This paper examines aesthetics from an African perspective, with a focus on selected films of Tunde Kelani, with the argument that African aesthetics in these films remain the valuable artistic ingredients that make Nigerian video films (Nollywood) acceptable and appreciated at home and abroad. This study adopts textual analysis as its research method and 'semioaesthetics' as its theory. It could be established that there are many African cultural elements which spread across Nigerian video films of English expression. These elements serve to generate what African culture represents. The study concludes that African cultural elements in the films go a long way to sustain African cultural heritage which many African scholars clamour for. The study therefore maintains that the cultural elements add to the originality of the Nollywood products.


The aim of this paper is to bring a new perspective to the role of control factors in MARKET-EBITDA, MARKET-SALES and MARKET-BOOK ratios in the European market, which are different from industry. We analyze the role of size and its interactions with the rest of the variables: profitability, risk, and structural asset factors. For this purpose, we have developed a valuation model using panel data methodology for listed European firms from the period 2002-2013. We found that size includes economic aspects of the companies, but also differential investors' perceptions about these economic aspects. It makes it a complementary explanation factor on the selection of the peer group with the rest of the variables. These findings help to understand the variation of market ratios and share prices depending on size in different economic conditions or economic cycles. This research is in accordance with the theoretical framework of market ratios and with size effect theory.


This paper will review the rise of the Sadrist movement due to the use of informal social networks during the 1990s, and after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the movement's capability of employing framing to mobilize people, and to what degree the movement was successful in rebuilding its structure, and being capable of attractively appealing to the masses, despite the fact that the movement was severely oppressed by the regime of Saddam Hussein in the late 1990s, especially after the assassination of its leader, Ayatollah Mohammad Sadiq al-Sadr. These are imperative questions that need to be addressed in order to explore the real pragmatic path in which the Sadrist movement used to bring people to believe in its causes and to be in a position that really threatening the whole political process in Iraq after 2003. Prior to my discussion of the aforementioned essential questions surrounding the Sadrist movement, it would be really significant to come across several indispensable factors that contributed very much to the evolution of the movement. These factors can be simply addressed as, political opportunities, resources, such as money and other financial means, leadership, and finally, the movement ability to utilize framing in the best way it can to get the critical support


TOP TEN BESTSELLER Mount Kailas is the most sacred of the world's mountains - holy to one fifth of humanity. Isolated beyond the central Himalayas, its summit has never been scaled, but for centuries the mountain has been ritually circled by Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims. Colin Thubron joins these pilgrims, after an arduous trek from Nepal, through the high passes of Tibet, to the magical lakes beneath the slopes of Kailas itself. He talks to secluded villagers and to monks in their decaying monasteries; he tells the stories of exiles and of eccentric explorers from the West. Yet he is also walking on a pilgrimage of his own. Having recently witnessed the death of the last of his family, his trek around the great mountain awakes an inner landscape of love and grief, restoring precious fragments of his own past. 'I would rather read Colin Thubron than any other travel writer alive' - John Simpson


Athletes have reported that they would experience shame while playing sport, both for their lack of preparation (process shame) and for their poor outcomes (result shame) during competition. The purpose of this study was to explore how motivational climate is related to athletes' process and result shame. A survey was administered to 259 high-school track and field athletes before a practice 3 weeks into the season. Structural equation modeling showed that a perceived caring and task-involving motivational climate was positively related to athletes' process shame and negatively related to their result shame. Perceptions of an ego-involving motivational climate were negatively related to athletes' process shame and positively related to athletes' result shame. The results highlight that caring and task-involving behaviors in coaches may help mitigate proneness to shame in athletes.


UML is widely used in the software development, there consists of the designing and coding of the software. Designing phase is done with the help of the UML models, in which consists of the sequence diagrams, activity diagrams, usecase diagrams etc. Since the software development is time and human resource consuming, the reduction of consumption is done with the help of the code generation automatically without the coding in the development phase. This work mainly focus on the UML sequence diagram as the model and the transformation of UML to XMI is done with help of BOUML tool. The metaelements are extracted from the XMI file with the help of the methods explained in the work. The output obtained will be the java files having the equivalent code of the sequence


Charging schedules of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) coordinated by an aggregating agent may increase system efficiency of allocating generation, transmission and distribution resources. Decentralized self-scheduling and local charging control appear to be preferred by vehicle manufacturers and PEV drivers who are simultaneously concerned about the longevity and reliability of their energy storage systems. In such a setting, the aggregator would have to determine energy retail prices as means to indirect load control. This paper proposes a mathematical program with equilibrium constraints optimizing the aggregator's decisions. It endogenously determines the profit-optimal price level subject to the cost minimizing charging schedule of the final customers, who are reacting to a combination of retail price signals and distribution use-of-system network charges. This active response follows an affine demand-price relationship, which is individually parametrized for each vehicle by local information of vehicle characteristics and mobility pattern. The proposed program is applied to two cases: 1) a small case study with 3 vehicles, which highlights the model functionality with detailed hourly information per vehicle; 2) a large-scale fleet of 1000 vehicles provides insights on computational burden. Numerical results indicate that adequate competition in the retail market is necessary to limit the aggregator's monopolistic profitability. Finally, sensitivity runs show dependency on the individual's willingness to pay, the cost of alternative fueling opportunities and minimum state-of-charge requirements.


We propose a novel method that allows continuous repetition rate tuning of a self-seeded gain-switched Fabry-Perot laser without the need for change in cavity length. This is achieved by employing a linearly chirped fiber Bragg grating with a large dispersion parameter. The dispersed pulses overlap to produce a continuous-wave-like feedback into the gain-switched laser cavity. By using the proposed experimental setup, we demonstrate pulses portraying sidemode suppression ratios of at least 30 dB and widths of about 30 ps over the entire repetition rate tuning range of 2.5-10 GHz.


