This thesis aims to trace the development of management accounting systems (MAS) in a Portuguese bank, where an activity-based costing system (ABC) was trialled for implementation, as a means to improving the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of employee activity. The culture of banking in Portugal has changed significantly over the last 25 years, but at the same time there are older traditions which remain strong. The purpose of this research was to study how an imported MAS like ABC is developed and disseminated within a Portuguese banking context. The research can be classified as a longitudinal study of organisational change using a single case study. Although based in the interpretive tradition since it is concerned with actors' perceptions, interpretations and beliefs, it also draws on a Foucault-inspired critical framework of the kind developed in the work of Hoskin and Macve (e.g. 1986, 1988, 1994, 2000), and in the research into the financial sector undertaken by Morgan and Sturdy (2000). The particular model developed here is designed to enable the exploration of the effect of accounting practices on change from three perspectives - changing structures, changing discourses and the effect of both of these processes on power relations. It also draws on Fligstein's (1991) institutional framework to understand change in terms of the interplay across three relevant institutional contexts - the organisational field, the state, and the existing strategy and structure of the bank.

The research draws on the literature and on primary data, including 41 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and documentary and archive data. The main contributions of the research are related to the increase of visibility and perceived importance of accounting in the banking sector, and how accounting is significant beyond its technical roles. The study provides new insights into how management accounting practices, along with other organisational systems, play an important role in questioning, visualising, analysing, and measuring implemented strategies.


Magic is about deception, it is also about lying. As Eugene Burger states; Magic is an art form that allows you to live without guilt.

In the 19th century the Theatre of Magic took many forms, the Legitimate, the Scientific and the Spiritual. But real magic blurs the boundaries between these forms. An audience could see performance of magic as magic, or the performance of magic as reality.

Professor Pepper, who first performed his ghost on Christmas Eve 1862, had intended to give a scientific lecture on the ghost's principles and secrets after every show. Instead he saw the audience's stunned looks and heard their wild applause and cut the explanation from the performance. He had made Pepper's Ghost into a magical illusion. He had turned a scientific demonstration into a Magic Show.

The Davenport brothers performed their magic as a lecture demonstration proving the existence of spirits. They would never make it clear that they were magicians which infuriated their audiences who did not respond well to the blurring of forms. They would often cause near riots where ever they played were chased out of Huddersfield during the February of 1865.

The Egyptian Hall was at the centre of 19th and early 20th Century Magic. Initially an Egyptian themed building that would house an ever-changing series of curiosities and exhibits, it later came under the control of the great magic family the Maskelynes and soon became England's Home of Mystery. Here they would present, along with a programme of theatrical magic and illusion, illustrated lectures about the charlatanry of spiritualism.

The blurring of forms is something that the magician relies on and can still be seen today in the work of such conjurers as Derren Brown, Uri Geller and Derek Acorah.

Tonight's performance is the culmination of a process of devising through research into the Egyptian Hall, magic and its related arts The journey has taken us from Professor Hoffman's early work in codifying for generations that stereotypical Victorian conjurer. We moved on to looking at other conjurers and characters, magical developments and magical places. Finally, we sorted the wealth of material generated and this is our performance. The characters and events you see tonight may have existed/happened or they may not have. We are not going to tell you when we lie or when we tell the truth. It is magic so it doesn't matter and we keep our secrets.

Remember, everything we tell you is a lie. Oh, and so was that.


Weight and its estimation have a vital impact in the aircraft design process from the very early phases. When the conceptual design configuration of an aircraft has been created, it should ensure that the estimated weight is sufficiently accurate to meet the performance and cost requirements. The estimation of structural weight in early design stages is mostly performed using historical data; however, this approach does not provide reliable weight estimates for unconventional or unique designs or those that employ advanced materials. One solution for improving the accuracy of conceptual level weight estimation is to improve the fidelity of the methodology, geometry models, and loads through the use of Finite Element Methods (FEM). This thesis is intended to demonstrate an initial application of conceptual-level FEM based weight estimation to aircraft wing structure.


Title Mechanical characterization of brain tissue in tension at dynamic strain rates Authors(s) Rashid, Badar; Destrade, Michel; Gilchrist, M. D. Publication date 2014-05 Publication information Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 33 : 43-54 Publisher Elsevier Item record/more information http://hdl.handle.net/10197/5896 Publisher's statement This is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials (33, , (2014)) DOI: http://dx.doi/org/10.1016/j.jmbbm.2012.07.015 Publisher's version (DOI) 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2012.07.015 Notes The PDF of this item is 'Chapter 5. Mechanical Characterization of Brain Tissue in Tension' þÿ f r o m B a d a r R a s h i d s u n p u b l i s h e d P h D t h e s i s , w h i c h f o r m e d t h e b a s i s o f t h e j o u r n a l a r t i c l e described by this record


Professional rugby league (RL) football is a contact sport involving repeated collisions and high-intensity efforts; both training and competition involve high energy expenditure. The present review summarizes and critiques the available literature relating the physiological demands of RL to nutritional requirements and considers potential ergogenic supplements that could improve players' physical capacity, health, and recovery during the preparatory and competition phases of a season. Although there may not be enough data to provide RL-specific recommendations, the available data suggest that players may require approximately 6-8 g·kg-1·day-1 carbohydrate, 1.6-2.6 g·kg-1·day-1 protein, and 0.7-2.2 g·kg-1·day-1 fat, provided that the latter also falls within 20-35% of total energy intake. Competition nutrition should maximize glycogen availability by consuming 1-4 g/kg carbohydrate (∼80-320 g) plus 0.25 g/kg (∼20-30 g) protein, 1-4 hr preexercise for 80-120 kg players. Carbohydrate intakes of approximately 80-180 g (1.0-1.5 g/kg) plus 20-67 g protein (0.25-0.55 g/kg) 0-2 hr postexercise will optimize glycogen resynthesis and muscle protein synthesis. Supplements that potentially improve performance, recovery, and adaptation include low to moderate dosages of caffeine (3-6 mg/kg) and ∼300 mg polyphenols consumed ∼1 hr preexercise, creatine monohydrate "loading" (0.3 g·kg-1·day-1) and/or maintenance (3-5 g/day), and beta-alanine (65-80 mg·kg-1·day-1). Future research should quantify energy expenditures in young, professional male RL players before constructing recommendations.


Alternative approach procedures are currently under investigation to evaluate their ground noise reduction
potential. One such procedure involves approaching the airport at a considerably higher altitude compared with
standard landing trajectories, followed by a spiraling descent (helix flight path) shortly before the runway threshold.
In this way, high ground noise levels by approaching aircraft are dislocated away from the common approach path
and concentrated in the area near the helix path, that is, in direct vicinity of the airport. Ground noise levels along the
entire flight path before the helix are significantly reduced. The effectiveness of this procedure, referred to as A¢Â€Âœhelical
noise abatement procedure,A¢Â€Â has been quantified by means of computational simulation analyses. These analyses
also focused on aspects such as increased fuel burn and the occurrence of multiple noise events below the helix. In
June 2009, a new autopilot by the DLR, German Aerospace Center, especially capable of tracking curved flight-path
trajectories, was flight tested. Three helical noise abatement procedures were included in the flight plan, as well as
standard and steep landing approaches. In addition, dedicated flyover noise measurements were organized. Twelve
ground microphones were placed along the common approach path and the helical flight segment. The measured
data confirm the predicted noise dislocation effects. High noise levels were found to be limited to observer locations
around the helix. Results from computational noise prediction have been compared with the experimental data.
Predicted trends and noise dislocation effects are in good agreement with the measurements, whereas the absolute
numerical values show discrepancies. The flight test was closely accompanied by a research and development
member of the German air navigation service provider DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH to study the impact of
spiraling procedures on air traffic management integration aspects and air traffic controller workload, for example,
increased interaction with the pilots. Obviously, a spiraling approach procedure would not be implemented into the
existing air traffic scenario with its common approach paths and more frequented airports. The operational and
economic environment still need more detailed investigation. Helical approaches become more feasible for
implementation at small, less-frequented regional airports or during night hours to avoid possible noise related
curfews.


This document, part of the Synthesis and Assessment Products described in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) Strategic Plan. Climate affects the design, construction, safety, operations, and maintenance of transportation infrastructure and systems. The prospect of a changing climate raises critical questions regarding how alterations in temperature, precipitation, storm events, and other aspects of the climate could affect the nation's roads, airports, rail, transit systems, pipelines, ports, and waterways. Phase I of this regional assessment of climate change and its potential impacts on transportation systems addresses these questions for the region of the U.S. central Gulf Coast between Galveston, Texas and Mobile, Alabama. This region contains multimodal transportation infrastructure that is critical to regional and national transportation services. Historical trends and future climate scenarios were used to establish a context for examining the potential effects of climate change on all major transportation modes within the region. Climate changes anticipated during the next 50 to 100 years for the central Gulf Coast include warming temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and increased storm intensity. The warming of the oceans and decline of polar ice sheets is expected to accelerate the rate of sea level rise globally. The effects of sea level rise in most central Gulf Coast counties will be exacerbated by the sinking of the land surface, which is accounted for in this assessment. The significance of these climate factors for transportation systems was assessed.


