Linear prediction is a popular strategy employed in the analysis and representation of signals. In this paper, we propose a new linear prediction approach by considering the standard linear prediction in the context of graph signal processing, which has gained significant attention recently. We view the signal to be defined on the nodes of a graph with an adjacency matrix constructed using the coefficients of the standard linear predictor (SLP). We prove theoretically that the graph based linear prediction approach results in an equal or better performance compared with the SLP in terms of the prediction gain. We illustrate the proposed concepts by application to real speech signals.


In Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Supreme Court, by the narrowest of margins, held that allegations of police perjury made in memoranda to his superiors by Richard Ceballos, a supervisory prosecutor in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, were unprotected by the First Amendment because "his expressions were made pursuant to his duties." The academic reaction to this holding has been harshly negative; scholars argue that the holding will prevent the public from learning of governmental misconduct that is known only to those working within the bowels of the government itself. This article rejects the scholarly consensus on Garcetti. The critics' claim that Garcetti undervalues the role of whistleblowers in enhancing the quality of public discussion and debate is misconceived, I will argue, because Garcetti is not properly understood as a whistleblower case. Ceballos did not take his case against the district attorney's office to the public; therefore his speech could not have advanced the public's understanding and evaluation of the district attorney's performance. Moreover, although the Court's opinion is admittedly undertheorized, its holding is consistent with fundamental principles of First Amendment law. Rather than stifling public discussion and debate about public institutions, Garcetti rests on an understanding of the First Amendment's commitment to free speech as a means of achieving political accountability - an understanding with powerful roots in First Amendment jurisprudence. The Court's opinion contains a sketch - concededly partial and somewhat obscure - of managerial control over employee speech as essential if management is to be held politically accountable for the performance of public institutions. This article endeavors to fill out the sketch. The article begins with an exploration of Garcetti. Part I demonstrates that Garcetti essentially abandons the Court's prior approach to the First Amendment rights of public employees by embracing a new inquiry that focuses on an identification of the scope of legitimate managerial prerogatives. Managerial prerogative, in turn, ensures that political officials have effective control over the functioning of public offices - and therefore are fairly held politically accountable for the operations of those offices. Part I concludes with a consideration of the future of public employee speech litigation in light of the emerging law of managerial prerogative. Part II considers the implications of this new law of managerial prerogative in another employment-related context - laws forbidding discriminatory harassment. There has been a powerful current of scholarly argument that the First Amendment places substantial limitations on the power of government to forbid sexually or racially harassing speech. At least four Members of the United States Supreme Court have expressed significant support for this view. Part II demonstrates that under the concept of managerial prerogative embraced by Garcetti, governmental power to forbid harassing speech in the workplace is largely unconstrained by the First Amendment. In Part III, the article places Garcetti within the context of a broader trend in recent First Amendment jurisprudence. Part III sketches the emerging doctrinal framework of this new First Amendment law of managerial prerogative and then, to illustrate the character of emerging doctrine, applies this framework to institutions of higher education and the concept of academic freedom - an issue noted but set aside in Garcetti. Part III argues that the emerging First Amendment law of managerial prerogative permits public universities to regulate academic speech in a manner that is consistent with scholarly norms as a means of achieving legitimate institutional objectives.


It is well known that no single metric can provide reliable cross-country risk assessments of debt sustainability. While approaches to understanding sustainability have traditionally relied heavily on stock metrics, a consensus is emerging that debt sustainability should be linked to both stock and flow features of underlying public debt. This paper informs this debate by analysing the ability of gross financing needs, the preferred flow metric in current debt sustainability analyses by official institutions, to provide additional information to that provided by standard stock metrics of a sovereign's likelihood of distress. Our main contribution is to document a significant negative effect from changes in gross financing needs when debt stocks are high. These results support the intuition that countries can sustain very large debt stocks if these do not generate unmanageable flow needs. Additionally, we show that sovereign roll-over needs are a critical element driving this effect. Given the role of official lending in taming the dynamics of this component, our findings also inform the literature on the role of official lending in crises resolution.


The intertwining of our clothes and our Constitution raise fundamental questions of hierarchy, sexuality, and democracy. From our hairstyles to our shoes, constitutional considerations both constrain and confirm our daily choices. In turn, our attire and appearance provide multilayered perspectives on the United States Constitution and its interpretations. Our garments often raise First Amendment issues of expression or religion, but they also prompt questions of equality on the basis of gender, race, and sexuality. At work, in court, in schools, in prisons, and on the streets, our clothes and grooming provoke constitutional controversies. Additionally, the production, trade, and consumption of apparel implicate constitutional concerns including colonial sumptuary laws, slavery, wage and hour laws, and current notions of free trade. The regulation of what we wear – or don't – is ubiquitous. This is an INTRODUCTION and TABLE OF CONTENTS to a book that examines the rights to expression and equality, as well as the restraints on government power, as they both limit and allow control of our most personal choices of attire and grooming.


Detecting small objects is notoriously challenging due to their low resolution and noisy representation. Existing object detection pipelines usually detect small objects through learning representations of all the objects at multiple scales. However, the performance gain of such ad hoc architectures is usually limited to pay off the computational cost. In this work, we address the small object detection problem by developing a single architecture that internally lifts representations of small objects to super-resolved ones, achieving similar characteristics as large objects and thus more discriminative for detection. For this purpose, we propose a new Perceptual Generative Adversarial Network (Perceptual GAN) model that improves small object detection through narrowing representation difference of small objects from the large ones. Specifically, its generator learns to transfer perceived poor representations of the small objects to super-resolved ones that are similar enough to real large objects to fool a competing discriminator. Meanwhile its discriminator competes with the generator to identify the generated representation and imposes an additional perceptual requirement - generated representations of small objects must be beneficial for detection purpose - on the generator. Extensive evaluations on the challenging Tsinghua-Tencent 100K [45] and the Caltech [9] benchmark well demonstrate the superiority of Perceptual GAN in detecting small objects, including traffic signs and pedestrians, over well-established state-of-the-arts.


In the new framework of competitive electricity markets, all power market participants need accurate price forecasting tools. Electricity price forecasts characterize significant information that can help captive power producer, independent power producer, power generation companies, power distribution companies or open access consumers in careful planning of their bidding strategies for maximizing their profits, benefits and utilities from long term, medium term and short term perspective. Short term spot electricity price forecasting techniques are either inspired from electrical engineering literature (i.e. load forecasting) or from economics literature (i.e. game theory models and the time-series econometric models). In this study we investigate the emergence of spot electricity markets with particular emphasis on Indian electricity market which has never been done before and review selected finance and econometrics inspired literature and models for forecasting electricity spot prices in deregulated wholesale spot electricity markets.


T here have been major problems with the sustainability of water supply development and provision in urban areas of Indonesia, carried out by PDAMs under local government control. Two critical issues that are being faced by PDAMs are: (1) the capacity of PDAMs to increase the current coverage of the provision, which currently is only 40% of urban population and (2) the capability of PDAMs to carry on their developmental mission in providing clean water in urban areas. The main objective of this thesis is to examine the most influential factors behind the failure of water supply development in urban areas of Indonesia. The research findings in this thesis propose the necessary reformation to be taken in order to give the right orientation to water supply development. Based on a review of the literature, field work, discussions, correspondence and experiences of the author. I argue that the most influential factors concerning sustainable development of urban water supply of Indonesia are related to: population, urbanisation, income, human resources, supervision, private sector participation and central government control. This thesis has drawn the conclusion that the development of water supply in urban areas of Indonesia in the twenty-first century will depend on the success of the government to provide solutions to the following issues: population growth, urbanisation, household and labour income, human resources and a lack of supervision. The establishment of day-to-day supervision and the introduction of a Water Consumers Organisation (WCO) will provide better control over the PDAMs. Development of human resources conducive to the needs of PDAMs is seen as the firmest foundation towards the sustainable provision of clean water in the urban sector of Indonesia.


User profiling in social networks can besignificantly augmented by using available full-text itemssuch as posts or statuses and ratings (in the form oflikes) that users give them. In this work, we applymodern natural language processing techniques basedon word embeddings to several problems related touser profiling in social networks. First, we present anapproach to create user profiles that measure a user'sinterest in various topics mined from the full texts of theitems. As a result, we get a user profile that can be used,e.g., for cold start recommendations for items, targetedadvertisement, and other purposes; our experimentsshow that the interests mining method performs on alevel comparable with collaborative algorithms while atthe same time being a cold start approach, i.e., itdoes not use the likes of an item being recommended.Second, we study the problem of predicting a user'sdemographic attributes such as age and gender basedon his or her full-text items. We evaluate theefficiency of various age prediction algorithms based onword2vec word embeddings and conduct an extensiveexperimental evaluation, comparing these algorithmswith each other and with classical baseline approaches.


Planning in real-time offers several benefits over the more typical techniques of implementing Non-Player Character (NPC) behavior with scripts or finite state machines. NPCs that plan their actions dynamically are better equipped to handle unexpected situations. The modular nature of the goals and actions that make up the plan facilitates re-use, sharing, and maintenance of behavioral building blocks. These benefits, however, come at the cost of CPU cycles. In order to simultaneously plan for several NPCs in real-time, while continuing to share the processor with the physics, animation, and rendering systems, careful consideration must taken with the supporting architecture. The architecture must support distributed processing and caching of costly calculations. These considerations have impacts that stretch beyond the architecture of the planner, and affect the agent architecture as a whole. This paper describes lessons learned while implementing real-time planning for NPCs for F.E.A.R., a AAA first person shooter shipping for PC in 2005.