The following article presents the results of the first demand research carried out by Universidad Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri UFVJM Tourism Undergraduate Course with tourists who visited Diamantina between 8 and 19 of May 2009. The survey has been answered by 215 tourists, performing 185 valid questionnaires, with sample chosen randomly based on tourist attraction visitation. The form was divided in blocks, having 24 questions. The results have been compounded by research scholarship students and arranged in tables and graphs. The main goals of this research and through this article, were to adopt theories used on Marketing and Tourism Planning disciplines and increase the participation of the academy in the local tourism development, based on the results, thus emphasising the importance of knowing the target consumers in order to develop local tourism in accordance to their characteristics. The results reinforce some foreknown impressions but also bring some new information that deviate from common sense.


Yellow catfish, Mystus nemurus, was examined to determine levels of genetic subpopulation
differentiation among samples of this species obtained from different parts
of its range, as well as to compare the genetics of wild and hatchery-bred fish.
Horizontal starch gel electrophoresis and histochemical staining techniques were used
to examine genetic variation within and among 8 wild and one hatchery populations of
M. nemurus in Thailand. Individual specimens were analyzed. at 23 protein-coding
loci. Fifteen of the 23 loci examined (65.22 %) were polymorphic. Observed
heterozygosities ranged from 0.041 to 0.111. Genetic distance estimates ranged from
0.00510 0.l64. The greatest genetic distance was found between the Chainat and
Suratthani populations (0.164), which probably, a level indicative of subspecific
differentiation in M. nemurus from within Thailand. Eight wild populations collected from throughout Thailand and a hatchery stock of M.
nemurus were also analyzed at the molecular (DNA) level using the technique of
RAPD-PCR fingerprinting. Five arbitrary primers were chosen to amplify products
which showed 28 polymorphic loci (60.87 %). The highest genetic distance (D) was
found between the Chainat and Suratthani populations with a value of 0.289, whereas
the lowest was found in the pair of Songkhla population and hatchery stock with a
value of 0.087. The dendrogram depicts the genetic relationships among populations
of M. nemurus which grouped into four clusters according to their regions of origin
namely northern group (Chiengrai and Sukhothai), central group (Kanchanaburi and
Chainat), north-eastern group (Nongkhai and Nakormpanom) and southern group
(Suratthani, Songkbla and hatchery stock).
Horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was applied to differentiate between Mystid and
Tachysurid species of catfish : Mystus nemurus, M cavasius, M gulio, Tachysurus
caelatus and T. truncatus, collected from the Tapee River, Thailand. Individual fishes
were analysed for 22 enzymatic loci. Eleven loci (50.00 %) were found to be
polymorphic (P<0.95). The percentage of polymorphic loci ranged from 14.3 % in
T. caelatus to 38.1 % in M. nemurus. The highest mean heterozygosity was found in
T. truncatus (0. 121±0.048) and the lowest in M cavasius (0.026±0.014). Genetic
distance estimates among Mystus species ranged from 0.167 to 0.364 while genetic
distance was 0.359 between the two species of Tachysurus. The genetic distance
estimates between Mystus and Tachysurus populations ranged from 0.693 to 0.878. Morphometric and meristic variation among two populations from Chainat and
Suratthani, which showed the highest genetic distance based on both the isozyme and
DNA data, were studied. From the 23 morphometric characters examined, 20
characters showed significant differences. Most characters from the Chainat
population differed from the Suratthani population especially for eye diameter (ED)
and the distance from the posterior end of the dorsal fin to the anterior end of the
adipose fin (DDA), which seemed to be consistent diagnostic characters
differentiating the two populations.
The relative growth performance of M nemurus collected from northern (Uttaradith),
central (Chainat), and southern Thailand (Suratthani) were investigated. Three
populations of fish broodstocks were induced to spawn at the same time. The fish
larvae were nursed in 0.5 x 2.0 x 0.2 m tanks for 8 weeks. After nursing the
fingerlings were separated into 2 groups and cultured at a stocking density of 50
fish/cage in l.0 x 1.0 x 1.5 m floating net cages, in which one group was placed in the
north (Lumpang) and another group in the south of Thailand (Suratthani). Fish were
fed to satiation with 30 % protein pellets for 48 weeks. At the end of the experiment,
the growth performance of fish from both locations (north and south Thailand) were
taken and analyzed. The highest growth was found in the population from the south,
whereas the lowest growth was found in the central population. The results are in
accordance with the values of genetic distances based on both isozyme and RAPD data.


The propagation of electromagnetic pulses in a linear, dispersive Lorentz medium with two isolated resonance frequencies is presented within the context of the classical theory due to Sommerfeld and Brillouin. Particular attention is given to the modification of the dynamical field evolution when one proceeds from a single-resonance to a double-resonance medium. The appearance of a new field structure in the precursor field evolution is obtained, and the conditions for its evolution are described. The signal velocity for a pulsed field is obtained and compared with the energy-transport velocity in a double-resonance medium both when the conditions for the evolution of the modified precursor field structure are satisfied as well as when they are not satisfied and it is absent from the total propagated field structure.


