Internet search (or perhaps more accurately `web-search') has grown exponentially over the last decade at an even more rapid rate than the Internet itself. Starting from nothing in the 1990s, today search is a multi-billion dollar business. Search engine providers such as Google and Yahoo! have become household names, and the use of a search engine, like use of the Web, is now a part of everyday life. The rapid growth of online search and its growing centrality to the ecology of the Internet raise a variety of questions for economists to answer. Why is the search engine market so concentrated and will it evolve towards monopoly? What are the implications of this concentration for different `participants' (consumers, search engines, advertisers)? Does the fact that search engines act as `information gatekeepers', determining, in effect, what can be found on the web, mean that search deserves particularly close attention from policy-makers? This paper supplies empirical and theoretical material with which to examine many of these questions. In particular, we (a) show that the already large levels of concentration are likely to continue (b) identify the consequences, negative and positive, of this outcome (c) discuss the possible regulatory interventions that policy-makers could utilize to address these.


This paper builds upon previous work by providing a statistical basis for multiplemodel system identification. Multiple model system identification is useful because many models representing different sets of modeling assumptions may fit the measurements. The presence of errors in modeling and measurement increases the number of possible models. Modeling error depends on inaccuracies in (i) the numerical model, (ii) parameter values (constants) and (iii) boundary conditions. Onsite measurement errors are dependent on the sensor type and installation conditions. Understanding errors is essential for generating the set of candidate models that predict measurement data. Previous work assumed an upper bound for absolute values of composite errors. In this paper, both modeling and measurement errors are characterized as random variables that follow probability distributions. Given error distributions, a new method to evaluate the reliability of identification is proposed. The new method defines thresholds at each measurement location. The threshold value pairs at measurement locations are dependent on the required reliability, characteristics of sensors used and modeling errors. A model is classified as a candidate model if the difference between prediction and measurement at each location is between the designated threshold values. A timber beam simulation is used as example to illustrate the new methodology. Generation of candidate models using the new objective function is demonstrated. Results show that the proposed methodology allows engineers to statistically evaluate the performance of system identification.


The remarkable achievements that modern science has made in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and engineering contrast sharply with our limited knowledge of the human mind and behavior. A major reason for this slow progress, claims Gary Cziko, is that with few exceptions, behavioral and cognitive scientists continue to apply a Newtonian-inspired view of animate behavior as an organism's output determined by environmental input. This one-way cause-effect approach ignores the important findings of two major nineteenth-century biologists, French physiologist Claude Bernard and English naturalist Charles Darwin. Approaching living organisms as purposeful systems that behave in order to control their perceptions of the external environment provides a new perspective for understanding what, why, and how living things, including humans, do what they do. Cziko examines in particular perceptual control theory, which has its roots in Bernard's work on the self-regulating nature of living organisms and in the work of engineers who developed the field of cybernetics during and after World War II. He also shows how our evolutionary past together with Darwinian processes currently occurring within our bodies, such as the evolution of new brain connections, provide insights into the immediate and ultimate causes of behavior. Writing in an accessible style, Cziko shows how the lessons of Bernard and Darwin, updated with the best of current scientific knowledge, can provide solutions to certain long-standing theoretical and practical problems in behavioral science and enable us to develop new methods and topics for research.


Composting is an inexpensive and sustainable treatment for solid wastes. The compost‐ ing industry has been growing rapidly because of a boom in the animal industry in China over the past decades. In this chapter, we introduce composting process and status in China, especially in Jiangsu Province. Meanwhile, the developed novel spectroscopy techniques are also introduced, which are more suitable for assessment of compost maturity than the conventional techniques in view of ease of sample preparation, rapid spectrum acquisition, and nondestructive nature of the analysis. These novel spectrosco‐ py techniques include near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS)––partial least squares (PLS) analysis and fluorescence excitation–emission matrix (EEM) spectrosco‐ py––parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis. In addition, organic fertilizer amendments can not only improve soil fertility but also offset chemical fertilizers' nanoscale changes. Emerging cutting-edge technologies of synchrotron-based X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) were used to identify the composition of organic carbon and minerals and their correlations, respectively. Recently, investigators have shown that organic fertilizer amendments could enhance the production of highly reactive minerals, for example, allophane, imogolite, and ferrihydrite, which further benefit for soil carbon storage and soil fertility improve‐ ment.


Current knowledge services enterprises have developed rapidly,and the core competitiveness is the tacit knowledge which is inside the enterprises and the brain of employees. But it is difficult to observe and dissemination. this paper is about the research of tacit knowledge process in knowledge services enterprises, considering its own characteristics in terms of tacit knowledge, the subject of knowledge, the object of knowledge and the external environment to fully tap the factors influencing the tacit knowledge. based on the development of tacit knowledge to explicit theoretical basis, building a conceptual model and theoretical analysis about tacit knowledge in knowledge service enterprise,on the basis of the previous article, the empirical research data obtained through questionnaires and using SPSS software for statistical analysis, correlation assumptions made before the test paper and discussed for the empirical results.


We visually identify pork adulteration in beef and chicken meatball preparations using 20nm gold nanoparticles (GNPs) as colorimetric sensors. Meatball is a popular food in certain Asian and European countries. Verification of pork adulteration in meatball is necessary to meet the Halal and Kosher food standards. Twentynm GNPs change color from pinkish-red to gray-purple, and their absorption peak at 525nm is red-shifted by 30-50nm in 3mM phosphate buffer saline (PBS). Adsorption of single-stranded DNA protects the particles against salt-induced aggregation. Mixing and annealing of a 25-nucleotide (nt) single-stranded (ss) DNA probe with denatured DNA of different meatballs differentiated well between perfectly matched and mismatch hybridization at a critical annealing temperature. The probes become available in nonpork DNA containing vials due to mismatches and interact with GNPs to protect them from salt-induced aggregation. Whereas, all the pork containing vials, either in pure and mixed forms, consumed the probes totally by perfect hybridization and turned into grey, indicating aggregation. This is clearly reflected by a well-defined red-shift of the absorption peak and significantly increased absorbance in 550-800nm regimes. This label-free low-cost assay should find applications in food analysis, genetic screening, and homology studies.


Let $(X_n)_{n \ge 0}$ be an irreducible, aperiodic, homogeneous Markov chain, with state space a totally ordered finite alphabet of size $m$. Using combinatorial constructions and weak invariance principles, we obtain the limiting shape of the associated RSK Young diagrams as a multidimensional Brownian functional. Since the length of the top row of the Young diagrams is also the length of the longest weakly increasing subsequences of $(X_k)_{1\le k \le n}$, the corresponding limiting law follows. We relate our results to a conjecture of Kuperberg by providing, under a cyclic condition, a spectral characterization of the Markov transition matrix precisely characterizing when the limiting shape is the spectrum of the $m \times m$ traceless GUE. For each $m \ge 4$, this characterization identifies a proper, non-trivial class of cyclic transition matrices producing such a limiting shape. However, for $m=3$, all cyclic Markov chains have such a limiting shape, a fact previously only known for $m=2$. For $m$ arbitrary, we also study reversible Markov chains and obtain a characterization of symmetric Markov chains for which the limiting shape is the spectrum of the traceless GUE. To finish, we explore, in this general setting, connections between various limiting laws and spectra of Gaussian random matrices, focusing in particular on the relationship between the terminal points of the Brownian motions, the diagonal terms of the random matrix, and the scaling of its off-diagonal terms, a scaling we conjecture to be a function of the spectrum of the covariance matrix governing the Brownian motion.


In this article, the author explores the challenges and promises of value-added assessment. As NCLB approaches the end of statistically possible achievement gains in schools, value-added assessment is being employed to longitudinally measure student learning to determine a school's effect. Yet, value-added assessment is limited in its explanatory powers because it focuses only on certain types of knowledge and needs to be used in conjunction with other estimates. As such, the author provides a variety of perspectives to help educational stakeholders explore the assessment not just as a new test but rather as a promising and potentially damaging lever of change in school cultures.


