In the 1950s the distinguished ethno-historian and expert in Ancient Mexico, Miguel Leon-Portilla, published his classical book titled La filosofia Nanuatl. He did not have to wait long for criticism and one of the major attacks was his "imprudent" use ofthe term "philosophy" to designate something that the Aztecs or Nahuatl speaking people could have been engaged in. But criticisms were in the first place ambiguous. The "lack" of philosophical discourse among the Aztec could have meant that they were "barbarians," uncivilized or not enough developed. On the other hand, it could have meant just that they were "different". In such case, Nahuatl speaking people may not have had "philosophy" but the "difference" shall not be considered as a lack but an assertion that they had or did something else. Europeans, in their turn, did not have whatever that "something" else could have been. In another study, Leon-Portilla reflected on the social role of the tlamatini. He did not translate this social role as "philosopher" but described it as "those who have the power of the word" (Leon-Portilla, 1976; see also Mignolo,1995 for the case of philosophy in the Andes). Leon-Portilla, as anybody else, had difficulties in defining, first, what philosophy is in order to show, second, that the Aztec or Nahualt speaking people indeed had philosophy. He managed, however, to give an acceptable picture of what philosophy was for the Greeks and then matching it with the remains of Aztec documentation from the beginning of the sixteenth century, before Cortes' arrival in Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Leon-Portilla overlooked the fact that philosophy, in Greece, went together with the emergence of what is today considered the Western alphabet and Western literacy. Indeed, if I had to define what philosophy is (following the Greek legacy), I would begin by saying that it is something that is linked to writing and to alphabetic writing. I will further add that it was alphabetic writing, linked to the concept of philosophy, that allowed Western men of letters, since the sixteenth century, to establish the difference between philosophy and other forms of knowledge. There is a caveat in this argument, however: the Arabic language and the Arabic early contact and translation of philosophical texts from Greek to Arabic. I will not pursue this point, since I have to concentrate on Latin America, but it is indeed an issue to keep in mind to understand the emergence of the colonial difference. Beyond overlooking alphabetic writing in its complicity with Western self description of philosophy, Leon-Portilla accepted without further question (and here he is not alone) that philosophy is a Greek invention and the natural point of reference to decide whether something else is or is not philosophy. We can extend the same argument to other practices, to be sure. But let stay with philosophy. So, the argument goes, philosophy did not exist before the Greeks invented it. Therefore, communities or civilizations before the Greeks, or even having simultaneous histories after the Greeks invented philosophy, but with not much contact between them, did not have philosophy. Like the Aztecs in the early sixteenth century, for example. Or the Chinese, before the Greeks and during the Greeks' golden age of philosophical thinking. There is something odd in this historiographical picture, particularly because it is the result of an argument that places philosophy as a good thing to have, a's a crucial achievement of which other cultures have been or are deprived. You may be asking yourself at this point, what does all of this have to do with Latin American philosophy? A lot, indeed, since I am talking around the colonial difference, and the colonial difference came into being during the so-called "conquest of America," which is, in a different macro-narrative, the emergence of the Atlantic commercial circuit and of the modern/colonial world. Let me explain. But, to do that, I have to stay a little longer with the famous Greeks. …


Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers (PCF) is a well known method to generate ultra-broad optical spectra which are of great interest for ultra-short pulse compression. By using a PCF with zero dispersion around 800 nm and a SLM based active phase shaping device, compression to 5.5 fs duration has been achieved [1]. However, the coherence of the generated continuum ultimately limits pulse compression [2].


Readily available tax statistics tell state and local policymakers the amount and mix of revenues that their governments receive. However, these officials pose harder fiscal questions than simply how much money is flowing into their coffers and from what sources. They frequently ask, What is our state's capacity to raise revenues, regardless of how much we actually collect? To what extent do we utilize that capacity? Is our revenue capacity sufficient to finance our state's need for public services? These questions are especially salient today, given that during state fiscal year 2002 (FY2002) revenues in most states fell far short of their targeted levels. ; Questions surrounding the issue of fiscal adequacy are difficult to answer definitively. In previous articles appearing in this Review (Tannenwald 1998, 1999), we evaluated interstate differences in fiscal capacity and fiscal need for FY1994 and FY1996. Prior to these efforts, the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) developed indicators providing such interstate comparisons for several (but not all) years from FY1962 through FY1991. This article presents such comparisons for FY1997.


The article places emphasis on the youth in the Christiana district, South Africa. It seems that the youth in South Africa face serious challenges and problems. The emphasis is especially on the farming communities in Christiana in the North-West Province who struggle with violence, alcoholism, poverty, unemployment, occultism and Satanism. The growing statistics of drug abuse, substance use, violence, rape, prostitution, child trafficking, etc. make the challenges widespread and lead to the lives of many young people being destroyed. Through holistic missional outreach programmes, the youth of the Christiana district can be a great harvest to be reaped because the programmes give hope and enrich lives in spite of the challenges the community is facing. The LIFEPLAN ® engagement programme, in particular, is a training and equipping tool, which includes various important and relevant aspects that deal with the above-mentioned problems and seeks creative solutions to inspire and equip young people to become responsible citizens in their communities. The goal of the programme is to provide a guide and aid for outreach to the youth of this district with the aim to change, resolve, improve and enrich the lives of young people to ensure Christian formation as a valid alternative for destructive lifestyles, leading to a more meaningful and productive life. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Socio-economic environment and destructive behavioural patterns lead to many lives destroyed. Preliminary results suggested behavioural modifications linked to biblio-moral intervention. LIFEPLAN ® has a transdisciplinary approach comprising three main disciplines and constituencies, Theology, Education and Health. It seeks creative solutions to inspire and equip the youth to become responsible citizens in their communities.


Pollination is an important ecosystem service that benefits human welfare by increasing the quantity and quality of fruit and seed set of many crops. The decline in bee abundance and diversity in recent years may result in a decrease in pollination services, which could have a major impact on world food supplies. In Norway, there is a lack of studies on pollination in a farming context. Here I present a field study on the pollination service in apple orchards in Lofthus, Western Norway. I studied the distribution of managed and wild bees, factors that affect their presence, and how this affects the apple yield. The field methods used were transect walks at the farms, observations at branches, pan traps and transect in various habitat types. Transect walks at farms and observations at branches and pan traps were used for statitstical analyses, while transect walks in various habitat types were combined and used to create a species distribution model (SDM). There was a high abundance of honeybees in the apple orchards; among the wild pollinators bumblebees were more common. Honeybees were more abundant in sunny weather, while bumblebees were not as strongly affected by weather. Bumblebee abundance increased towards higher elevations on the farms in the transect walk data, while SDM showed increasing elevations (up to 240 meter) to have a positive effect on predicted presence of both honeybee and bumblebees. Distance to forest did not affect the bumblebees, but SDM showed that all of the pollinators preferred the upper, less disturbed parts of the farm areas which were closer to natural habitats. I also showed that pollinator diversity had a positive impact on the fruit set and yield. These results indicate that both honeybee and bumblebee abundance have a positive impact on the fruit set and yield of apples in Lofthus. They also indicate that to enhance the wild pollinator abundance, undisturbed, flower rich habitat is important. Table of


Oil palm calyx is a solid waste in the oil palm industry which is yet to find economic usage. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of recovering phospholipids from the oil palm calyx. Preliminary functional property of calyx phospholipids was determined using emulsion stability. Results indicated that oil palm calyx had 14% total lipids when extracted with methanol and 62.3% of lipids were acetone insoluble lipids (phospholipids). Methanol extracted phospholipids showed that the highest concentration of total phospholipids (1971 mg/L) with phosphatidylcholine (PC) have been the predominant phospholipid. The calyx phospholipids stabilized oil in water emulsion at 2% concentration. The study serves as a foundation on the positive usage of oil palm calyx in producing industrial phospholipids.

 Key words: Oil palm, lecithin, phospholipids, waste, palm calyx oil.


We consider general social choice environments with private values and correlated types. Each agent's matrix of conditional probabilities satisfies the full rank condition. We show that for any Bayesian incentive compatible mechanism there exists a dominant strategy incentive compatible mechanism that delivers the same interim expected utilities to all agents and generates at least the same social surplus. In addition, if there is a social alternative that is inferior to the other alternatives for all agents the dominant strategy incentive compatible mechanism matches exactly the social surplus. These results extend to environments with interdependent values satisfying the single crossing condition.