Abstract. Biomass burning (BB) is a major source of reactive organic carbon
into the atmosphere. Once in the atmosphere, these organic BB emissions, in
both the gas and particle phases, are subject to atmospheric oxidation,
though the nature and impact of the chemical transformations are not
currently well constrained. Here we describe experiments carried out as part
of the FIREX FireLab campaign, in which smoke from the combustion of fuels
typical of the western United States was sampled into an environmental chamber and
exposed to high concentrations of OH, to simulate the equivalent of up to
2 d of atmospheric oxidation. The evolution of the organic mixture was
monitored using three real-time time-of-flight mass spectrometric
instruments (a proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer, an iodide
chemical ionization mass spectrometer, and an aerosol mass spectrometer),
providing measurements of both individual species and ensemble properties of
the mixture. The combined measurements from these instruments achieve a
reasonable degree of carbon closure (within 15 %–35 %), indicating that most
of the reactive organic carbon is measured by these instruments. Consistent
with our previous studies of the oxidation of individual organic species,
atmospheric oxidation of the complex organic mixture leads to the formation
of species that on average are smaller and more oxidized than those in the
unoxidized emissions. In addition, the comparison of mass spectra from the
different fuels indicates that the oxidative evolution of BB emissions
proceeds largely independent of fuel type, with different fresh smoke
mixtures ultimately converging into a common, aged distribution of gas-phase
compounds. This distribution is characterized by high concentrations of
several small, volatile oxygenates, formed from fragmentation reactions, as
well as a complex pool of many minor oxidized species and secondary organic
aerosol, likely formed via functionalization processes.


In the effort to reduce carbon emissions from an ever-increasing global population, it has become increasingly vital to monitor and counteract the environmental impact of our domestic energy usage given its contribution to overall carbon emissions. To this end, hydrogen has emerged as a foremost candidate to offset and eventually replace the use of traditional gaseous fossil fuels. Hydrogen as the universal energy carrier or vector is easily produced from all forms of renewable or recovered energy as a storable, transportable commodity that can be used on demand, thus decoupling the supply from demand that is often considered to be the down-side of intermittent renewable energy usage. European trials have already been conducted to investigate the practical implementation of hydrogen-enriched natural gas (HENG) within a mains gas supply. In this work, the limitations of such a strategy are evaluated based on a novel meta-analysis of experimental studies within the literature, with a focus on the constraints imposed by the phenomena of flash-back and blow-off. Through consideration of the Wobbe Index, we discuss the relationship between molar hydrogen percentage and annual carbon dioxide output, as well as the predicted effect of hydrogen-enrichment on fuel costs. It is further shown that in addition to suppressing both blow-off and yellow-tipping, hydrogen-enrichment of natural gas does not significantly increase the risk of flash-back on ignition for realistic burner setups, while flash-back at extinction is avoided for circular port diameters of less than 3.5 mm unless the proportion of hydrogen exceeds 34.7 mol%. It is thus proposed that up to 30 mol% of the natural gas supply may be replaced in the UK with guaranteed safety and reliability for the domestic end-user, without any modification of the appliance infrastructure.


Large-scale health surveys are major data sources for health policy research, and telephone survey is the major mode for national or state health surveys. With the dramatic increase of cell phone use over the past decade, large telephone surveys need to employ the dual-frame design, which greatly improves the representativeness of the sample. From a practical perspective, it is not clear how to optimally implement the dual-frame sampling design. This article studies the impact of different design and analytical strategies of dual-frame surveys on the estimation of population quantities via both simulation studies and using data from the Ohio Family Health Survey (OFHS). Results imply that cell-only design is less biased than the cell-any design with no or poor post-stratification. If accurate post-stratification information is available for different phone use patterns, all estimation techniques provide similar results and the cell-any supplemental sampling is more cost efficient. Practical recommendations for health policy researchers are provided based on applying different analytical methods to the OFHS data.


Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)-based brain–computer interface (BCI) systems use feature extraction methods relying mainly on the slope characteristics and mean changes of the hemodynamic responses in respect to certain mental tasks. Nevertheless, spatial patterns across the measurement channels have been detected and should be considered during the feature vector extraction stage of the BCI realization. In this paper, a graph signal processing (GSP) approach for feature extraction is adopted in order to capture the aforementioned spatial information of the NIRS signals. The proposed GSP-based methodology for feature extraction in NIRS-based BCI systems, namely graph NIRS (GNIRS), is applied on a publicly available dataset of NIRS recordings during a mental arithmetic task. GNIRS exhibits higher classification rates (CRs), up to 92.52%, as compared to the CRs of two state-of-the-art feature extraction methodologies related to slope and mean values of hemodynamic response, i.e., 90.35% and 82.60%, respectively. In addition, GNIRS leads to the formation of feature vectors with reduced dimensionality in comparison with the baseline approaches. Moreover, it is shown to facilitate high CRs even from the first second after the onset of the mental task, paving the way for faster NIRS-based BCI systems.


Although international violent conflicts are commonly mediated by multiple third parties, relatively little scholarship exists on the phenomenon. This book focuses on four major, but understudied, aspects of multiparty mediation: (1) the coalition-building process that transforms a conflict from a single-party to a multiparty effort; (2) the conditions under which coordination among mediators is more or less likely; (3) the varying strategies and tactics they opt to use when negotiating with each other, as well as with the disputants; and (4) how these factors influence the outcome of conflicts. Using the Cyprus conflict as a case study and verbal negotiation theory as a conceptual framework, this study ascertains and compares the perceptions, behaviors, and interactions of various third parties -- including the United States, Great Britain, and United Nations -- during three international crises. In so doing, a new concept and several new hypotheses are generated, which can be applied to other conflicts for purposes of generalization.


Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Information Technology at Strathmore University


Nonlinear pricing and taxation complicate economic decisions by creating multiple marginal prices for the same good. This paper provides a framework to uncover consumers' perceived price of nonlinear price schedules. I exploit price variation at spatial discontinuities in electricity service areas, where households in the same city experience substantially different nonlinear pricing. Using household-level panel data from administrative records, I find strong evidence that consumers respond to average price rather than marginal or expected marginal price. This sub-optimizing behavior makes nonlinear pricing unsuccessful in achieving its policy goal of energy conservation and critically changes the welfare implications of nonlinear pricing.