The mapping and visualization of topographic setting is paramount for the understanding and management of the physical environment. Based on this, sophisticated method that produces accurate result must be adopted to ensure that the right decision is made during planning. GIS technique has proved itself to be a force for sustainable development that is why researchers worldwide frequently apply its procedures in their investigations. The application of GIS in landscape mapping and visualization has increased the confidence ascribed to contemporary cartographic output. However, the primary objective of this paper is to demonstrate how GIS method can be used to simulate topographical data by applying various cartographic techniques in Edo State. DEM-based topographic data of the study region was entered into various GIS softwares and algorithms for manipulation and extraction of terrain features. Progressively, vital topographic features were automatically extracted and generated, these were used to build a GIS-assisted topographical database consisting of such physical features as the stream network of the region, stream catchment, contour and spot height, slope and relief direction etc. From this database, suspicious landscape structure was identified in the region. These digital derivatives are essential for the understanding of the region's landscape for the purpose of further investigation, planning and policy making.


Achieving fundamental management in public organizations involved in the public office holders and posts of leadership and execution in this area adds responsibility in managing all types of resources available to the public sector, namely human resources, information, material and financial. The main aim of the management process is to focus human efforts to coordinate joint work. An important role in this process, is upgrading the quality of organizational management and delivery of public services, improving public services through the implementation of innovative tools, leading to government-oriented processes and results-oriented public service.


Flowering time of plants can be controlled by pathways responsive to light or temperature, or through an autonomous pathway. The autonomous pathway promotes flowering and is especially important for Arabidopsis ecotypes that are rapid cyclers, that is, they will complete a life-cycle of vegetative and reproductive growth more than once a growing season. Quesada et al. show that an RNA-binding protein with a WW domain, FCA, which promotes flowering, regulates its own production by promoting usage of an upstream polyadenylation site located in an alternatively spliced third intron, leading to the production of truncated forms of FCA that are not functional in regulating flowering. Only intronless versions of FCA could be overexpressed, and these suppressed expression of the native, functional γ transcript and promoted the accumulation of the truncated β transcript. Expression of another truncated version that lacks the WW domain, the FCA-δ, did not alter the abundance of FCA or the pattern of transcripts produced. Thus, the WW domain is essential for the autoregulatory activity of FCA. Overexpression of the intronless FCA-γ transcript resulted in premature flowering and in transgenic plants expressing the highest levels of FCA-γ. Additional phenotypes were observed, including small stature, premature senescence and death of leaves. The authors propose that autoregulation may prevent premature flowering. V. Quesada, R. MacKnight, C. Dean, G. G. Simpson, Autoregulation of FCA pre-mRNA processing controls Arabidopsis flowering time. EMBO J. 22, 3142-3152 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Strategic business and IT alignment assessment is growing in importance. Different assessment methods have been used to try to pursue the complexity of this dynamic and evolutionary alignment. Despite the fact that alignment is a real problem and a challenge of utmost importance, no consensus can be found on what alignment really is, how it should be measured in the organization in practice, or what measures should be taken to maintain and improve it. Consequently, the key question about how to assess and accomplish (define, identify, measure, maintain and improve) the strategic business and IT alignment is still a great unanswered challenge for many enterprises.In this thesis work, three main research questions were formulated: how can the validity and reliability of an alignment assessment method be improved, what are the dominant topics in the area of alignment, and how to facilitate the analysis of the business and IT governance alignment based on business process simulation and balanced scorecard methods.This is a composite thesis work that includes an introduction and six papers (paper A-F). The main contributions and results of this thesis are described in published and included technical papers. In papers A and B an alternative organization-wide approach and metamodel for assessing strategic business and IT alignment are proposed. Two case studies were performed applying the proposed approach. In paper C, a prioritized diagram of the most widely accepted strategic alignment model, with the purpose of categorizing the most important topics in the research area of strategic business and IT alignment is presented. One of the relevant topics that were identified is governance. In papers D, E and F, there are presented a business process simulation approach and a balanced scorecard method in order to facilitate the assessment of the business and IT governance alignment. An illustrative example of the simulation approach is presented in an appendix of this thesis.This research work aims to improve the decision-making process for business and IT managers at different levels in an enterprise by means of increasing the level of understanding and knowledge as well as by enhancing existing models and methods, for evaluating strategic business and IT alignment.


SummaryPyke, Graham H. & Recher, Harry F. (1988). Seasonal patterns of capture rate and resource abundance for honeyeaters and silvereyes in heathland near Sydney. Emu 88, 33–42.Capture rate per unit effort employing mist nets is used as an index of abundance for honeyeaters and silvereyes. The nonresident and presumed migratory species (Yellow-faced Honeyeater Lichenostomus chrysops, White-naped Honeyeater Melithreptus lunatus, Silvereye Zosterops lateralis, Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris) move through our study area during June or July when nectar production is relatively high. Resident and breeding species (New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae, White-cheeked Honeyeater P. nigra, White-eared Honeyeater Lichenostomus ieucotis and Little Wattlebird Anthochaera chrysoptera) are rare or absent only during summer and there is no correspondence between their capture rates and the availability of nectar or insects, their main food sources.


Sediment flux on transport-limited hillslopes is well known to vary nonlinearly with slope, diverging as the angle of stability is approached. To date, however, no study has validated the precise form of the nonlinear slope-dependent transport model over geologic time scales in a non-steady-state landform. In this paper, we show how cinder cones can be used to validate the nonlinear transport model using Lathrop Wells cinder cone in Nye County, Nevada, as a type example. Cinder cones are well suited for this purpose because they can be radiometrically dated and their angles of stability can be constrained by measurement of subsurface contacts between primary fallout and overlying colluvial deposits reworked from upslope. Forward model results with a generalized, nonlinear transport model characterized by diffusivity, κ and nonlinear exponent, n , show that the evolution of the cone rim and base are most sensitive to κ while the cone midpoint is most sensitive to n . Analyses of the full cone shape, therefore, permit the two model parameters to be independently inferred if the cone age and angle of stability are independently known. Results for Lathrop Wells imply that n = 2 in the generalized, nonlinear transport model, which is consistent with Roering et al.9s (1999) widely used form of that model.


This paper examines the potential effects of data portability among online platforms on competition, providing policy recommendations for the preservation of innovative, undistorted competitive markets. Based on a platform-data model, it is illustrated how users, data and the products and services of a platform are related. Platform markets which entail an especially high risk of market power abuse are determined. It is concluded that the right to data portability as in the EU's General Data Protection Regulation has to be interpreted in a nuanced fashion in order to avoid adverse effects on competition and innovation.


Build smart applications by implementing real-world artificial intelligence projects
Key Features
Explore a variety of AI projects with Python

Get well-versed with different types of neural networks and popular deep learning algorithms

Leverage popular Python deep learning libraries for your AI projects

Book Description
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the newest technology that's being employed among varied businesses, industries, and sectors. Python Artificial Intelligence Projects for Beginners demonstrates AI projects in Python, covering modern techniques that make up the world of Artificial Intelligence.

This book begins with helping you to build your first prediction model using the popular Python library, scikit-learn. You will understand how to build a classifier using an effective machine learning technique, random forest, and decision trees. With exciting projects on predicting bird species, analyzing student performance data, song genre identification, and spam detection, you will learn the fundamentals and various algorithms and techniques that foster the development of these smart applications. In the concluding chapters, you will also understand deep learning and neural network mechanisms through these projects with the help of the Keras library.

By the end of this book, you will be confident in building your own AI projects with Python and be ready to take on more advanced projects as you progress

What you will learn
Build a prediction model using decision trees and random forest

Use neural networks, decision trees, and random forests for classification

Detect YouTube comment spam with a bag-of-words and random forests

Identify handwritten mathematical symbols with convolutional neural networks

Revise the bird species identifier to use images

Learn to detect positive and negative sentiment in user reviews

Who this book is for
Python Artificial Intelligence Projects for Beginners is for Python developers who want to take their first step into the world of Artificial Intelligence using easy-to-follow projects. Basic working knowledge of Python programming is expected so that you're able to play around with code


This study investigates the advection of positive-salinity anomalies by the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) and their potential importance in inducing vertical convective mixing. For this purpose we use hydrographic and velocity observations taken in April 2010 along the western Atlantic equatorial ocean (32 to 43°W). The high-salinity EUC core is a few tens of metres thick and occupies the base of the surface mixed layer and the upper portion of the surface thermocline. It leads to high positive values of the vertical salinity gradient, which in many instances cause statically unstable conditions in otherwise well-stratified regions. The unstable regions result in vertical convection, hence favouring the occurrence of step-like features. We propose that this combination of horizontal advection and vertical-instability leads to a sequence of downward-convective events. As a result the EUC salinity is diffused down to a potential density of 26.43, or about 200 m deep. This mechanism is responsible for water-mass and salt downwelling in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean, with a potentially large influence on the tropical and subtropical cells.


Customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives have gained much attention in recent years. With the aid of data mining technology, businesses can formulate specific strategies for different customer bases more precisely. Additionally, personalisation is another important issue in CRM - especially when a company has a huge product range. This paper presents a case model and investigates the use of computational intelligent techniques for CRM. These techniques allow the complex functions of relating customer behaviour to internal business processes to be learned more easily and the industry expertise and experience from business managers to be integrated into the modelling framework directly. Hence, they can be used in the CRM framework to enhance the creation of targeted strategies for specific customer bases.