KCNQ genes encode five Kv7 K+ channel subunits (Kv7.1–Kv7.5). Four of these (Kv7.2–Kv7.5) are expressed in the nervous system. Kv7.2 and Kv7.3 are the principal molecular components of the slow voltage‐gated M‐channel, which widely regulates neuronal excitability, although other subunits may contribute to M‐like currents in some locations. M‐channels are closed by receptors coupled to Gq such as M1 and M3 muscarinic receptors; this increases neuronal excitability and underlies some forms of cholinergic excitation. Muscarinic closure results from activation of phospholipase C and consequent hydrolysis and depletion of membrane phosphatidylinositol‐4,5‐bisphosphate, which is required for channel opening. Some effects of M‐channel closure, determined from transmitter action, selective blocking drugs (linopirdine and XE991) and KCNQ2 gene disruption or manipulation, are as follows: (i) in sympathetic neurons: facilitation of repetitive discharges and conversion from phasic to tonic firing; (ii) in sensory nociceptive systems: facilitation of A‐delta peripheral sensory fibre responses to noxious heat; and (iii) in hippocampal pyramidal neurons: facilitation of repetitive discharges, enhanced after‐depolarization and burst‐firing, and induction of spontaneous firing through a reduction of action potential threshold at the axon initial segment. Several drugs including flupirtine and retigabine enhance neural Kv7/M‐channel activity, principally through a hyperpolarizing shift in their voltage gating. In consequence they reduce neural excitability and can inhibit nociceptive stimulation and transmission. Flupirtine is in use as a central analgesic; retigabine is under clinical trial as a broad‐spectrum anticonvulsant and is an effective analgesic in animal models of chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain.


Abstract This paper examines the severity of livestock depredation by coyotes (Canis latrans), reviews evidence implicating breeding (or "alpha") coyotes in the majority of incidents, evaluates currently used depredation control techniques, and suggests directions for future research. Nonlethal control ranges from varied animal husbandry practices to coyote behavioral modification or sterilization. These methods show significant promise but have not been proven effective in controlled experiments. Therefore, many livestock producers rely on lethal control, and most employ nonselective strategies aimed at local population reduction. Sometimes this approach is effective; other times it is not. This strategy can fail because the alpha coyotes, most likely to kill livestock, are the most resistant to nonselective removal techniques. An alternative is selective lethal control. Livestock Protection Collars (LPCs) and coyote calling are the primary selective lethal approaches. However, LPCs do not have support from the general public due to the toxicant used, and the factors affecting the selectivity of coyote calling have not been studied. The greatest impediments to effective coyote depredation management currently are a scarcity of selective control methods, our lack of understanding of the details of coyote behavioral ecology relative to livestock depredation and wild prey abundance, the absence of solid research examining the effectiveness of different control techniques in a variety of habitats and at multiple predation intensities, and the dearth of rigorous controlled experiments analyzing the operational efficacy of selective removal versus population reduction.


In this contribution an iterative (turbo) channel equalization and source decoding scheme is considered. In our investigations the source is modelled as a Gaussian-Markov source, which is compressed with the aid of vector quantization. The communications channel is modelled as a time-invariant channel contaminated by intersymbol interference (ISI). Since the ISI channel can be viewed as a rate-1 encoder and since the redundancy of the source cannot be perfectly removed by source encoding, a joint channel equalization and source decoding scheme may be employed for enhancing the achievable performance. In our study the channel equalization and the source decoding are operated iteratively on a bit-by-bit basis under the maximum a-posteriori (MAP) criterion. The channel equalizer accepts the a priori information provided by the source decoding and also extracts extrinsic information, which in turn acts as a priori information for improving the source decoding performance. Simulation results are presented for characterizing the achievable performance of the iterative channel equalization and source decoding scheme. Our results show that iterative channel equalization and source decoding is capable of achieving an improved performance by efficiently exploiting the residual redundancy of the vector quantization assisted source coding


Projection predictive inference is a decision theoretic Bayesian approach that decouples model estimation from decision making. Given a reference model previously built including all variables present in the data, projection predictive inference projects its posterior onto a constrained space of a subset of variables. Variable selection is then performed by sequentially adding relevant variables until predictive performance is satisfactory. Previously, projection predictive inference has been demonstrated only for generalized linear models (GLMs) and Gaussian processes (GPs) where it showed superior performance to competing variable selection procedures. In this work, we extend projection predictive inference to support variable and structure selection for generalized linear multilevel models (GLMMs) and generalized additive multilevel models (GAMMs). Our simulative and real-word experiments demonstrate that our method can drastically reduce the model complexity required to reach reference predictive performance and achieve good frequency properties.


Background: Oligohydramnios (reduced amniotic fluid) may be responsible for the problems of malpresentations, umbilical cord compression, meconium staining of amniotic fluid in the liquor, and difficult or failed external cephalic version. Simple intervention maternal hydration has been reported as a way of increasing amniotic fluid volume in order to reduce some of these problems. Objective: To assess the influence of maternal hydration and l-arginine supplementation in improving liquor volume in patients with decreased liquor. Study Design: Prospective nonrandomized interventional study. Materials and Methods: 50 patients remote from term, with decreased liquor [amniotic fluid index (AFI) < 8] were enrolled in the study. Before the proposed intervention, the antenatal risk factors were studied. Patients with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were administered l-arginine (one sachet 3 g, two times daily) and others received both arginine and intravenous hydration (500 ml of fructodex which contains 5% dextrose and 5% fructose, and lactated Ringer's solution daily). The treatment was continued till the liquor improved significantly. However, patients were considered for delivery if the liquor remained less than 5. Mean increase in liquor, intervention delivery interval, and neonatal outcome were studied. Results: The mean gestational age at the time of recruitment was 33.4 ΁ 1.9 weeks. The mean AFI at the time of enrolment was 6.9 (SD 0.8). These patients were delivered at 36.3 ΁ 1.3 weeks, and thus, pregnancy could be prolonged by 2.9 weeks. The mean AFI at the end of therapeutic intervention was 9.3 (SD 1.7), and thus, an AFI increase of 2.4 could be obtained. There was no significant neonatal morbidity in these patients. Significant improvement in liquor volume was obtained in these patients after intervention with either or both l-arginine and fructodex infusion (P < 0.0001). The pregnancy could be prolonged from 33.4 weeks to 36.3 weeks. Conclusion: Treatment with l-arginine and fructodex resulted in significant improvement in liquor and prolongation of duration of pregnancy by around 3 weeks, which enabled us to administer steroids for lung maturation (in indicated cases). Thus, treatment with l-arginine and fructodex seems to be promising in improving fetal outcome in pregnancies complicated by decreased liquor.


This paper reveals a previously ignored connection between two important fields: regularization and independent component analysis (ICA). We show that at least one representative of a broad class of algorithms (regularizers that reduce network complexity) extracts independent features as a by-product. This algorithm is Flat Minimum Search (FMS), a recent general method for finding low-complexity networks with high generalization capability. FMS works by minimizing both training error and required weight precision. According to our theoretical analysis the hidden layer of an FMS-trained autoassociator attempts at coding each input by a sparse code with as few simple features as possible. In experiments the method extracts optimal codes for difficult versions of the "noisy bars" benchmark problem by separating the underlying sources, whereas ICA and PCA fail. Real world images are coded with fewer bits per pixel than by ICA or PCA.


The purpose with this study is to examine how the media coverage of the train accidentoutside Kimstad, on the night of September 12th 2010, was framed in one local (Norrkopingsnyheter) and one national newspaper (Expressen) and how the coverage of the accident wasdifferent in the local newspaper compared to the national newspaper.The material is 12 articles within a fixed time limit which is from September 13th toSeptember 15th. The material consists of six articles from each newspaper.The method we use a qualitative text analysis with its basis in medialogic, news value andframing theory.In the essay's analysis we show a synthesis of both newspapers coverage of the train accidentoutside Kimstad and how they stand in relation to the theory of news value and we end with aterminative comment about the results.The conclusion shows that the coverage of the event was different in many ways. Expressenuses a more dramatic framing and a more sensational language which describes the eventmore badly than it was. NT uses a more informative and objective information which almosttrifles the event but which informs about relevant information for the locals. Expressen mostlyturns to civil persons and the passengers on the train for quotes while NT turns to governmentpeople and cites them. Expressen also used personalization more than NT, but NT simplifiedtheir stories more than Expressen.We could also see that the crisis could be marked by the definitions of a crisis made byUlmer, Sellnow & Seeger. We could also relate the crisis event to the coverage of the crisis.They were both short and sudden.Earlier research has shown that national newspapers have a tendency to dramatize news morethan what local newspapers do.