In 1999, amid growing concerns regarding quality of care, California became the first U.S. state to pass legislation mandating minimum specific nurse-to-patient ratios for every unit in general acute care hospitals. This attempt to improve quality and ensure a minimum standard for it through control of a production input has sparked substantial interest as similar bills have been considered in other states and at the federal level. This study contributes to the literature on the law in a number of ways. First, it considers the law's structure with respect to its stated quality objectives using an economic framework. In doing so, issues of production efficiency and incentives for quality improvement are addressed. Existing literature on the law's quality effects are also examined. This study additionally offers new empirical analyses on the law's effects. These include descriptive analyses, examining increases in nurse wages in California as the short-run supply of nurses remained inelastic to the growing demand. It also provides the first examination of the law's impact on hospital and emergency department (ED) closure and downsizing of mental health services precipitated by its cost shock. Using matching and other techniques, I find compelling evidence that the law led to significant increases in hospital and ED closures. Specifically, California hospitals had a 2.25 (p=0.020) and 2.84 (p<0.001) times greater hazard rate of hospital and ED closure, respectively, in the years following the law's passage compared to their matched controls. The results also suggest that mental health services may have decreased due to the law. Among hospitals in California, those with low nurse-staffing levels pre-passage of the law were most affected for these outcomes, consistent with expectations. In addition to the above outcomes, this study provides the first examination of patients' demand response to hospitals' changes precipitated by the law. Findings from this analysis point to variation across patients with those seeking elective services being much more responsive than patients with urgent, sudden health needs. The results also highlight contrasting patient responses to the law's different after-effects. Policymakers elsewhere should consider other legislative approaches than minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for safeguarding and improving quality. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Health Care Management & Economics First Advisor Guy David This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2053


Recent COMPTEL observations revealed inhomo- geneities in the spatial distribution of the Galactic 26 Al 1.809 MeV-rayemission,whichreducestherequiredamountof 26 Al in a homogeneous background from 3M (the value assum- ing all of the radiation is from a homogeneous background) to 1M. Using recent nova population models and simula- tions of classical nova outbursts we reinvestigate the question of whether nova outbursts on oxygen-neon-magnesium white dwarfs (ONeMg WDs) contribute signicantly to the produc- tion of 26 Al in the Galaxy. We nd an upper limit of 3M for the amount of 26 Al produced by ONeMg novae in the Galaxy, if we adopt a value of 30% for the fraction fONeMg of novae in our models that are ONeMg novae and choose optimal models and parameter values. Uncertainties in both observations and theory do not allow us to quote a lower limit with any condence at this time. Choosing models and parameter values that are more consistent with independent observational quantities gives an 26 Al production of 0.15M, again for an assumed fONeMg of 30%. However, this value is dependent on our assumption of choosing the same amount of mixing between the underlying WD material and the accreted companion material for the en- tire population. If the mean amount of mixing in ONeMg novae is a factor of 2 higher than the mean maximum amount of mixing for all novae, then we estimate that ONeMg novae can produceasufcientamountof 26 Al(1M)toaccountforthe entire diffuse background emission observed by COMPTEL. We explore to what extent ejecta abundances in well-studied novae support this possibility.


Vast areas of (sub)arctic tundra are dominated by the ericoid dwarf shrub Empetrum hermaphroditum. Recent experimental and observational data have shown that Empetrum can be damaged heavily by recurrent extreme winter warming. In addition, summer warming leads to increased soil N availability in tundra ecosystems. In a 7‐year experiment, I investigated the recovery of subarctic Empetrum‐dominated tundra vegetation using a factorial combination of various degrees of aboveground Empetrum removal (simulating the damaging effects of extreme winter warming) and N addition (simulating one of the effects of summer warming). After 7 years no new species had established in the plots. The growth of planted Betula nana seedlings was stimulated by Empetrum removal and reduced by N addition. This Empetrum‐dominated tundra ecosystem was resilient against severe disturbances. Only when Empetrum was 100% removed did it fail to recover, and only in combination with high N supply the subordinate species (notably Eriophorum vaginatum and Rubus chamaemorus, a graminoid and a forb) could benefit. In the 50% removal treatment Empetrum recovered in 7 years when no N was supplied and the cover of the subordinate species did not change. However, when N was added Empetrum recovered faster (in 4 years) and the subordinates decreased. When Empetrum was not removed and N was added, Empetrum even increased in abundance at the expense of the subordinate species. Thus, profound changes in tundra ecosystems can only be expected when Empetrum is very heavily damaged as a result of recurrent extreme winter warming and when soil N availability is increased as a result of summer warming. These changes in species composition upon extreme disturbance events may lead to a wide variety of ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes as this tundra system is relatively species‐poor, and can be hypothesized to have low functional redundancy.


Human chromosome 11q23.2 has been proposed to contain a tumor suppressor gene(s) whose deletion has been associated with cancer of the lung and breast and with neuroblastoma. To analyze the genomic structure and to isolate a candidate tumor suppressor gene from this region, we constructed a 2-Mb sequence-ready contig map using bacteriophage P1 (P1), bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC), and P1-derived artificial chromosome (PAC). The map comprises a contig of 24 overlapping P1, BAC, and PAC clones. To isolate gene fragments from the region, we performed direct cDNA library screening, exon trapping, EST mapping, and genomic sequencing using the P1, BAC, and PAC clones. Sequence analysis of 5 clones, which spans 23% (458,738 bp) of the region, and extensive gene scanning along the entire region revealed that the region is extraordinarily scarce in genes, but we identified one ubiquitously expressed novel gene and one testis-specific gene fragment. The novel gene, which we call IGSF4 (immunoglobulin superfamily 4), is transcribed into a 1.6- or 4.4-kb RNA encoding a 442-amino-acid protein. It shares strong homology with mouse IGSF-B12 and cell adhesion molecules NCAM1 and NCAM2 within their Ig-like C2-type domains. The IGSF4 gene, a novel gene that is shown to be located in the common loss of heterozygosity region, possesses a number of interesting features and may be good candidate for a tumor suppressor gene.