The tremendous demand of functional food, nutraceuticals and fortified products has urged the food scientists and technologist to come up with novel fortified foods having health promoting benefits, sensorial acceptability and better shelf life. Garlic (Allium sativum) is a promising source of bioactive compounds, especially allicin. The current study evaluates storage stability and sensorial attributes of garlic supplemented chicken bites. The color tonality of fortified products indicated slight reduction in product lightness (L*) and redness (a*) for 28 days storage whereas gradual increase in the yellowness (b*) of chicken bites. Moreover, the texture hardness for chicken bites in T1 (chicken bites 3% conventional garlic extract) was maximum 0.9 ± 0.02 kg force in contrast to T2 (chicken bites containing 0.1% supercritical garlic extract) 0.8 ± 0.02 kg force. Garlic chicken bites containing supercritical garlic extract showed highest phenolic content (73.2 ± 3.7 mg GAE/100 g) as compared to control (63.8 ± 2.7 mg GAE/100 g). Moreover, total phenolics were decreased to in control as compared to T0 and T2, during storage. Our research study reveals that garlic fortification improves the stability and sensory attributes of chicken bites.


This interdisciplinary collection from the Human Rights Quarterly brings together in a single volume nineteen of the most compelling articles written on women's human rights issues. For the past twenty-five years, Human Rights Quarterly has been a leading publisher of important work in human rights research, exploring the fundamental nature of human rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. By providing decision makers with insight into complex human rights issues, the journal helps to define national and international human rights policy. This special issue focuses specifically on the challenges that women face and the efforts by individuals and organizations alike to ensure the protection of women under international law. The articles are organized into five sections that discuss the history and evolution of women's human rights, religion, violence, economic rights, and reproductive rights. The essays address such topics as the rights of Middle Eastern women, rape camps in the former Yugoslavia, and abortion law in Ireland.


We have reported three cases of iatrogenic lumbar meningocoeles after surgery for herniated lumbar intervertebral discs. We reject the term spurious, pseudo, or false as given by earlier writers. We feel that, in reality, these sacs are true meningocoeles, with complete arachnoidal lining and freely communicating with the intraspinal subarachnoid space. We have also given a brief outline of the clinical features, elucidated the mechanisms operative in the production of symptoms, and suggested the cardinal features of radiographic diagnosis. Prevention is, of course, the best way to avoid this complication. If a dural tear does occur, every effort should be made to suture it in a watertight manner.


In the Early Silurian a broad subtidal to peritidal shallow carbonate ramp was situated in central and northern Nevada. Along both the northern and western margins the shallow ramp merged into a deep-water basin. The northern shallow-ramp margin, coincident with the Tooele Arch, had a narrow grainstone shoal facies belt that passed downslope into deep-ramp environments. The grainstone shoal facies at the western shallow-ramp margin formed a wide belt to the north and a narrow belt to the south. Shallow-ramp sediments thinned northward toward the shallow-ramp margin, indicating slight differential down-to-south subsidence of the shallow ramp. Later in the Silurian (C 4 —Llandovery) the ramp was abruptly drowned. Simultaneous down-to-north subsidence along the northern shallow-ramp margin possibly led to surface faulting and the formation of an escarpment-bounded shelf. Subsequently, the drowned ramp evolved into a rimmed shelf, the rim consisting of high-energy skeletal sand shoals. Eastward progradation of peritidal sediments from the shelf rim filled in the shelf during the Llandovery and Wenlock. The rim facies also prograded oceanward over the western slope during the later Silurian. Along the northern shelf margin the rim facies was less well developed, and oceanward progradation over the northern slope was slow.


The view that entrepreneurship education should be based on experiential approaches to learning is gaining ground. However, there is both little discussion in the literature on what form experiential education should take and a paucity of examples of experiential approaches to learning. This paper helps to fill these gaps. It provides a case study of an experiential learning assignment that formed an important part of a first-year entrepreneurship course in a Scottish university. It describes how the assignment was designed, what activities were undertaken by students and, using their learning reflections for evidence, identifies the learning outcomes and the effect on entrepreneurial intent, motivations and capabilities. The evidence suggests that the assignment was an effective learning experience for the students, complementing and reinforcing prior classroom learning through application. It facilitated learning about the real world of the entrepreneur, something which would otherwise not have been possible, and had a positive impact on entrepreneurial intentions.


This paper proposes two face recognition algorithms namely Logarithmic Fourier Domain Principal Component Analysis (Log Fourier PCA) and Log fourier PCA with Independent Component Analysis (ICA) which successfully tackles multiple variations of face images. Neural network is used as classifier for both these methods. The Log Fourier PCA method proves to be resilient against illumination variations of the face images. However it is observed that the performance of this method decreases if there are multiple variations. Using ICA as a feature extractor further makes the recognition system robust to multiple parametric variations. Experimental results using Yale, ORL, FERET and PIE database shows that the proposed method Log fourier PCA followed by ICA and Neural network can tackle multiple variations in the face images. Their comparisons with other hybrid systems such as ICA-Neural Network and Fourier PCA-Neural network methods are also presented.


Micellar solutions of polystyrene-block-polybutadiene and polystyrene-block-polyisoprene in propane are found to exhibit significantly lower cloud pressures than the corresponding hypothetical nonmicellar solutions. Such a cloud-pressure reduction indicates the extent to which micelle formation enhances the apparent diblock solubility in near-critical and hence compressible propane. Concentration-dependent pressure−temperature points beyond which no micelles can be formed, referred to as the micellization end points, are found to depend on the block type, size, and ratio. The cloud-pressure reduction and the micellization end point measured for styrene−diene diblocks in propane should be characteristic of all amphiphilic diblock copolymer solutions that form micelles in compressible solvents.


High levels of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus can cause unhealthy biological or ecological conditions in surface waters and prevent the attainment of their designated uses. Regulatory agencies are developing numeric criteria for these nutrients in an effort to ensure that the surface waters in their jurisdictions remain healthy and productive, and that water quality standards are met. These criteria are often derived using field measurements that relate nutrient concentrations and other water quality conditions to expected biological responses such as undesirable growth or changes in aquatic plant and animal communities. Ideally, these numeric criteria can be used to accurately "diagnose" ecosystem health and guide management decisions. However, the degree to which numeric nutrient criteria are useful for decision making depends on how accurately they reflect the status or risk of nutrient‐related biological impairments. Numeric criteria that have little predictive value are not likely to be useful for managing nutrient concerns. This paper presents information on the role of numeric nutrient criteria as biological health indicators, and the potential benefits of sufficiently accurate criteria for nutrient management. In addition, it describes approaches being proposed or adopted in states such as Florida and Maine to improve the accuracy of numeric criteria and criteria‐based decisions. This includes a preference for developing site‐specific criteria in cases where sufficient data are available, and the use of nutrient concentration and biological response criteria together in a framework to support designated use attainment decisions. Together with systematic planning during criteria development, the accuracy of field‐derived numeric nutrient criteria can be assessed and maximized as a part of an overall effort to manage nutrient water quality concerns. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2014;10:133–137. © 2013 SETAC


A readable, far-reaching history of a multi-denominational, multi-regional, and multi-ethnic religious group, Protestants in America explores the physical and ideological roots of the denomination up to the present day, and traces the origins of American Protestants all the way back to the first English colony at Jamestown. The book covers their involvement in critical issues from temperance to the civil rights movement, the establishment of Protestant organizations like the American Bible Society and the Salvation Army, and the significant expansion of their ethnic base since the first African-American Protestant churches were built in the 1770s. Mark Noll follows their direct impact on American history-from the American Revolution to World War I and beyond-and peppers his account with profiles of leading Protestants, from Jonathan Edwards and Phillis Wheatley to Billy Graham and Martin Luther King, Jr.


The child support system is not serving low-income families well. Custodial parents are not receiving the child support they need. Enforcement of child support for lowincome parents receiving welfare primarily benefits the state because the payments are owed to the government. Low-income noncustodial parents face unrealistically high child support orders and large arrearages take so much of their wages that they cannot support themselves. They go to jail-often recurrently-because they cannot meet their obligations and thereby lose the opportunity to keep a job. Their driver's licenses are suspended because they have not paid their support. To evade this punitive cycle, they seek "below-ground" employment, avoiding garnishment, but increasing their own financial uncertainty and the potential for exploitation by unscrupulous employers and providing even less support to their families. Fathers, mothers, and children are caught in a vicious cycle where the goal of providing for families and children is thwarted by child support policies and practices that boomerang when applied to low-income people. In 2000, the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau launched a project to tackle barriers to employment and economic stability caused by unmanageable child support problems of noncustodial parents. The initial reaction to the idea of representing dads who were not paying child support was greeted with alarm. Tenacious advocates for custodial parents and children in our program feared that scarce resources would be misdirected into advocacy against Legal Aid's traditional client base-custodial single mothers struggling against daunting odds to raise their children. However, those fears quickly subsided as project advocates developed successful strategies to address barriers to sustained employment and economic stability caused by child support problems and policies. This article highlights recurrent legal issues that clients encountered and the project's advocacy responses. The article seeks to demonstrate why representing "deadbroke" noncustodial parents is important antipoverty advocacy that benefits fathers, mothers, children, and their communities.