This article addresses the influence of economic inequality on immigration detention. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detains roughly 350,000 migrants each year and maintains more than 30,000 beds each day. This massive detention system raises issues of economic power and powerlessness. This article connects, for the first time, the influence of economic inequality on system-wide immigration detention policy as well as on individual detention decisions. The article begins with a description of the systemic impact that for-profit prisons have had on the federal immigration detention system, by promoting wide-scale detention. The resulting expansion of detention has led to ever-increasing profitability for the private for-profit prison sector, which allows the companies to exercise even more influence over policymakers to achieve yet higher levels of detention. The influence of wealthy private prison corporations also affects the very nature of immigration detention, leading to the use of jail-like facilities that are the product offered by the private prison industry. The article then describes the mechanisms by which economic inequality dictates the likelihood and length of detention in individual cases. The detention or release decisions made by DHS in individual cases must account for the need to keep numerous detention beds full to satisfy the contracts made with powerful private prison companies. DHS regularly sets bond amounts at levels that are not correlated to flight risk or danger, but rather to the length of time that the individual must be held in detention to keep the available space full. The article presents data, obtained from immigration authorities, regarding detention and bond patterns at a specific detention center that demonstrate this point. The research finds an inverse relationship between the number of newly arriving immigrants in the detention center and the bond amounts set by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). During times when new arrivals were few, the amount required to be released from detention on bond was high; during times when there were many new arrivals, bond amounts were reduced or set at zero. The article also presents another way in which economic inequality affects the likelihood of detention at the individual level. Release and detention are largely controlled through the use of monetary bond requirements, which must be paid in full. The regular use of financial bonds as the exclusive mechanism for release means that those migrants who are most able to pay are most likely to be released, without regard to their likelihood of absconding or endangering the community. Wealth thus determines detention rather than an individualized determination of the necessity of depriving an individual of liberty. The article urges that the role of economic inequality in immigration detention raises troubling issues of democratic governance and the commodification of traditional governmental functions. The current system also leads to an unjustifiable redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich. Looking at immigration detention through the lens of economic inequality offers new lines of theoretical inquiry into immigration detention. It connects the discussion of immigration detention to scholarly critiques of for-profit prisons and the privatization of state security functions more generally. It also brings a new perspective to prior work in the immigration and criminal justice contexts, questioning the fairness and utility of requiring payment of monetary bonds to obtain liberty from detention. The article concludes with recommendations for reform. These reforms would help to sideline the influence of economic inequality in immigration detention decision making.


To determine whether any differences exist between young male subjects with elevated diastolic and systolic blood pressure (BP) and those with only an elevated systolic BP, the responses of BP and plasma catecholamines to a mental arithmetic test were studied in 11 young men (mean age of nineteen years) with BP of ≥ 140/90 mm Hg at a routine health check-up (group I-hypertension [HT]), 26 age-matched men with only elevated systolic BP (≥ 140 mm Hg) (group II-HT), and 12 age-matched normotensive (NT) men (< 140/90 mm Hg). During an arithmetic test, group I-HT showed a significantly higher increment of systolic BP (+14.5-18.0%) than group II-HT (+9.3-10.2%) and NT controls (+6.4-8.2%). However, no significant difference in BP response was seen between group II-HT and NT controls. Plasma norepinephrine in group I-HT showed a significant increase after the test, (171 ±23 → 202 ±27 pg/mL), whereas group II-HT and NT controls showed no change. No significant difference occurred in epinephrine response among the three groups. These results suggest that the young male subjects with screening BP above 140/90 mm Hg are hyperreactive to a mental stress as compared with subjects with only elevated systolic BP or NT controls.


In Atlantic salmon, as in most salmonids, males can mature early in the life cycle, as small freshwater fish, termed parr, and/or undergo a sea migration before maturing as full–size adults. The alternative life histories are contingent on environmental and social circumstances, such as growth rate, territory quality or any other factor that affects the individual's state. In order to model the choice of life history in this group of commercially valuable species, it is necessary to understand not only the relative contribution of the different male types to subsequent generations, but also to know the factors that affect reproductive success in each type. In this paper we present the results of a study designed to investigate the factors that affect the reproductive success of mature parr. We used highly polymorphic minisatellite DNA markers to analyse paternity in a series of mating experiments where the number and body size of parr were manipulated. The fraction of eggs fertilized by mature parr ranged from 26 to 40 per cent, with individual parr fertilizing up to 26 per cent of the eggs. A strong positive correlation was found between parr size and reproductive success. The relative success of parr decreased with increasing parr number. Data from this and other studies on variation in the timing and degree of parr reproductive success are discussed in relation to the evolution of male mating strategies and life history in salmonids.


First-order approximation methods are a standard technique for analyzing the local dynamics of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models. Although for a wide class of DSGE models linear methods yield quite accurate solutions, some important economic issues such as portfolio choice and welfare cannot be adequately addressed by …rst-order methods. This paper provides yet another case where …rst-order methods may be inadequate for capturing a DSGE model's business-cycle properties. In particular, we show that increasing returns to scale (due to production externalities) may induce asymmetric business cycles and nonlinear income e¤ects that are not fully appreciated by linear approximation methods. For example, hump-shaped output dynamics can emerge even when externalities are below the threshold level required for indeterminacy, and output expansion tends to be smoother and longer while contraction tends to be deeper but shorter-lived, as observed in the U.S. economy. JEL classi…cation: C63; E0; E32.


To make deliberate progress towards more intelligent and more human-like artificial systems, we need to be following an appropriate feedback signal: we need to be able to define and evaluate intelligence in a way that enables comparisons between two systems, as well as comparisons with humans. Over the past hundred years, there has been an abundance of attempts to define and measure intelligence, across both the fields of psychology and AI. We summarize and critically assess these definitions and evaluation approaches, while making apparent the two historical conceptions of intelligence that have implicitly guided them. We note that in practice, the contemporary AI community still gravitates towards benchmarking intelligence by comparing the skill exhibited by AIs and humans at specific tasks such as board games and video games. We argue that solely measuring skill at any given task falls short of measuring intelligence, because skill is heavily modulated by prior knowledge and experience: unlimited priors or unlimited training data allow experimenters to "buy" arbitrary levels of skills for a system, in a way that masks the system's own generalization power. We then articulate a new formal definition of intelligence based on Algorithmic Information Theory, describing intelligence as skill-acquisition efficiency and highlighting the concepts of scope, generalization difficulty, priors, and experience. Using this definition, we propose a set of guidelines for what a general AI benchmark should look like. Finally, we present a benchmark closely following these guidelines, the Abstraction and Reasoning Corpus (ARC), built upon an explicit set of priors designed to be as close as possible to innate human priors. We argue that ARC can be used to measure a human-like form of general fluid intelligence and that it enables fair general intelligence comparisons between AI systems and humans.


The traditional strict liability doctrines - liability for abnormally dangerous activities, for wild animals, for abnormally dangerous animals, and for intruding livestock - can largely be explained by a small set of rationales. The Restatement Third Draft offers six principal economic and fairness-based rationales for strict rather than negligence liability: providing the injurer an incentive to optimize (1) the level of care and (2) the level of the activity; and recognizing the justice of requiring the injurer to pay when his activity (3) creates a nonreciprocal risk, (4) affords him a nonreciprocal benefit, (5) is the exclusive cause of the harm, or (6) when the community's sense of fairness supports strict liability. The Draft also rejects (7) loss-spreading as a rationale in this context. With the notable exception of (5), exclusive causation, this is a defensible and plausible set of rationales. However, the actual strict liability doctrines endorsed in the Draft are narrower in scope than the robust logic of these rationales would imply. This mismatch is probably best explained by judicial reluctance to impose strict liability unless the effects of such liability are modest. At the same time, from a wider perspective, the supposed contest between strict liability and negligence approaches is overstated, for each approach contains traces of the other.


Background Colorectal cancer is diagnosed progressively in employed patients due to screening programs and increasing retirement age. The objective of this study was to identify prognostic factors for return to work and work disability in patients with colorectal cancer. Methods The research protocol was published at PROSPERO with registration number CRD42017049757. A systematic review of cohort and case-control studies in colorectal cancer patients above 18 years, who were employed when diagnosed, and who had a surgical resection with curative intent were included. The primary outcome was return to work or work disability. Potentially prognostic factors were included in the analysis if they were measured in at least three studies. Risk of bias was assessed according to the QUality In Prognosis Studies tool. A qualitative synthesis analysis was performed due to heterogeneity between studies. Quality of evidence was evaluated according to Grading of Recommendation Assessment, Development and Evaluation. Results Eight studies were included with a follow-up period of 26 up to 520 weeks. (Neo)adjuvant therapy, higher age, and more comorbidities had a significant negative influence on return to work. A previous period of unemployment, extensive surgical resection and postoperative complications significantly increased the risk of work disability. The quality of evidence for these prognostic factors was considered very low to moderate. Conclusion Health care professionals need to be aware of these prognostic factors to select patients eligible for timely intensified rehabilitation in order to optimize the return to work process and prevent work disability.


Scores of theses on terrorism and political violence are written every year at our universities. While a number of them are subsequently published as books, many remain shelved and unread. However, today more and more are available online. Here is a sample of more than 130 titles; many of them can be directly accessed online through the Internet.


ABSTRACT Economic metaphors – including natural capital, natural assets, ecosystem services, and ecological debt – are becoming commonplace in environmental policy discourse. Proponents consider such terms provide a clearer idea of the 'value' of nature, and are useful for ensuring the environment is given due attention in decision making. Critical discourse analysis highlights the ideological work language does; the way in which we think, write, and talk about the environment has important implications for how it is governed. Consequently, the widespread use of economic metaphors is politically significant. This article discusses how metaphors have been analysed in environmental policy research, surveys the use of prominent economic metaphors in environmental policy, and considers the politics associated with such terms. The uptake of various economic metaphors represents a form of reverse discourse, varies in politically significant ways, and narrows the terms of environmental debate.