Daniel Paracka Jr. The Athens of West Africa: A History of International Education at Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone. New York: Routledge, 2003. ix + 324 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $135.00. Cloth. Until recently, higher education as a field of study within African scholarship was scant at best. Prior to that, with their close relationship to never-ending literacy campaigns, primary and secondary systems claimed center stage, leaving higher education in scholarly oblivion. However, given the global economic importance of the current knowledge revolution, the study of higher education has gained prominence the world over, and Africa is no exception. Therefore, a book that traces the roots of higher education in Africa, delineating its role in the colonial project - as well as the postcolonial and neocolonial vicissitudes - is quite timely. And the focus on Fourah Bay College, the only institution of higher learning in West Africa from 1827 to 1948, is commendable. Although Paracka neither defines nor posits his rationale for choosing "International Education" as the book's subtitle, nonetheless he broaches a crucial component of higher education research today. Multinational approaches to higher education have become a major driving force in today's technology-driven and highly competitive global economy. In this impassioned but densely packed book, Paracka positions Fourah Bay as the archetypical West African university. Located at the intellectual heart of often controversial and shifting political patterns, Fourah Bay has a history that is closely intertwined with the emergence and consolidation of the modern state. Using largely original sources, Paracka manages to historicize the college within the country's sociopolitical problematic, identifying it as "a social-cultural microcosm of the political, racial, religious, and social tensions that characterized the colonial and post-colonial revolutions in West Africa..." (3). In this way Paracka debunks the persistent myth of university autonomy. Unfortunately, Paracka provides no conceptual framework for his approach to writing about higher education, and his target audience remains difficult to determine. Nevertheless he addresses critical issues of great interest to higher education researchers today: institutional history and mission; politics of education; access, equity, and affordability; faculty and curriculum; and education and nation-building, among other topics. …


Individuals with Down syndrome develop neuropathologic and in some cases clinical evidence of Alzheimer disease after age 40. We compared CT scans of 18 Down syndrome subjects, 26-70 years old (seven of whom satisfied criteria for dementia), with 175 screened normal volunteer control subjects for evidence of cortical and subcortical atrophy. CT scans were analyzed as a function of age and cognitive status. The suprasellar cistern ratio, presumed to measure mesial temporal-lobe atrophy (or hypoplasia), was correlated with severity of cognitive impairment, even when age effects were removed. The suprasellar cistern ratio predicted dementia status with an accuracy of greater than 75%. Brain measurements on CT scans showed a distinct pattern of increased abnormality with age in patients with Down syndrome; this differed clearly from that seen in controls.


ABSTRACT We propose two semiparametric model averaging schemes for nonlinear dynamic time series regression models with a very large number of covariates including exogenous regressors and auto-regressive lags. Our objective is to obtain more accurate estimates and forecasts of time series by using a large number of conditioning variables in a nonparametric way. In the first scheme, we introduce a kernel sure independence screening (KSIS) technique to screen out the regressors whose marginal regression (or autoregression) functions do not make a significant contribution to estimating the joint multivariate regression function; we then propose a semiparametric penalized method of model averaging marginal regression (MAMAR) for the regressors and auto-regressors that survive the screening procedure, to further select the regressors that have significant effects on estimating the multivariate regression function and predicting the future values of the response variable. In the second scheme, we impose an approximate factor modeling structure on the ultra-high dimensional exogenous regressors and use the principal component analysis to estimate the latent common factors; we then apply the penalized MAMAR method to select the estimated common factors and the lags of the response variable that are significant. In each of the two schemes, we construct the optimal combination of the significant marginal regression and autoregression functions. Asymptotic properties for these two schemes are derived under some regularity conditions. Numerical studies including both simulation and an empirical application to forecasting inflation are given to illustrate the proposed methodology. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


ABSTRACT Although ocean acidification studies related to marine animal behavior have increased in recent years, the behavioral effects of ocean acidification on shellfish are relatively understudied, even though marine shellfish exhibit a wealth of behaviors that can modify organismal interactions and biological community functioning. Furthermore, detecting acute behavioral changes may provide a biological indicator of ecosystem stress and/or an early warning system for aquaculture operations. This article highlights a new and emerging technology—high-frequency noninvasive (HFNI) electromagnetic biosensors—that can be used to document acute and long-term effects of elevated CO2 on the valve-gaping behavior of marine bivalves. An overview of the technology is presented, and the current and potential uses of these biosensors in ocean acidification research are highlighted, along with current limitations and next steps. Although a handful of studies have used these biosensors to test for effects of acidification on bivalve valve-gaping behavior, their potential for testing critical and novel hypotheses regarding ocean acidification effects in a broader range of shellfish taxa is currently underused. Ultimately, this article provides a basis for expanding ocean acidification research on shellfish behavior through the use of HFNI electromagnetic biosensors.