A large CP-asymmetry ∆ACP has been reported in the D 0 → π+π−/K+K− system. At present it remains unclear whether this is due to incalculable strong interaction matrix elements or genuine new physics (NP). Amongst the latter a new weak phase in the chromomagnetic operator O8 has emerged as a promising candidate. Extending earlier ideas we show that the interference of long-distance (LD) terms with the O8 matrix element, which has a large strong phase, gives rise to direct CP-violation at the level of a few percent in D → (ρ, ω)γ and D (d,s) → (ρ, K∗+)γ for reference values Im[C 8 ] ' 0.4 · 10−2. This is two orders of magnitude above a Standard Model (SM) estimate. The contribution of Im[C 7 ], which is dependent on the model of NP, is governed by the LD strong phase which vanishes in the chiral limit at leading order. The question of whether this is significantly changed by radiative corrections is an open and interesting question that we discuss. Furthermore we point out that the relative size of leftand right-handed (photon polarisation)-LD amplitudes can be measured, in principle, through time-dependent CP (TDCP) asymmetries in the case where they are both sizeable which is supported by SM estimates. Thus determination of the latter provides interesting information on the LD-chirality independent of NP. We comment on the origin of the LD contribution, which we believe to be dominated by weak annihilation (WA), in the appendix. email@example.com email@example.com ar X iv :1 21 0. 65 46 v1 [ he pph ] 2 4 O ct 2 01 2


Rising terrorism and advances in technology, along with new organizational strategies and investigative techniques, have stretched the traditional role of the police officer. Calls for strong, intelligence-driven, paramilitary policing juxtaposed with a demand for "softer" community policing, leave officers under increased pressure to be tough and resolute, yet compassionate, accountable, and adaptable. A measured analysis of these concerns is crucial to enable police officers to move forward in this increasingly conflicted world

Drawn from the most important articles in Police Practice and Research, Contemporary Issues in Law Enforcement and Policing focuses on the most common issues affecting today's officers. Enhanced with an introduction and conclusion to present and weigh the arguments and consider the pragmatic aspects and challenges posed, the articles are written by academics and practicing police officers from four countries to provide a balanced, international point of view.

Assessing the driving forces behind contemporary policing, this book—

· Addresses day-to-day policing and the stress found in both the daily grind and the division and stigmatization of certain branches of the force
· Considers ethics, corruption, and the dangers of misplaced loyalties, highlighting Australian strategies to prevent misconduct
· Provides a typology of terrorism based on scope and justification and discusses appropriate counterterrorism measures, as well as the impact on other policing priorities
· Introduces a temporal component to the traditional spatial emphasis of crime mapping supported by a Madrid case study and its revealing failures
· Discusses restorative policing as a fundamental shift in intervention objectives, from punishment or treatment to an emphasis on repairing harm

An objective look at today's trends, this book presents the most pertinent and talked-about issues in modern policing and provides perspective and direction for the future.


This article examines the classic dilemma of direct effect of EC law. The author contends that there is no need for separation of concepts of direct effect and application of EC law. However, the author analyses the main legal and theoretical trends, current case-law of ECJ concerning the subject and makes the conclusion that still there is some rationale for making of at least theoretical distinction between the mentioned terms. The present publication also encapsulates the research on the conditions of direct effect of EC law and their application in national practice. The author makes a research of each condition by analysing the pragmatic possibilities of its implementation. Moreover, the author examines the peculiarities of introduction of the doctrine into Lithuanian case-law. It is contended that, though these conditions are well understood, there is still a problem with their practical implementation. This is revealed by illustration of quite poor Lithuanian case-law where use of direct effect might be come across. National judges are still reluctant to implement the condition of direct effect, since in many cases where EC law might have been used to support the argumentation of the court and to motivate the decision, only some aspects of EC legislation are usually being touched by the Lithuanian practitioners. This shows the very fresh attitude towards EC direct effect doctrine while in older Member-States this concept have already survived many others as well as became an inseparable tool for daily law practice.


The Constitutional Court of Romania has recently published a decision that found the implementing law of Directive 2006/24/CE unconstitutional. The conclusions of the Romanian judges and their reasoning are already praised by human rights activists and digital rights groups as one of the most important victories in an age when privacy rights are too easily thwarted in exchange for a chimerical sense of safety. The decision examines the law in light of its compliance with the basic rights contained in art. 26 (privacy) and art. 28 (secret of correspondence). It asserts the fundamental nature of these rights with direct reference to, inter alia, art. 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights to which Romania is part since 1994, art. 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and art. 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Constitutional Court criticized the vagueness of several articles in the law which did not define in a clear and explicit manner the concepts of "related data" and "threats to national security" and stated that a continuous positive obligation on telecom companies to retain indiscriminately communication data of all citizens voids the basic rights to privacy and secrecy of correspondence of their very substance.


Health research and health care practice are radically transforming as governments invest more in large scale, national and international health projects with increasing levels of interdisciplinarity as populations age and as nations grow wealthier. This volume examines the structures and dynamics of scientific collaboration in health research and health care. Bringing together detailed research from the US, Canada, Europe and Japan, Collaboration Across Health Research and Medical Care sheds light on the features, environments and relationships that characterise collaboration in health care and research, exploring changing patterns of collaboration and examining the causes and consequences of team work in the health domain.With attention to the increasingly porous boundaries between health care and research, the book not only investigates research settings, but also considers the manner in which knowledge produced in laboratories and clinics is translated into day-to-day medical and care practice and health initiatives. It offers a rich examination of the political, technical and organisational facets of collaboration and the implications of changes in collaboration for every day treatment and practice, Collaboration Across Health Research and Medical Care will be of interest to scholars of sociology and science and technology studies, as well as those working in the field of health policy and research.


This book (a revised version of the author's doctoral thesis) discusses the properties and the position of adverbs in clause structure. The main claim is given in the form of the Adverbial Licensing Principle (), according to which adverbs are licensed as specifiers. Alexiadou distinguishes between specifier and complement (temporal, manner and locative) adverbs. The former are directly merged in the specifier position of an appropriate functional head, while the latter are merged as V-complements and then raise to a specifier position, so that they can be formally licensed. Complement adverbs (with the exception of temporals) can also be licensed via incorporation (a head-head relation). The complement vs. specifier distinction is more broadly formulated in terms of Avs. A«-elements respectively. It is then expected that complement adverbs interact with Amovement (e.g. object shift) and specifier adverbs with A«-movement (e.g. wh-extraction). The distinction between two classes of adverbs is empirically supported by comparative evidence. The main data comes from Greek, although there are a considerable amount of examples from other languages as well, primarily English and German. The theoretical framework is that of Kayne () and the aim of the book is to consider the implications of antisymmetry for the licensing of adverbs. In particular, the restrictions of antisymmetry on phrase structure, i.e. no right adjunction, a single left adjunct}spec per head, give rise to a proliferation of functional categories, the postulation of which is partly supported by the licensing of adverbs. Alexiadou also follows minimalist assumptions, thus attempting to make antisymmetry compatible with Bare Phrase Structure (Chomsky ). The main assumption is that the rightmost non-branching element in the structure has to raise (a PF-linearisation requirement). On this basis it is argued that non-complex complement adverbs have to raise to an appropriate specifier. Consequently, in-situ complement adverbs have a complex internal structure (and are necessarily focused). The discussion spreads over eight chapters. Chapter  introduces the data, the problems with the classification of adverbs, and a summary of the


The N2O infrared spectrum in the 900–1090- and 1580–2380-cm−1 regions was studied at a 0.005-cm−1 resolution with a Fourier-transform spectrometer. Measurements were made of line frequencies of the species 14N216O, 14N15N16O, 15N14N16O, 14N218O, 14N217O, 15N216O, 14N15N18O, and 15N14N18O for several ground-state bands and hot bands. A few of these bands are reported for the first time to the author's knowledge. The observed line frequencies were analyzed to obtain values of band centers and upper-state effective rotational constants. Results from the least-squares fits for the 0400–0000, 0420(e)–0000, and 0510–0110 bands of the 14N216O molecule indicate that the high-J levels of the upper states are perturbed. Resonance interactions were observed in transitions in the 1001–1000 band of 14N216O and 15N14N16O and the 1111(f)–1110(f), 0600–0200, 0600–1000, and 0620(e)–1000 bands of 14N216O.


'Natural States' brings together three leading European painters, whose work investigates the on-going relationships between contemporary painting and its modernist past. Ingo Meller, Daniel Sturgis and Clare Woods each in different ways looks critically at aspects of this history as a basis or starting point to make new paintings, which open up new areas of enquiry and investigation. Throughout the exhibition their paintings will be displayed in proximity to works from the Pier Arts Centre's own collection, that they are seen to connect to or have a special affinity with.

Natural States is supported by the Goethe Institut.


Evolutionary algorithms can be applied to a variety of constrained network communication problems with centric type models. This paper shows that with real-world complex network communication problems of this type, sophisticated statistical search is required. This situation occurs due to the fact that these optimization problems are at least NP-complete. In order to appreciate the formal modeling of realistic communication networks, historical network design problems are presented and evolved into more complex real-world models with associated deterministic and stochastic solution approaches discussed. This discussion leads into the design of an innovative multiobjective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) to solve a very complex network design problem variation called the multicommodity capacitated network design problem (MCNDP). This variation represents a hybrid real-world communication architecture as reflected in real-world network centric models with directional communications, multiple objectives including costs, delays, robustness, vulnerability, and operating reliability within network constraints. Nodes in such centric systems can have multiple and varying link capacities as well as rates and information (commodity) quantities to be sent and received. Each commodity can also have independent prioritized bandwidth and spectrum requirements. The nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is selected as the MOEA framework which is modified and parallelized to solve the generic MCNDP. Since the MCNDP is highly constrained but with an enormous number of possible network communication topologies, a novel initialization procedure and mutation method are integrated resulting in reduced search space. Empirical results and analysis indicate that effective topological Pareto solutions are generated for use in highly constrained, communication-based network design.