Metabolomics, one of the core "omics" fields within the umbrella of systems biology, is the study of the small molecules which can be used to characterize the state of an organism. Metabolites are constantly being transformed inside a cell in direct response to stimuli around them. This makes the metabolome the most dynamic of all the omics fields and is considered to be a direct readout of the cells state at any given time. Although highly informative, the metabolome is inherently difficult to study, with thousands of known metabolites, any of which could be important for classifying a cell into a healthy or diseased state. Techniques such as mass spectrometry are well suited to study the metabolome and have been used to successfully classify cells by identify markers for a given disease state. However, current methods require lengthy analysis times due in part to the complexity of the metabolome. The research presented in this dissertation highlights a new and promising methodology which improves classification and speeds marker discovery. Making use of a protein found in animals which has evolved to selectively bind metabolites, an assay was developed which better classified samples compared to current methods used in the field of metabolomics. This improved classification was achieved with an overall decrease in analysis time. The implementation of this method in the study of complex biological systems would have an immediate impact in academic and medical research.


Purpose: To determine if a new commercially available spectacle lens, the E-Scoop lens, has a significant effect on visual performance in individuals with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In addition the study aimed to compare visual performance with the E-Scoop lens to another spectacle lens marketed as being of potential benefit to AMD sufferers, the PLS-450 lens.Methods: 22 individuals (age range 58 to 80 yrs) with varying degrees of non-exudative AMD were recruited to the study. Distance visual acuity (ETDRS LogMAR chart), Pelli-Robson contrast sensitivity, reading acuity and reading speed (MNRead, words per minute) were measured under 7 different conditions for each individual in a randomised order; with habitual spectacle lens, with each of the three variations of the E-Scoop lens (Norville) and with each of three variations of the PLS-450 lens (Norville) which was modified with equivalent levels of prism to that used in the E-Scoop lens (4, 6 and 8 base up). One-way ANOVA with post-hoc testing was used to determine the effect of the lenses for each of the measures of visual performance.Results: Mean distance visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were statistically significantly better with any of the lenses compared to the ordinary spectacle lens, but no lens gave significantly better performance than any of the others for either of these visual function measures. The average improvement in distance visual acuity for the lenses was one line of a LogMAR chart (range 0-0.28 LogMAR) and 0.15 log units of contrast sensitivity (range 0-0.4 log units). Mean reading acuity did not change with any of the lenses and although mean reading speed improved with all of the lenses compared with the clear spectacle lens, this did not reach statistical significance. The mean improvement in reading speed for each of the lenses was approximately 20 words per minute (range 0-64). A number of participants felt such functional improvements were of significant value to them.Conclusions: The E-Scoop lens can significantly improve a variety of clinical measures of visual performance in AMD patients, the magnitude of which is similar to that found with a modified PLS-450 lens. Clinicians in practice should consider the benefit of prescribing such lenses in individuals with AMD on a case-by-case basis in conjunction with the subjective feedback from the patient.


Wing shape variation was investigated between the sexes and among four populations of the scorpionfly Dicerapanorpa magna (Chou, 1981) endemic to the Qin-Ba Mountains area, China through the landmark-based geometric morphometric approach. The results show that sexual dimorphism exists both in wing size and shape in D. magna. Significant differences exist in female wing size and shape among D. magna populations. The possible reasons of the wing variation are discussed based on the divergence time of D. magna in combination with the tectonic and climatic events in the Qin-Ba Mountains during the late Miocene-Pleistocene period. Whether reproductive isolation exists between different populations needs further research.


This document gives the rationale, design process, technical implementation, testing procedures, and testing results of a back-end server used for the San Luis Obispo (SLO) Transit Tracker System. The SLO Transit Tracker System (SLOTTS) includes client software installed on mobile devices and a back-end server. The purpose of this system is to encourage SLO residents to utilize the transit system by having the client software present current bus location, navigation instructions, and bus schedule in a simple, fast, and easy to use mobile application. Due to the limited central processing unit (CPU) and limited power supplied by the battery, route navigation calculation and database queries done on the client device is slow and quickly drains the available power of the mobile device. Alternatively, route navigation calculation and database query requests done through hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) to a server is much quicker to do with minimal computational or power costs to the mobile device. Additionally, a back-end server allows for a central point for database changes. Maintainers of SLOTTS can easily change schedule entries on the server database. With each client device periodically syncing its own database with the server database, manually providing client software updates with an updated database hard-programmed into the software is no longer needed. The SLOTTS back-end server aims to solve these problems and increase the effectiveness of the overall system.


Abstract Here we present datasets from a hydroacoustic survey in uly 2011 at Lake orneträsk, northern weden. Our hydroacoustic data exhibit lake floor morphologies formed by glacial erosion and accumulation processes, insights into lacustrine sediment accumulation since the beginning of deglaciation, and information on seismic activity along the Pärvie Fault. Features of glacial scouring with a high‐energy relief, steep slopes, and relative reliefs of more than 50 m are observed in the large ‐basin. The remainder of the lacustrine subsurface appears to host a broad variety of well preserved formations from glacial accumulation related to the last retreat of the Fennoscandian ice sheet. Deposition of glaciolacustrine and lacustrine sediments is focused in areas situated in proximity to major inlets. Sediment accumulation in distal areas of the lake seldom exceeds 2 m or is not observable. We assume that lack of sediment deposition in the lake is a result of different factors, including low rates of erosion in the catchment, a previously high lake level leading to deposition of sediments in higher elevated paleodeltas, tributaries carrying low suspension loads as a result of sedimentation in upstream lakes, and an overall low productivity in the lake. A clear off‐shore trace of the Pärvie Fault could not be detected from our hydroacoustic data. However, an absence of sediment disturbance in close proximity to the presumed fault trace implies minimal seismic activity since deposition of the glaciolacustrine and lacustrine sediments.


No other word in the English language is more endemic to contemporary Black American culture and identity than "Soul". Since the 1960s Soul has been frequently used to market and sell music, food, and fashion. However, Soul also refers to a pervasive belief in the capacity of the Black body/spirit to endure the most trying of times in an ongoing struggle for freedom and equality. While some attention has been given to various genre manifestations of Soul-as in Soul music and food-no book has yet fully explored the discursive terrain signified by the term. In this broad-ranging, free-spirited book, a diverse group of writers, artists, and scholars reflect on the ubiquitous but elusive concept of Soul. Topics include: politics and fashion, Blaxploitation films, language, literature, dance, James Brown, and Schoolhouse Rock. Among the contributors are Angela Davis, Manning Marable, Paul Gilroy, Lyle Ashton Harris, Michelle Wallace, Ishmael Reed, Greg Tate, Manthia Diawara, and dream hampton.


Background: Forced displacement is a significant problem for regions experiencing prolonged humanitarian crises due to armed conflict. Afghanistan, having experienced over four decades of conflict, has an estimated 1.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), a majority of which are concentrated in urban centers. IDPs have limited resources and face challenges accessing health services through traditional channels, leading to a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality. Health care facilities created for and existing within IDP camps also face numerous challenges. This study aimed to understand the structural factors that negatively impact health and the specific barriers to healthcare access for IDPs using qualitative methods. Methods: An exploratory qualitative study was done to identify the barriers to health faced by IDPs and to understand the experience of providers caring for IDPs. Open-ended interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide across three IDP camps in Kabul, Afghanistan between May and June 2017. Participants were interviewed in focus groups, interviewing a total of 37 IDP age 18 and older. In addition, two former health care providers were interviewed. A grounded theory approach was utilized to code interviews using a priori and emergent coding, from which several themes and sub-themes emerged. Two independent readers coded the data and discrepancies were resolved by consensus. Results: Human security, water access, limited livelihood and employment, poor housing infrastructure and environmental factors significantly impacted IDP health. Closure of clinics within the camps caused substantial limitations to healthcare service access. Accessing existing health care infrastructure was limited by cost, distance, discrimination, and limited access to medication and vaccinations, particularly for children. Key informant interviews identified healthcare funding and vaccination delivery to be priority problems. Across all focus groups and key informant interviews, there appeared to be a solid and trusted patient-provider relationship. Conclusion: Structural factors that negatively impact health coupled with new barriers to healthcare access for IDPs in Kabul are a source of serious concern. This study identified structural factors that exacerbate poor health and new challenges to healthcare access resulting from the discontinuation of in-camp health services. Further research could elucidate the barriers and facilitators of transition from emergency humanitarian response to long-term care for IDPs, as well as on the ability of local health systems to absorb vulnerable populations after humanitarian crises. DOI: 10.18297/rgh/vol2/iss2/8 Submitted Date: January 11, 2019 Accepted Date: June 24, 2019 Website: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/rgh Affiliations: 1University of California, San Francisco, CA, US, 94143 2University of California, Berkeley, CA, US, 94720 This original article is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in the Journal of Refugee & Global Health by an authorized editor of ThinkIR. For more information, please contact email@example.com. Recommended Citation: Parwak, Yagana; Dandu, Madhavi; and Haar, Rohini J. (2019) "Barriers to Health among IDPs in Kabul, Afghanistan: A Qualitative Study," Journal of Refugee & Global Health: Vol. 2 : Iss. 2 , Article 8.