The success of immunotherapeutic approaches targeting glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) demands a robust antiglioma T-cell cytotoxic and memory response. Recent evidence suggests that rapamycin regulates T-cell differentiation. Herein, we tested whether administration of rapamycin could enhance the efficacy of immunotherapy utilizing Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Ad-Flt3L) and thymidine kinase/ganciclovir (Ad-TK/GCV). Using the refractory rat RG2 glioma model, we demonstrate that administration of rapamycin with Ad-Flt3L þ Ad-TK/GCV immunotherapy enhanced the cytotoxic activity of antitumor CD8þ T cells. Rats treated with rapamycin þ Ad-Flt3L þ Ad-TK/GCV exhibited massive reduction in the tumor volume and extended survival. Rapamycin administration also prolonged the survival of Ad-Flt3L þ Ad-TK/GCV–treated GL26 tumor–bearing mice, associated with an increase in the frequency of tumor-specific and IFNgþ CD8þ T cells. More importantly, rapamycin administration, even for a short interval, elicited a potent long-lasting central memory CD8þ T-cell response. The enhanced memory response translated to an increased frequency of tumor-specific CD8þ T cells within the tumor and IFNg release, providing the mice with long-term survival advantage in response to tumor rechallenge. Our data, therefore, point to rapamycin as an attractive adjuvant to be used in combination with immunotherapy in a phase I clinical trial for GBM. Mol Cancer Ther; 13(12); 3024–36. 2014 AACR.


For the sake of guarding the environment from the vital problems that results from the toxic effects of lead components, lead free (LKNN6-0.5%CeO 2 /polyester) piezoelectric composite are prepared in this work using cold press technique. Firstly, the lead free (LKNN6-0.5%CeO 2 ) piezoceramics are prepared using normal sintering technique. The dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the composites were examined as a function of the volume fraction of ceramic particles, all composites showed well dispersion of the piezoceramic particles in the polyester matrix as shown in SEM images. The piezoelectric and dielectric coefficients were found to be improved as the concentration of ceramic particles increases. Although the procedure is simple, the composite prepared in this study exhibited better piezoelectric and dielectric constants with (d 33 =41 and Ԑ r =157) at (80%) volume fraction.


An index of the changes in responsiveness of octopuses to moving figures can be obtained by studying a set of animals and recording the number of them that come out to attack on each occasion, and the delay. During the period of 1 to 2 h after feeding, untrained octopuses show an increased tendency to attack. This period of increased attacks corresponds to that for which food remains within the crop. However, such attacks do not result in the setting up in the memory of representations that promote later attacks. If food is given after showing a figure the tendency to attack is greatly increased. It remains at a high level for longer than when the food is given before showing, but ultimately declines. However, if the figure is presented again with food within 10 to 24 h the tendency to attack is raised still higher and declines more slowly. After a number of such presentations the animals come out regularly to attack the figure. The changes in tendency to respond after each showing of the figure with food thus provide an estimate of the time course of decay of the increased excitability in certain pathways in the nervous system. The half-life of the change after the first rewarded presentation is 1 to 2 h. Similarly it is possible to map the time course of the reduced tendency to attack that follows the giving of a shock after attack on a moving figure. This time depends on the extent to which the figure had previously been made 'positive' by association with food. By successive feeding and shocking the tendency to attack a given figure by a group of octopuses can thus be raised and lowered. The effects are partly general to all moving figures, but are greater for those that resemble the figure shown when the food (or shock) was administered. Using this effect animals can be trained without shocks to attack certain figures but not others, pathways 'representing' these figures having been specifically facilitated by feeding. In octopuses without vertical lobes the effects of food or shock in increasing or lowering the tendency to attack are similar to those in normal animals, but persist for a shorter tune. In these animals lasting representations ensuring or preventing attack are less readily set up. When food is given as reward for attacks at one figure, shocks for a different one, normal octopuses learn within a few trials to attack the one and avoid the other. In animals without vertical lobes the effect of food is to increase the tendency to attack both figures and the effect of shocks is to depress the attacks on both. With alternate trials the tendency to attack thus swings up and down, the animals responding according to the influence of the immediately previous stimulus. The effect of the vertical lobe is therefore to ensure persistence in the memory of appropriate distinct representations of the figures and the associated food or shock, so that there are 'correct' responses after a few trials.


■ Over 60 researchers from 10 countries took part in the Third Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) Workshop, held during the Eleventh National Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Washington, D.C. A major trend evident at the workshop was the transition to applications in the core KDD area of discovery of relatively simple patterns in relational databases; the most successful applications are appearing in the areas of greatest need, where the databases are so large that manual analysis is impossible. Progress has been facilitated by the availability of commercial KDD tools for both generic discovery and domain-specific applications such as marketing. At the same time, progress has been slowed by problems such as lack of statistical rigor, overabundance of patterns, and poor integration. Besides applications, the main themes of this workshop were (1) the discovery of dependencies and models and (2) integrated and interactive KDD systems.


The debate over abortion remains controversial as ever. This article offers an explanation of the main Islamic attitudes towards abortion and areas of need to change in the related rules and regulations in Islamic communities with a special attention to Iran. A selected collection of Islamic references, as well as discussions with experts have been used as a basis for discussion and interpretation of Islamic views. Almost all of Muslim scholars and authorities regard ethical dilemmas surrounding abortion as jurisprudential topics. Obviously, all schools of Islamic jurisprudence regard abortion as wrong and forbidden (Hiram). On the other hand, they allow abortion, before the point in time in which the ensoulment takes place, only when physicians declare with reasonable certainty that the continuation of pregnancy will endanger the woman's life or put her in intolerable difficulties. The Iranian parliament has ratified the Therapeutic Abortion Act, by which, therapeutic abortion should be based on diagnosis of such fetal or maternal diseases that go ahead to unbearable burden for the mother or endangering her health. The Therapeutic Abortion Act can be considered as a significant improvement regarding women's health in an Islamic country. Such improvements show the inherent and valuable flexibility of Islamic jurisprudence encountering new emerging and difficult issues and would be promising for greater advancements in the future.