In the wake of Glasnost, Perestroika, and other democratic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the American government must rethink it's defensive policy. According to William Kaufmann, we now have an opportunity to put an end to the military competition and to the risks that have accompanied it. But to what extent should the United States alter it's defense progams and budgets during the last decade of the twentieth century? In this timely book, Kaufmann proposes a plan to cut defense spending by almost half over the next decade. He explains that an adjustment of spending plans is essential: the Soviet Union has already begun to reduce its conventional forces, as have other members of the Warsaw Pact, and Moscow is now willing to accept parity in nuclear and conventional capabilities at reduced levels; the United States, for its part, has strong domestic incentives to reduce defense spending and to foster economic and political change in the communist bloc. Kaufmann contends that the United States can best encourage that change by facilitating a transfer of Warsaw Pact resources from the military to the civil sector. He explains that the essence of a revised defense spending plan would be to cooperate in ending the military competition with the Soviet Union and in reducing the resources devoted to defense by both sides. Kaufmann discusses how each of three successive stages in the process might affect U.S. defense capabilities and spending, and he explains how the Pentagon should prepare for changes not only in force, size and composition but also in deployments, readiness, long-range mobility, sustainability and modernization. Studies in Defense Policy


The fuzzy front end of engineering design can present a difficult challenge, and as such, recent engineering design research has focused on guiding and influencing the way a designer ideates. Early ideation can be especially difficult when attempting to integrate specific design objectives in product design, called Design for X (DfX). This paper presents two experiments exploring the efficacy of a structured Design for the Environment (DfE) design method called the GREEn Quiz (Guidelines and Regulations for Early design for the Environment) that provides designers with sustainable design knowledge during the conceptual design phase. The GREEn Quiz operates on a web-based platform and queries the designer about their design concepts; an end-of-quiz report provides abstract DfE knowledge to designers. While this abstract knowledge was able to be applied by designers in a former study, we hypothesize that providing targeted, specific design strategies during conceptual design will enable novice designers to better integrate DfE. In this study, we created these DfE strategies, integrated these into the GREEn Quiz, and studied the efficacy of these strategies when presented to designers at both the expert and novice levels. Results suggest that respondents with access to the strategy-based GREEn Quiz produced concepts with evidence of more sustainable design decisions and higher solution quality scores. This work shows the promise of supplemental Design for the Environment methods for concept generation to enable the design of more environmentally sustainable products.


Previous development models for the exceptionally poorly-exposed Molopo Farms Complex (MFC) were based on assumed Bushveld analogies and had three key components: emplacement of magma via (a) deep feeder dyke(s), mixing of two contrasting magma-types, and independent crystallisation of the lower ultramafic and upper mafic cumulates below and above a mass of country-rocks. Re-examination of the available data, including the large drill-core archive, supports the following conclusions concerning the structure and evolution of the MFC. (1) The layered sequence evolved within a single (non-composite) magma chamber marked by height variations and roof- and wall-irregularities that limited the crystallisation of the mafic rocks in places, caused lateral variations in layer development, and led to the crystallisation of some parental and evolved residual magma as abundant sills within the roof-rocks. (2) Evolution was accompanied by repeated, small injections of only one parental magma-type (with significant country-rock contamination), sulphide exsolution and precious metals enrichment being controlled by magma cooling, FeO loss and contamination, rather than mixing of contrasting magma-types. (3) The Lower Zone of the Bushveld Complex constitutes the sole likely stratigraphic correlative of the Ultramafic Sequence of the MFC. Both successions most probably crystallised from a common (early Bushveld) B1 parental magma that, rather than entering the MFC magma chamber through a deep feeder dyke, flowed laterally from the main Bushveld magma chamber into the MFC satellite compartment via a constriction. (4) Above the lower ultramafic rocks the differing cumulate sequences of the two intrusions reflect the independent evolution of the original B1 magma in the MFC without the involvement of the (late Bushveld) B2/B3 magma.

In light of the above re-interpretation of the MFC, (1) further search for UG-2- and/or Merensky-type PGE reefs is unwarranted, (2) recently suggested potential for Voisey's Bay-type massive nickel sulphides in postulated MFC feeder dykes may not be justified, and (3) the mineralised lower marginal zone of the US may host low grade, Ni-PGE sulphide deposits similar to those at Volspruit/Grass Valley and Sheba's Ridge in the Bushveld Complex.


Electric transport systems and renewable energy sources (RESs) have recently attracted significant interest, because of the limitations and drawbacks of fossil fuels and the growing demand for utilization of clean energy. Suitable paradigms are needed to manage the atypical and heterogeneous load of electric vehicles (EVs), the intermittent nature of RESs, and the changeability of electrical loads in power networks. The technical and commercial operation of an integrated system comprising an electric transportation system with a battery-powered bus [electric bus (eBus)] charging station and an EV parking lot, integrated with solar photovoltaic (PV) generation, and combined with a battery storage system (BSS), as a virtual energy hub (VEH) is proposed. Moreover, a cooperative decision-making (CDM) strategy is proposed for the VEH, where the active and reactive power flows and the economic operation of the VEH are scheduled using a novel three-stage cooperative control system. A supervisory control system is developed using agents to realize the scheduled CDM of the VEH and to assign the control parameters for the provision of ancillary services. The VEH agent can operate autonomously during the real-time operation to cope with the volatility of the power system based on the optimal predetermined set points from the grid agent. The effectiveness of the CDM methodology is studied and evaluated through different realistic scenarios. The results show that the proposed CDM can organize the effective energy management (EM) with a minimum operational cost to the VEH. Furthermore, because of the designed supervisory control and the provision of ancillary services using the VEH, the grid requirements can be effectively managed.


A family of numerical models, known as the TRIM models, shares the same modeling philosophy for solving the shallow water equations. A characteristic analysis of the shallow water equations points out that the numerical instability is controlled by the gravity wave terms in the momentum equations and by the transport terms in the continuity equation. A semiimplicit finite-difference scheme has been formulated so that these terms and the vertical diffusion terms are treated implicitly and the remaining terms explicitly to control the numerical stability and the computations are carried out over a uniform finite-difference computational mesh without invoking horizontal or vertical coordinate transformations. An unstructured grid version of TRIM model is introduced, or UnTRIM (pronounces as "you trim"), which preserves these basic numerical properties and modeling philosophy, only the computations are carried out over an unstructured orthogonal grid. The unstructured grid offers the flexibilities in representing complex study areas so that fine grid resolution can be placed in regions of interest, and coarse grids are used to cover the remaining domain. Thus, the computational efforts are concentrated in areas of importance, and an overall computational saving can be achieved because the total number of grid-points is dramatically reduced. To use this modeling approach, an unstructured grid mesh must be generated to properly reflect the properties of the domain of the investigation. The new modeling flexibility in grid structure is accompanied by new challenges associated with issues of grid generation. To take full advantage of this new model flexibility, the model grid generation should be guided by insights into the physics of the problems; and the insights needed may require a higher degree of modeling skill.


Following South Sudanese independence in 2011, land reform became a major aspect of state building, partly to address historical injustices and partly to avoid future conflicts around land. In the process, land became a trigger for conflicts, sometimes between communities with no histories of "ethnic conflict." Drawing on cases in two rural areas in Yei River County in South Sudan, this paper shows that contradictions in the existing legal frameworks on land are mainly to blame for those conflicts. These contradictions are influenced, in turn, by the largely top-down approach to state building, which has tended to neglect changes in society and regarding land resulting from colonialism and civil wars.


This paper studies the human–wildlife interaction in Central Kerala, India, and attempts to understand local people's attitude toward wildlife and conservation. Data were collected from April 2009 to March 2014. A structured questionnaire survey was carried out among people living in the fringe areas of the forest (n = 210). Self–reported household crop loss was modelled as a function of agricultural, demographic and environmental factors. Wild pig (Sus scrofa) (57.1 %) was the main crop foraging species, followed by Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) (12.9 %). It was reported that 36 % of farmers' annual income was lost due to crop foraging by wild animals. Leopard (Panthera pardus) (69.76 %), Indian rock python (Python molurus) (13.95 %), dhole (Cuon alpinus) (9.3 %) and stray dogs (6.97 %) were responsible for the attacks on livestock. The factors that influenced crop loss according to the farmers were the extent of agriculture land that they owned (coefficient = 0.968), the distance to reserve forest from crop fields (–0.009), and age of respondents (0.78). Due to people's awareness concerning the importance of wildlife, reports on human–wildlife interaction in the newspapers and strict enforcement of wildlife laws, people's attitude towards conservation of wildlife was good, and they were not taking any negative precautions against wild animals.


This paper presents an end-to-end deep learning framework using passive WiFi sensing to classify and estimate human respiration activity. A passive radar test-bed is used with two channels where the first channel provides the reference WiFi signal, whereas the other channel provides a surveillance signal that contains reflections from the human target. Adaptive filtering is performed to make the surveillance signal source-data invariant by eliminating the echoes of the direct transmitted signal. We propose a novel convolutional neural network to classify the complex time series data and determine if it corresponds to a breathing activity, followed by a random forest estimator to determine breathing rate. We collect an extensive dataset to train the learning models and develop reference benchmarks for the later studies in the field. Based on the results, we conclude that deep learning techniques coupled with passive radars offer great potential for end-to-end human activity recognition.