The histone deacetylase inhibitor SAHA enhances cell death stimulated by the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib (BZ) by disrupting BZ-induced aggresome formation. Here we report that Myc regulates the sensitivity of multiple myeloma (MM) cells to BZ + SAHA-induced cell death. In MM cells, Myc expression directly correlated with intracellular ER content, protein synthesis rates, the percentage of aggresome-positive cells, and the sensitivity to BZ + SAHA-induced cell death. Accordingly, Myc knockdown markedly reduced the sensitivity of MM cells to BZ + SAHA-mediated apoptosis. Furthermore, activation of Myc was sufficient to provoke aggresome formation and thus sensitivity to BZ + SAHA, and these responses required de novo protein synthesis. BZ + SAHA-mediated stimulation of apoptosis includes the induction of the proapoptotic BH3-only protein Noxa as well as endoplasmic reticular stress, a disruption of calcium homeostasis, and activation of capase-4. Finally, knockdown studies demonstrated that both caspase-4 and Noxa play significant roles in Myc-driven sensitivity to BZ + SAHA-induced apoptosis. Collectively, our results establish a mechanistic link between Myc activity, regulation of protein synthesis, increases in HDAC6 expression and aggresome formation, induction of Noxa, and sensitivity to BZ + SAHA-induced apoptosis. These data suggest that MM patients with elevated Myc activity may be particularly sensitive to the BZ + SAHA combination.


Theoretical model indicates that credit risk affects
farmers 'debt use and, thus, firm organization. An empirical
model is set up to test the hypothesis from the theoretical
model. The purpose of this study is to examine how credit
availability to individual farmers, as evaluated by their lenders, responds to changes in past levels of farm income.
Effects of resulting credit risks on optimal farm portfolios,
including credit reserves,are then evaluated with different
degree of risk aversion coefficients.
The data used in this study were obtained from both
primary and secondary sources. The historical data series of farmers' in come and supply of credit were elicited from
individual borrower record keeping and approved loan request
form. Five lenders and 259 borrowers were selected as the
sample of the study. Farmers were classified in to the following
six groups : severe loss, moderate loss, average conditions,
moderate gain, and favourable gain, based on their farm income
experienced by the farmer in the preceding year. Thus, the
likelihoods associated with the gain and loss conditions are
derived with farm income risk parameters used in this study.
Results of two-way analysis of variance, where farm income
risk were treated as treatments and lenders were treated
blocks, indicated that (i) credit appears to be linearly
related to past farm income, at the five percent level of
significance, (ii) capital credit has a higher variability than
operating credit, and (iii) capital credit is more sensitive to
change in past farm income than operating credit. These results
are consistent with the hypothesis that farmers' credit is
positively correlated with changes in level of farm income,
although the correlation appears stronger for capital credit
than for operating credit. That is, risks associated with
credit availability for capital purchases appears to add more
to farmers' total portfolio risk than does credit for
operating.


Eight patients with bulimia nervosa were treated using purely behavioral techniques in the absence of explicit cognitive procedures. All were systematically assessed before and after treatment; seven were reassessed at a 1-year follow-up. As a group, they showed substantial improvement in terms of eating habits, a global index of specific psychopathology, and mental state. These changes were comparable to those previously obtained in an Oxford sample of patients using a cognitive behavioral treatment. These findings raise the question as to whether cognitive procedures are necessary to produce change in patients with bulimia nervosa.


Animals, including humans, detect odours and use this information to behave efficiently in the environment. Frequently, odours consist of complex mixtures of odorants rather than single odorants, and mixtures are often perceived as configural wholes, i.e. as odour objects (e.g. food, partners). The biological rules governing this 'configural perception' (as opposed to the elemental perception of mixtures through their components) remain weakly understood. Here, we first review examples of configural mixture processing in diverse species involving species-specific biological signals. Then, we present the original hypothesis that at least certain mixtures can be processed configurally across species. Indeed, experiments conducted in human adults, newborn rabbits and, more recently, in rodents and honeybees show that these species process some mixtures in a remarkably similar fashion. Strikingly, a mixture AB (A, ethyl isobutyrate; B, ethyl maltol) induces configural processing in humans, who perceive a mixture odour quality (pineapple) distinct from the component qualities (A, strawberry; B, caramel). The same mixture is weakly configurally processed in rabbit neonates, which perceive a particular odour for the mixture in addition to the component odours. Mice and honeybees also perceive the AB mixture configurally, as they respond differently to the mixture compared with its components. Based on these results and others, including neurophysiological approaches, we propose that certain mixtures are convergently perceived across various species of vertebrates/invertebrates, possibly as a result of a similar anatomical organization of their olfactory systems and the common necessity to simplify the environment's chemical complexity in order to display adaptive behaviours.


As the Eucalyptus globulus plantation industry expands and matures in southwestern Australia (WA), the impact of disease within the plantation environment is predicted to increase. This thesis investigated the most abundant canker-causing pathogen associated with branch and stem cankers, Endothiella eucalypti the anamorph of Cryphonectria eucalypti. Endothiella eucalypti was widespread, although at low incidence, throughout the WA plantation estate and was frequently observed sporulating on the bark of healthy hosts in the absence of disease. Regions with a long (approximately 20 years) plantation history, such as Bunbury, had the highest incidence of this pathogen. A high degree of variability in pathogenicity, growth rate and colony morphology was observed between WA isolates of En. eucalypti.

In the glasshouse, a significant variation in susceptibility of seven E. globulus provenances to En. eucalypti was observed. Although an interaction between the E. globulus provenance and En. eucalypti isolate was recorded, some provenances were generally more susceptible than others. In two 18-month-old plantations, the susceptibility of three provenances to En. eucalypti was significantly influenced by environmental conditions. Visual assessment of general tree health indicated that less healthy trees had smaller lesions than healthy trees. It is hypothesised that the selection of E. globulus provenances to suit site conditions in the future should decrease the risk of serious disease, especially on marginal sites.

Endothiella eucalypti caused disease in intact stems of two-year-old E. globulus under glasshouse conditions. This suggests that En. eucalypti may not require a wound to infect in the field.

Vegetative compatibility groupings between WA En. eucalypti isolates indicated a relatively high degree of genotypic diversity within the WA asexual population of En. eucalypti, whereas inter-simple sequence repeats PCR (ISSR-PCR) analysis indicated a lower level of genotypic diversity. Discrepancies between traditional and molecular techniques, such as ISSR-PCR, was attributed to the more specific gene-togene analysis afforded by molecular techniques. ISSR-PCR successfully distinguished variability within the En. eucalypti population and with the teleomorph, isolated in South Africa. It also separated Cryphonectria cubensis isolates from the C. eucalypti isolates.

As copper is the micronutrient most limiting growth of E. globulus in WA, its role in the resistance of two E. globulus provenances was examined in a glasshouse trial. Lesion extension or defence responses of E. globulus to En. eucalypti did not differ between Cu-adequate and Cu-deficient plants. It is suggested that constitutive levels of host defence enzymes played a more important role in providing protection for the host against En. eucalypti than the external supply of copper.

A reduction in the canopy volume of E. globulus within plantations due to insect herbivory or foliar pathogens, such as Mycosphaerella spp., has been reported to predispose the host to disease caused by non-aggressive canker-causing fungi. Under two separate glasshouse trials, conditions of 100% defoliation and 80% defoliation maintained over six weeks prior to inoculation, were required to significantly increase lesion extension caused by En. eucalypti in E. globulus stems. The ability of defoliated E. globulus to retain a degree of resistance to En. eucalypti was attributed to the rapid replacement of foliage and up-regulation of photosynthesis in remaining leaves. The carbohydrate reserves of the plant were depleted following defoliation and remained depressed regardless of the length of time the trees remained defoliated.

In conclusion, the endophytic habit of En. eucalypti poses a threat to highly stressed trees, however it does not appear to be an immediate threat to WA plantation health. Although En. eucalypti has not yet been responsible for a major disease outbreak in WA, the impact of this disease on plantation-grown eucalypts elsewhere in Australia and worldwide serves as an indication of its potential to affect WA plantations.


ABSTRACT  The Red Slough Wildlife Management Area (7,800 ha) is located on the West Gulf Coastal Plain in southeastern Oklahoma. The inventory was motivated by land acquisitions and is intended to augment a 1999 inventory. We report an additional 202 taxa of vascular plants, with 186 species, 16 infraspecific taxa, 158 genera, and 68 families. This is a 62% increase in the number of taxa previously listed for the site. The largest families were the Poaceae (with 35 taxa), Asteraceae (20 taxa), and Fabaceae (18 taxa). Thirty-one nonnative taxa and 19 taxa tracked by the Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory were encountered.