Civic environmental stewardship groups actively take care of their local environment and are known to work in urban contexts. Research on the geographies of this urban environmental stewardship is young. Understanding where stewardship groups work and the associated organizational and neighborhood contexts advances the understanding of the environmental outcomes of stewardship efforts. We examine the organizational, socioeconomic, and environmental contexts associated with the number of stewardship groups at the Census block group and neighborhood scales for four diverse U.S. cities (Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; New York, NY; and Seattle, WA). We found relatively consistent and strong relationships with both average professionalization (staff and budget index) and diversity of groups' focus and the number of groups' activity areas in a block group or neighborhood, suggesting a potential density dependence effect. Overall, the number of stewardship groups correlates with social and environmental aspects at both scales across all cities, but variation across cities for specific variables indicates the need for further analyses to unpack why we observe these different patterns across cities. Strong relationships with organizational factors suggest future directions for stewardship research and that the organizational landscape may affect how many groups work in a place more than socioeconomic or environmental conditions.


Criminological research has long suggested that attitudes concerned with honour and aggression, such as the 'street code', are related to violent offending and victimization. Comparatively, little information is known, however, about the mechanisms through which these attitudes increase violence. Drawing from interactionist perspectives of aggression and subcultural theories, we examine the mediating role of two conflict-related tendencies: disputatiousness and remedial actions. We also examine the extent to which remedial actions moderate the association between disputatiousness and violence. Predictions are tested using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of young adults in the United States. Results show that conflict-related tendencies mediate the pathways linking the street code to violent offending and victimization. In addition, remedial actions temper the association between disputatiousness and violence involvement.


The following study presents the first quantitative performance data for a novel laminar flow biodiesel reactor/separator. The reactor ideally achieves high conversion of vegetable oil triglycerides to biodiesel while simultaneously allowing glycerol to phase separate and settle from the reacting flow. The reactor was operated using pretreated waste canola oil as a feedstock; potassium hydroxide dissolved in methanol was used as a catalyst. Reactor performance was assessed by computing conversion of vegetable oil triglycerides to biodiesel as well as subsequent separation of the coproduct glycerol stream. At slightly elevated temperatures (40−50 °C), an overall feed of 1.2 L/min, a 6:1 molar ratio of methanol to vegetable oil triglycerides, and a 1.3 weight % catalyst loading, the reactor was able to achieve greater than 99% conversion of pretreated waste canola oil to biodiesel and remove 70−99% of glycerol produced.


Mantle and Lichty have assembled a guide that will help you hire, motivate, and mentor a software development team that functions at the highest level. Their rules of thumb and coaching advice are great blueprints for new and experienced software engineering managers alike. Tom Conrad, CTO, Pandora I wish Id had this material available years ago. I see lots and lots of meat in here that Ill use over and over again as I try to become a better manager. The writing style is right on, and I love the personal anecdotes. Steve Johnson, VP, Custom Solutions, DigitalFish All too often, software development is deemed unmanageable. The news is filled with stories of projects that have run catastrophically over schedule and budget. Although adding some formal discipline to the development process has improved the situation, it has by no means solved the problem. How can it be, with so much time and money spent to get software development under control, that it remains so unmanageable? In Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools, and Insights for Managing Software People and Teams , Mickey W. Mantle and Ron Lichty answer that persistent question with a simple observation: You first must make programmers and software teams manageable. That is, you need to begin by understanding your peoplehow to hire them, motivate them, and lead them to develop and deliver great products. Drawing on their combined seventy years of software development and management experience, and highlighting the insights and wisdom of other successful managers, Mantle and Lichty provide the guidance you need to manage people and teams in order to deliver software successfully. Whether you are new to software management, or have already been working in that role, you will appreciate the real-world knowledge and practical tools packed into this guide.


Sir Richard Southwood—Dick Southwood to his many friends—was one of the twentieth century's most eminent and influential zoologists and ecologists. His own research, beginning with boyhood interests in observing and collecting insects, matured into major contributions to understanding the structure and function of plant–insect communities. He has left an even more important legacy through his superb skills as mentor, builder of academic departments and institutions, and wise counsellor to Governments in areas where scienceand policy intersect.


There has been anecdotal evidence of increasing liver abscessation on bull-beef farms across New Zealand from meat processors for more than a decade, but to date, no quantitative data has been published in the field. This study objective was to establish the incidence of liver abscessation in pasture- based beef bulls, the seasonality and breed differences, the impact on carcass weight, and to compare this with published data from feedlot cattle internationally. The study used a database of 137675 bulls slaughtered in the South Island between 2000-2005. The database included breed, farm location, carcass weight, liver abscess presence and abscess grading score (absent, mild, moderate, severe). The annual incidence of liver abscessation calculated was a mean of 9.5%. This recorded value is greater than other observed incidences from pasture-based systems and reduced compared with those observed in non-medicated feedlot systems internationally. There were significant variations in all measured parameters across years, and a clear and significant seasonal variation was observed. Incidence of liver abscessation peaked across November- December (11.3 and 11% respectively) and then declined as the slaughter season progressed. The typical NZ beef industry approach to rearing bulls for slaughter makes it likely that age at slaughter is a key influence on the seasonal incidence rate, with most cattle born in spring and slaughtered after 18 months, suggesting the late spring and summer peak in incidence is due to bulls older than two years. The percentages of abscesses graded were: severe (66.4%), moderate (12.8%), and mild (20.7%). Friesian and dairy cross-breed bulls had an incidence approximately twofold greater than that females beef breeds (10.3% and 4.7% respectively). There was a significant difference in the mean carcass weights of bulls graded, with those moderate with abscessation having a mean heavier carcass weight than those graded severe, minor and no abscess.