Computer hardware and software evolve very fast. With the advent of chip-multiprocessors and symmetric multithreading, multiprocessor hardware configurations are becoming prevalent. For software, new hardware and requirements such as security, performance and maintainability drive the development of new runtime environments, virtual machines and programming methodologies. These trends present problems when porting legacy software. Multiprocessor hardware require ports of uniprocessor operating system kernels while new software environments might require that programs have to be ported to different languages. This thesis examines the tradeoff between performance and development effort for software porting with case studies in operating system porting to multiprocessors and tool support for porting C and C++ applications to Java virtual machines. The thesis consists of seven papers. The first paper is a survey of existing multiprocessor development approaches and focuses on the tradeoff between performance and implementation effort. The second and third papers describe the evolution a traditional lock-based multiprocessor port, going from a serialized "giant locked" port and evolving into a coarse-grained implementation. The fourth paper instead presents an alternative porting approach which aims to minimize development effort. The fifth paper describes a tool for efficient instrumentation of programs, which can be used during the development of large software systems such as operating system kernels. The sixth and seventh papers finally describe a binary translator which translates MIPS binaries into Java bytecode to allow low-effort porting of C and C++ applications to Java virtual machines. The first main contributions of this thesis is an in-depth investigation of the techniques used when porting operating system kernels to multiprocessors, focusing on development effort and performance. The traditional approach used in the second and third papers required longer development time than expected, and the alternative approach in the fourth paper can therefore be preferable in some cases. The second main contribution is the development of a binary translator that targets portability of C and C++ applications to J2ME devices. The last two papers show that the approach is functional and has good enough performance to be feasible in real-life situations.


Objective Residual symptoms of depression are related to more severe and chronic course of functional impairment with higher risk of relapse. The objective of this study was to validate, and determine psychometric properties of the Korean version of Depression Residual Symptom Scale (KDRSS). Methods A total of 203 outpatients with recent episode of major depression based on DSM-IV criteria were enrolled in this study. They had been treated with antidepressants and assessed by KDRSS, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-24 (HDRS-24), and Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MARDS). The validity and reliability of KDRSS were assessed, including internal consistency reliability, concurrent validity, temporal stability, factorial validity, and discriminative validity. Results Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.961), concurrent validity (MADRS: r=0.731, p<0.01, HDRS-24: r=0.663, p<0.01), and temporal stability (r=0.726, p<0.01) of KDRSS were all excellent. KDRSS showed good discriminative validity based on MARDS. KDRSS consisted of one-factor structure accounting for 63.8% of total variance. All subjects except two in full remission group had one or more residual symptoms. In 7 subscales of KDRSS consisting of similar items respectively, 'lack of energy' was the most commonly reported, followed by 'increased emotionalism' in this group. Conclusion KDRSS is a useful and sensitive instrument for measuring residual depressive symptoms. Since some depressive symptoms including 'lack of energy' and 'increased emotionalism' in patients with full remission might be persistent during psychiatric intervention, these symptoms need to be focused on in clinical practice.


This paper describes an experimental pilot study of disfluency and gesture rates in spontaneous speech where speakers perform a communication task in three conditions: hands free, one arm immobilized, both arms immobilized. Previous work suggests that the restriction of the ability to gesture can have an impact on the fluency of speech. In particular, it has been found that the inability to produce iconic gestures, which depict actions and objects, results in a higher rate of disfluency. Models of speech production account for this by suggesting that gesture and speech production are part of the same integrated system. Such models differ in their interpretation of the location of the gesture planning mechanism in relation to the speech model: some authors suggest that iconic gestures relate closely to lexical access, while others suggest that the link is located around the conceptualization stage. The findings of this study tentatively confirm that there is a relationship between gesture and fluency - overall, disfluency increases as gesture is restricted. But it remains unclear whether the disfluency is more related to lexical access than to conceptualization. Proposals for a larger study are suggested. The work is of interest to psycholinguists focusing on the integration of gesture into models of speech production and to Speech and Language Therapists who need to know about the impact that an impaired ability to produce gestures may have on communication.


Background Goblet cell carcinomas (GCCs) of the appendix are rare and aggressive malignancies with early peritoneal dissemination. The aim of the present article is to describe our experience in the management of GCCs with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) through cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) and to determine the impact of multiple clinical characteristics on the prognosis. Methods From a prospectively maintained database of patients receiving CRS and HIPEC for peritoneal surface malignancy, the data of 15 patients with GCC and PC were collected. Neo-adjuvant laparoscopic HIPEC was performed if indicated. CRS and HIPEC with mitomycin-C or 5-fluorouracil plus oxaliplatin were performed. Adjuvant chemotherapy was also arranged if suitable for the patient's condition. Results Nine males and six females with a mean age of 52.4 years were enrolled. The estimated median survival after the diagnosis of GCC with PC and after definitive CRS–HIPEC was 28 and 17 months, respectively. The 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-year survival rates were 86%, 69%, 57%, and 24%, respectively. Log-rank test revealed that the significant independent risk factors for more favorable outcomes were age >50 years, peritoneal cancer index (PCI) <27, postoperative PCI <20, administration of HIPEC, and adjuvant chemotherapy. Multivariate analyses confirmed that administration of HIPEC played a crucial role in providing prognostic benefit. Conclusion The management of GCC with PC remains challenging. We recommend CRS and HIPEC, followed by adjuvant systemic chemotherapy, as a promising strategy to improve survival, especially in selected patients with low PCI and possibility to achieve complete cytoreduction.


Born a slave and reared a sharecropper, Alonzo Herndon (1858-1927) was destined to drudgery in the red clay fields of Georgia. Within forty years of Emancipation, however, he had amassed a fortune that far surpassed that of his White slave-master father. Through his barbering, real estate, and life insurance ventures, Herndon would become one of the wealthiest and most respected African American business figures of his era. This richly illustrated book chronicles Alonzo Herndon's ascent and his remarkable family's achievements in Jim Crow Atlanta. In this first biography of the Herndons, Carole Merritt narrates how Herndon nurtured the Atlanta Life Insurance Company from a faltering enterprise he bought for 140 dollars into one of the largest Black financial institutions in America; how he acquired the most substantial Black property holdings in Atlanta; and how he developed his barbering business from a one-chair shop into the nation's largest and most elegant parlor, the resplendent, twenty-three chair "Crystal Palace" in the heart of White Atlanta. The Herndons' world was the educational and business elite of Atlanta. But as Blacks, they were intimately bound to the course of Black life. The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 and its impact on the Herndons demonstrated that all Blacks, regardless of class, were the victims of racial terrorism. Through the Herndons, issues of race, class, and color in turn-of-the-century Atlanta come into sharp focus. Their story is one of by-the-bootstraps resolve, tough compromises in the face of racism, and lasting contributions to their city and nation.


Multi-task learning can leverage information learned by one task to benefit the training of other tasks. Despite this capacity, naively training all tasks together in one model often degrades performance, and exhaustively searching through combinations of task groupings can be prohibitively expensive. As a result, efficiently identifying the tasks that would benefit from training together remains a challenging design question without a clear solution. In this paper, we suggest an approach to select which tasks should train together in multi-task learning models. Our method determines task groupings in a single run by training all tasks together and quantifying the effect to which one task's gradient would affect another task's loss. On the large-scale Taskonomy computer vision dataset, we find this method can decrease test loss by 10.0% compared to simply training all tasks together while operating 11.6 times faster than a state-of-the-art task grouping method.


The purpose of my thesis is to provide a theoretical analysis of the dynamics of optically excited carriers in semiconductor confined systems. In particular, I will focus the investigations on the effects due to the presence of a strong electron-hole Coulomb correlation. The Coulomb interaction leads to the formation of hydrogen-like bound states called excitons. The dynamics of these states is investigated in bare and cavity embedded quantum wells, and in quantum wires. I have investigated the dynamics of the relaxation of excitons in quantum wells due to the interaction with acoustic phonons and I have reproduced the temporal evolution of the photoluminescence emission. I have explained why the decay times observed in non resonant photoluminescence experiments are much slower than the radiative recombination time of a single exciton. Furthermore, deviation from the thermal equilibrium gives a characteristic dependence of these decay times on the temperature. The build-up of the photoluminescence is related to the relaxation by phonon emission of the excited electron-hole pairs. Initially, the pairs created at high energy are not bound, and the formation of bound excitons occurs during the relaxation. I have described the exciton formation due to the emission of acoustic and optical phonons, and I have calculated the characteristic times for this process in GaAs quantum wells. The formation can be geminate or bimolecular. In the geminate formation, the exciton is directly created by the photon of the external pump by simultaneous emission of an optical phonon, while in the bimolecular formation the exciton is created from thermalized electron-hole pairs. In the first case the formation occurs only during the laser pump, while in the second case the formation depends on the total density of carriers available in the crystal. The effects of the phonon assisted formation on the overall dynamics of free carriers, excitons and of the photoluminescence are discussed. Excitons confined in a quantum well coupled with the photons modes of a semiconductor microcavity gives mixed exciton-photon states called microcavity polaritons. The dynamics of the population of polaritons, which present an energy dispersion with an upper and lower branch, shows peculiar characteristics. In particular, a bottleneck region above the minimum of the lower polariton dispersion exists. In this region the population of polaritons is accumulated, and strong deviations from the thermal equilibrium are thus produced. Moreover, for the lower polariton states, a suppression of the scattering by acoustic phonons produces a strong inhibition of the thermal broadening. Finally, the dynamics of the photoluminescence spectra in semiconductor quantum wires is investigated. The time resolved photoluminescence experiments, the radiative recombination modifies adiabatically the total density, and the hypothesis quasi-thermal equilibrium can be applied. The optical spectra probes a system which ranges from a regime of ionized electron hole plasma to a gas of weakly interacting bound excitons. In order to describe such a complex system, I have used a Green's functions technique, and I have modeled the Coulomb interaction using a contact potential. This approach allows to observe in the absorption spectra a gain region close to the excitonic resonance. Moreover, the effects of the electron-hole correlations, calculated in a numerical self consistent way, explain the absence of the shift of the photoluminescence emission due to Coulomb induced band gap renormalization.