BACKGROUND: To measure the analgesic effectiveness of the 5 S's (swaddling, side/stomach position, shushing, swinging, and sucking) alone and combined with sucrose, during routine immunizations at 2 and 4 months. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with 2- and 4-month-old infants during well-child visits. Patients were assigned into 4 groups (2 × 2) receiving either 2 mL of water or 2 mL of 24% oral sucrose and then either standard-of-care comfort measures by parents or intervention with the 5 S's immediately postvaccination. The Modified Riley Pain Score was used to score the infants' pain at 15-second intervals for 2 minutes, then every 30 seconds up to 5 minutes postvaccination. Repeated-measures analysis of variance examined between group differences and within-subject variability of treatment effect on overall pain scores and length of crying. RESULTS: Two hundred thirty infants were enrolled. Results revealed significantly different mean pain scores between study groups with the exception of the 5S's and 5S's with sucrose groups. These 2 groups had lower similar mean scores over time, followed by sucrose alone, then control. The same trend was found with the proportion of children crying as with the mean pain score outcome measure. CONCLUSIONS: Physical intervention of the 5 S's (swaddling, side/stomach position, shushing, swinging, and sucking) provided decreased pain scores on a validated pain scale and decreased crying time among 2- and 4-month-old infants during routine vaccinations. The use of 5S's did not differ from 5S's and sucrose.


Visual odometry (VO) is the process of estimating the egomotion of an agent (e.g., vehicle, human, and robot) using only the input of a single or If multiple cameras attached to it. Application domains include robotics, wearable computing, augmented reality, and automotive. The term VO was coined in 2004 by Nister in his landmark paper. The term was chosen for its similarity to wheel odometry, which incrementally estimates the motion of a vehicle by integrating the number of turns of its wheels over time. Likewise, VO operates by incrementally estimating the pose of the vehicle through examination of the changes that motion induces on the images of its onboard cameras. For VO to work effectively, there should be sufficient illumination in the environment and a static scene with enough texture to allow apparent motion to be extracted. Furthermore, consecutive frames should be captured by ensuring that they have sufficient scene overlap.


Plant growth and osmotic adjustment of spiderplant were investigated in a glasshouse and under field con- ditions. Two fast-growing genotypes (P-landrace and P-commercial) and a slow-growing landrace (G-landrace) were grown under soil water defi cit and watered conditions. The fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW) was used as an indicator of water availability in pots. In the greenhouse, transpiration was determined by changes in daily pot weights and the ratio of transpiration of plants in soil water defi cit to watered treatments expressed as normalized transpiration ratio (NTR). Water use in the fi eld experiment was determined by gravimetric methods. The fast-growing genotypes had a higher rate of soil drying due to a higher rate of leaf area development. They were also more sensitive to soil water defi cit with NTR beginning to decline at FTSW of 0.55-0.77 as compared to 0.29 for the slow-growing landrace. Also, the fast growing genotypes had FTSW thresholds for the stem elongation rate of 0.35-0.55 as compared to 0.20 for the slow growing landrace. The rate of leaf development declined when 40% to 60% of available water in the soil was removed, regardless of genotype. Leaf area of plants under fi eld conditions decreased when the soil moisture was <60% fi eld capacity. Under severe soil water defi cit stress in pots, plants partitioned more biomass to roots than above ground; however, biomass partitioning between leaves and stems was not infl uenced by soil water defi cit. Spiderplant showed limited osmotic adjustment (OA) in the range of 0.10-0.33 MPa at the highest soil water defi cit (FTSW = 0). Thus, spiderplant is mainly a drought avoiding species. To achieve maximum growth, it is necessary to keep FTSW above 0.6.


Most Americans will lack the financial resources to be secure and relatively satisfied upon retirement, and commentators increasingly recognize that this "retirement crisis" calls for policy changes affecting both active participants in the workforce and retirees. Nevertheless, some proposed reforms are limited by their exclusion of whole categories of workers or by their privatization of the problem and their reliance on employers' initiative and skill. Other proposals have not gained much ground, perhaps because they incorporate forms of government contribution or liability that face uphill legislative battles in today's political climate.

This Essay sketches a solution, the "Shadow 401(k)," that avoids these issues by creating a universally available and federally administered (but not guaranteed, matched, or credited) portable 401(k) plan and annuity purchase. The Shadow 401(k) builds on existing knowledge in behavioral economics, financial literacy, and gerontology to provide choice without requiring complicated planning. It also responds to recent calls for "portable benefits" plans that are designed with platform economy workers in mind. Consequently, the Shadow 401(k) presents an incremental step towards addressing the retirement crisis while also providing a flexible framework for future policy reform.


Oxidation of polyunsaturated lipids is one mechanism by which free radicals damage cells. Shibata et al. show that in vitro oxidation of polyunsaturated lipids formed the oxidized lipid ONE (4-oxo-2-nonenal) and that this lipid specifically stimulated the phosphorylation of p53 and transcriptional activation of the p53 targets, fas and gadd45, when applied to the neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y. Exposure of cells to ONE, which can form a deoxyguanosine adduct, triggered phosphorylation of the kinase ATM, which is involved in detecting DNA damage and which phosphorylates p53. In cells in which the abundance of ATM was decreased by RNA interference, ONE produced less phosphorylation of p53. Cells exposed to ONE also exhibited accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins and inhibition of the proteasome. Cells exposed to ONE also underwent apoptosis. Finally, using an antibody that specifically recognizes the ONE-2'-deoxyguanosine adduct, the abundance of this adduct was found to be increased in the atrophic motor neurons and surrounding glial cells of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Thus, ONE may be responsible for lipid peroxidation-mediated damage that contributes to neurodegeneration in ALS. T. Shibata, K. Iio, Y. Kawai, N. Shibata, M. Kawaguchi, S. Toi, M. Kobayashi, M. Kobayashi, K. Yamamoto, K. Uchida, Identification of a lipid peroxidation product as a potential trigger of the p53 pathway. J. Biol. Chem. 281, 1196-1204 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]


We introduce Refinement Reflection, a new framework for building SMT-based deductive verifiers. The key idea is to reflect the code implementing a user-defined function into the function's (output) refinement type. As a consequence, at uses of the function, the function definition is instantiated in a precise fashion that permits decidable verification. We show how reflection allows the user to write equational proofs of programs just by writing other programs e.g. using pattern-matching and recursion to perform case-splitting and induction. Thus, via, the propositions-as-types principle we show that reflection permits the specification of arbitrary functional correctness properties. While equational proofs are easy, writing them out can be exhausting. We introduce a proof-search algorithm called Proof by Logical Evaluation that uses techniques from model checking & abstract interpretation, to completely automate equational reasoning. We have implemented reflection in Liqid Haskell and used it to verify that the widely used instances of the Monoid, Applicative, Functor, and Monad typeclasses actually satisfy key algebraic laws required to make the clients safe, and to build the first library that actually verifies assumptions about associativity and ordering that are crucial for safe deterministic parallelism.


Contact. The large quantity of high-quality asteroseismic data that have been obtained from space-based photometric missions and the accuracy of the resulting frequencies motivate a careful consideration of the accuracy of computed oscillation frequencies of stellar models, when applied as diagnostics of the model properties.
Aims. Based on models of red-giant stars that have been independently calculated using different stellar evolution codes, we investigate the extent to which the differences in the model calculation affect the model oscillation frequencies and other asteroseismic diagnostics.
Methods. For each of the models, which cover four different masses and different evolution stages on the red-giant branch, we computed full sets of low-degree oscillation frequencies using a single pulsation code and, from these frequencies, typical asteroseismic diagnostics. In addition, we carried out preliminary analyses to relate differences in the oscillation properties to the corresponding model differences.
Results. In general, the differences in asteroseismic properties between the different models greatly exceed the observational precision of these properties. This is particularly true for the nonradial modes whose mixed acoustic and gravity-wave character makes them sensitive to the structure of the deep stellar interior and, hence, to details of their evolution. In some cases, identifying these differences led to improvements in the final models presented here and in Paper I; here we illustrate particular examples of this.
Conclusions. Further improvements in stellar modelling are required in order fully to utilise the observational accuracy to probe intrinsic limitations in the modelling and improve our understanding of stellar internal physics. However, our analysis of the frequency differences and their relation to stellar internal properties provides a striking illustration of the potential, in particular, of the mixed modes of red-giant stars for the diagnostics of stellar interiors.


The control of user interfaces while driving is a textbook example for driver distraction. Modern in-car interfaces are growing in complexity and visual demand, yet they need to stay simple enough to handle while driving. One common approach to solve this problem are multimodal interfaces, incorporating e.g. touch, speech, and mid-air gestures for the control of distinct features. This allows for an optimization of used cognitive resources and can relieve the driver of potential overload. We introduce a novel modality for in-car interaction: our system allows drivers to use facial expressions to control a music player. The results of a user study show that both implicit emotion recognition and explicit facial expressions are applicable for music control in cars. Subconscious emotion recognition could decrease distraction, while explicit expressions can be used as an alternative input modality. A simple smiling gesture showed good potential, e.g. to save favorite songs.


This article focuses on the challenges for authors of dealing with an editor's and reviewers' comments within the manuscript publication process. The paper commences with an overview of the peer review process. The nature and style of comments from editors and reviewers is outlined and the inherent meaning demystified. Using a wide range of anonymised examples, sample comments are categorised according to their ease of being addressed and whether or not the author agrees with them and the need to respond highlighted. Advice is offered regarding the construction of a response document, outlining how editor and reviewer comments have been addressed in the revised manuscript and an example comprising both editor and reviewer comments and author responses provided. The importance of this document in providing a clear audit trail of associated amendments to the manuscript and their justifications in response to the editor's and reviewers' comments is emphasised.


