. We look at the last 3 decades of resource use and the economic, social, and environmental implications. We also discuss scenarios of future resource use patterns based on a stocks and flows model of the Australian economy. We argue that current extractive economic patterns have contributed to the recent economic boom in Australia but will eventually lead to negative social and environmental outcomes. Although there is currently little evidence of political support for changing the economic focus on export‐oriented agriculture and mining industries, there is significant potential for improvements in socio‐technological systems and room for more sustainable household consumption.


Abstract Increasingly, African Americans find themselves living side-by-side with immigrant newcomers from Latin America, the largest source of today's immigrant population. Research on "Black/Brown" relations tends to a priori define groupness in ethnoracial terms and gloss over potential nuance in inter-group relations. Taking an inductive approach to understanding how African Americans interpret the boundaries that result from immigration-driven change, this paper draws on fieldwork among African Americans in East Palo Alto, California, a Black-majority-turned-Latino-majority city, to examine how African Americans construct multiple symbolic boundaries in the context of a Latino-immigrant settlement. Blacks' rendering of these boundaries at the communal level invokes ethnoracial boundaries as a source of significant division. They see Latinos as having overwhelmed Black material and symbolic prowess. However, accounts of inter-personal interactions evince symbolic boundaries defined by language and neighborhood tenure that render ethnoracial boundaries porous. Respondents note intra-group differences among Latinos, pointing out how the ability to speak English and long-time residence in the neighborhood are important factors facilitating ties and cooperation across ethnoracial boundaries. The findings point to the importance of intra-ethnoracial-group differences for inter-ethnoracial-group attitudes and relations. Adopting ethnographic and survey research practices that treat boundaries as multiplex will better capture how growing intra-ethnoracial-group diversity shapes inter-ethnoracial-group relations.


A novel highly selective magnetic sorbent was synthesized for rapid preconcentration of Cd(II) ions. A cadmium-imprinted polymer was grafted on Fe3O4 nanoparticles to give the magnetic property to the sorbent. The grafting was characterized by IR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and differential thermal analysis. The effects of sample pH, eluent factors (type, concentration and volume) and the time of adsorption and desorption were investigated. The retained cadmium was determined by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy. The limit of detection and relative standard deviation values were 0.09 μg L−1 and 1.7%, respectively, under optimum conditions. The accuracy of the method was confirmed using standard materials. Finally, this method was applied for the determination of Cd(II) in used and non-used diesel oils.


Abstract Power generation from nuclear reactors provides an almost inexhaustive power source due to the huge quantities of nuclear fuel existent in our planet, which guarantees its utilization for thousands of years. Interest has been shifted to the so-called hybrid reactors [accelerator-driven systems (ADS)] as an alternative technology for power generation and transmutation, thus requiring precise knowledge about nuclear structure and nuclear reaction characteristics. Research groups from Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de São Paulo and Brazilian Center for Research in Physics made a joint effort to develop a computer program, CRISP, to calculate the intranuclear cascade proprieties and the nuclear evaporation process, present in all nuclear reactions with energies above a few tens of mega-electron-volts, using Monte Carlo techniques. Some reaction channels were included in these programs, resulting in a more realistic representation of the processes involved, aiming at reactor physics studies and academic studies about hadron and meson properties in nuclear matter. Some results obtained with this code and a comparison with experimental data are presented. Although all these results are preliminary, they are very consistent with the available experimental data. Since the applicability of the CRISP package has a wide range of options, especially in ADS, some results describing the effectiveness of the code were achieved.