Withania somnifera, a commonly used herb in Ayurvedic medicine. Although the review articles on this plant are already published, this review article is presented to compile all the updated information on its phytochemical and pharmacological activities, which were performed by widely different methods. Studies indicate ashwagandha possesses antioxidant, anxiolytic, adaptogen, memory enhancing, antiparkinsonian, antivenom, antiinflammatory, antitumor properties. Various other effects like immunomodulation, hypolipidemic, antibacterial, cardiovascular protection, sexual behaviour, tolerance and dependence have also been studied. These results are very encouraging and indicate this herb should be studied more extensively to confirm these results and reveal other potential therapeutic effects. Clinical trials using ashwagandha for a variety of conditions should also be conducted.


When organizations investigate allegations of misconduct, they routinely determine that some allegations are unsubstantiated. A variety of factors may contribute to the conclusion that an allegation does not warrant substantiation, including a lack of supporting evidence, false claims against others within the organization, and a failure to conduct a thorough inquiry. This Article examines the potential value of examining unsubstantiated allegations of misconduct to better understand an organization's culture. I show that unsubstantiated allegations provide insight into where future violations may occur, employees' proclivity to engage in subsequent violations, and firm productivity. I conclude by discussing ways that organizations can address and overcome obstacles associated with examining unsubstantiated allegations data to further understand organizational cultures.


This paper represents the advice of the BBC Audience Council NI, on behalf of local audiences, on the BBC's future as the government considers its new Charter. Our advice is rooted in our understanding of local audiences and the broadcasting landscape in Northern Ireland. It is informed, above all, by our rolling programme of audience engagement, which allows us to hear the views of local licence fee payers in all their diversity. The Audience Council has responded in two sections. The first relates to the questions that the government posed in its Green Paper in July 1 2015, as relevant to audiences. The second relates to BBC management proposals for the future BBC outlined in the document British, Bold, Creative. The scope of these consultations is very wide and we have tried to focus on what matters most to audiences, as distinct from stakeholders and the industry who are also represented in the consultation process.


The paper emphasizes methods, architectures and components for system-on-chip design. It describes the basic knowledge and skills for designing high-performance low-power embedded devices whose complexity increases exponentially, as so does the effort of designing them. Relying upon an appropriate design methodology which concentrates on reuse, executable specifications, and early error detection, these complexities can be mastered. The paper bundles these topics in order to provide a good understanding of all problems involved. It shows how to go from description and verification to implementation and testing presenting two systems-on-chip for two different wireless applications based on configurable processors and custom hardware accelerators.


We report a harmonically mode-locked vertical external cavity surface emitting laser (VECSEL) producing 400 fs pulses at a repetition frequency of 175 GHz with an average output power of 300 mW. Harmonic mode-locking was established using a 300 µm thick intracavity single crystal diamond heat spreader in thermal contact with the front surface of the gain sample using liquid capillary bonding. The repetition frequency was set by the diamond microcavity and stable harmonic mode locking was achieved when the laser cavity length was tuned so that the laser operated on the 117th harmonic of the fundamental cavity. When an etalon placed intracavity next to the gain sample, but not in thermal contact was used pulse groups were observed. These contained 300 fs pulses with a spacing of 5.9 ps. We conclude that to achieve stable harmonic mode locking at repetition frequencies in the 100s of GHz range in a VECSEL there is a threshold pulse energy above which harmonic mode locking is achieved and below which groups of pulses are observed.


There is worldwide concern about the decline in the number of women in Information Technology (IT) and Engineering. Companies and universities have campaigned and launched special programs and projects for women in their careers or for young people wishing to enter these areas. The Digital Girls of Ananindeua (Digital Manas) have as general objective the accomplishment of motivational and informative practices with students of Elementary and Middle School in the metropolitan region of Belem aiming at the gender equity in the careers and courses of the areas of Computing and Technology through the promotion of female participation. Contributing to a network collaboration between professionals and future academics, giving visibility to women in the IT of Para, besides involving teachers and responsible for these girls to find support in their choices in the careers of computing.


Previous work by the authors [1] investigated the recoverability of fingerprints on paper which had been exposed to elevated temperatures by comparing various chemical enhancement techniques (ninhydrin, 1,8-diazafluoren-9-one (DFO), and physical developer (PD)). During that study, it became apparent, as a consequence of observations made in operational work [2], that fingerprints on paper subjected to 150˚C fluoresced under examination with green light of waveband 473-548nm with a 549nm viewing filter. This work examined the three types of prints (eccrine, sebaceous, and ungroomed) after 20 min exposure to the temperature range 110˚C to 190˚C (in 10˚C increments) and found that the eccrine fingerprints fluoresced more brightly. This indicated that it was a component of the eccrine deposit which was causing the fluorescence. Luminance measurements found that the maximum fluorescence was experienced at 170˚C on both types of paper. As a consequence, eccrine heat-treated fingerprints were viewed under violet-blue (350-469nm), blue (352-509nm), and green light (473-548nm) which indicated that the greatest luminance intensities were obtained under blue light and the smallest under green light. In order to determine what component of the eccrine fingerprint was causing this fluorescence, five of the most prevalent amino acids (alanine, aspartic acid, glycine, lysine, and serine) [3-4] were exposed to this temperature range. The luminance measurements were taken under exposure to the green light in order for the minimum fluorescence to be observed, with an assumption that blue-violet or blue illumination will provide brighter fluorescence in practice. The results indicated that four of the amino acids are behaving similarly across the temperature range, but with slightly different luminance measurements, but all are exhibiting some level of fluorescence. Thermal degradation products of alanine and aspartic acid have been suggested by Richmond-Aylor et al. [5]. The structure of these thermal degradation products is cyclic in nature, and as such, there is a possibility that two of these products would fluorescence. Sodium chloride and urea were also exposed to the temperature range and they also fluoresced to some extent. This work shows that eccrine fingerprints that have been exposed to temperatures of between 130˚C to 180˚C will fluoresce under violet-blue, blue, and green light. This level of fluorescence for ungroomed fingerprints is much less but this will be dependent on the individual, the more eccrine the deposit, the stronger the fluorescence. This work shows that the amino acids, sodium chloride, and urea present in fingerprint deposits are all contributing to the fluorescence of the print, but may not be the sole contributor as other eccrine components have not yet been tested.


We study the measurand-induced spectral shift of the photonic bandgap edge of a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. The physical measurands considered are strain, temperature, curvature, and twist. A noticeable sensitivity to strain, temperature, and twist is observed, with a blueshift to increase strain and twist. An increase in temperature induces a redshift. On the other hand, curvature has no observable effect on the spectral position of the photonic bandgap edge.


The handling of mobile nodes in the Internet has always been challenging since the Internet Protocol (IP) by design assumes that a network interface has an identifier that stays fixed at least for the duration of a data transfer. With the recent proliferation of mobile devices that provide advanced computing capabilities and resources such as netbooks, smartphones, or Internet tablets common mobile usage of the Internet is rising constantly. Moreover, applications that where not developed with mobile devices in mind and services that generally do not do well with mobility (e.g. voice-over-IP or live streaming) can be run commonly on these devices. Providing scalable and deployable mobility support in heterogeneous IP based wireless access networks that such devices are used in remains an issue. The more traditional approaches such as Mobile IP and Proxy Mobile IP provide centralized anchors that redirect the traffic destined for the mobile node to its current point of attachment. While especially Proxy Mobile IP sees large deployments in cellular networks its centralized approach provides deployment and scalability barriers and is not well suited for distributed and fragmented environments such as hot-spots. This thesis proposes a network based decentralized mobility management framework which can provide mobility support without the collaboration of mobile nodes and without relying on centralized elements. The framework provides easy deployment as it only requires support from access routers and scalability as the load of managing the mobile nodes is distributed among the access routers. It is well suited for distributed and fragmented environments as necessary configuration data is made available to potential handover candidate access routers in advance. The contributions of this thesis are the development of a framework for decentralized network based mobility management, a system design based on this framework and the evaluation of the system by means of theoretical analysis, simulation, and a prototype implementation. As the evaluations show the proposed framework can provide mobility support for generic mobile nodes with handover times that converge towards the average one-way delay between access routers while inducing a signaling overhead that linearly scales with the number of mobile nodes and the number of access routers in the system.