We present a comprehensive new inventory of surge-type glaciers on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, using high-resolution (up to 4 m) satellite imagery from 1976/77 (Hexagon), 1989 (Landsat TM), 2001 (Landsat ETM+) and 2006 (ASTER). A total of 692 glaciers and their forelands were observed for glaciological and geomorphological criteria indicative of glacier surging (e.g. looped moraines, heavy surface crevassing, surface potholes, thrust-block moraines, concertina eskers). This enabled the identification of 32 potential surge-type glaciers (compared with four previously identified) representing 4.6% of the total but 18% by glacier area. We assess the characteristics of surge-type glaciers. Surge-type glaciers are statistically different from non-surge-type glaciers in terms of their area, length, surface slope, minimum elevation, mid-range elevation and terminus type. They are typically long (median length 18.5 km), large (median area 106.8 km 2 ) outlet glaciers, with relatively low overall surface slopes (median slope 1.7°) and tend to terminate in water (marine or lacustrine). They are predominantly directed towards and located in the more maritime western region of the Russian Arctic, and we suggest that surge occurrence might be related to large and complex catchment areas that receive increased delivery of precipitation from the Barents Sea.


Objective and Background: Our objective was to determine the fetal in vivo microRNA signature in hypoplastic lungs of human fetuses with severe isolated congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and changes in tracheal and amniotic fluid of fetuses undergoing fetoscopic endoluminal tracheal occlusion (FETO) to reverse severe lung hypoplasia due to CDH. Methods: We profiled microRNA expression in prenatal human lungs by microarray analysis. We then validated this signature with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction in tracheal and amniotic fluid of CDH patients undergoing FETO. We further explored the role of miR-200b using semiquantitative in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry for TGF-&bgr;2 in postnatal lung sections. We investigated miR-200b effects on TGF-&bgr; signaling using a SMAD-luciferase reporter assay and Western blotting for phospho-SMAD2/3 and ZEB-2 in cultures of human bronchial epithelial cells. Results: CDH lungs display an increased expression of 2 microRNAs: miR-200b and miR-10a as compared to control lungs. Fetuses undergoing FETO display increased miR-200 expression in their tracheal fluid at the time of balloon removal. Future survivors of FETO display significantly higher miR-200 expression than those with a limited response. miR-200b was expressed in bronchial epithelial cells and vascular endothelial cells. TGF-&bgr;2 expression was lower in CDH lungs. miR-200b inhibited TGF-&bgr;-induced SMAD signaling in cultures of human bronchial epithelial cells. Conclusions: Human fetal hypoplastic CDH lungs have a specific miR-200/miR-10a signature. Survival after FETO is associated with increased miR-200 family expression. miR-200b overexpression in CDH lungs results in decreased TGF-&bgr;/SMAD signaling.


Abstract : Software development in distributed computation is complicated by the extra overhead of communication between connected, dispersed hosts in dynamically changing, multiple administrative domains. Many disparate technologies exist for trust management, authentication, secure communication channels, and service discovery, but composing all of these elements into a single system can outweigh principal development efforts. The NYU Disco Switchboard consolidates these connectivity issues into a single convenient, extensible architecture, providing an abstraction for managing secure, host-pair communication with connection monitoring facilities. Switchboard extends the secure authenticated communication channel abstraction provided by standard interfaces such as SSL/TLS with mechanisms to support trust management, key sharing, service discovery, and connection liveness and monitoring. We present an extensible architecture which is particularly useful in dynamically changing, distributed coalition environments. Applications that utilize Switchboard benefit from the availability of authentication, trust management, cryptography, and discovery, while retaining the simplicity of a common interface.


We firstly obtained organic N-benzyl-2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (BNA) single crystals using solution growth method. The crystal quality obtained by solution growth method was much better than that of crystals grown by the Bridgman method. Furthermore, using difference frequency generation (DFG) in solution-grown BNA, we generated ultra-wideband tunable THz radiation.


It is known that artificial neural network is a powerful scheme for function learning and modeling nonlinear loads. However, a direct application of artificial neural network for modeling time-varying loads may lead to inaccuracies. This paper presents an accurate neural-network-based method for modeling the highly nonlinear voltage-current characteristic of an ac electric arc furnace (EAF). The neural-network-based model can be effectively used to assess waveform distortions, voltage fluctuations, and performances of reactive power compensation devices associated with the EAF in a power system. Simulation results obtained by using the proposed model are compared with the actual measured data and two other traditional neural network models. It is shown that the proposed method yields favorable performance and can be applied for modeling similar types of nonlinear loads for power engineering studies.


Genetic maps are an essential tool for investigating molecular markers' linkage with traits of agronomic importance. Breeders put a lot of emphasis on this type of markers, which are used in breeding programs implementation and speed up the process of a new variety development. In this paper, we construct a new, high-density linkage genetic map for Polish material on narrow-leafed lupin. The mapping population originated from crossing the Polish variety 'Emir' and the Belarusian breeding line 'LAE-1'. A new map was constructed based on DArTseq markers—a new type of marker generated with the next-generation sequencing (NGS) technique. The map was built with 4602 markers, which are divided into 20 linkage groups, corresponding with the number of gametic chromosomes in narrow-leafed lupin. On the new map there are 1174 unique loci. The total length of all linkage group is 3042 cM. This map was compared to the reference genome of narrow-leafed lupin and the CDS sequence for model legume species: emphMedicago truncatula, emphLotus japonicus and Glycine max. Analysis revealed the presence of the DArTseq marker common for all investigated species. We were able to map 38 new, unplaced scaffolds on the new genetic map of narrow-leafed lupin. The high-density genetic map we received can be used for quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, genome-wide association study analysis and assembly of the reference genome for the whole genome sequencing (WGS) method


Abstract
What are the current trends that mark out the process of internationalization of higher education? In what directions do these trends influence the direction of research and development in African universities? Does internationalization of higher education have the potential to boost knowledge production relevant to Africa's development needs or it will further hasten the marginalization of both African universities and African development agendas within the global network of scientific knowledge? Internationalization of education is not new. Historically, students have sought better higher education abroad influenced by the desire to benefit from better opportunities provided by universities in the developed countries. The current phase of higher education internationalization has however emerged more vigorously in the 21st century and is associated with the twin trends of globalization and liberalization. Proponents of globalization have argued that higher education is bound to be more strongly affected by worldwide economic developments. They also point out that higher education institutions in developing countries should embrace aspects of internationalization to boost their efforts to be ranked among the best league of universities globally. At the national level, internationalization of higher education is presented as a process that institutions in developing countries must embrace in order to address the persistent challenges of sustainable development. For universities in Africa, the literature argues that internationalization provides them with opportunities that cut across disciplines, institutions, knowledge-systems, and nation-state boundaries thereby exposing the institutions and academics to the world's best scientific research and infrastructures. In summary, it is contended that internationalization is a strategy to realize success in human-capability and institutional-capacity development in the universities. This chapter revisits these assertions and their tenacity to developing a culture of research and innovation in African universities, and linking the universities to the continent's development aspirations.


Moringa oleifera (MO) has long been studied for its anti-obesity potential and its various effects on the lipid profile. However, the result of the basic researches done in rats appears to be imprecise, which may be due to the differences in the solvent extraction, dosing, and duration of administration of the extract. This paper evaluated the effects of different solvent extraction, dosing, and duration of administration of MO extracts on the lipid profile of rats, namely total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and high-density lipoproteins (HDL). The articles used in this study were collected from various reputable indexing platforms. Meta-analysis was performed to compare the different treatments in the lipid profile of the rats through one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey's test, one-way ANOVA on ranks with Mann-Whitney test, and student t-test. Results show no significant difference (p < 0.05) in the rats' lipid profile after treatment of different MO extracts, suggesting that regardless of the MO solvent used results in a similar effect on the lipid profile of rats. However, the disparity of the effects on the lipid profile may be attributed to the dosing and duration of administration. We hypothesized that the level, bioavailability, and mechanism of action of certain phytochemicals present in MO extracts such as flavonoids, phenols, anthraquinones, terpenes, phenolic acids, flavones, terpenoids, and steroids might have also contributed to these differences. Hence, isolation of bioactive compounds from MO and testing their effects on different lipid-associated enzymes may elucidate the actual impact of MO in the lipid profile.


The present invention is directed at optimized expression vectors for the expression of native-like heterologous proteins in insect cells. Compositions of the invention are nucleotide sequences representing elements of an expression vector that when combined results in enhanced expression and secretion of heterologous proteins. The elements include sequences that define transcriptional activators, core promoters, secretion signals, and 3′ untranslated regions that are functional in insect cells. The elements contained in the optimized vectors are all synthetically derived or are modified variants of naturally occurring insect sequences. The expression vectors are useful for the expression of native-like proteins when protein encoding nucleotide sequences are operatively linked to the vectors. These vectors can be used to transform insect cells, which can then be cultured to produce the desired protein product. The expressed native-like proteins can be used in diagnostic, vaccine or other applications requiring large amounts of high quality proteins.