This thesis explores the direct and indirect role of landscape architecture in disaster risk reduction specifically focusing on designing and managing natural resources such as sun, wind and water as well as allocating infrastructure to improve the power and transportation system on the public, private and regulatory levels that can prove to endure the impact of a hurricane and promote a "culture of prevention." Every year a significant amount of damage is cause by natural disasters throughout the whole world. This highlighted the importance of mitigating the adverse impacts of disasters through the process of disaster risk reduction. The architecture, landscape architecture and urban design disciplines and the construction industry have a strong relationship with disaster management and therefore provide a high need in identifying how landscape architecture can contribute towards disaster risk reduction. This thesis focuses on the role of the design and construction industry, specifically the landscape architecture profession, in disaster risk reduction.

A two-step approach was formalized to develop an understanding and to produce a design proposal based on the practice and theories of landscape architecture. The first step explores the definition of disasters and risk and provides a comprehensive literature review on disaster mitigation. The second step includes the systematic development and application of these policies, strategies and practices to limit or avoid the effects of hazards in the form of a three-tiered detailed design and mitigation plan. The findings from both steps will be applied to re-design the town of Christiansted, St. Croix, in the United States Virgin Islands.


This paper presents the first cosmological results based on Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and lensing-potential power spectra. We find that the Planck spectra at high multipoles (l greater than or similar to 40) are extremely well described by the standard spatially-flat six-parameter ACDM cosmology with a power-law spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations. Within the context of this cosmology, the Planck data determine the cosmological parameters to high precision: the angular size of the sound horizon at recombination, the physical densities of baryons and cold dark matter, and the scalar spectral index are estimated to be theta* = (1.04147 +/- 0.00062) x 10(-2), Omega(b)h(2) = 0.02205 +/- 0.00028, Omega(c)h(2) = 0.1199 +/- 0.0027, and n(s) = 0.9603 +/- 0.0073, respectively (note that in this abstract we quote 68% errors on measured parameters and 95% upper limits on other parameters). For this cosmology, we find a low value of the Hubble constant, H-0 = (67.3 +/- 1.2) km s(-1) Mpc(-1), and a high value of the matter density parameter, Omega(m) = 0.315 +/- 0.017. These values are in tension with recent direct measurements of H-0 and the magnitude-redshift relation for Type Ia supernovae, but are in excellent agreement with geometrical constraints from baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) surveys. Including curvature, we find that the Universe is consistent with spatial flatness to percent level precision using Planck CMB data alone. We use high-resolution CMB data together with Planck to provide greater control on extragalactic foreground components in an investigation of extensions to the six-parameter ACDM model. We present selected results from a large grid of cosmological models, using a range of additional astrophysical data sets in addition to Planck and high-resolution CMB data. None of these models are favoured over the standard six-parameter ACDM cosmology. The deviation of the scalar spectral index from unity is insensitive to the addition of tensor modes and to changes in the matter content of the Universe. We find an upper limit of r(0.002) < 0.11 on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. There is no evidence for additional neutrino-like relativistic particles beyond the three families of neutrinos in the standard model. Using BAO and CMB data, we find N-eff = 3.30 +/- 0.27 for the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, and an upper limit of 0.23 eV for the sum of neutrino masses. Our results are in excellent agreement with big bang nucleosynthesis and the standard value of N-eff = 3.046. We find no evidence for dynamical dark energy; using BAO and CMB data, the dark energy equation of state parameter is constrained to be w = -1.13(-0.10)(+0.13). We also use the Planck data to set limits on a possible variation of the fine-structure constant, dark matter annihilation and primordial magnetic fields. Despite the success of the six-parameter ACDM model in describing the Planck data at high multipoles, we note that this cosmology does not provide a good fit to the temperature power spectrum at low multipoles. The unusual shape of the spectrum in the multipole range 20 less than or similar to l less than or similar to 40 was seen previously in the WMAP data and is a real feature of the primordial CMB anisotropies. The poor fit to the spectrum at low multipoles is not of decisive significance, but is an "anomaly" in an otherwise self-consistent analysis of the Planck temperature data.


Even before it came down to butterfly ballots and pregnant chads, the battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore had already raised some familiar questions about elections, and in particular, the way they are dealt with by the media (see Norris, 2001a). Although scholars will always disagree on the extent to which the media actually influence the result of the contest, there are few who can resist bemoaning the so-called 'horse-race' style of campaign coverage pumped out by networks and newspapers, seemingly more interested in opinion polls than issues. With the result 'too close to call' going into the final days, things appeared to be little better this time around (Norris, 2001 b). Some would even say worse - especially those conservatives convinced that the major networks' exit poll predictions of a Gore win in Florida prior to the close of voting may have robbed Bush of votes that might have rendered the multiple recounts unnecessary.
But however bad things got, few if any American commentators - in or out of the academic community- seriously suggested that political opinion polls should be done away with altogether for part or all of the campaign. This essential liberalism is by no means universal, however, even in advanced democracies - including many whose enlightened progressivism apparently obliges them to scold the Americans for their reactionary attitudes on a whole host of issues, most notably on the environment and on the death penalty. An attempt to identify cultural reasons for the variation between countries which restrict the reporting of pre-election and exit polls and those which do not would indeed be fascinating. But the aim of this brief report is rather more modest. It arose out of the surprising difficulty encountered by the author in putting together a submission on prevailing international practice to a Select Committee of the New Zealand Parliament regarding a clause seeking to ban opinion polls for three weeks prior to a general election - a clause inserted at the last minute into an otherwise uncontroversial government bill.
This report aims simply to bring together in one convenient place our best understanding of the current situation in a number of English-speaking and European democracies (countries with which New Zealand routinely compares itself) and a few other important cases. If anything, there is some bias towards discussion of countries in which legal restrictions are in operation. For instance, both France and Italy feature heavily here, even though, in trying to enforce a period of pre-election opinion poll silence, they have more in common with the former communist countries of Eastern Europe than with their Western counterparts.


'Gender gap' is the term used to describe the unequal outcomes achieved by women and men on the labour market, as well as women's restricted access to rights and assets worldwide. According to the World Economic Forum, no country in the world has fully closed the gender gap: only a few countries (Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark) have closed 80% of their gender gap, whereas many others lag far behind, having closed it by 60% or less. Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is one of the tools used by policy-makers to tackle the gender gap. The aim of GRB is to promote equality between men and women. There are several GRB initiatives that are ongoing at national and supranational level, including at European Union (EU) level. The first attempt to introduce GRB into the EU budgetary process was made in 2002. The current Multiannual Financial Framework (2014-20) includes a joint declaration by the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission, in which they commit to integrating, as appropriate, gender- responsive elements in the EU budget. Moreover, the new strategy for equality between women and men, currently being drafted, includes the objective of advancing GRB as part of EU budgeting.


This thesis emphasises the role of commercial banks as financial intermediaries. It is primarily concerned with the development of the commercial banking system of Lebanon in the period 1856-1974, and assesses the role of the commercial banking system in Lebanon, as capital provider to economic development. This role is examined here in terms of the mobilisation of bank deposits and allocation of short-term private credits. A historical approach has been used in this research, with findings indicating that the historiography of Lebanon's economy has been dominated almost exclusively by the story of the banking industry. The general picture that emerges from the analysis of banking activities from a historical perspective suggests that there are lessons to be learnt from each of the episodes, and that present conditions can be understood with reference to past experience; how a banking system such as the Lebanese one operated under laissez-faire regime and how banks? performance influenced the overall economic circumstances. A main interest is in the theoretical implications of commercial banking activities in a free banking system. Thus, it provides a useful theoretical and historical context in which to consider the importance of commercial banking in free trade and services. The findings indicate that even in a financially favourable environment as that of the Lebanese experience, the availability of capital does not necessarily lead to a significant growth of industrialisation. Finally, the results provide an insight into the contribution of commercial banking and capital to the integration of the early trade centre into the world economy.


It is important to follow the plot line of the Book of Ruth, paying attention to who knows what when — both the characters in the story and its (ancient and modern) audiences. This is the syntagmatic dimension of the text, which should be viewed independently of its possible interpretation in terms of its possible intertextual references (which may not have been available to its ancient audiences). The article focuses on the developing issue of the fate of Elimelekh's original land, and its relationship to the marital history of his surviving family, and concludes with a new analysis of the legal denouement in ch.4, which at last reveals what had happened to Elimelekh's land. The ultimate resolution does not accord with Pentateuchal legal norms, but also suggests that the pragmatics of the text (the author's purpose) may have been related to landholding disputes between "returnees" from the Babylonian exile, and "remainees" in ("exilic") Judah.


Regular expressions are a convenient and simple notation for expressing the members of a regular language. This simplicity enables regular expressions to serve as models of more complex context-free programming languages. To examine techniques in teaching programming, we exposed first year students with no knowledge of regular expressions to two tasks. The tasks asked participants to identify occurrences of a given expression (matching) or to create an expression to describe a set of occurrences (creation). Matching and creation can be viewed as parallel to reading and writing, suggesting that as reading skills help to develop writing skills, then similarly, matching skills help to develop creation skills. We hypothesised that a practice effect exists and that exposure to the matching task before the creation task improves performance on the latter. However, in an experimental setting, this hypothesis is not supported. Practice on recognition tasks provided no measurable benefits and suggests that the learning of formal language differs significantly from that of natural language. To verify this finding in an alternative setting, we performed a second experiment to test the hypothesis that performance will be similar when locating errors in HTML and when creating HTML. This experiment revealed no significant performance differences. One explanation for these results is that novices lack a lexicon of concepts to which language constructs can be mapped, and therefore view formal languages as rule-based systems. Consequently, the skills used for learning natural language can not be applied. These findings also suggest that for formal languages there is a greater need for instructional interventions such as performance feedback.