Ever since "Physical Chemistry" was first published in 1913 (then titled "Outlines of Theoretical Chemistry", by Frederick Getman), it has remained a highly effective and relevant learning tool thanks to the efforts of physical chemists from all over the world. Each new edition has benefited from their suggestions and expert advice. The result of this remarkable tradition is now in your hands. Now revised and updated, this fourth edition of "Physical Chemistry" by Silbey, Alberty, and Bawendi continues to present exceptionally clear explanations of concepts and methods. The basic theory of chemistry is presented from the viewpoint of academic physical chemists, but detailed discussions of practical applications are integrated throughout. The problems in the book also skillfully blend theory and applications. The highlights of the fourth edition include: a total of 170 computer problems appropriate for MATHEMATICATM, MATHCADTM, MATLABTM, or MAPLETM; increased emphasis on the thermodynamics and kinetics of biochemical reactions, including the denaturation of proteins and nucleic acids; expanded coverage of the uses of statistical mechanics, nuclear magnetic relaxation, nanoscience, and oscillating chemical reactions; and, many new tables and figures throughout the text.


This paper draws on original data generated within a research project, entitled Learning as Work: Teaching and Learning Processes in the Contemporary Work Organization, funded within the Economic and Social Research Council's Teaching and Learning Research Programme. It examines relationships between managerial strategies of control, the organization of work practices and narratives of occupational identity among stylists employed in high-fashion, franchised hairdressing salons in the UK. It argues that tensions and dilemmas generated between contrasting elements within both forms of supervision and work practices are reflected and reconciled within the occupational narratives of salon staff. These narratives or stories depict a behavioural ideal for, and project a positive image of, the motivations, skills and disciplines of successful stylists. They comprise rhetorical forms that legitimise stylists in maintaining their engagement in potentially contradictory occupational practices and, at the same time, offer management a channel through which to groom the subjectivity of the workforce. These narratives can be grouped around three themes: "professionalism" "delight and wowing" and "keeping up". Collectively they reinforce a positive evaluation of continuous learning as an integral part of stylists' subjectivities and identifications. However, the organization of work within franchised salons is such that stylists' commitment to open and continuous learning is restricted to a relatively narrow range of tasks.


A binary fan-out kinoform for focusing and splitting an incident beam into a 4 × 4 spot array, with a largest deflection angle of 28°, was designed, fabricated in GaAs, and evaluated. The kinoform was defined in resist with electron-beam lithography and etched into GaAs with chemically assisted ion-beam etching. Light at wavelength 0.98 µm from a single-mode fiber was used to illuminate the kinoform. The efficiency was measured to be 34%, and the uniformity error for the 4×4 spots was 29%. Although the typical feature size of the kinoform is only roughly two wavelengths, we found that the scalar theory of diffraction can be used. A first kinoform was designed with the customary Fresnel-diffraction theory, which was found to be too coarse, resulting in a fan-out exhibiting some distortion. A second kinoform was designed with the more rigorous Fresnel-Kirchhoff expression, and its fan-out shows no distortion.


N t This is one of a series of information sheets prepared for each country in which WaterAid works. The sheets aim to identify inorganic constituents of significant risk to health that may occur in groundwater in the country in question. The purpose of the sheets is to provide guidance to WaterAid Country Office staff on targeting efforts on water-quality testing and to encourage further thinking in the organisation on waterquality issues.


Part of the theory of logic programming and nonmonotonic reasoning concerns the study of fixed-point semantics for these paradigms. Several different semantics have been proposed during the last two decades, and some have been more successful and acknowledged than others. The rationales behind those various semantics have been manifold, depending on one's point of view, which may be that of a programmer or inspired by commonsense reasoning, and consequently the constructions which lead to these semantics are technically very diverse, and the exact relationships between them have not yet been fully understood. In this paper, we present a conceptually new method, based on level mappings, which allows to provide uniform characterizations of different semantics for logic programs. We will display our approach by giving new and uniform characterizations of some of the major semantics, more particular of the least model semantics for definite programs, of the Fitting semantics, and of the well-founded semantics. A novel characterization of the weakly perfect model semantics will also be provided.


Energy management in hybrid and electric vehicles is a key factor to improve the operational performance and meet the efficiency objectives defined in the transport sector. Thus, optimized energy management strategies (EMS), before being integrated in a real system, need to be validated in a scaled test-bench platform in order to identify the possible deviations from the expected simulation-based profiles, thus, saving time during the implementation in the real application. An economical and flexible way of validating these strategies is the Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation. In this framework, this work aims to compare the experimental results of two optimized (simulation-based) EMSs applied on a hybrid electric urban bus (HEB) in terms of real-time operational performance. Both EMSs handle the proper power split behavior of the vehicle demand between a genset (internal combustion engine connected to an electric generator) and a hybrid energy storage system (combining Li-ion batteries with supercapacitors). The hardware in the test-bench consist of a scaled electrical DC grid of an HEB. This hardware platform is combined with software models allowing to emulate the real behavior of the genset, battery, supercapacitor, traction and auxiliary loads.


Purpose of reviewCancer cachexia is associated with marked alterations in skeletal muscle protein metabolism that lead to muscle wasting and, in some cases, death. The inflammatory response elicited by cancer is a likely, if not primary, mediator of these alterations. This review focuses on the possible relationship between inflammatory signaling and altered amino acid metabolism in cancer. Recent findingsLoss of skeletal muscle in cancer patients can potentially be due to anorexia and early satiety, reduced muscle protein synthesis, and/or increased muscle protein breakdown. Inflammation has been associated with each of these mechanisms. Effects on appetite appear to be mediated by the melanocortin system in the hypothalamus. Studies in animal models of cachexia suggest that modulation of orexigenic and anorexigenic pathways in this system may improve nutrient consumption. Inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-α are likely to contribute to the effects of inflammation on muscle protein metabolism through several pathways. SummaryLimited studies in humans suggest that targeted anti-inflammatory and nutritional interventions may ameliorate the net catabolic effect on skeletal muscle protein metabolism. Future studies of the precise mechanism of muscle protein loss, as well as novel or combination therapies to inhibit inflammation and promote anabolism, are warranted.


This document presents an overview of the investigations performed within the project NEWAC on the application of active flow control by aspiration to axial compressors. It is based on the measurements performed on different annular cascades, tested in the non rotating annular wind tunnel of EPFL in cooperation with the project partner ECL. In parallel to these measurements, both predictive and a-posteriori CFD simulations were performed by the project partners at SNECMA and ONERA. Several configurations were investigated in the annular wind tunnel with and without aspiration, on the hub or/and on the blades. For each cascade configuration, different inlet flow conditions were applied for several aspiration ratios. This yielded a large database of results that allows detailed analysis of the various influences by cross comparison of different cases. The applied measurement techniques included five-hole-probe measurements, Laser Doppler Velocimetry as well as pressure tap measurements on hub, casing and blades. The investigations gave an insight into the fluid mechanisms involved with the application of aspiration on blades and hub of an axial compressor rotor geometry. Since the flow structure resulting from simulations and experiments appreciably agree, the simulations significantly support the understanding of the flow mechanisms involved with the application of aspiration to the cascades. A selection of results, comparisons and conclusions is presented.


In his article the author focuses on the process of dealing with the past
 using the example of Czech democratic transition after 1989. First he defines
 the very concept "dealing with the past" in order to define the role of
 historiography and school education in a symbolic level of such a process. He
 deals with three basic problems - cultivation of historical consciousness
 within school environment, implementation of modern didactical concepts and
 finally using the Czech experience with post-communist historical education
 he outlines problematic issues surrounding the process of dealing with the
 past. Besides other things he concentrates on didactic aspects of the concept
 of cultural and communicative memory.