In this thesis, we study the evolution of radio luminosity functions (RLF) for AGN and star forming galaxies (SFG), the colour-magnitude distributions of radio and X-ray sources at redshift z ~1, the star formation rate density in dwarf galaxies at z ~1 and investigate downsizing. In chapter 1 we give the background to our studies. We describe the Big Bang model before going on to examine different types of galaxies and looking at their star formation rates and the variation of their properties with their envirorunents. We summarise the elements of modern astronomy methodology used throughout this thesis in chapter 2. In this chapter we describe the methods of measuring star formation rates, galaxy environments and luminosity functions. In chapter 3 we match the AEGIS20 radio survey to the DEEP2 optical spectroscopic survey in the extended Groth Strip (EGS) to create a sample of radio-emitting galaxies that we separate into AGN and SFGs. We derive the RLFs of each of these at two redshift intervals and measure their evolution out to z ~1. We also compare the colour-magnitude distribution of the radio sources to that of the general galaxy population at this redshift and compare these to their local Universe equivalents. We found the evolution of the RLFs to be consistent with pure luminosity evolution with the form L x (1 + z)(^a) where a = 1.0 ± 0.9 for the AGN and a = 3.7 ± 0.3 for the SFGs. We analyse the variations of these radio sources' properties with their environments in chapter 4. Using the projected n(^th) nearest neighbour method to estimate the density of the environments, we find a strong trend of SFG numbers dropping with density. The final science chapter is chapter 5 in which we describe the Redshift One LDSS3 Emission-line Survey (ROLES). This survey targets the [OII] emission line in dwarf galaxies with log (M(_*)/M(_ʘ) )<9.5. We convert the [OII] luminosity to a star formation rate (SFR) and then proceed to analyse the mass-dependence of the global star formation rate at redshift z ~ 1 We find that SFR turns over with stellar mass at this redshift. By also comparing to similar studies in the local Universe, we investigate the empirical "downsizing" picture of galaxy evolution. Finally, we present our conclusions and suggestions for future work in chapter 6.


Recent simulations of JET and ASDEX Upgrade plasmas with EDGE2D and SOLPS, respectively, showed that upstream radial electric field in the scrape-off layer (SOL) is substantially below values expected from simple estimates, based on the effects of the potential Debye sheath drop at the target and thermoelectric force (Chankin et al 2007 Nucl. Fusion 47 479). In this paper, dedicated EDGE2D-Nimbus modelling of JET plasmas aimed at identification of key mechanisms responsible for the formation of the radial electric field (Er) in the main SOL of high recycling divertor plasmas is described. Code runs with different upstream density and input power levels were carried out. The results of the modelling identify the main reason why the predicted Er values in the SOL are always too low compared with the simple estimates, which is the contribution from the −∇‖pe/nee term in the equation for parallel electric field (pe and ne—electron pressure and density). At the same time, it still remains unclear why experimental measurements in tokamak SOLs reveal fairly large Er values that are in reasonable agreement with the simple estimates. This discrepancy might be attributed to missing elements in the present 2D edge fluid codes, such as the role of plasma fluctuations or non-local kinetic effects of parallel plasma transport from the SOL to the divertor.


Abstract
 The phylogeny of Celastraceae subfamily Salacioideae (ca. 255 species in the Old and New World tropics) and tribe Lophopetaleae (ca. 29 species in southern Asia and the Austral-Pacific) was inferred using morphological characters together with plastid (matK, trnL-F) and nuclear (ITS and 26S rDNA) genes. Brassiantha, a monotypic genus endemic to New Guinea, is inferred to be more closely related to the clade of Dicarpellum (New Caledonia) and Hypsophila (Queensland, Australia) than it is to Hippocrateoideae or Salacioideae. This unambiguously supported resolution indicates that a nectary disk positioned outside the stamens has been convergently derived in these two lineages. The clade of Kokoona and Lophopetalum is resolved as more closely related to Brexia and Elaeodendron than it is to Hippocrateoideae or Salacioideae. Sarawakodendron, a monotypic genus endemic to Borneo, is resolved as sister to Salacioideae. Salacioideae are inferred to have an Old World origin that was followed by a single successful radiation within Central and South America. We infer that capsular fruits are primitive within the clade of Hippocrateoideae + Sarawakodendron + Salacioideae, with berries a synapomorphy for Salacioideae. Based on the resolution of Sarawakodendron as sister to Salacioideae, we hypothesize that the filaments of Sarawakodendron arils are homologous to the spiral filaments in the mucilagenous pulp of Salacioideae.


Although many public hospital physicians in Vietnam offer private service on the side, little is known about the magnitude and nature of the phenomenon so-called dual practice, let alone the dynamics between the public and private health sectors. This study investigates how and to what degree public hospital physicians engage in private practice. It also examines the commitment of dual practitioners to the public sector. The analysis is based on a hospital-based survey of 483 physicians at 10 public hospitals in four provinces of Vietnam. Nearly half of the participants in the study sample reported themselves as dual practitioners. Various types of private practice were mentioned. Private practice at health facilities owned by the private sector was the most prevalent, followed by private practice delivered at health facilities owned by the dual practitioners themselves. Private practice inside public hospitals was also noted. Dual practitioners were likely to be senior and hold management positions inside their public hospitals. Substantial income differences were found between dual practitioners and those physicians practicing exclusively in the public sector. The majority of dual practitioners, however, reported the willingness to give up private practice if certain conditions were met, such as a basic salary increase or non-pecuniary benefits. The main reasons dual practitioners gave for not leaving the public sector included a sense of public responsibility and opportunities to gain a broader professional network and more training. This study reiterates the significant challenges associated with dual practice, including its financial implications and possible effects on health care quality and access. The need for a high-quality workforce committed to the public sector is particularly critical, given the possibility of universal insurance coverage. Future research should address the need to improve data collection on physicians' dual practice and incorporate the topic in policy debates on health reform.


Fat transfer had been used since the first decades of the twentieth century for body contouring and reconstruction. Since then, a lot of controversies and ongoing research regarding indications, harvesting and transplantation technique had been a concern for plastic surgeons. More recently, the use of fat as a source of stem cells had been the major point of research joining both the aesthetic and the regenerative advantages. Body reshaping using fat graft is nowadays a common non-invasive resource in the surgeon's armamentarium popularized as body sculpturing merging the benefits of liposuction and lipofilling to improve the aesthetic of virtually all the regions of human body. In this chapter, the role of fat grafting in aesthetic body contouring will be discussed. The association of stem cells is exposed to give the reader the possibility to better understand this option of treatment. Fat harvesting/grafting techniques are explained and the authors' preferred choice is exposed. Lipofilling details are discussed per area of the body with practical tips and pitfalls for the experienced or the newbie surgeon. A final summary on complications will remind all the possible incidences that may occur in the short- and long term after surgery. grafting may anticipate surgery to improve tissues quality. Moreover, various sessions may be required and it must be discussed with the patient when planning surgery.


Mathematical models became an important research tool, allowing scientists to explore biological systems and study mechanisms operating in pathological conditions that are often difficult to create in animal models. A model of the contracting two-dimensional myocardium was developed to analyze various pathological conditions and to optimize resynchronization therapy. The model was based on a single contracting myofiber situated in a complex anatomical structure of fibers. A matrix-based system was developed to compute deformation of the structure representing the myocardium. It was built of three types of trusses according to the characteristics of each element. The model will account for the propagation of the electrical activity within the myocardium, the mechanical behavior of the single fiber and the interaction between anatomically organized muscle arrays representing the entire cardiac muscle, and will interact with the vascular system. To validate the feasibility of our modeling approach, we applied these theoretical concepts in a small-scale two-dimensional model that is based on the anatomy of the contracting ventricle. Using arbitrary values of model parameters, we were able to obtain mathematically sound simulations, which predict physiological behavior. The model is expected to contribute to knowledge on pathophysiological states of heart failures, specifically on contraction patterns and on the effect of electrical wave velocity and delays on cardiac contraction patterns, and on resulting pressure and flow.


In 2014 the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania initiated creation of Methodology of the Assessment of Visual Pollution to Natural Landscape Complexes and Objetcs. In order to prepare the Methodology legal (international and national level) and theoretical framework (world-wide and Lithuanian experience in the field of visual impact assessment (VIA) and assessment of landscape visual-aethetic potential) was analysed and evaluated. Using the method of logical analogy and considering the results of analysis of legal and theoretical framework of VIA, and peculiarities of Lithuanian landscape, the concept of visual pollution and the main methodological stages of visual pollution assessment (VPA) for natural landscapes were proposed. The authors of the methodology state that the assessment of visual pollution should be based on: the establishment of the overall landscape character, visual character, visual capacity, and other aspects as the starting point for the evaluation of visual pollution; assessment of visibility of a pollution object; description of physical, visual and other characteristics of the pollution object; evaluation of negative visual impact (visual pollution) according the level of contrast of physical, visual and other characteristics of landscape and the pollution object. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.13.4.13820


Purpose To test whether texture analysis (TA) allows for the diagnosis of subacute and chronic myocardial infarction (MI) on noncontrast material-enhanced cine cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) images. Materials and Methods In this retrospective, institutional review board-approved study, 120 patients who underwent cardiac MR imaging and showed large transmural (volume of enhancement on late gadolinium enhancement [LGE] images >20%, n = 72) or small (enhanced volume ≤20%, n = 48) subacute or chronic ischemic scars were included. Sixty patients with normal cardiac MR imaging findings served as control subjects. Regions of interest for TA encompassing the left ventricle were drawn by two blinded, independent readers on cine images in end systole by using a freely available software package. Stepwise dimension reduction and texture feature selection based on reproducibility, machine learning, and correlation analyses were performed for selecting features, enabling the diagnosis of MI on nonenhanced cine MR images by using LGE imaging as the standard of reference. Results Five independent texture features allowed for differentiation between ischemic scar and normal myocardium on cine MR images in both subgroups: Teta1, Perc.01, Variance, WavEnHH.s-3, and S(5,5)SumEntrp (in patients with large MI: all P values < .001; in patients with small MI: Teta1 and Perc.01, P < .001; Variance, P = .026; WavEnHH.s-3, P = .007; S[5,5]SumEntrp, P = .045). Multiple logistic regression models revealed that combining the features Teta1 and Perc.01 resulted in the highest accuracy for diagnosing large and small MI on cine MR images, with an area under the curve of 0.93 and 0.92, respectively. Conclusion This proof-of-concept study indicates that TA of nonenhanced cine MR images allows for the diagnosis of subacute and chronic MI with high accuracy. © RSNA, 2017 Online supplemental material is available for this article.