Abstract This study examined whether the association between age and amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) connectivity in typically developing 6- to 10-year-old children is correlated with parental care. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired from 124 children of the Generation R Study who at 4 years old had been observed interacting with their parents to assess maternal and paternal sensitivity. Amygdala functional connectivity was assessed using a general linear model with the amygdalae time series as explanatory variables. Higher level analyses assessing Sensitivity × Age as well as exploratory Sensitivity × Age × Gender interaction effects were performed restricted to voxels in the mPFC. We found significant Sensitivity × Age interaction effects on amygdala–mPFC connectivity. Age was related to stronger amygdala–mPFC connectivity in children with a lower combined parental sensitivity score (b = 0.11, p = .004, b = 0.06, p = .06, right and left amygdala, respectively), but not in children with a higher parental sensitivity score, (b = –0.07, p = .12, b = –0.06, p = .12, right and left amygdala, respectively). A similar effect was found for maternal sensitivity, with stronger amygdala–mPFC connectivity in children with less sensitive mothers. Exploratory (parental, maternal, paternal) Sensitivity × Age × Gender interaction analyses suggested that this effect was especially pronounced in girls. Amygdala-mPFC resting-state functional connectivity has been shown to increase from age 10.5 years onward, implying that the positive association between age and amygdala–mPFC connectivity in 6- to 10-year-old children of less sensitive parents represents accelerated development of the amygdala–mPFC circuit.


The notion of inclusion is not a simple matter to define. It will mean different things to different people at different occasions. In school, inclusive education, may relate to a democratic view, meaning that all students should have the same opportunities and rights to participate in the mainstream educational schooling, on equal terms. In the current school political debate, the term "inclusive education" has gained a significant position and can relate to students' grades in school subjects. The awareness of inclusion partly comes from critical reflections about how schools are handling the diversity amongst students. This thesis is part of a national research and school improvement program dealing with inclusive learning environments for students in the compulsory school. The aim of the study is to contribute with knowledge concerning teachers' conceptions about lesson planning and teaching from a student inclusive perspective. Focus is on teachers' perceptions of the multifaceted teaching in heterogeneous classes where the diverse qualifications of the students bring different challenges. The study contains two empirical investigations. The first one has a quantitative methodological approach, using a web-based questionnaire directed to all teachers, whose schools take part in the national program. The second study has a qualitative research design and the empirical data contains a case study with informants from three schools that also participated in the program. The theoretical analysis, based in a pragmatic understanding, is performed through Biesta's dimensions of the aim of education; Uljens' model for analyzing didactic action, Hedegaard-Sorensen's approach on situated professionalism and Tomlinson's perspective on differentiation of teaching as a basic pedagogical principle. The results show that teachers hold a positive attitude to the idea of inclusion. Mediating knowledge, in an inclusive teaching context, is regarded as an important but also as a difficult task to carry through during lessons. The teachers experience a dilemma when teaching-balance is requested between single students' needs and the interest of the class as a whole. Differentiated teaching, taking into consideration the students' diverse ways of learning, is conceived as an important aspect from a student inclusive perspective. The results also show that collegial collaboration, before as a well as during and after completed lessons, is regarded as a valuable aspect for the inclusive didactic lesson planning and lesson work to be successful.


Face recognition applications for airport security and surveillance can benefit from the collaborative coupling of mobile and cloud computing as they become widely available today. This paper discusses our work with the design and implementation of face recognition applications using our mobile-cloudlet-cloud architecture named MOCHA and its initial performance results. The challenge lies with how to perform task partitioning from mobile devices to cloud and distribute compute load among cloud servers (cloudlet) to minimize the response time given diverse communication latencies and server compute powers. Our preliminary simulation results show that optimal task partitioning algorithms significantly affect response time with heterogeneous latencies and compute powers. Motivated by these results, we design, implement, and validate the basic functionalities of MOCHA as a proof-of-concept, and develop algorithms that minimize the overall response time for face recognition. Our experimental results demonstrate that high-powered cloudlets are technically feasible and indeed help reduce overall processing time when face recognition applications run on mobile devices using the cloud as the backend servers.


Aspect-oriented software development has focused on the software life cycle's implementation phase: developers identify and capture aspects mainly in code. But aspects are evident earlier in the life cycle, such as during requirements engineering and architecture design. Early aspects are concerns that crosscut an artifact's dominant decomposition or base modules derived from the dominant separation-of-concerns criterion, in the early stages of the software life cycle. In this article, we describe how to identify and capture early aspects in requirements and architecture activities and how they're carried over from one phase to another. We'll focus on requirements and architecture design activities to illustrate the points, but the same ideas apply in other phases as well, such as domain analysis or in the fine-grained design activities that lie between architecture and implementation


5-axis milling is a technology used in many industries such as aerospace, automotive and die/mold for machining of complex surfaces. Cutting forces, form errors and chatter vibrations are among the most important limitations in these operations. Process models can be used for predictions and optimization in 5-axis milling. In this paper, the process models and their applications are presented. These methods are implemented in simulation software, and applied in machining of industrial parts where productivity increase for example cases is demonstrated.


Set in the context of contemporary dance this thesis investigates how improvisation practice and performance making participate in a critical rethinking of age(ing). Advancing the notion of an age critical dance practice, the research draws on the theoretical frameworks of age studies – a multidisciplinary field of critical inquiry informed by, largely speaking, feminist and poststructuralist theories. The age critical dance practice developed in this thesis, in turn, enters into conversation with the discourses established in age studies and dance studies as a way to incorporate age critique into dance. The thesis is a Practice as Research project consisting of a written thesis, two solo performances (The Fountain of Youth, premiered 2013, and The Fountain of Age, premiered 2015), and employs immersive dance based research methods such as the development of a Solo Partnering practice (as documented on DVD). The research also remodels the method of qualitative interviewing into a performative method that allows the participating expert practitioners to tap into their unique improvisation and performance expertise when addressing their particular understanding of age(ing). Through the development and analysis of improvised practice and performance making, alongside in-depth performative interviews, the findings of this research point to ways in which improvisation and performance embody age critical potential. The long-term, open-ended and agentic artistic processes that improvisation experts develop all share a range of characteristics that serve to challenge the established youth-orientation in dance and constitute an implicitly critical position to dominant understandings of age(ing) in dance. Consequently, the thesis argues that improvisation practices 'do' age(ing) in ways less prone to dualistic stereotyping and reiterations of (self‐) discriminatory age(ing)-as‐decline narratives that dominate our culture as a whole. The research also suggests strategies in performance making that enable representations of age(ing) in ways that collide with, resist, or complicate normative expectations on age(ing). The dance works presented in this thesis allow the dancer to articulate shifting perspectives and experiences, creating ambiguous meanings and disjunctive narratives of age(ing), and thereby making explicit a critical position towards the grand narratives of age(ing). In conclusion, this research argues that specific approaches to a long-term, open-ended dance practice, alongside critical images and new imaginations of age(ing) in performance, allow dance to evolve as an age critical arts practice.


Unfulfilled expectations about economic growth in Brazil has led many observers to question the ability of the new, open trade regime to put the economy back on an path of sustainable growth. Whereas the country's growth record has been really poor, the evidence suggests that the underlying causes had nothing to do with trade. Quite the contrary. This paper shows that trade liberalization has given an important contribution to two of the main drivers of growth: productivity and investment in physical capital. It argues that these gains were not turned into growth due to an unfavorable macro and institutional environment. It also claims that Brazil could have enjoyed more gains from trade, had it pursued a more aggressive trade policy at home and abroad. The paper concludes by outlining the main issues of a pro- growth, trade policy agenda for the country.


This article explores the materiality of food production and consumption within the household in Bronze Age Cyprus. The focus is on embodied encounters with the "stuff of food"—the pots, pans, and other kitchen implements that were used on a daily basis—and how these shaped people9s lives. Throughout the Early and Middle Bronze Ages, generations of families on Cyprus used Red Polished pottery to serve and consume food and drink: the round-bottomed pots were not designed to be laid on a table, indicative of the development of very specific customs of dining at home. The very limited range of pottery (wares and forms) available to the Early-Middle Cypriot householder suggests a monotone cultural experience. The introduction of vessels with flat bases or ring bases at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age might indicate a move to dining around a table—a radically different engagement with the physical, material world that undoubtedly affected social relations. This was accompanied by radical shifts in production practices—a move away from household production into the realm of craft specialists—alongside which there was an explosion in the range of tableware for consumption of food and drink and of utilitarian wares used within the kitchen. This article interrogates the implied transformations in the cultural knowledge embedded within people9s engagement with their material world and the very different visual and tactile experiences involved in the daily use of pottery in the Late Bronze Age Cypriot household.