Large-scale research on the environmental, biological, and anthropogenic drivers of fish distributions, abundances, and community structure can identify patterns and trends within systems, provide mechanistic insight into ecosystem functioning, and contribute to ecosystembased fisheries management. This study synthesized 10 yr of extensive fisheries-independent bottom trawl data (2002 to 2011) to evaluate drivers of demersal fish community structure in Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States. Changes in community composition were assessed using constrained correspondence analysis. Also, aggregate community metrics (species richness, Simpson diversity, and catch-per-unit-effort [CPUE] of species groups) were modeled using generalized additive models. Five species (Atlantic croaker, white perch, spot, striped bass, and summer flounder) accounted for >75% of the total trawled biomass. The demersal fish community was primarily structured by the latitudinal salinity gradient that largely differentiated anadromous fishes from coastal shelf spawning species and elasmobranchs, with low overall CPUE and richness in mesohaline waters. Low dissolved oxygen concentrations (below ~4 mg l−1) greatly suppressed CPUE and diversity metrics and appeared to displace fish biomass toward the northern and southern edges of the bay's mainstem channel. Water temperature and month strongly influenced the seasonal dynamics of community composition and metrics. Community composition and biomass shifted after 2007, with a substantial decline in annual CPUE of some species groups. Recruitment and fishing indices for the dominant species were the best predictors of the interannual patterns in community metrics, outperforming various other climatic and biological annual-scale covariates.


So-called 'turning points' or 'defining moments' are both the oxygen and grid lines that historians and researchers seek in plotting the path of social and political development of any country. In the case of Japan, the ninth Conference of the European Association of Japanese Studies provided a unique opportunity for leading scholars of Japanese history, politics and international relations to offer an outstanding menu of 'turning points' (many addressed for the first time), over 20 of which are included here. Thematically, the book is divided into sections, including Medieval and Early Modern Japan, Japan and the West, Contested Constructs in the Study of Tokugawa and Meiji Japan, Aspects of Modern Japanese Foreign Policy, and Democracy and Monarchy in Post-War Japan.


The Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings reported to the UK's Minister of Universities and Science in mid-2012. This was followed by a new policy for open access (OA) publishing by Research Councils UK (RCUK) as well as a commitment from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to require that research submitted to future research evaluation exercises – after the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) – be open access. These initiatives build on a broad consensus, that includes for-profit publishers, that open access is the way of the future. Here, I give a perspective on these issues, both as the head of an institution with particular interests in the future of scholarly publication and also as a member of the Working Group on Expanding Access. The continuing development of informed debate will be critical for the future of the scholarly publishing system.


Object-oriented programming languages provide a rich set of features that provide significant software engineering benefits. The increased productivity provided by these features comes at a justifiable cost in a more sophisticated runtime system whose responsibility is to implement these features efficiently. However, the virtualization introduced by this sophistication provides a significant challenge to understanding complete system performance, not found in traditionally compiled languages, such as C or C++. Thus, understanding system performance of such a system requires profiling that spans all levels of the execution stack, such as the hardware, operating system, virtual machine, and application. In this work, we suggest an approach, called vertical profiling, that enables this level of understanding. We illustrate the efficacy of this approach by providing deep understandings of performance problems of Java applications run on a VM with vertical profiling support. By incorporating vertical profiling into a programming environment, the programmer will be able to understand how their program interacts with the underlying abstraction levels, such as application server, VM, operating system, and hardware.


The CHA2DS2‐VaSc and HAS‐BLED risk scores are commonly used in the studies of oral anticoagulants (OACs). The best ways to map these scores to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD‐10‐CM) codes is unclear, as is how they perform in various types of OAC users. We aimed to assess the distributions of CHA2DS2‐VaSc and HAS‐BLED scores and C‐statistics for outcome prediction in the ICD‐10‐CM era using different mapping strategies.


The extensive literature on the employment impact of minimum wages has focused heavily on industrialized nations and very little on the developing world, despite the importance of minimum wages in many low-income countries. One such country, Indonesia, was the setting for an unusual quasi-natural experiment: not only did minimum wages in Indonesia increase sharply between 1990 and 1996, but the resultant increment in average wages varied markedly across different areas in Greater Jakarta. The authors use household-level labor market data to determine the extent of compliance with the legislation, then estimate the employment impact in the clothing, textiles, footwear, and leather industries based on a census of all large and medium-sized establishments. The evidence suggests that there was no negative employment impact for large establishments, either foreign or domestic, but that workers in smaller, domestic establishments may have suffered job losses as a result of minimum wage increases.