A team of specialists on China's energy sector reviews a series of major transitions that have transformed that country's oil economy over the past two decades. These include, on the demand side, (a) the increasing role of oil in the economy as a whole vis-à-vis other major energy carriers (as incomes have risen and millions of households have purchased vehicles and have also traveled by air), and (b) an increasing emphasis on energy efficiency and carbon mitigation. On the supply side, several additional transitions are discussed, namely (1) the scaling up of output from the central and western regions as well as from offshore, as the major northeastern oil fields decline after several decades of very heavy production, (2) a shift from being a major oil exporter to the world's second-largest oil importer, (3) expansion and diversification in the number of sources from which China imports oil, (4) changes in the way imported oil enters the country (increasingly via pipelines from neighboring countries), and (5) with such heavy dependence on imports, the building of strategic petroleum reserves and an immensely enlarged refining capacity, intended to enhance the nation's oil security.


In this paper, a novel zero-chirp Z-cut LiNbO/sub 3/ optical modulator using ferroelectric polarization reversal and a branch electrode is proposed. The optical modulator with a Ti-diffused optical waveguide had a very small chirp parameter, which was less than 0.02. The performance showed a preferable 10-Gb/s eye opening and bias stability.


Purpose: To assess the relevance of the tax exemption being granted to Maltese cooperatives on their ploughed-back profits to the creation of such legal structures and to their financial performance. Design/Methodology/Approach: We do this by carrying out 21 semi-structured interviews and reviewing of the financial statements of four co-operatives over a period of five years. Findings: Results show that such a tax exemption may indeed be attracting a few applicants to form co-operatives. However, although the exemption may be serving as an incentive to encourage such start-ups, their promoters may be commonly lacking more valid reasons for choosing to set up this particular structure, which is meant to balance both commercial and social goals. The article therefore concludes that the tax exemption on its own is evidently insufficiently effective in the promotion of genuine and financially successful start-ups and recommends that a review of the tax exemption provision is likely to be beneficial. Further recommendations include (i) rendering such a provision more relevant by linking its granting to the results of a social audit for each co-operative,(ii) reviewing the legal asset-lock provision so as no longer to undermine the attractiveness of the tax exemption, and also (iii) launching vigorous education programmes on the raison d'etre of a co-operative. Practical Implications: Although there were several studies relating to Maltese cooperatives, there has not been a study specifically dealing with the tax exemption for such entities. Accordingly, this research study would prove to be useful in assessing the relevance of the tax exemption conceded to Maltese co-operatives by delving into its implications. Originality/Value: This study will identify any possible amendments that could be made to resolve the tax implications encountered.


Objectives: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate and compare the efficiency of four protocols of adhesive remnant removal and polishing after bracket debonding on enamel surfaces using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and to compare the time spent to remove resin remnants. Materials and Methods: The present study was a comparative study, in which brackets were bonded on forty freshly extracted human premolar teeth. They were debonded after 24 h and removal of remnant adhesive to as close as possible to the original condition using tungsten carbide burs (TCBs) (30 flutted) with low-speed contra-angle handpiece, Super Snap ® discs (course, medium, fine, and superfine), TCB + Brownie and Greenie (BG) polishers, and TCB + Super Snap ® discs. The surfaces were evaluated under SEM and graded according to the modified surface roughness index. Time taken to remove the residual adhesive was recorded using a stopwatch. Results were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: Super Snap ® discs showed a smooth surface with minimal scratches. TCB resulted in an irregular enamel surface in SEM evaluation, showing horizontal scars with a consistent pattern and left remnants on the enamel surfaces. TCB followed by Super Snap ® discs produced some scratches on the enamel surface. The mean time was significantly higher in Group I than the other three groups ( P = 0.000). The mean time was significantly lower in Group II than the other three groups ( P = 0.000). TCB took the least amount of time followed by TCB + stainless steel and TCB + BG polishers. Conclusion: Enamel surface was restored as close to the original using the Super Snap ® discs. TCB produced a very rough surface, but it is an efficient and least time-consuming procedure. The resultant enamel surface with enamel scars needs to be finished by other polishing techniques after bulk removal using TCB as the sequential use of Super Snap ® discs and polishers is less aggressive in removing residual bonding resin and results in apparently better surface finish causing less damage to the enamel.


Recent technological progress has permitted the efficient performance of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to map genetic variants associated with common diseases. Here, we analyzed 2,893 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that have been identified in 593 published GWAS as associated with a disease phenotype with respect to their genomic location. In absolute numbers, most significant SNPs are located in intergenic regions and introns. When compared to their representation on the chips, there is essentially overrepresentation of nonsynonymous coding SNPs (nsSNPs), synonymous coding SNPs, and SNPs in untranscribed regions upstream of genes among the disease associated SNPs. A Gene Ontology term analysis showed that genes putatively causing a phenotype often code for membrane associated proteins or signal transduction genes.


Sometimes referred to as a Navajo folk art, these representations of recognizable objects occasionally have been designed into Navajo weavings at least since the middle of the nineteenth century. Unlike the geometric designs of more traditional Navajo rugs, these delightful pictorial images include scenes from everyday life, animals, landscapes, spelled-out words and designs of ceremonial significance. The pictorial weaving are shown through hundreds of color photographs with new as well as older examples. Here are familiar and imaginary animals, birds, people, religious designs and multiple weavings of fantastic detail. They convey, through dynamic color schemes and bold designs, images important to the Navajo weavers: the light and happy reflections of their scenic lands. The pictorial rugs are arranged chronologically within design groups to demonstrate the evolution of styles. Whenever known, the weavers are identified by name and region. It is their creativity that breathes life into these pictorial images and conveys the lively spirit of their lives.


Printable solar cells attract academic and industrial interests because solar cells should be cost‐effective systems and have to be fabricated by non‐vacuum methods such as screen printing, doctor blading, spin coating, spray deposition, and electrochemical deposition. In order to be a cost‐effective solar system, the solar cells neither include expensive (indium) and toxic materials (cadmium and mercury) nor expensive processes such as chemical vapor deposition and sputtering. Similar to printed solar cells, many types of solar cells have been investigated in the past two decades: organic, dye‐sensitized solar cells, Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2, Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4, organic thin‐film photovoltaic cells, and so on. Now, the photoenergy conversion efficiencies of printed solar cells have been improved by more than 10% with the efforts of scientists. In this review, prominent progress has been presented for the future of our society. WIREs Energy Environ 2015, 4:51–73. doi: 10.1002/wene.112


This essay situates Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray in relation to a common pattern in Victorian novels—the tendency to compare highly regulated English characters with unstable, and immoral, French ones. I argue that the well-known chapter on the "yellow book," which incorporates from J.-K. Huysmans's A Rebours a pattern of cosmopolitan consumption, productively disrupts mechanized patterns of consumption that Wilde explicitly associates with the English character and English novel-reading. At the same time, Dorian Gray also remains critical of the ways in which this French structure of characterization is a distinctly cultural form and therefore potentially limits individual autonomy.


A pulsed infrared laser source, like the Nd:YAG, welds the irradiated plastic materials by means of a thermal process that gives a direct chemical bond between two layers in close contact each other. The intense photon radiation, of the order of 1010 W/cm2, is capable to modify the polymeric materials inducing a melting process that seals two sheets at their interface. The sealing action occurs between the polymeric layers if one of them, placed in second plane, can absorb the laser light while the other, placed in first plane, is radiation transparent. The polymer filler presence (like carbon nano-structures, iron oxide, silicate,...) is required in order to absorb the laser light and to obtain the joint at the interface with other polymers through an accurate control the filler concentration. The penetration depth of the laser light and the mechanical resistance can be regulated by the absorption power of the polymeric layer. With this aim, the filler amount must be accurately chosen in order to produce a strong joint. In this work we investigated the applications of Nd:YAG laser welding for the polyethylene biomedical joint devices. In particular, we examined the possibility to define the optimal depth of the sealing action by regulating the filler type and amount in different joint geometries.