We present the zoomable adjacency matrix explorer (ZAME), a visualization tool for exploring graphs at a scale of millions of nodes and edges. ZAME is based on an adjacency matrix graph representation aggregated at multiple scales. It allows analysts to explore a graph at many levels, zooming and panning with interactive performance from an overview to the most detailed views. Several components work together in the ZAME tool to make this possible. Efficient matrix ordering algorithms group related elements. Individual data cases are aggregated into higher-order meta-representations. Aggregates are arranged into a pyramid hierarchy that allows for on-demand paging to GPU shader programs to support smooth multiscale browsing. Using ZAME, we are able to explore the entire French Wikipedia - over 500,000 articles and 6,000,000 links - with interactive performance on standard consumer-level computer hardware.


The comparison of the developments obtained by training for aviation with the ones obtained by training for surgery highlights the efforts that are still required to define shared and validated training curricula for surgeons. This work focuses on robotic assisted surgery and the related training systems to analyze the current approaches to surgery training based on virtual environments. Limits of current simulation technology are highlighted and the systems currently on the market are compared in terms of their mechanical design and characteristics of the virtual environments offered. In particular the analysis focuses on the level of realism, both graphical and physical, and on the set of training tasks proposed. Some multimedia material is proposed to support the analysis and to highlight the differences between the simulations and the approach to training. From this analysis it is clear that, although there are several training systems on the market, some of them with a lot of scientific literature proving their validity, there is no consensus about the tasks to include in a training curriculum or the level of realism required to virtual environments to be useful.


Sikh Diaspora: Theory, Agency, and Experience is a collection of essays offering new insights into the diverse experiences of Sikhs beyond the Punjab. Moving beyond migration history and global in their scope, the essays in this volume draw from a range of methodological approaches to engage with diaspora theory, agency, space, social relations, and aesthetics. Rich in substantive content, these essays offer critical reflections on the concept of diaspora, and insight into key features of Sikh experience including memory, citizenship, political engagement, architecture, multiculturalism, gender, literature, oral history, kirtan, economics, and marriage.


Does competitive pressure foster innovation? In addressing this important question, prior studies ignored a distinction between discrete innovation aiming at entirely new technology and continuous improvement consisting of numerous incremental improvements and modifications made upon the existing technology. This paper shows that distinguishing between these two types of innovation will lead to a much richer understanding of the interplay between firm' incentives to innovate and competitive pressure. In particular, our model predicts that, in contrast to previous theoretical findings, an increase in competitive pressure measured by product substitutability may decrease firms' incentives to conduct continuous improvement, and that an increase in the size of discrete innovation may decrease firms' incentives to conduct continuous improvement. A unique feature of this paper is its exploration of the model's real-world relevance and usefulness through field research. Motivated by recent declines in levels of continuous improvement in Japanese manufacturing, we conducted extensive field research at two Japanese manufacturing firms. After presenting our findings, we demonstrate that our model guides us to focus on several key changes taking place at these two firms; discover their interconnectedness; and finally ascertain powerful underlying forces behind each firm's decision to weaken its investment in traditional continuous improvement activities.


BACKGROUND
Somatostatin analogs (SSAs) are a mainstay therapy for the treatment of carcinoid syndrome associated with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). They are effective for a range of gastroenteropancreatic NETs (GEP-NETs). Lanreotide depot (Somatuline®) is an SSA that is approved for the treatment of GEP-NETs to improve progression-free survival (PFS).

OBJECTIVES
The article reviews the efficacy, safety, and administration of lanreotide depot and relates those attributes to considerations and preferences of oncology nurses and their patients.

METHODS
A review of the literature on the use of lanreotide for the treatment of NETs and carcinoid syndrome was conducted. In addition, the literature on drug delivery and routes of administration was surveyed to provide context for comparative studies related to clinical and patient preferences.

FINDINGS
Lanreotide depot prolongs PFS and is well tolerated by patients who expressed satisfaction in the ability to control symptoms related to carcinoid syndrome. Nurses cited several benefits to using lanreotide depot in the clinical setting, including more time saved to address other patient care issues. Attributes of lanreotide depot-including its efficacy, safety and tolerability, dosing and administration, and cost-may contribute to healthcare decisions regarding the treatment and management of NETs.


The role played by cognitive style upon sense of presence has been addressed in the presence literature. However, no experimental study was carried out in order to investigate this hypothesized relationship. This paper highlights the relationship between each of four bi-polar dimensions of cognitive style, such as extraversion–introversion, sensing–intuition, thinking– feeling and judging –perceiving, and the experienced level of sense of presence. Implications of these individual differences for understanding sense of presence and for designing virtual environments to address these differences are discussed.


This book explores Hegel's response to the French Revolutionary Terror and its impact on Germany. Like many of his contemporaries, Hegel was struck by the seeming parallel between the political upheaval in France and the upheaval in German philosophy inaugurated by the Protestant Reformation and brought to a climax by German Idealism. Many thinkers reasoned that a political revolution would be unnecessary in Germany, because this intellectual "revolution" had preempted it. Having already been through its own cataclysm, Germany would be able to extract the energy of the Revolution and channel its radicalism into thought. Hegel comes close to making such an argument too. But he also offers a powerful analysis of how this kind of secondhand history gets generated in the first place, and shows what is stake. This is what makes him uniquely interesting among his contemporaries: he demonstrates how a fantasy can be simultaneously deconstructed and enjoyed. Mourning Sickness provides a new reading of Hegel in the light of contemporary theories of historical trauma. It explores the ways in which major historical events are experienced vicariously, and the fantasies we use to make sense of them. Comay brings Hegel into relation with the most burning contemporary discussions around catastrophe, witness, memory, and the role of culture in shaping political experience.


The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between self-image in eating disorders and age, duration and severity of the disorder, comorbidity, depressiveness and self-evaluation of eating problems. The results of the Offer self-image questionnaire for adolescents (QSIA) were compared in four groups: anorexia nervosa restrictive subtype (ANR, n: 47), anorexia nervosa binge/purge subtype (ANBP, n: 16), bulimia nervosa (BUL, n: 34) and eating disorders NOS (EDNOS, n: 19). The control group was age matched female pupils (NOR, n = 76). The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed significant differences between the age of patients from the ANR (16.34, SD 1.58) and BUL (17.56, SD 0.96) groups (p = .008). The self-image of schoolgirls from the NOR group was on most scales significantly better than the self-image of girls from clinical groups. On four scales differences between the (better) self-image in the ANR group and that in the BUL group were observed. Next, a cluster analysis using a generalised k-means algorithm with v-fold cross validation of QSIA questionnaire results was conducted in the group of clinical eating disorders (ANR, ANBP, and BUL). Three clusters were obtained. The first was characterized by very good self-image (above the average for the general population), the second by poor self-image and the third by negative self-image. Severity of depressiveness measured using the Beck Depression Inventory turned out to be the only factor which differentiated the clusters of self-image in eating disorders.


This paper presents research that investigates the nature of the connection between the professional development of five teachers in higher education and the evaluation processes they have to undergo. Since teaching, scholarship, and service are the three components that evaluation measures, this research examines how the teachers' professional development was reflected in these components, and how they viewed the connection between their professional activities and the evaluation process. One conclusion states that while the evaluation process is intimidating and taxing, it develops the skills for the teaching component. The contribution stems principally from a mentoring channel, which enables teachers to receive counseling and guidance from experienced veteran colleagues. Mentoring encourages the teachers and prompts them to seek advice, study, scrutinize their work methods, and improve the quality of their teaching. Another conclusion reveals that during the first years of work in higher education, evaluation was not found to influence activity in the scholarship and service components. The evaluation requirements notwithstanding, the extent of the activity in these components was limited and non-intensive as a result of the teachers' focus on teaching. Professional development deepens and expands as seniority increases and confidence in one's teaching abilities grow. Despite the limited scale of the study, the research conclusions may serve as recommendations for institutions of higher education to consider providing a mentoring channel for the teachers who are in their first years of academic work. Furthermore, institutions should demonstrate flexibility vis-a-vis the extent and depth of such individuals' activity in scholarship and services when evaluating them. Another recommendation is to encourage institutions to take into account the advantages of veteran teachers, and the fact that professional activities deepen and expand as seniority increases.


Objectives: In this research, the efficiency of the Electrocoagulation (EC) process with aluminum electrodes in the removal of Tetracycline (TC) from synthetic solutions was studied. Methods: This study experimentally was run consisting of a 1.5 L glass beaker and four electrodes which installed in parallel. In each of test, 1 L of wastewater add into the reactor, then effect of four parameters including the current density (100-400 A/m2), reaction time (10-60 min), initial concentration of TC (10-100 mg/L and the pH of wastewater (pH=3-11) on process performance were investigated. Results: The findings showed that the %removal decreased as initial TC concentration increased, the highest removal obtained at pH in the range (57). The initial TC concentration of 10 mg/L was reduced to 0.127 mg/L with the removal efficiency of 98.73% at 400 A/m2 after 60 min EC. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that EC process by aluminum electrode is an effective method for TC removal from wastewater.