Calculation of mean trace gas contributions from profiles obtained by retrievals of the logarithm of the abundance rather than retrievals of the abundance itself are prone to biases. By means of a system simulator, biases of linear versus logarithmic averaging were evaluated for both maximum likelihood and maximum a priori retrievals, for various signal to noise ratios and atmospheric variabilities. These biases can easily reach ten percent or more. As a rule of thumb we found for maximum likelihood retrievals that linear averaging better represents the true mean value in cases of large local natural variability and high signal to noise ratios, while for small local natural variability logarithmic averaging often is superior. In the case of maximum a posteriori retrievals, the mean is dominated by the a priori information used in the retrievals and the method of averaging is of minor concern. For larger natural variabilities, the appropriateness of the one or the other method of averaging depends on the particular case because the various biasing mechanisms partly compensate in an unpredictable manner. This complication arises mainly because of the fact that in logarithmic retrievals the weight of the prior information depends on abundance of the gas itself. No simple rule was found on which kind of averaging is superior, and instead of suggesting simple recipes we cannot do much more than to create awareness of the traps related with averaging of mixing ratios obtained from logarithmic retrievals.


Shape and weight over-concern and self-evaluation almost exclusively in these terms is a core feature of eating disorder psychopathology and it is this which is thought to drive weight control behaviours. The literature indicates concerns about weight and shape can be present in children at least as young as eight rears of age. Currently, there is no tool available which measures a child's over-concern
with their body shape and weight per se. This study developed an assessment of children's body shape and weight over-concern, using scales measuring shape and weight concern and perceived importance of shape and weight. The properties of the new shape and weight over-concern assessment were examined in relation to children's self-perception and implicit attitudes towards overweight.

Participants were 333 Year 5 children (181 boys and 152 girls) from North Yorkshire primary schools, with a mean age of 9 years 7 months. They completed measures of body shape perception, dietary restraint, height and weight accuracy, self-esteem and body shape and weight over-concern. In addition they completed a timed implicit association task which assessed implicit attitudes towards overweight.

The new assessment was concluded to have good psychometric properties and to be a reasonable assessment of shape and weight over-concern in children. Children with high shape and weight concern tended to be heavier, less satisfied
with their weight and body shape, have lower self-esteem and report increased levels of dietary restraint. High levels of perceived importance of shape and weight also
impacted on this latter variable. A general anti-fat bias was indicated from this group of children. Dietary restraint score was a significant predictor of shape and
weight over-concern, as was global self-worth (for the boys) and physical appearance (for the girls). No gender differences were found in the assessment of shape and weight over-concern.

This study is the first to measure shape and weight over-concern in children and highlights a need of continued research of over-concern in children and adults.
This will continue to inform intervention and prevention programmes of eating disorders. Further research into the implicit anti-fat attitudes in children as young as
9 years is also indicated, especially in respect of shape and weight over-concern.


Problems arising from limited coarse aggregate sizes where by coarse aggregates are gotten from long distance quarry sites which have led to high cost of coarse aggregates and in turn resulted to high cost of construction. A synergistic combination of three sizes of coarse aggregates for concrete works was investigated in this research. For the purpose of this work, three sizes of coarse aggregates, 10mm, 14mm, and 20mm were used. Each of the sizes were cast which served as the control. The three aggregate sizes were also combined based on percentage proportion and cast. For each combined sizes of coarse aggregates, 21cubes (150×150mm) were cast to allow the compressive strength to be monitored at 7, 14 and 28 days respectively. Results showed that third test of the combined coarse aggregates which contained 30% 10mm, 20% 14mm and 50% 20mm had the highest compressive strength of 25N/mm2. Statistical T-Test analysis was introduced in this research to compare each of the control mixes with the concrete made with combined aggregates. It was seen from the analysis that, the value obtained which is 12.12 and 4.51 is greater than the T critical (4.303 at 5% level of significance) which also indicated that the third test of the combined aggregate had the highest compressive strength of concrete.


This discussion paper analyses the value chain for sorghum beer in Kenya, from growing Gadam sorghum to the production and retailing of Senator Keg. The business model developed by Smart Logistics Solutions Ltd. was used to analyze social inclusion in the value chain. A stratified random sample of 300 members and non-members of Smart Logistics groups in eastern Kenya was sampled in the main growing season for sorghum in 2012-2013. Based on interviews with major actors, the Value Links methodology was used to map the value chain and quantify value addition at different stages of the value chain. Analysis of value addition showed that growers received 4 % of the retail price of sorghum beer, Smart Logistics 1 %, EABL 81 %, Senator keg distributors 5 % and Senator keg retailers 9 %. No information was available on intermediate costs or value added for sorghum brewing. Profitability for Smart Logistics depended on volume while, following the imposition of excise duty in 2013, profitability for retailers was negative. The average member of a Smart Logistics group planted 1.71 acres to sorghum and harvested 483 kg per household of which 305 kg (63 %) was sold. Shortage of land, shortage of labour, and low profitability were reported as the most important constraints on sorghum production. Birdscaring and threshing were the two most important labour constraints. Ninety percent of group members sold their sorghum to Smart Logistics. The main complaint by members was the time spent waiting for payment. The average time waiting for payment was 4.5 weeks. Only 5 % of growers were paid within the 1-week target set by Smart Logistics. On average, members selling to a Smart Logistics collection centre in 2012 sold 342 kg of sorghum at a price of 25 KES/kg, earning KES 8,550 from sorghum sales. Most income from sorghum was invested in children's education. Members of Smart Logistics groups spent an average of KES 32,000 on education per year, of which KES 18,000 went on university education. Income from sorghum (KES 8,550) was equivalent to one quarter of annual investment in The value chain for sorghum beer in Kenya ICRISAT Socioeconomics Discussion Paper Series 3 education. A significantly higher share (83%) of the members of Smart Logistics groups reported an improvement in their economic position since 2009 compared to non-members (70%).Members of Smart Logistics groups were significantly more likely to be headed by women, have high dependency ratios, and own less land per adult family member. Membership was not significantly related to income per head. The main reason given by non-members for not joining a Smart Logistics group was that they did not have time to attend group meetings and meetings at demonstration plots. The price of sorghum beer depends on the level of excise duty. From 2004 Senator Keg enjoyed zero excise duty, making it competitive with illegal brews. As a result, Senator Keg became EABL's bestselling beer by volume. However, a sharp rise in public expenditure and domestic debt has increased the need for government to raise tax revenues. Following imposition of a 50 % excise duty in 2013, sales of Senator keg have fallen by an estimated 80 %. In the longterm, the future of sorghum beer in Kenya depends on growth in income per head. In the short term, it depends on lower excise duty to make it more affordable for low-income consumers.


Groundwater is one of the main supply sources of drinking water in Mexico, as they support a poor biological community, because of their low contain of nutrients. However in the recent years, human activities and urban growth are the main factors of aquifer contamination. Therefore, water may contain chemical contaminants and microorganisms that can cause several diseases; such is the case of free-living amoebae (FLA). The objective of this research is to determine the microbiological quality (total coliforms, fecal coliforms and free-living amoebae) of Zacatepec aquifer, in the state of Morelos. Monthly samplings of thirteen wells of the aquifer were carried out during one year. The following physicochemical parameters were measure in situ : pH, dissolved oxygen (DO) and temperature. Total and fecal coliforms were determined by the membrane filter technique. Free-living amoebae were cultured on non-nutritive agar medium (NNE); the identification was carried out taking in account their morphological features. All the wells were polluted with total coliforms, one with a geometric mean of 107 CFU/100 mL. Fecal coliforms were absent in four wells; nevertheless, one presented a geometric mean of 107 CFU/100 mL. The most polluted well was number 3, and the months with more bacteria were April and July. Free-living amoebae were isolated in all the wells, the highest isolation number was found in well number 2, while the lowest were found in wells 4, 5, and 10. December and January were the months with the highest number of amoebae, and April with the lowest. Twenty two species belonging to 16 genera were isolated; the most frequent was Hartmannella with 38 %; this amoeba has not been reported as pathogenic, but it has been associated to ocular and brain infections in humans. Of the pathogenic amoebae, Acanthamoeba was isolated, but with a low frequency (6.7 %). Physicochemical parameters had low seasonal variation, pH was close to neutrality in a range of 6.4 to 7.3, temperature was in a range of 25.1 to 28 °C, and dissolved oxygen of 2.9 to 4.8 mg/L. The average values of the physicochemical parameters among the wells were very similar. The presence of coliforms indicates human pollution in the aquifer, and together with the presence of pathogenic free-living amoebae, stand out the significance of water disinfection before it being used as drinking water.


This article reviews the cases applying the Blasius doctrine in an effort to find some definable patterns, and to assess whether the doctrine serves a useful purpose. Part II focuses on the proscribed effect of thwarting the shareholder vote or impeding the shareholder franchise, concluding that: conduct, which has a proscribed effect, often involves weighing the imminence of shareholder action and the degree to which the director's action precludes, delays or renders the shareholder action more difficult; the court is much more likely to find that action having the proscribed effect was undertaken for that purpose if the board action does not involve a business decision; and the evidence of the proscribed motive must be particularly strong. Part III discusses whether the board could ever take action for the primary purpose of thwarting the shareholder franchise under the "compelling justification" standard, and concludes that no director has ever established a compelling justification. Part IV examines the usefulness of the Blasius doctrine because of the substantial overlap with Unocal. The article concludes that Blasius serves a purpose not served by Unocal, it applies when the board action at issue does not involve a contest for control or a defensive action, but does involve the requisite purpose and effect, which is particularly true where the board action does not involve a business transaction, but relates solely to the governance or electoral process.