Experiencers--grammatical participants that undergo a certain psychological change or are in such a state--are grammatically special. As objects (John scared Mary; loud music annoys me), experiencers display two peculiar clusters of nonobject properties across different languages: their syntax is often typical of oblique arguments and their semantic scope is typical of subjects. In The Locative Syntax of Experiencers, Idan Landau investigates this puzzling correlation and argues that experiencers are syntactically coded as (mental) locations. Drawing on results from a range of languages and theoretical frameworks, Landau examines the far-reaching repercussions of this simple claim. Landau shows that all experiencer objects are grammaticalized as locative phrases, introduced by a dative/locative preposition. "Bare" experiencer objects are in fact oblique, too, the preposition being null. This preposition accounts for the oblique psych(ological) properties, attested in case alternations, cliticization, resumption, restrictions on passive formation, and so on. As locatives, object experiencers may undergo locative inversion, giving rise to the common phenomenon of quirky experiencers. When covert, this inversion endows object experiencers with wide scope, attested in control, binding, and wh-quantifier interactions. Landau's synthesis thus provides a novel solution to some of the oldest puzzles in the generative study of psychological verbs. The Locative Syntax of Experiencers offers the most comprehensive description of the syntax of psychological verbs to date, documenting their special properties in more than twenty languages. Its basic theoretical claim is readily translatable into alternative frameworks. Existing accounts of psychological verbs either consider very few languages or fail to incorporate other theoretical frameworks; this study takes a broader perspective, informed by findings of four decades of research


The Southern African region is made of nine countries, each with own local railway network. Most of the countries have railway links with neighbouring countries resulting in the formation of a wide railway network. Majority of the locomotives currently in use in most of these countries are diesel powered despite efforts made by some countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe of electrifying some of their domestic railway routes. The focus of the research article is on the economic and environmental benefits that Southern African countries can draw from an electrified railway network. It is expected that there would be reduced railway locomotive exhaust fumes-related pollutants in the environment resulting in cleaner air. High-speed associated with electric trains would encourage the use of railway transport for both passenger and heavy goods movement which at the moment are dominated by road and air transport. The use of comparatively safe and cost-effective railway transport would not only improve trade among member countries but also attract foreign investment. It is expected that transportation of industrial raw materials and finished products would not only be efficient but also cost-effective. Reduction of heavy goods traffic would besides decongesting the roads, but also bring down the cost of road maintenance. Finally, the damaging effects of the locomotives' exhaust fumes would be avoided if railway electrification was embarked on. In addition, trade between member countries is expected to increase due to comparatively cost-effective fast movement of goods and passengers. The region is expected to save some foreign exchange due to reduced expenditure on road maintenance and locomotive diesel imports.


Air travel has contributed significantly to economic growth, tourism, world trade and
international investment over the years. In addition, airlines have played an important
part in bringing families together, growing friendships, allowing businesses to go over
and across borders and transport goods in a timely manner. The landmark changes in the
economic environment have led to ever-stronger competition in the airline industry.
Low-cost carriers (LCCs) have entered the market and established themselves by
penetrating significant parts of that market. This has led to dramatic changes in the
competitive landscape and, in this new setting, it is imperative to take a market-oriented
approach. However, little research has been conducted on factors associated with
achieving competitiveness in full service carriers (FSCs) and low cost carriers (LCCs),
particularly in the context of Australian domestic airlines. The aims of this study
therefore were to gain a better understanding of passenger travel preferences, travel
patterns and the demographic characteristics of FSC and LCC passengers in Australia,
and the impacts of their experience quality, brand image and perceived values on
behavioural intention. Comparisons were made between the two groups of airlines
(FSCs and LCCs) in regard to these aspects. In addition, this study examined the factors
influencing passengers' behavioural intention, as perceived by both airline management
and passengers in the context of Australia's domestic airline industry.
A research framework was developed based on an extensive and critical review of the
relevant literature. This conceptual framework aimed to investigate the relationships
between key constructs. In order to test the conceptual framework, a mixed methods
approach involving a sequential design was used, comprised of a qualitative (Part 1) and
a quantitative study (Part 2). Part 1 included semi-structured interviews with eight
informants to seek deeper insights into airline management perceptions of the factors
contributing positively to airline passengers' future behaviour. Part 2 involved a
questionnaire-based survey of 316 passengers who had travelled domestically within
Australia in the previous 12 months. This was designed to examine and compare the
extent to which the factors of experience quality, brand image and perceived value had
an impact on the behavioural intention of FSC and LCC customers.
The findings from the qualitative stage identified cost/price, products, innovation,
technology, service and brand image as the main factors that airline management considered important in terms of getting future patronage from customers. Findings
from the quantitative stage showed that there were statistically significant differences in
passengers' demographics between the two groups (FSCs and LCCs) on their travel
preferences and travel choices. It was also found that there were statistically significant
differences of experience quality, brand image and perceived value between FSC and
LCC passengers. The findings also indicated that experience quality, brand image and
perceived value had a positive effect on customers' behavioural intentions for both
FSCs and LCCs.
Based on the findings, suggestions for refined strategies have been made. It is
recommended that airline marketers focus on achieving the goals that make customers
purchase, by being distinctive. In addition, in order to ensure that consumers keep
buying a particular brand, airlines need to stand out from their competitors so that
buyers can easily identify them. The next strategy recommendation for airline marketers
is to adopt a passenger-centric approach, putting passengers at the centre of future
solutions, so that their evolving needs, desires, and values are used to guide
enhancements to existing core service/product functionality. It is also advised that
offering low fares only is not sufficient, low cost needs to be augmented by good
service levels. Lastly, it was recommended that airlines keep in mind what made them
successful in the first place (service for FSCs and low fares for a LCCs) and that they
continue building on this in the long-term.
FSC customers voiced their willingness to repurchase and recommend airlines for the
following reasons: peace of mind, positive experiences, sharing experiences with others,
trust, safety, helpful staff, a smooth check in process, good image, and peer influence.
LCC customers were willing to repurchase and recommend airlines to others based on
such factors as: enjoyment, relaxation, sharing experiences with others, a colourful logo,
kind and knowledgeable staff, a smooth check in process, and value for money.
Several limitations were identified and acknowledged in this study. The data collected
from an online platform for Part 2 may not represent the vast geographical region of
Australia. The interviews were conducted only with the managers of Jetstar/Qantas and
their views may not represent the management of other airlines.
Further research could be conducted with more representative data using random
stratified sampling techniques for the survey, and input from Virgin and Tiger
management. A longitudinal research design could be conducted to verify behavioural
intentions against actual future behaviours.


The reflection properties of a uniaxial thin film on an isotropic substrate have been calculated. The optic axis of the film is assumed to be parallel to the film surface. The reflection properties are summarized in terms of a reflection matrix suitable for use in the Jones calculus. A method is given for relating the reflection properties of this film-covered surface to the null settings of the polarizer and analyzer of a conventional ellipsometer. Results of calculations for a few specific cases are discussed.


"To unite Red Cross Societies throughout the world in a concerted effort to prevent, mitigate and alleviate the suffering caused by disease and major disasters". This was the primary aim of the League of Red Cross Societies (now the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) whose seventy-fifth anniversary we have just celebrated. The League, it will be recalled, was founded in response to the wishes of National Red Cross Society leaders and eminent representatives of the medical world — inspired by President Woodrow Wilson's ideals — to submit to Societies programmes of action in the general interest of humanity and coordinate their efforts in dealing with the scourges of that time.


In this study, the hibernation of ground squirrels (Spermophilus xanthoprymnus) distributed in Central Anatolia were studied in laboratory and field conditions. According to our findings, the hibernation period of ground squirrels began at the end of August and terminated in mid February. The longest and shortest hibernation bouts of ground squirrels were found to be 100 and 21 days, respectively. In this period, the longest ununterrupted hibernation was 13 days. Ground squirrels gained weight during the early months of summer and then lost weight constantly throughout hibernation period. No marked periodic cycles were observed in the periods of weight loss, and ground squirrels lost an average of 28% of their total body weight during this period.


In this paper we discuss a couple of situations, where algebraic equations are to be attached to a system of one‐dimensional partial differential equations. Besides of models leading directly to algebraic equations because of the underlying practical background, for example in case of stationary equations, there are many others where the specific mathematical structure requires a certain reformulation leading to time‐independent equations. To be able to apply our approach to a large class of real‐life problems, we have to take into account flux formulations, constraints, switching points, different integration areas with transition conditions, and coupled ordinary differential algebraic equations (DAEs), for example. The system of partial differential algebraic equations (PDAEs) is discretized by the method of lines leading to a large system of differential algebraic equations which can be solved by any available implicit integration method. Standard difference formulas are applied to discretize first and second partial derivatives, and upwind formulae are used for transport equations. Proceeding from given experimental data, i.e., observation times and measurements, the minimum least squares distance of measured data from a fitting criterion is computed, which depends on the solution of the system of PDAEs. Parameters to be identified can be part of the differential equations, initial, transition, or boundary conditions, coupled DAEs, constraints, fitting criterion, etc. Also the switching points can become optimization variables. The resulting least squares problem is solved by an adapted sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm which retains typical features of a classical Gauss‐Newton method by retaining robustness and fast convergence speed of SQP methods. The mathematical structure of the identification problems is outlined in detail, and we present a number of case studies to illustrate the different model classes which can be treated by our approach. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


When a person uses the traditional wireline telephone network to call another person on his cell phone, the fixed network must transfer the call to the mobile network to which the recipient subscribes. The fixed network is said to have provided originating access for the call, and the mobile network is said to have provided terminating access. This paper provides an economic analysis of the regulation of fixed-to-mobile termination rates. Mobile party pays (MPP) creates better incentives than calling party pays (CPP) for mobile network operators to place downward pressure on termination rates. Cellular telephone use in the United States and Canada has continued to increase at a significant pace despite the MPP regime and now far exceeds mobile telephone use in countries with CPP regimes. Multiple factors, including substitution possibilities for the callers of mobile subscribers, constrain the market power of mobile operators under CPP regimes in setting mobile termination rates. It is unrealistic for regulators to attempt to set mobile rates, including termination rates, at marginal cost. If large fixed network costs and customer acquisition costs must be recovered from variable charges, then marginal-cost-based pricing is not feasible. Because of network externalities in mobile telecommunications, the value to callers of being able to reach mobile subscribers justifies mobile termination charges that exceed marginal cost. Moreover, mobile termination rates that exceed marginal cost (or its proxy, long-run average incremental cost) are consistent with Ramsey (quasi-efficient) pricing. To the extent that high termination rates are a problem in countries that have embraced CPP, it is because customers are poorly informed of the charges they pay for their terminating call. Consumer education would solve the potential market failure without the need to impose price regulation on otherwise competitive markets.