Abstract:This essay contrasts Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika and Buddhist explanations of attention. Section 1 lays out the ontological postulates that Nyāya-Vaiśeṣikas and Buddhists deemed necessary for the explanation of attention. Section 2 looks at three arguments that the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣikas gave for their principal postulate, the manas, and three corresponding Buddhist responses to these arguments. Sections 3 and 4 look at contrasting Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika and Buddhist explanations of, respectively, "shifts of attention" and "competition for attention." Section 5 considers whether the Buddhist model can adequately account for voluntary or endogenous attention, and whether the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika model can adequately account for involuntary or exogenous attention. The final section identifies three things that are commonly attributed to attention and that may seem impossible in both the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika and the Buddhist models; it shows how the two Indian models can account for them.


The article advances two propositions. The first is that the current law on the negligence liability of the police for failure to prevent a crime is unsatisfactory. The general rule of non-liability is based on two lines of argument, neither of which is persuasive. The Hill policy grounds used by the courts do not stand up to close scrutiny, whist the application of the pure omission rule to the police is also problematic. At the same time, the current law does not attach adequate significance to arguments in favour of liability. The second proposition is that the existing framework of negligence liability of public authorities can be re-adjusted to generate outcomes that better balance the valid considerations for and against liability in cases of police failure to prevent crime.


The history of rating agency reform has not been inspiring. Until recently, it seemed stuck in an ever-repeating cycle of futility. A crisis would spur calls for reform, hearings would be conducted, the SEC would issue proposals and requests for comments, and ultimately, nothing would happen - until the next crisis, when the cycle would begin again. The Enron debacle, in which the rating agencies rated Enron's debt investment grade until four days before Enron declared bankruptcy, did spur some action, including federal legislation and SEC regulations. Whatever else may be said about the Enron-spurred action, it failed to prevent rating agencies from rating low-quality securities as AAA. This misrating was an important cause of the recent financial crisis. In response to the crisis, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 was passed. Dodd-Frank includes some reforms to the rating agency regulatory regime. In this article, I argue that while Dodd-Frank's rating agency reforms are not bad, they also are not particularly good. They do not sufficiently address the core reasons why rating agencies gave such inflated ratings to subprime securities or why the agencies so grievously misrated other instruments, including Enron debt and debt involved in the Asian flu. I then explain the reasons for this conclusion, and make some suggestions for better rating agency reform.


We studied trophic dynamics in a warm eutrophic subtropical river (Bremer River, Australia) to determine potential sources of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the fate of heterotrophic bacterial production. Sustained high rates of bacterial production suggested that the exogenous DOC was accessible (labile). Bacterial specific growth rates (0.2 h−1 to 1.8 h−1) were some of the highest measured for natural aquatic ecosystems, which is consistent with high respiration rates. Bacteria consumed 10 times more organic carbon than that supplied by the daily algal production, a result that implies that terrestrial sources of organic carbon were driving the high rates of bacterial production. Viruses (1011 L−1) were 10 times more abundant than bacteria; the viral to bacterial ratio ranged from 3.5 to 12 in the wet summer and 11 to 35 in the dry spring weather typical of eutrophic environments. Through a combination of high bacterial respiration and phage lysis, a continuous supply of terrestrial DOC was lost from the aquatic ecosystem in a CO2‐vented bacterial–viral loop. Bacterial processing of DOC in subtropical rivers may be contributing disproportionately large amounts of CO2 to the global carbon cycle compared to temperate freshwater ecosystems.


We propose a highly efficient dynamic nuclear polarization technique that is robust against field in-homogeneity. This technique is designed to enhance the detection sensitivity in nano-MRI, where large Rabi field gradients are required. The proposed technique consists of an adiabatic half passage pulse followed by an adiabatic linear sweep of the electron Rabi frequency and can be considered as an adiabatic version of nuclear orientation via electron spin locking (adiabatic-NOVEL). We analyze the spin dynamics of an electron-nuclear system that is under microwave irradiation at high static magnetic field and at cryogenic temperature. The result shows that an amplitude modulation of the microwave field makes adiabatic-NOVEL highly efficient and robust against both the static and microwave field in-homogeneity.


We investigate the geometry and topology of the Tits boundary associated with 4-dimensional closed, real-analytic manifolds of nonpositive curvature. We show that each homotopically nontrivial component is a union of geo metric boundaries of flats in the corresponding Hadamard manifold and this can be used to describe the structure of its maximal dimensional quasi-flats. The homotopically trivial components are intervals of length smaller than 7T and we give a necessary and sufficient criterion for the existence of such intervals of length greater than zero.


This week's issue of Nature contains a large section devoted to cardiology. Of those articles, several are of a molecular nature, and may be of interest to STKE readers. Bers reviews the mechanisms that govern the transport of ions across membranes leading to the highly orchestrated contraction of the heart, whereas Marbán reviews how mutations and chronic modifications of various ion channels can lead to cardiac arrhythmias and heart failure. Rockman et al. review the G protein-coupled receptors known to be involved in cardiac function. D. M. Bers, Cardiac excitation-contraction coupling. Nature 415, 198-205 (2002). [Online Journal] E. Marbán, Cardiac channelopathies. Nature 415, 213-218 (2002). [Online Journal] H. A. Rockman, W. J. Koch, R. J. Lefkowitz, Seven-transmembrane-spanning receptors and heart function. Nature 415, 206-212 (2002). [Online Journal]


Both of the constructions we focused on are passive, meaning that the emotion words will be a bit further from the focus of the emotion, but since they are not omitted and function as semantic subjects, a lot can be derived from their relationship with the verb that appears in the construction. We get a lot of different possible conceptualizations for each emotion in each construction, but they can be explained via Kővecses's EMOTIONS ARE FORCES metaphor. However, since we chose to observe the conceptualizations in only two possible syntactic contexts (unlike most of the authors from the literature we refer to), there is a smaller variety of possible conceptualizations and conceptual metaphors in the corpus results than there would be if we observed the emotion words in more such contexts (or all of them). This is due to the emotion words in our paper performing only two different semantic roles (agent and instrument), and their actions being necessarily transitive in relation to the experiencer, meaning that the verb accompanying them will be more informative about the relation between the emotion and its experiencer than about the more general conceptual makeup of the emotion word in our mind. However, such specific data may still be useful if this type of research is meticulously applied to all possible linguistic contexts within which a word (emotion word or any other) may appear, since we can expect that a general view can be built bottom-up, from numerous very specific analyses.


Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) stability is a very complex and relevant issue in nuclear reactor
safety, as well as a challenge for current simulation codes. The presence of reactivity unstabilities
in the core requires the thermal-hydraulics (TH) codes to be coupled with full three dimensional
neutron kinetics (NK) core models. The spatial description of the reactor core is different for TH
and NK models. Usually TH code uses fewer channels to represent the core, whereas NK code
uses one explicit node for each fuel assembly. Therefore, a spatial mapping of coarse grid TH and
fine grid NK domain is necessary.
It is well-known that a simpler TH model will significantly reduce the computational time.
However, improper mappings may result in loss of valuable information, thus causing inaccurate
prediction of safety parameters. The purpose of this work is to study the possibilities of spatial
coupling and develop recommendations for NK-TH mapping for simulating unstability transients.
In this work, control rod perturbation (CRP) transient is performed with coupled codes
TRACE/PARCS for Ringhals-1 Cycle 14 to determine decay ratio (DR) and natural frequency
(NF) using several spatial coupling. The effectiveness and accuracy of predicted DR and NF are
compared to a reference case of 325 thermo-hydraulic channels (THC). A model with a 5 THC
grouped according to assembly position and radial power show fairly accurate results, with a
range of discrepancies of the same order as the reference case, and more than 10 times less
computational time.


This article explores a model of grammar involving top-down derivations, where each step ("splitmerge") yields an asymmetric pair of elements relevant to the expression of order, information, and grammatical features. These derivations are inevitably layered, in the sense that the output of a previous derivation may appear as an atom in the numeration for the next derivation. It is suggested that opacity effects follow from the layering of derivations, not from conditions on movement. While the main questions surrounding the model contemplated here involve the 'when' and 'what' of merge, this article focuses on the more preliminary question of the 'how' of merge.


In this paper, we extend the multiscale approach developed in Abel et al (2012 Rep. Prog. Phys. submitted) by exploiting the scale separation between ions and the electrons. The gyrokinetic equation is expanded in powers of the electron to ion mass ratio, which provides a rigorous method for deriving the reduced electron model. We prove that ion-scale electromagnetic turbulence cannot change the magnetic topology, and argue that to lowest order the magnetic field lies on fluctuating flux surfaces. These flux surfaces are used to construct magnetic coordinates, and in these coordinates a closed system of equations for the electron response to ion-scale turbulence is derived. All fast electron timescales have been eliminated from these equations. We also use these magnetic surfaces to construct transport equations for electrons and for electron heat in terms of the reduced electron model.