According to the Financial Times (James Wilson & Gerrit Wiesmann 12.3.2012) German investors were seeking lawsuits over the Greek debt swap, immediately after it was set in motion in March 2012. According to reports, a German law firm was preparing lawsuits against banks and the Greek state on behalf of holders of Greek bonds who have been forced to take part in Greece's €206bn debt swap. The Hamburg law firm claimed that there were some 200 expressions of interest in joining a class-action suit. This development follows the decision by Greece to trigger Collective Action Clauses (CAC) that were added to bonds issued under Greek law. The clauses force all bondholders to go along with the decision by the majority of the debt's owners – including banks, insurers and pension funds – to agree to the swap. The possibility of legal action over imposed 'haircuts' to sovereign debt is seen by many as an alternative strategy for seeking compensation instead of relying on payments from Credit Default Swaps. A legal precedent is offered by Argentina which defaulted on its sovereign debt in December 2001, prompting over 180,000 Italian bondholders to file a class action, known as Abaclat v Argentina, claiming a violation of their rights under a bilateral investment treaty. This paper discusses options in the courts and international investment arbitration for investors who have suffered losses on the Greek restructuring of March 2012. The paper considers the precedents available under bilateral investment treaties (especially the Germany-Greece BIT of 1961), European Law (including the ECHR) and the Greek courts. The paper concludes by offering an assessment of the chances of success of claims under each of the above headings. [Please note that this is an early draft of this paper - contact the author for updates and permission to quote]


A new system for simulating future belowground temperature increases was conceived, simulated, constructed and tested in a temperate deciduous forest in Oak Ridge, TN, USA. The new system uses low‐wattage, 3 m deep heaters installed around the circumference of a defined soil volume. The heaters add the necessary energy to achieve a set soil temperature differential within the treatment area and add exterior energy inputs equal to those, which might be lost from lateral heat conduction. The method, which was designed to work in conjunction with aboveground heated chambers, requires only two control sensor positions one for aboveground air temperatures at 1 m and another for belowground temperatures at 0.8 m. The method is capable of achieving temperature differentials of at least +4.0±0.5 °C for soils to a measured depth of −2 m. These +4 °C differential soil temperatures were sustained in situ throughout 2009, and both diurnal and seasonal cycles at all soil depths were retained using this simple heating approach. Measured mean energy inputs required to sustain the target heating level of +4 °C over the 7.1 m2 target area were substantial for aboveground heating (21.1 kW h day−1 m−2), but 16 times lower for belowground heaters (1.3 kW h day−1 m−2). Observations of soil CO2 efflux from the surface of the target soil volumes showed CO2 losses throughout 2009 that were elevated above the temperature response curve that have been reported in previous near‐surface soil warming studies. Stimulation of biological activity within previously undisturbed deep‐soil carbon stocks is the hypothesized source. Long‐term research programs may be able to apply this new heating method that captures expected future warming and temperature dynamics throughout the soil profile to address uncertainties in process‐level responses of microbial, plant and animal communities in whole, intact ecosystems.


Although content is obviously important for effective documents, the look of a document is also important. If you want someone to read a document, it should be pleasant to look at, and if you want the document to be used, the information should be easy to find. This can be accomplished by following the principles of 'writing visually'. These principles include making pages open and inviting to the reader, using clear text styles, and employing lists, tables, and illustrations to explain complicated processes and relationships.


This interdisciplinary study explores the relationship between conceptions of nature and (largely American) legal thought and practice. It focuses on the politics and pragmatics of nature talk as expressed in both extralegal disputes and their transformation and translation into forms of legal discourse (tort, property, contract, administrative law, criminal law, and constitutional law). Delaney begins by considering the pragmatics of nature in connection with the very idea of law and the practice of American legal theorization. He then traces a set of specific politicallegal disputes and arguments. The set consists of a series of contexts and cases organized around a conventional distinction between "external" and "internal" nature: forces of nature, endangered species, animal experiments, bestiality, reproductive technologies, genetic screening, biological defenses in criminal cases, and involuntary medication of inmates. He demonstrates throughout that nearly any construal of "nature" entails an interpretation of what it is to be (distinctively) human.


This thesis is a comparative study on localization of carbonic anhydrase (CA) in male and female reproductive organs. CA functions in pH and bicarbonate homeostasis and catalyzes the reaction CO₂ + H₂O ↔ HCO₃⁻ + H⁺. At present 15 different isozymes (CA I-XIV) have been characterized, three of them without catalytic activity. Only active isozymes are of physiological interest and a method demonstrating CA activity in tissues was used. Furthermore, a study on knockout mice deficient in CA II has been undertaken since these are used as model animals for the inherited human CA II deficiency syndrome. Tissues from testis and epididymis were taken from sexually mature pig, rabbit and mouse males; and from the ovary, oviduct and uterus from females of the same species and also cat. Corresponding tissues were taken from CA II-deficient mice. Tissues from other species were included when available from other studies. The tissues were fixed and processed for histochemical demonstration of CA activity and on mouse tissue also for immunohistochemical localization for CA II and CA IV. Spermatozoa were collected from testis, caput, corpus and cauda epididymidis and labelled for CA IV for scanning electron microscopy. Testis: The seminiferous epithelium was unstained except for the Sertoli cells in pig and acrosomes in hamster and lemming. The Leydig cells were CA positive in rat and pig. The capillaries were stained for CA activity in the testis of all species. Epididymis: The apical cells in caput showed CA activity in all species. The principal cells had basolateral membrane staining in cauda. The stereocilia/microvilli were stained in some regions in the species but not in pig. The membrane-bound CA IV was found to be transferred to the spermatozoa during passage through the duct. The capillaries were unstained. Ovary: The oocyte was unstained except for the rabbit cell membrane. The granulosa cells were stained only in the mouse and the theca interna was negative in all species. The luteal cells of corpus luteum were always unstained. The capillaries were variably stained for CA activity and unstained in mouse. Uterus: The surface epithelium was stained during at least some stage of the oestrus cycle in all species except pig. CA disappeared from the epithelium during the non-luteal phase in rabbit, while the glands were negative during the entire cycle. In the other species the glands were stained for CA activity. Stained capillaries were present in all species, except during the luteal phase in rabbit. CA II-deficient mouse: Membrane-bound CAs were more predominant than CA II in males, which may explain why the CA II-deficiency does not affect male fertility in the mouse. In the control females CA II was present in the uterine epithelium and glands as well as membrane-bound CA. The deficient females, however, often produce stillborn pups, which might be related to the lack of CA II in the uterine mucosa. Conclusions: The CA present in the epididymis is thought to be involved in the gradual acidification and bicarbonate resorption taking place in the duct. The envi4 ronment in cauda must have a low pH to keep the spermatozoa immotile during storage. The CA in the female is thought to have a function in the micro milieu in the oviduct and uterus during transport of spermatozoa and ovum and later for embryonic implantation in the uterus. However, the cyclic variation affects CA activity, which together with a significant species variation warrant further studies.


Introduction. On 23 October 2015, six related cases with gastroenteritis called the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. They suspected filet américain, a raw beef spread, to be the source of infection. Leftovers and stool samples tested positive for Salmonella Typhimurium. Multiple locus variable-number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) revealed a MLVA pattern (02-23-08-08-212), which had not been detected in the Netherlands before. Concomitantly, an increase of this MLVA type was observed in the national Salmonella surveillance, amounting to 46 cases between 26 October and 9 December. Methods. To investigate whether filet américain or an alternative (related) source could be linked to surveillance-reported cases, cases (n=38) were invited to complete a questionnaire and upstream source tracing to map the food supply chain was initiated. Results. Rapid interdisciplinary action resulted in identification of a contaminated 46-ton batch of beef distributed via a Dutch deboning plant as the likely source of infection. In total, 24/29 respondents (83%) could be linked to the incriminated batch of beef products (predominantly filet américain and minced beef). Discussion. Repeated identification of raw meat products as a source of infection emphasizes the importance of awareness of the risk of infection when handling or consuming these products. Improved measures and procedures on product labelling, pre-treatment or product testing should be considered.


Modern IO subsystems implement complex DMA transaction parameters, called DMA hints, which are not explicitly supported by the Linux DMA API. This paper investigates benefits of using non-default DMA hints and thus whether such hints should be abstracted into the DMA API. My conclusion is the implementation (ZX1) investigated does not warrant changing the DMA API. Other implementations need to be compared before proposing any changes. HP PA-RISC (Astro[1]/Elroy[2]) and IA64 IO Controllers (ZX1) both support several types of DMA hints and both are commercially available. My primary interest was the ability to prefetch cache lines for PCI devices. The benefit is same as for CPU: bring the data closer to the consumer. But to my surprise, cache line prefetching is not the most important hint since default prefetching works well for all devices. Relaxing the PCI ordering rules turns out to be more important since firmware can't know when it's safe to do so. Updated versions of this paper will be available from http://iou.parisc-linux. org/ols2003/


Background An association between occurrence of wildfires and mortality in the exposed population has been observed in several studies with controversial results for cause-specific mortality. In the Mediterranean area, forest fires usually occur during spring–summer, they overlap with Saharan outbreaks, are associated with increased temperature and their health effects are probably due to an increase in particulate matter. Aim and methods We analysed the effects of wildfires and particulate matter (PM10) on mortality in 10 southern European cities in Spain, France, Italy and Greece (2003–2010), using satellite data for exposure assessment and Poisson regression models, simulating a case-crossover approach. Results We found that smoky days were associated with increased cardiovascular mortality (lag 0–5, 6.29%, 95% CIs 1.00 to 11.85). When the effect of PM10 (per 10 µg/m3) was evaluated, there was an increase in natural mortality (0.49%), cardiovascular mortality (0.65%) and respiratory mortality (2.13%) on smoke-free days, but PM10-related mortality was higher on smoky days (natural mortality up to 1.10% and respiratory mortality up to 3.90%) with a suggestion of effect modification for cardiovascular mortality (3.42%, p value for effect modification 0.055), controlling for Saharan dust advections. Conclusions Smoke is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality in urban residents, and PM10 on smoky days has a larger effect on cardiovascular and respiratory mortality than on other days.