The most relevant term to describe initial situation, in which the person of modern world can find himself today, is a social reality, definition of which was given by Alfred Schutz, a follower of Edmund Husserl. Though there's a need to make his term more accurate: both cultural and social institutes and natural world can be considered as elements of reality's model, but the social reality itself isn't identical to this (its own) model. In most everyday and traditional situations person can only have ritual thinking and not create explicit images of the "whole", which contains these situations. It means that everyday practices are not necessarily connected to the system, however the complex of significant social institutions and traditions give person enough number of practices-rituals, which allow him and his group to set boundaries of these practices' effectiveness (boundaries of normality) and preserve their cultural universum in time. By mastering during the process of initial socialization ways to identify socially significant values and modes of action ("rituals") according to these values the person is learning and forming a mental image of environment, which allows him to reproduce and translate his accumulated cultural experience. Complex of subjective skills and abilities allows person find himself at each moment of his life in some "real situation", forms of which are directed by society. Kaleidoscope of life situations, which bases on person's conscious and unconscious action (starting from controlling the moves of own body, use of objects and their identification, articulation of dangerous, desired etc. to special practices), more or less repetitive from person to person (i.e. intersubjective by their nature) and followed with certain mental images (which include interiorized view on significant things) should be considered as a social reality.


Background: Bowel cancer screening using faecal occult blood testing and colonoscopy is currently being rolled out across England. Guidelines recommend that people identified by colonoscopy as having intermediate- or high-risk bowel polyps be offered periodic surveillance colonoscopy because of their elevated risk of bowel cancer. We make projections of the likely year-on-year increase in volumes and spending on colonoscopy due to the screening and surveillance programmes. Methods: We constructed a model based on current bowel cancer screening and surveillance guidelines using screening outcome measures taken from the second round of the English bowel screening pilot. This was then used to predict colonoscopy volumes and cost for a hypothetical population. Results: For a hypothetical population of 500 000 people, with average deprivation and 66 956 subjects aged 60–74 years, the initial screening and surveillance round would be expected to detect 34 cancers at a cost of £394 157. In the first 8 years, colonoscopy numbers will grow at a rate of 23 per year, most of which will be surveillance colonoscopies. Colonoscopy costs may grow by £11 808 yearly in the same period, representing a cost per eligible person of £2.86 initially, increasing by £0.13 every year. Sensitivity analyses suggest significant changes in these predictions if screening uptake changes by 20%. Conclusion: The model has been used to make projections for five primary care trusts within the South Central Strategic Health Authority. Results from the volume and cost projections can inform service planning and resource allocation at local levels for the implementation of the current and future bowel cancer screening programme.


The article tracks the current crises of development theory in the understanding of the differences in political economy of developed capitalism (rising mass incomes) and underdeveloped economies (labor surplus and rent). The challenge of rents consists in spontaneous tendencies of its wasteful use for blocking development, which do, however, not exclude its possible use for the elimination of marginality. A convoy model of globalization with world wide full employment and an underconsumptionist model are distinguished. In the convoy model, an underdeveloped economy reaches full employment on the basis of devaluation. In the underconsumptionist model, devaluation-driven export-oriented industrialization does because of its too small impact not lead to the scarcity of average skilled labor. Leading industrialized countries react to the new competitiveness of catching-up economies through the implementation of wage restraint and industrial policies. Rent bounces back. Establishing a convoy model requires development policies characterized by an intelligent mix of rising mass incomes, reduced rents and devaluation-driven industrialization together with state support for investment.


Ribosomes are responsible for translating the information in messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) to synthesise proteins that the cell needs to carry out its function. Protein synthesis begins with the 30S ribosomal subunit recruiting a mRNA with the help of an initiator transfer RNA and three initiation factors. Successful recruitment of the mRNA results in the formation of the 30S pre-initiation complex, which is followed by the joining of the 50S ribosomal subunit to form the 70S ribosome. Recent studies indicate the order in which the initiation factors bind and promote the steps in initiation complex formation. The formation of the pre-initiation/initiation complex is often the rate-limiting step during the process of translation, as it is influenced by a number of translational regulatory mechanisms. As a result, the process of initiation can play a significant role in gene expression.

Key Concepts:

Translation initiation is a key step for regulating gene expression.

Initiation factors 1, 2 and 3 are essential proteins that promote the binding of the initiator tRNA to the 30S subunit P site and the joining of the 50S subunit.

Initiation factors 1, 2 and 3 are critical for the positioning the mRNA in the correct reading frame for translation.

Efficient requirement of mRNA by the 30S subunit depends on the Shine–Dalgarno sequence in the mRNA forming base pairs with the anti-Shine–Dalgarno sequence located at the 3′-end of 16S rRNA.

Kinetic studies have shown the order in which initiation factors bind to the 30S subunit.

Cryo-EM and crystallographic work have revealed the three-dimensional location of initiation factors on the 30S subunit and the 70S ribosome.

Keywords:

initiation factors;
translation;
Shine–Dalgarno sequence;
ribosome;
mRNA;
tRNA


Thyroid nodules are a common manifestation of thyroid diseases. It is estimated that approximately 10% of adults have palpable thyroid nodules with the frequency increasing throughout life. The major concern on nodule evaluation is the risk of malignancy (5-10%). Differentiated thyroid carcinoma accounts for 90% of all thyroid malignant neoplasias. Although most patients with cancer have a favorable outcome, some individuals present an aggressive form of the disease and poor prognostic despite recent advances in diagnosis and treatment. Here, a set of clinical guidelines for the evaluation and management of patients with thyroid nodules or differentiated thyroid cancer was developed through consensus by 8 member of the Department of Thyroid, Sociedade Brasileira de Endocrinologia e Metabologia. The participants are from different reference medical centers within Brazil, to reflect different practice patterns. Each committee participant was initially assigned to write a section of the document and to submit it to the chairperson, who revised and assembled the sections into a complete draft document, which was then circulated among all committee members for further revision. All committee members further revised and refined the document. The guidelines were developed based on the expert opinion of the committee participants, as well as on previously published information.


This paper provides an account of the environmental history of a landlocked coastal wetland and the surrounding nature space (Lake Claremont) located within a large Australian city (Perth, Western Australia). We document the processes and behaviour that led to significant negative change over time and report on recent work to restore the lake and its surrounding ecosystem. The reported community-initiated actions reflect changing human values and add to the accumulating evidence that the increasing trend of restoring greenspace to native ecosystems (nature space) brings about social and conservation benefits within the urban fabric. Moreover, this narrative also indicates that significant progress can be made in recovering and expanding ecological components and natural values within a relatively short period. Implications for city planners and land managers are self-evident with regard to what can be achieved and the values that communities now place on naturally functioning urban wetlands. Furthermore, the presence of wetlands such as Lake Claremont in the urban fabric is seen to enhance the liveability of the surrounding city by offering a convenient way for residents and tourists to connect with nature and the outdoors and realise the health benefits that the lake can provide. This case study adds to the body of work that identifies and describes the growing importance of urban wetlands in urban landscapes and provides a clear example of what can be achieved at the local community level and with local government support.