Abstract A fusion nuclear science facility (FNSF) is a necessary complement to ITER, especially in the area of material and component testing needed for DEMO design development. FNSF-AT, which takes advantage of advanced tokamak (AT) physics, should have neutron wall loading of 1-2 MW/m2, continuous operation for periods of up to 2 weeks, a duty factor goal of 0.3 per year, and an accumulated fluence of 3-6 MW-yr/m2 (~30-60 dpa) in 10 years to enable the qualification of structural, blanket, and functional materials, components, and corresponding ancillary equipment necessary for the design and licensing of a DEMO. Base blankets with a ferritic steel structure and selected tritium blanket materials will be tested and used for the demonstration of tritium sufficiency. Additional test ports at the outboard midplane will be reserved for test blankets with advanced designs or exotic materials and electricity production for integrated high-fluence testing in a DT fusion spectrum. FNSF-AT will be designed using conservative implementations of all elements of AT physics to produce 150-300 MW of fusion power with modest energy gain (Q < 7) in a modest-sized normal conducting coil device. It will demonstrate and help to select the DEMO plasma-facing, structural, tritium-breeding, and functional materials and ancillary equipment including diagnostics. It will also demonstrate the necessary tritium fuel cycle, design and cooling of the first wall chamber, and divertor components. It will contribute to the knowledge on material qualification, licensing, operational safety, and remote maintenance necessary for DEMO design.


The Fisher information matrix (FIM) is a foundational concept in statistical signal processing. The FIM depends on the probability distribution, assumed to belong to a smooth parametric family. Traditional approaches to estimating the FIM require estimating the probability distribution function (PDF), or its parameters, along with its gradient or Hessian. However, in many practical situations the PDF of the data is not known but the statistician has access to an observation sample for any parameter value. Here we propose a method of estimating the FIM directly from sampled data that does not require knowledge of the underlying PDF. The method is based on non-parametric estimation of an f-divergence over a local neighborhood of the parameter space and a relation between curvature of the f-divergence and the FIM. Thus we obtain an empirical estimator of the FIM that does not require density estimation and is asymptotically consistent. We empirically evaluate the validity of our approach using two experiments.


We retrospectively reviewed 330 T1-weighted sagittal images, 80 T2-weighted sagittal images, and 83 gadopentetate-dimeglumine-enhanced scans of normal adults to determine the MR appearance of the normal adult clivus. MR images of 21 patients with an abnormal clivus (19 with tumor invasion and two with marrow reconversion) were also evaluated restrospectively and compared with those of the control group to assess MR features distinguishing the two groups. Our study revealed that a normal adult clivus consisted of low- and high-intensity portions mixed in various proportions on T1-weighted images. The low-intensity portion was isointense or hyperintense relative to the pons and always contained foci of bright signal intensity. The low-intensity tumor of a pathologic clivus tended to be hypointense relative to the pons (17/19), and was completely devoid of foci of bright signal intensity. The normal adult clivus was approximately isointense relative to the pons on T2-weighted images. Clival tumors were grossly hyperintense relative to the pons on T2-weighted images in 11 of 17 patients. In the remaining six patients, either a portion of or the entire lesion was isointense relative to the pons and, therefore, was not detectable on T2-weighted images. A normal adult clivus can enhance to some degree (19/83). Clival tumors were found to enhance intensely. A clivus of very low signal intensity (signal void) on T1- or T2-weighted images was always abnormal. The clivus with marrow reconversion was uniformly hypointense relative to the pons on T1-weighted images and isointense relative to normal marrow on T2-weighted images.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This report present optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates for six sediment samples collected from archaeological sites on the shoreline of Lake Superior (Ontario, Canada). The Ontario Ministry of Transport (MTO) commissioned Western Heritage to undertake rescue archaeological work ahead of the four-lane expansion of Highway 11/17 in 2010. Previous archaeological investigations in this region have uncovered evidence of early human occupations, potentially associated with early occupation in the region following the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
18 samples were submitted to the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) for OSL dating, from four archaeological sites in the vicinity of Thunder Bay: Mackenzie, Woodpecker 1 and 2, and Hodder. In February 2012, approval was given for quartz SAR OSL analysis on 3 samples each from Mackenzie and Woodpecker 1. Section drawings were provided with luminescence profiles obtained using portable OSL instrumentation developed at SUERC.
All samples were subjected to laboratory preparation of sand-sized quartz, and purity checked by scanning electron microscopy. Dose rates for the bulk sediment were evaluated using analyses of the uranium, thorium and potassium concentrations obtained by high resolution gamma spectrometry coupled with beta dose rate measurement using thick source beta counting, in combination with the in-situ gamma dose measurements. Equivalent doses were determined by OSL from 16 aliquots of quartz per sample using the quartz single-aliquot-regenerative (SAR) procedure. The material exhibited good OSL sensitivity and produced acceptable SAR internal quality control performance. Dose distributions from the aliquots were examined using radial plotting methods. All samples revealed some heterogeneity in their equivalent dose distribution, reflecting the main sediment source in the region i.e. glacial sediments.
The profile at the Mackenzie site encompasses the lower and upper fills of a cultural pit feature: two samples were taken from the lower fill, in its basal and upper layers, and a single sample was taken from the upper fill. The lower fill (unit 4) is dated to between 6.09 ± 0.41 ka (4080 ± 410 BC) and 5.77 ± 0.44 ka (3760 ± 440 BC); and the upper fill (unit 6) from 5.50 ± 0.32 ka (3490 ± 320 BC). The profile at the Woodpecker 1 site is taken through a series of alluvial units and palaeosols that occur adjacent to a pit-like feature; the upper units in this succession cap/seal the sediments in the pit-like structure in the profile, thereby providing a terminus ante quem for the age of the pit structure. The sample at c. 50 cm DBS in the sequence of alluvial units, at the top of unit 6 is dated to 7.51 ± 0.47 ka (5500 ± 470 BC).The samples taken from the basal and upper layers of unit 3, between 15 and 25 cm DBS in the succession, are dated to 6.19 ± 0.45 ka (4180 ± 450 BC) and 2.91 ± 0.25 ka (900 ± 250 BC), respectively.

The OSL investigations at SUERC have verified that there is sufficient quartz in the sediment for dating purposes and that this quartz has promising behaviour for luminescence dating. Having established the suitability of the quartz SAR OSL method for dating the sediment in profiled sections at Mackenzie and Woodpecker 1, it would now be possible to undertake a further programme of work to date additional units at both sites, and the sequences at Hodder and Woodpecker 2. Further work on additional material would have the potential for examining the relationships between the landscape de-glaciation history and its occupation by early human settlers.


As cartilage tissue has limited repair capacities, tissue engineering has emerged as a promising alternative for cartilage repair. The scaffold is a primary component of the tissue engineering design, yet little information exists regarding the effects of polymer and scaffold properties on tissue growth. In this study, we have developed a novel scaffold, PLG microspheres, for use in cartilage tissue engineering, which has the capacity for alterations in polymer and scaffold. We examined the effects of molecular weight, hydrophobic capping, delivery of Mg(OH) 2 , microsphere size, and controlled release of IGF-I. Our findings demonstrated that polymer parameters distinctively affect tissue and matrix output. Specifically, micro spheres with high molecular weight polymer produced tissue with high GAG content and tissue mass in vivo and in vitro, while micro spheres with capped polymer induced steady tissue and matrix accumulation, but may have precluded cell attachment. Release of buffer to the growing cartilage had negative effects on tissue formation in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, increasing microsphere diameter generated more samples with center of necrotic tissue. The presence of microspheres induced greater cartilage mass and matrix content than cartilage from cells alone. Delivery of IGF-I induced a dose-dependent effect on matrix and tissue production in vivo, with the highest effective load of IGF-I (0.3%) generating the most matrix and tissue accumulation. In contrast, the in vitro IGF-I dose-dependent effect induced on matrix and tissue production peaked at a dose of 0.02% IGF-I, with higher doses generating less tissue and matrix. Taken together, changes in polymer or scaffold composition and release of growth factor can be optimized to form cartilage with enhanced tissue parameters. Moreover, these results demonstrate a novel scaffold with potential to support cartilage regeneration and provide simultaneous drug delivery.


This paper describes the system that we submitted to the \Learning Language in Logic" Challenge of extracting directed genic interactions from sentences in Medline abstracts. The system uses Markov Logic, a framework that combines log-linear models and First Order Logic, to create a set of weighted clauses which can classify pairs of gene named entities as genic interactions. These clauses are based on chains of syntactic and semantic relations in the parse or Discourse Representation Structure (drs) of a sentence, respectively. Our submitted results achieved 52.6% F-Measure on the dataset without and 54.3% on the dataset with coreferences. After adding explicit clauses which model noninteraction we were able to improve these numbers to 68.4% and 64.7%, respectively.


Brazilian smallholders are seeking new types of partnerships and economic opportunities amid a changing world. Market opportunities, however, have incurred demanding environmental, financial and labour requirements and created trade-offs between expanding cash crops and maintaining livelihood security. We analyze the ToméAçu region in the Brazilian Amazon, a region that has pioneered partnerships between smallholders and industries. Partnership strategies have been important to increase the ability of marginalized groups to participate in rural development programs and new global markets. Power asymmetries between smallholders and between them and industries remain a stumbling block to participation and the success of new collaborative efforts.


Taxation provides one of the principal lenses in measuring state capacity, state formation and power relations in a society. This paper critically examines three main approaches (economic, administrative and political economy) to understanding taxation. It also examines differences in tax composition across middle-income developing regions and finds that Latin American economies tax upper income groups much less than in East Asia and Eastern Europe, and explores the political economy and policy implications of these differences. The paper also examines issues of tax reform in low income/post-war economies and explores the problem that capital flight poses for less developed countries.