Science advances on a foundation of trusted discoveries. Reproducing an experiment is one important approach that scientists use to gain confidence in their conclusions. Recently, the scientific community was shaken by reports that a troubling proportion of peer-reviewed preclinical studies are not reproducible. Because confidence in results is of paramount importance to the broad scientific community, we are announcing new initiatives to increase confidence in the studies published in Science. For preclinical studies (one of the targets of recent concern), we will be adopting recommendations of the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for increasing transparency.* Authors will indicate whether there was a pre-experimental plan for data handling (such as how to deal with outliers), whether they conducted a sample size estimation to ensure a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio, whether samples were treated randomly, and whether the experimenter was blind to the conduct of the experiment. These criteria will be included in our author guidelines.


Purpose: The paper is primarily done on the purpose of introducing new concept in defining the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) with the consideration of both machine utilization and customer demand requested. Previous literature concerning the limitation and difficulty of OEE implementation has been investigated in order to track out the potential opportunities to be improved, since the OEE has been widely accepted by most of the industries regardless their manufacturing environment. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is conducting the study based on literature review and the computerized data collection. In details, the novel definition and method of processing the computerized data are all interpreted based on similar studies performed by others and supported by related journals in proving the validation of the output. Over the things, the computerized data are the product amount and total time elapsed on each production which is automatically recorded by the system at the manufacturing site. Findings: The finding of this paper is firstly the exposure and emphasis of limitation exists in current implementation of OEE, which showing that high utilization of the machine is encouraged regardless of the customer demand and is having conflict with the inventory handling cost. This is certainly obvious with overproduction issue especially during low customer demand period. The second limitation in general implementation of OEE is the difficulty in obtaining the ideal cycle time, especially those equipments with constant process time. The section of this paper afterward comes out with the proposed solution in fixing this problem through the definition of performance ratio and then usage of this definition in measuring the machine utilization from time to time. Before this, the time available for the production is calculated incorporating the availability of OEE, which is then used to get the Takt time. Research limitations/implications: Future research should be conducted to test the possibility and to verify the definition of such performance ratio including Takt time on those processes of which its operating time is possibly to be reduced, especially those are not constant and fixed. This piece of research is temporarily done on the process where its operating time is constant from time to time and there is no ideal cycle time possible. Practical implications: The awareness of the overproduction should be emphasized and raised in the intention of pursuing higher OEE value. As the definition proposed such, the process with constant cycle time could even be defined in different performance ratio from time to time regarding to the customer demands and corresponding production rate. These two variables can be adjusted and balanced to increase the OEE value through optimization of average cycle time. Over this, optimization of average cycle time on equipment with constant operating time can be achieved through the optimization of loading number per each processing. Originality/value: The novelty of the paper is the inclusion of customer demand in obtaining OEE value of any particular equipment. Besides that, the equipment without ideal cycle time, which means those processes carried out in constant cycle time are possibly to be evaluated with performance ratio. As consequence of that, the machine utilization and capability used could be quantified and visualized using the performance ratio data of the OEE proposed.


Obstetric violence is a human rights violation that consists of actions or omissions of healthcare personnel that harms people during pregnancy, childbirth or puerperium. Some practices through which it is expressed are the mistreatment, unnecessary procedures, denying of medical attention or provoking damage either physically or mentally. In particular, we understand obstetric violence as the result of a colonization of the womb, that is, of the occupation of the concept of motherhood by the dictates of patriarchal ideology (Fineman, 1991; Ehrenreich, 1993) and of the Colonial/Modern Gender System, proposed by Lugones (2007). The objective of this paper is to analyze the experiences of obstetric violence and the different agency forms of women who have experienced it in hospitals in Tijuana, Mexico. To achieve this, we follow Galtung (1969, 1990, 1998) who states that direct violence is just the tip of the iceberg of cultural and structural forms of violence that are more difficult to see. Based on Bourdieu (2001) and De Certeau (1998), agency is classified in four categories: 1) unawareness, 2) passive awareness, 3) tactics and 4) strategies. The intersectional analysis of the narrative stories of 20 women leads us to conclude that both those who have privileged positions and those who experience different oppressions based on their identity characteristics perform their agency in various ways. Including modern and non-modern knowledges, relations, values and practices, Decolonial Feminism (Lugones, 2010) contributes to an understanding of the decolonization of the womb at the collective level while simultaneously influencing individual learning and promoting social justice and the formation of a culture of rights.


This paper puts forward proposals for the critical study of discourses pertaining mainly to rare diseases in Spain. It takes as a starting point the characteristics of the hypergenre referred to as social debate , together with legitimation and delegitimation as fundamental ideological functions that help in the examination of the relationship between society and communication. Based on data obtained from leaflets and other (periodic) publications produced by patients' groups, together with journalistic texts taken from the Spanish media, it aims to explore, not only the discursive manipulation of responsibility of patients' groups, but also the manipulation of some basic characteristics of the illnesses in question ( identity and prevalence ).


Presentation The Chapter was founded in 2003 by Prof. Gérard Dreyfus from the 'Laboratoire d'Electronique de l 'Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles' as a Chapter of what was then the IEEE Neural Network Society. In 2007, the current Chapter Chair, Dr. Bernadette Bouchon-Meunier—director of research with the CNRS at the Computer Science Laboratory LIP6 of the 'Université Pierre et Marie Curie'— took over responsibility for the Chapter. Along with Dr. Bouchon-Meunier, the Chapter is led by Vice-Chair Prof. Sylvie Galichet from the 'Université de Savoie.' The Chapter Secretary is Adrien Revault d'Allonnes, a Ph.D. candidate from the 'Université Pierre et Marie Curie,' named in place of Dr. Thanh Ha Dang when he defended his Ph.D. At present, the Chapter has 78 members, of which 3 IEEE Fellows, 9 Senior Members and 9 students and graduate students. In 2007, the CIS France Chapter gave a new impulse to its activities in the presence of Prof. Jacek Zurada (University of Louisville, USA), president of the IEEE CIS from 2004 to 2005, who kindly accepted to hold a seminar entitled "Fully Coupled and Feedforward Neural Networks with Complex-valued Neurons" on May 10, 2007.


Education to Theatricality is pedagogical and artistic research; it is a science that includes different disciplines such as pedagogy, sociology, human sciences, psychology and the performing arts in general. The scientific basis of this discipline allows us to apply it in all possible contexts and with any individual, because it keeps the man in the center of its pedagogical process. One of the fundamental principles of Education to Theatricality is the development of the actor-person; the main aim is the development of creativity and imagination through a scientific training led by the actor on himself. This article introduces and analyses the Neutral Mask as an important element of theatrical pedagogy in relationship to its psyco-pedagogical aspect and as an educative instrument to train a person and to improve the development of creativity. The state of rest, calm, relaxing or suppleness silence is the starting point of every expression. The exercises with the neutral mask help students to investigate their inner world. When you wear the mask, you destroy the conception of time and of normally shared space, and the student has the opportunity to "dig" inside himself, facing his own identity. This essay presents the birth of the Neutral Mask in the Vieux Colombier School in Paris and explains its role in Jacques Copeau's pedagogy; then the article analyses the psycho-pedagogical elements that characterize its use in a laboratory of expressive arts; it gives a definition of laboratory and gives some exercises; in the end it specifies the role of masks in the dramatic play. Education to Theatricality as pedagogy uses the expressive arts into the theatre workshop to lead the subject onto a path of growth and training, activating the original potential skills of this person. An instrument such as the Neutral Mask, used during a theatrical workshop, allows to develop a greater self-awareness. By learning a silent language, a student can deepen the perception of his body and of his self-awareness through the use of Neutral Mask during a theatre workshop.


Th e absence of ice sheets for many millions of years, yet variable topography and changing climate, has generated considerable biodiversity in South Africa. Th ere is no evidence to date that anthropogenic climate change has aff ected odonate populations in the region. One reason is that the highly varying weather and climate constitutes considerable background noise against which any eff ects of modern climate change must be measured. Evidence is accumulating that the Holocene interglacial and gradual warming has left some species with isolated populations in montane areas among a matrix of arid land. Many South African odonate species are remarkably vagile and elevationally tolerant, readily immigrating into and emigrating from pools during wet and dry phases respectively. Some species take this movement to greater extremes by moving the southern margins of their geographical range back and forth with varying climate. After fl oods, populations of riverine odonates can recover within a year, although where the riparian corridor has been stripped of its trees, the recovery is very slow. Various synergistic impacts, particularly from invasive alien woody plants, are having a severe impact on many riverine species, and reducing their ability to respond positively to changing environmental conditions. Large-scale removal of these woody aliens is greatly benefi ting the odonates' ability to survive in the short-term and to restore natural corridors for movement in the face of possible future climatic changes.


The gross domestic product [GDP] is a fundamental economic indicator that is frequently used as a benchmark for local equity indices. The widespread appeal of this association is understandable because an equity index, especially if broad, could, like the GDP, also manifest the state of the economy. At the same time, however, the validity of a direct relation between the two is debatable since the GDP is known to be characteristically different from the typical equity index, however broad. In this work, we review some of the key elements that separate the GDP from a typical broad equity index in order to explain why the two cannot be compared directly with each other. We then incorporate a readily available mapping technique to create a GDP-based index that circumvents their inherent disparities and, thus, enable us to benchmark one against the other.