The stable carbon and oxygen isotope composition of different benthic foraminiferal species of the latest Campanian and earliest Maastrichtian from Ocean Drilling Project Hole 690C (Weddell Sea, southern South Atlantic, ~1800 m paleowater depth) have been investigated. The total range of measured isotope values of all samples exceeds ~4‰ for δ13C and 1.1‰ for δ18O. Carbon isotope values of proposed deep infaunal species are generally similar or only slightly lower when compared to proposed epifaunal to shallow infaunal species. Inter-specific differences vary between samples probably reflecting temporal changes in organic carbon fluxes to the sea floor. Constantly lower δ13C values for Pullenia marssoni and Pullenia reussi suggest the deepest habitat for these species. The strong depletion of δ13C values by up to 3‰ within lenticulinids may be attributed to a deep infaunal microhabitat, strong vital effects, or different feeding strategy when compared to other species or modern lenticulinids. The mean δ18O values reveal a strong separation of epifaunal to shallow infaunal and deep infaunal species. Epifaunal to shallow infaunal species are characterized by low δ18O values, deep infaunal species by higher values. This result possibly reflects lower metabolic rates and longer life cycles of deep infaunal species or the operating of a pore water [CO3 2-] effect on the benthic foraminiferal stable isotopes. Pyramidina szajnochae shows an enrichment of oxygen isotopes with test size comprising a total of 0.6‰ between 250 and 1,250 μm shell size. Although δ13C lacks a corresponding trend these data likely represent the presence of changes in metabolic rates during ontogenesis. These results demonstrate the general applicability of multi-species stable isotope measurements of pristine Cretaceous benthic foraminifera to reconstruct past microhabitats and to evaluate biological and environmental effects on the stable isotope composition. Anuar io do Inst i tu to de Geociencias UFRJ ISSN 0101-9759 Vol. 29 1 / 2006 p. 536


A notable effect of 'Brexit' is that it will create new freedoms for the UK to shape its competition policy outside the EU, but these freedoms may come at a cost and could prove damaging to competitive markets. In merger control, the UK will be free to employ more frequent public interest interventions (especially for foreign acquisitions), but these could be misused and create uncertainty. In State aid, there will be pressure for greater protection of UK industries through State interventions, but such freedom will be constrained by the UK's new trade arrangements and could prove wasteful. In antitrust, the UK will be free to set its own path, for example by fully criminalising its cartel enforcement regime, but cooperation with other EU competition agencies will dwindle and the UK faces difficulties in continuing to benefit from the significant level of fines currently imposed by the European Commission on its behalf. The paper concludes that any immediate changes to policy should be avoided and that it may even be necessary to legislate to limit the exercise of new freedoms. We also note how, at current EU/UK levels of enforcement, the Competition and Markets Authority's resource requirement may have to be doubled.


Infections of the cow udder leading to mastitis and lower milk quality are a critical challenge facing northeast organic dairy farmers. Limited mastitis treatment options are available to organic producers and bedding systems impact cow health, including mastitis risk. Composted bedded pack, a system touted for increased cow comfort and well-being, allows stratified accumulation of bedding and manure in the barn. This method is gaining popularity among organic producers, yet little is known about the microbiota of the accumulated pack and its interaction with the cow mammary gland. An in-depth single farm study was conducted that surveyed bedded pack (microbiome and microarthropod community), dipteran vectors of bacterial mastitis pathogens, and the teat skin and teat cistern milk microbiomes. Comparisons were made with four additional farms utilizing bedded packs to test generality of results. Few fly pests were observed in the bedded pack. However, bedding on all farms was found to harbor the mesostigmatid mite genus Glyptholaspis, a well-established predator of nematodes and muscid fly larvae, suggesting that predators may suppress populations of biting flies in bedded pack barns. Additionally, the fungivorous genus Rhizoglyphus was commonly abundant in all farms, suggesting that the mite community regulates microbial activity at multiple trophic levels. High-throughput sequencing of universal marker genes for bacterial and fungal communities was used to characterize the skin and milk microbiome of cows with both a healthy and infected quarter on the case study farm, and the composted bedded pack of all five farms. The bedded pack microbiome varied with bedding material and management style; fungal taxa were primarily yeasts of the Ascomycota; all farms additionally contained anaerobic fungi associated with the bovine rumen. Common bacterial genera included Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas, both of which were also commonly observed on teat skin and in milk. The udder microbiome varied through time and between skin and milk. Both healthy and infected milk microbiomes reflected a diverse group of microbial DNA sequences. Health status of the quarter changed whether taxa were shared between the teat skin, milk, and bedding. Proportion of taxa shared between healthy milk and skin was stable while taxa shared in infected quarters varied widely. Taxa shared among all habitats included yeast genus Debaryomyces and bacteria Acinetobacter guillouiaea. Results support an ecological interpretation of both the udder and the bedded pack environment and support the notion that mastitis can be described as an imbalance of the healthy mammary gland microbiome. Future work might compare udder health between common bedding practices, investigating the impact of bedding on the microbiota of the mammary gland in the healthy and diseased state.


Emerging markets in the 1990s experienced periods of booms followed by collapses in gross domestic product, consumption, traded and non-traded sector output and real exchange rate movements alongside unprecedented movements in foreign investor participation in these economies. An important feature of these episodes is the asymmetry in the pattern of booms and collapses. We introduce a natural search friction into the foreign investment decision in a small open economy and demonstrate that this can generate the asymmetry observed in the data. The magnitude of the reversals predicted by the model can be quantitatively large and empirically relevant.


Participants in four different adult sport and exercise programs (running club, exercise classes, cardiac rehabilitation program, senior games) completed measures of competitive orientation and participation motivation. Our samples were older and more diverse than samples of previous research, and their competitive orientations and motives were similarly diverse. Multivariate analyses revealed gender and sample differences. Males were higher than females on competitiveness and win orientation, and runners were less win-oriented than other groups, but overall, all groups were similar to previous college-age samples in competitive orientation. Groups varied on specific motives, with females rating fitness, flexibility, affiliation, and appearance higher than males did. Generally, participants were diverse in orientations and motives, and positive about their participation. Research and conceptual models of sport orientation must extend beyond achievement motives to capture the diversity of adult participants. Program directors and instructors who offer activities and approaches to match this diversity will encourage wider participation and provide a more satisfying experience for more participants.


Growing tendency for Urbanization and rapid development of the cities has resulted in urban neighborhoods obstructing the access of each other to the natural sources e.g. solar energy, natural ventilation. Sunlight as the main part of input energy in urban energy balance equation and natural lighting is of vital importance. This paper attempts to achieve an optimum morphology for residential blocks in urban area with the highest exposure to the sunlight. To reach this goal a pilot area in Tabriz's downtown was selected and regarding solar angle, local street regulations and the width of surrounding streets 3 different scenarios for the buildings blocks were defined. Using a three-dimensional microclimate model, ENVI-met, solar access of defined scenarios was calculated for the longest and the shortest day of the year. Results showed that Type C2 (highest, more open spaces) is a more efficient style for winter times as it receives more of the sun's energy and also the amount of sun it gets during a day and type B2 (medium open space and height) is the better for summer as it gets less energy from the sun and it is exposed to sunlight less than other types in a hot summer day.


Many in the healthcare industry think it's inevitable that we're heading toward consumer-directed healthcare (CDHC). For CDHC to work, it will require more of a partnership between doctors and patients than ever before. The author offers key ways doctors and their staffs can respect the time and intelligence of their partners in health--their patients.


A two area dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model is employed to investigate the welfare implications of losing monetary independence. Two policy regimes are compared: (i) in one area there is a common currency, while in the other area countries still retain their autonomous monetary policy; (ii) there are two monetary unions. When chosen by national authorities, monetary policy can stabilize optimally the effects of country-specific shocks. However, in that case, policy decisions internalize neither the spillover effects on consumers living in the same area nor their impact on the world economy. Thus the adoption of a common currency implies a trade-off between the cost of not tailoring monetary policy to single country economic conditions and the gains entailed by the improvement upon the conduct of national monetary policies. Our results show that under markup shocks and plausible calibrations, there may be welfare gains from adopting a common currency.


This research makes contributions to conditional heteroscedastic models in financial time series. A class of M-estimators for time series models with asymmetric form of heteroscedasticity are developed. A weighted resampling method is used to approximate the sampling distribution of M-estimators. The primary finding is that there are estimators in this class that can perform better than the widely-used quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) and even outperform the least absolute deviation estimator. The asymptotic distributions of the squared and absolute residual autocorrelations for generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (GARCH) models estimated by M-estimators are derived. Diagnostic tests based on M-estimators are developed to check the adequacy of GARCH-type models. The performance of M-estimators in the estimation and prediction of value-at-risk (VaR) is investigated. A wide range of summary statistics is used to evaluate and compare M-estimators in estimating the in-sample and predicting the out-of-sample VaR of three well-known stock indices. Some of the M-estimators are observed to show better performances in predicting the one-day-ahead VaR than the commonly-used QMLE. The Linear Estimator (LE) for ARCH models is explored and results show that this estimator provides good estimates for the parameters of the ARCH model and also predicts the volatility better than the QMLE. Using a class of weighted resampling schemes, it is found that there are schemes that can match and even perform better than the commonly-used paired bootstrap scheme. Bootstrap prediction intervals for returns, volatilities and value-at-risk in ARCH models are also developed. A weighted linear estimator (WLE) for the multivariate ARCH parameters is proposed. This estimator involves solving sets of linear equations and hence is very easy to compute. A weighted resampling method for multivariate ARCH models is also discussed. The accuracy of this estimator is compared with the QMLE in estimating the parameters of multivariate ARCH models. The WLE is also applied to real data sets and forecasts of volatilities and value-at-risk are obtained. Our study indicates that the forecasting performance of the WLE is not inferior to the QMLE and one-day-ahead risk estimates are found better. M-estimators for multivariate GARCH models are discussed. Two different methods for the estimation of multivariate GARCH models using univariate GARCH specifications are proposed. These methods are easy to apply as these require several univariate GARCH estimations to estimate the full multivariate GARCH model. Results of Monte Carlo simulations and application to real data sets show that our methods provide better results in terms of estimating and predicting the conditional correlations and value-at-risk.