In a variety of medical contexts, doctors play a prominent role as bankers, lending directly to patients or arranging for patients to obtain loans from third party lenders. This Article offers evidence of this activity from fertility markets based on an empirical study of virtually every fertility clinics' website in the United States and on interviews with key market participants. I find that doctors play an important role in patients' decisions about credit, discussing credit with patients and even recommending and promoting specific lenders to patients while excluding consideration of other potential lenders.Despite the prevalence of this conduct, the law does not generally regulate doctors as bankers. Patients are largely left unprotected by current regulations, but they face significant problems when doctors act as bankers. Patients, vulnerable to their physicians' suggestions, often uncritically accept financial advice from their doctor. Instead of shopping for the best loan, they take the loan their doctor selects for them. But, doctors face a conflict of interest when choosing which lender to recommend because different lenders charge physicians different amounts when patients pay with loans. Also, patients are often left confused when doctors present piecemeal information about lenders, and patients end up taking out loans with unfavorable terms.In light of these problems, I offer a potential regulatory framework to regulate doctors acting as bankers. I suggest that regulations should require doctors to disclose the basic loan information that the Truth in Lending Act currently requires that lenders disclose. Moreover, policymakers should require physicians to disclose the financial arrangement between themselves and the lenders they recommend and, if they recommend lenders, to recommend at least three potential lenders to patients to encourage price shopping.


Since 3-MCPD fatty acid esters were detected in refined vegetable fats for the first time in 2007, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has assessed the health risks of these process contaminants in foods multiple times, most recently in 2012. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has now assessed possible risks to human health of 2-MCPD, 3MCPD and their fatty acid esters, as well as of glycidyl fatty acid esters, in foods. During this process, EFSA documented analytical data on the occurrence of these process contaminants in foods from a total of 23 EU member states (collected between 2009 and 2015) and performed an exposure assessment for different groups of the population. In its expert report, EFSA identified potential health risks from fatty esters of 3-MCPD, 2-MCPD and glycidol in foods in particular for younger age groups of the population.


We consider a process by which images recorded in high-density holographic storage systems may be degraded. In particular, the recording of many holograms in the same volume results in cross erasure of each hologram by the sum of all the remaining holograms superposed in the same volume. This effect is, in general, spatially nonuniform and varies both transversely across each recorded image and in depth as the image propagates and diffracts throughout the volume of the recording medium. We apply a three-dimensional numerical analysis to assess the bit error rate (BER) resulting from this noise source as a function of various recording parameters. In particular, we use this analysis to determine the optimum exposure schedule for a given BER. We then describe means by which these noise sources can be largely circumvented through appropriate choice of the writing-beam intensities or the recording geometry or the use of random-phase screens.


This article places the Accra Confession, accepted at the 24th General Assembly of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) (2004), within the historical context of the WARC's struggle for economic justice in the face of globalisation. It moves beyond addressing such issues merely as ethical issues to rather viewing them as confessional issues of faith. It highlights the difficulties of the WARC to reach consensus on issues concerning economic justice. It also shows how the WARC has taken the lead in the ecumenical movement by engaging a broad spectrum of people - professionals and non-professionals, from the North and the South, rich and poor - to ensure that such a confession is a true reflection of the experiences of people at grass-roots level and that it speaks from the heart. The Accra Confession challenges Christians to take a faith stance on economic injustice.


In striking down the death penalty for intellectually disabled and juvenile defendants, Atkins v. Virginia and Roper v. Simmons have been understandably heralded as important holdings under the Court's Eighth Amendment jurisprudence that has found the death penalty "disproportional" for certain types of defendants and crimes. This Article argues, however, that the cases have a far more revolutionary reach than their conventional understanding. In both cases the Court went one step beyond its usual two-step analysis of assessing whether imposing the death penalty violated "evolving standards of decency." This extra step looked at why even though intellectual disability and youth were powerful mitigators, juries were not able to reliably use them in their decision making. The Court thus articulated expressly for the first time what this Article calls the "unreliability principle:" if too great a risk exists that constitutionally protected mitigation cannot be reliably assessed, the unreliability means that the death penalty cannot be constitutionally imposed. In recognizing the unreliability principle, the Court has called into serious question the death penalty for other offenders to whom the principle applies, such as mentally ill defendants. And, unlike with the "evolving standards" analysis, the unreliability principle does not depend on whether a national consensus exists against the practice. This Article identifies the six Atkins-Roper factors that bring the unreliability principle into play and shows why they make application of the death penalty to mentally ill defendants unconstitutional. The principle, which finds its constitutional home in the cases of Woodson v. North Carolina and Lockett v. Ohio, has profound implications for the death penalty, and if taken to its logical endpoint calls into question the Court's core premise since Furman v. Georgia, that by providing individualized consideration of a defendant and his crime, the death penalty decision will be free of arbitrariness.


In this paper, we review the literature on the "spike" in unemployment exit rates around benefit exhaustion, and present new evidence based on administrative data for a large sample of job losers in Austria. We find that the way unemployment spells are measured has a large effect on the magnitude of the spike at exhaustion, both in existing studies and in our Austrian data. Spikes are typically much smaller when spell length is defined by the time to next job than when it is defined by the time spent on the unemployment system. In Austria, the exit rate from registered unemployment rises by over 200% at the expiration of benefits, while the hazard rate of re-employment rises by only 20%. The difference between the two measures arises because many individuals leave the unemployment register immediately after their benefits expire without returning to work. The modest spike in re-employment rates implies that most job seekers do not wait until their UI benefits are exhausted to return to work: fewer than 1% of jobless spells have an ending date that is manipulated to coincide with the expiration of UI benefits.


Specific factors of population socialization were studied in one rural and one urban married sample in Malawi, The wives and husbands were interviewed on their socio-economic background and different fertility motives, the results and rural-urban fertility differentials are descriptionbed and analysed in a tri-dimensional model of population socialization: authority, group, body-mind environment. In the authority dimension the following socialization factors ;were identified: (1) continuity, tradition, security, (2) parenthood satisfaction, (3) role motivation, (4) religion; in the group dimension: (5) social status from children, (6) peer pressure on child bearing, (7) goal incentives from children; in the body-mind-environment dimension: ,(8) expression of love and affection, (9) sexual behaviour, (10) breast feeding, (11) use of contraceptive techniques, ideal number of children, education, (12) prioritizing economic versus psychosocial values, costs of children. As a conclusion, the social value of children or the reproductive motive may be rechanneled into alternative sources of satisfaction in order to decrease the high fertility rate in Malawi. Those alternative sources of satisfaction are indicated in some of the motives in the urban sample, e.g. educational, occupational, technological and economic achievement, better housing: more leisure and self-development.


Machine translation has an undesirable propensity to produce "translationese" artifacts, which can lead to higher BLEU scores while being liked less by human raters. Motivated by this, we model translationese and original (i.e. natural) text as separate languages in a multilingual model, and pose the question: can we perform zero-shot translation between original source text and original target text? There is no data with original source and original target, so we train a sentence-level classifier to distinguish translationese from original target text, and use this classifier to tag the training data for an NMT model. Using this technique we bias the model to produce more natural outputs at test time, yielding gains in human evaluation scores on both accuracy and fluency. Additionally, we demonstrate that it is possible to bias the model to produce translationese and game the BLEU score, increasing it while decreasing human-rated quality. We analyze these outputs using metrics measuring the degree of translationese, and present an analysis of the volatility of heuristic-based train-data tagging.


We present a neural network-based face detection system. A retinally connected neural network examines small windows of an image, and decides whether each window contains a face. The system arbitrates between multiple networks to improve performance over a single network. We use a bootstrap algorithm for training, which adds false detections into the training set as training progresses. This eliminates the difficult task of manually selecting non-face training examples, which must be chosen to span the entire space of non-face images. Comparisons with another state-of-the-art face detection system are presented; our system has better performance in terms of detection and false-positive rates.


A standard approach to study time-dependent stochastic processes is the power spectral density (PSD), an ensemble-averaged property defined as the Fourier transform of the autocorrelation function of the process in the asymptotic limit of long observation times, T → ∞ . In many experimental situations one is able to garner only relatively few stochastic time series of finite T, such that practically neither an ensemble average nor the asymptotic limit T → ∞ can be achieved. To accommodate for a meaningful analysis of such finite-length data we here develop the framework of single-trajectory spectral analysis for one of the standard models of anomalous diffusion, scaled Brownian motion. We demonstrate that the frequency dependence of the single-trajectory PSD is exactly the same as for standard Brownian motion, which may lead one to the erroneous conclusion that the observed motion is normal-diffusive. However, a distinctive feature is shown to be provided by the explicit dependence on the measurement time T, and this ageing phenomenon can be used to deduce the anomalous diffusion exponent. We also compare our results to the single-trajectory PSD behaviour of another standard anomalous diffusion process, fractional Brownian motion, and work out the commonalities and differences. Our results represent an important step in establishing single-trajectory PSDs as an alternative (or complement) to analyses based on the time-averaged mean squared displacement.


Voter mobilization campaigns face trade-offs in young democracies. In a large-scale experiment implemented in 2013 with the Kenyan Electoral Commission (IEBC), text messages intended to mobilize voters boosted participation but also decreased trust in electoral institutions after the election, a decrease that was stronger in areas that experienced election-related violence, and for individuals on the losing side of the election. The mobilization backfired because the IEBC promised an electronic voting system that failed, resulting in manual voting and tallying delays. Using a simple model, we show signaling high institutional capacity via a mobilization campaign can negatively affect beliefs about the fairness of the election.


Background: Although borage (Borago officinalis L.) is a valuable medicinal plant, no information is available on the responses of this plant to salinity. For this reason, it is necessary to determine responses of this plant to salinity. Objective: Since germination and early growth stage is one of the most critical phases of plant life under salinity condition; this experiment was conducted to determine some responses of borage to salinity at the seedling stage. Methods: This experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with three replications and four salinity treatments, including distilled water (EC=0.0dS m -1 ) and three saline water conditions with EC of 5.0, 10.0 and 15.0 dSm -1 . Results: With increasing EC, the content of free proline, soluble carbohydrates and proteins were increased. Moreover, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes were significantly increased. Although seedlings dry weight and emergence percentage were declined with increasing EC, the seedlings had markedly growth/survival under salinity conditions. Conclusion: The survival and little reduction in emergence under salinity conditions (12.5%) indicated that borage was a salt tolerant species at the early growth stage. This tolerant is certainly due to the enhancement of antioxidant enzymes activities and compatible solutes content.


Business intelligence (BI) is one of the technology areas that have grown tremendously. BI describes a set of concepts and methods based on data for improving business decision making. BI capabilities have become one of the important business and technical capabilities. However, BI capabilities have remained largely unexamined in academic literature. Current understandings of BI capabilities are limited and lack systematic view. In this conceptual paper, we develop a framework to define BI capabilities as a multi-dimension concept. It consists of BI infrastructure maturity, data management capability, analytical capability, collaborative governance capability, and analytics-based process capability. We also examine how BI capabilities facilitate and support sense and respond strategies in current dynamic business environment.


Adam Smith (1723-90) is a thinker with a distinctive perspective on human behaviour and social institutions. He is best known as the author of the An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). Yet his work is name-checked more often than it is read and then typically it is of an uninformed nature; that he is an apologist for capitalism, a forceful promoter of self-interest, a defender of greed and a critic of any 'interference' in market transactions . To offset this caricature, this Handbook provides an informed portrait. Drawing on the expertise of leading Smith scholars from around the world, it reflects the depth and breadth of Smith's intellectual interests. After an introductory outline chapter on Smith's life and times, the volume comprises 28 new essays divided into seven parts. Five sections are devoted to particular themes in Smith's corpus - his views on Language, Art and Culture; his Moral Philosophy; his Economic thought, his discussions of History and Politics and his analyses of Social Relations. These five parts are framed by one that focuses on the immediate and proximate sources of his thought and the final one that recognizes Smith's status as a thinker of world-historical significance - indicating both his posthumous impact and influence and his contemporary resonance. While each chapter is a discrete contribution to scholarship, the Handbook comprises a composite whole to enable the full range of Smith's work to be appreciated.


Climate can be understood as the mean atmospheric condition for a certain region. It affects directly most of the human activities, in special agriculture since it defines final yield levels, conditioned mainly by the regional water availability. However, the climatic classifications systems (SCC) are not often used for agricultural studies because usually their scales are considered very wide. Therefore monthly mean values of maximum and minimum air temperature of 27 termometric stations and 427 pluviometric stations of State of Sao Paulo were utilized to update and improve the mapping of two SCC, Koppen modified and Thornthwaite, besides to evaluate their applicability for agroclimatic zonning for the State of Sao Paulo. The use of 427 localities resulted in amore accurate mapping of the State by both climatic classifications. Their applicability on agroclimatical studies was evaluated through the separation capacity of the climate types by two systems, in relation to the meteorological elements and components of normal water balance. It was used data dispersion analysis, Tukey´s test and cluster analysis with independent data. The Koppen SCC showed to be efficient only for macroscale and low capacity of climate types separation in relation to meteorological elements (air temperature, rain) and data resulting from water balance (evapotranspiration, deficit and surplus). As a result this SCC should not be used in agrometeorological studies. On the other hand, Thornthwaite SCC efficiently separates the climate types in toposcale or mesoscale in view of the fact that it can efficiently resume generated informations by normal water balance, indicating ability to determine agroclimatical zones. Discussions were also made about sowing dates and final quality of agricultural products related to the two SCC considered question.


Empirical data sets of intraspecific restriction site polymorphism in Drosophila have been gathered in order to test hypotheses derived from coalescent theory. Three main ideas are tested: (1) haplotype frequency in the sample contains information on the topological position of a given haplotype in a cladogram, (2) the frequency of a haplotype is related to the number of mutational connections to other haplotypes in the cladogram and (3) geographic location can be used to infer topological positioning of haplotypes in a cladogram. These relationships can then be used to better estimate intraspecific phylogenies in two ways: (1) rooting the phylogeny and (2) resolving ambiguities in a cladogram. This information will allow one to reduce the number of alternative phylogenies and incorporate the uncertainties involved in reconstructing intraspecific phylogenies into subsequent analyses that depend heavily on the topology of the tree.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings from a study commissioned by the British Transport Police and the Department for Transport for England and Wales concerning sexual offences and harassment on public transport worldwide. Specifically, it aims to explore the prevalence of such behaviours, through a review of existing survey and interview data regarding women and girls' experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

A rapid evidence assessment (REA) was used, the function of which is to: search the literature as comprehensively as possible within given time constraints; collate descriptive outlines of the available evidence on a topic and critically appraise it; sift out studies of poor quality; and provide an overview of the evidence.

Findings

It was found that prevalence rates range from 15 to 95 per cent, with the UK having the lowest rates. Emerging economies had higher rates of harassment and assault, which may relate to differing cultural and gender norms, where public space is regarded as a male domain.

Research limitations/implications

A REA is not a full systematic review, differing in the scope and depth of the searches and depending almost exclusively on electronic databases, not accompanied by searching journals by hand.

Practical implications

More research of high methodological rigour needs to be carried out on prevalence rates of sexual harassment and offending on public transport worldwide. The high prevalence rates found suggest the need for more work around the area of interventions to curtail offending in this setting. The findings suggest that emerging economies, in particular, need to do more to address the problem of sexual harassment and assault on public transport. More fundamentally, cultural norms around women's roles in society need to be addressed and challenged.

Originality/value

Women may become "transit captive" and socially excluded if they are afraid to travel on public transport and do not have access to private transport. This would be an unacceptable situation which must be addressed by transport authorities and police.


In [1], an important step toward the characterization of distributed detection over adaptive networks has been made by establishing the fundamental scaling law of the error probabilities. However, empirical evidence reported in [1] revealed that a refined asymptotic analysis is necessary in order to capture the exact impact of network connectivity on the detection performance of each individual agent. Here we address this open issue by exploiting the framework of exact asymptotics.


We use information from over 2 million trading strategies randomly generated using real data and from strategies that survive the publication process to infer the statistical properties of the set of strategies that could have been studied by researchers. Using this set, we compute $t$-statistic thresholds that control for multiple hypothesis testing, when searching for anomalies, at 3.8 and 3.4 for time-series and cross-sectional regressions, respectively. We estimate the expected proportion of false rejections that researchers would produce if they failed to account for multiple hypothesis testing to be about 45%.


Formations of haloacetonitriles (HANs) and haloketones (HKs) from chlorination and chloramination from Jinlan Reservoir water under different treatment conditions were investigated in this study. Results showed that monochloramine rather than chlorine produced significant lower concentrations of HANs and HKs. In chlorination, the formation of HANs and HKs increased with the reaction time and chlorine dose. Addition of bromide significantly enhanced the total HANs yields but reduced total HKs formation due to the unavailability of bromine-containing HKs. HANs yields increased as the temperature was raised, yet HKs yields increased first and decreased later with temperature. As for the influence of pH, the HKs yields generally increased as the pH decreased, yet no obvious pattern was observed for HANs formation. On the other hand, in monochloramination, the yields of HANs and HKs generally increased with reaction time, temperature and the monochloramine dose. Higher HANs and HKs yields formed at low pH, and the addition of bromide significantly increased the total HANs yields. Range analysis further revealed that avoiding the bromide contamination, lowering the chlorine/monochloramine dose as well as reducing the reaction time were the effective ways to control HANs and HKs formation for drinking water sourced from Jinlan Reservoir water.