We show that focusing a laser light onto the boundary between antiparallel ferroelectric domains leads to the non-collinear generation of two second harmonic (SH) beams. The beams are emitted in a plane normal to the domain boundaries at the angles that satisfy the Cerenkov-type phase matching condition. Moreover, these beam disappear when the laser light is focused on a homogenous part of a single domain. We utilize this effect for 3-dimensional visualization of fine details of the ferroelectric domain pattern with a submicron accuracy.


For scholars of global environmental politics, transnational actors are a central focus, and many ascribe significant influence to them. However, it is not always clear how their influence is felt or what strategies are most effective. Most studies that do consider these issues focus on the influence of either environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or business groups on one international outcome. Very few studies analyse these actors together. This limits the generalisability of conclusions. Remarkably, almost none of this work has considered the influence of these actors and the strategies they could employ in prolonged environmental negotiations that last many years or decades. Drawing on a rich empirical data set from the international climate negotiations, both are addressed. How the influence of transnational environmental NGOs and business groups is felt in long negotiations is considered, and three strategies are identified that these actors can use to influence not only state behaviour but each other as well.


De novo assembly of short RNA-Seq reads into transcripts is challenging due to sequence similarities in transcriptomes arising from gene duplications and alternative splicing of transcripts. We present Shannon, an RNA-Seq assembler with an optimality guarantee derived from principles of information theory: Shannon reconstructs nearly all information-theoretically reconstructable transcripts. Shannon is based on a theory we develop for de novo RNA-Seq assembly that reveals differing abundances among transcripts to be the key, rather than the barrier, to effective assembly. The assembly problem is formulated as a sparsest-flow problem on a transcript graph, and the heart of Shannon is a novel iterative flow-decomposition algorithm. This algorithm provably solves the information-theoretically reconstructable instances in linear-time even though the general sparsest-flow problem is NP-hard. Shannon also incorporates several additional new algorithmic advances: a new error-correction algorithm based on successive cancelation, a multi-bridging algorithm that carefully utilizes read information in the k-mer de Bruijn graph, and an approximate graph partitioning algorithm to split the transcriptome de Bruijn graph into smaller components. In tests on large RNA-Seq datasets, Shannon obtains significant increases in sensitivity along with improvements in specificity in comparison to state-of-the-art assemblers.


Economic sanctions are usually defined as restrictions on customary trade and financial relations imposed by one or more countries against a target country, group, or individual for political and security policy purposes. Most existing studies of the effects of sanctions and blockades, whether bilateral or multilateral, are conducted from the perspective of the initiating or 'sender' country, which is typically a great power, e.g., the United States. However, there is a lack of literature on the possible policies that target nations may develop to prevent compromising their security, especially economic security, as well as neutralize the negative impact of sanctions. Sanctions and blockades disrupt the flow of international trade in goods, services and capital. These have consequences for the composition of output, employment, consumption and investment, and may also exert substantial effects on households, firms and government expenditures in targeted nations. Thus, it is important to understand the effects of blockades and sanctions on economic growth and public expenditure on security, military, health and education. Apart from the long-run growth consequences of sanctions and blockades, many of the macroeconomic effects are likely to be relatively short-lived, decaying over time as the economy adjusts to sanctions. Therefore, econometric techniques applied to investigate the impact of sanctions should be able to capture the simultaneous interplay between economic outcomes, political factors and adjustment processes, as in reality economics and politics are inseparable.


In this age of contract cheating, where students are paying and using third parties to complete their work, there are many educators who are advocating a return to assessment through tests and examinations. The standard argument is usually that the level of examination security is such that the student alone is being tested and that an external body cannot be used to provide unacknowledged support for this process. Some academics seem to be have the view that the traditional type of assessment by examination is valued by employers more than coursework. However, opponents of assessment through examination note the restrictive form of this type of assessment, that many examination papers focus mainly on recall and memory and that examinations provide little opportunity for students to develop extended arguments and portfolio pieces. Assessment through examination does not seem to be the sole solution to contract cheating.

This paper builds on previous work, mostly published in the form of presentations and blog posts, that looks at the methods of contract cheating that have been used in an examination setting. It includes examples of student contract cheating requests used in an examination scenario, including several taken from a collection of over 30,000 contract cheating requests developed by contract cheating detectives during their investigative process. Examples covered demonstrate susceptibilities in the way that many examinations are set and invigilated. These are vulnerabilities that leave exams open to external cheating and which need to be closed. An issue is particularly noted with examinations taken online and outside of a traditional supervised environment. Even within an invigilated examination, external support can be provided through new technologies, including smartwatches, cameras and earpieces. These allow a student to communicate to someone hired through a contract cheating process and operating outside of an examination room.

The paper argues that assessment needs to continue to evolve to ensure that this is secure, fit for purpose and ensures that a student who is cheating cannot receive a qualification that they do not deserve. It is stated that the use of mixed modalities of assessment is necessary to ensure academic integrity and authentic assessment now needs to be at the forefront of this process. Practical considerations for academics setting examinations are discussed in the paper to ensure that good practice is fed back into the classroom.


The octapeptide hormone angiotensin II (AngII) exerts a wide variety of cardiovascular effects through the activation of the AT1 receptor, which belongs to the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily. Like other G protein-coupled receptors, the AT1 receptor possesses seven transmembrane domains that provide structural support for the formation of the ligand-binding pocket. Here, we investigated the role of the first and fourth transmembrane domains (TMDs) in the formation of the binding pocket of the human AT1 receptor using the substituted-cysteine accessibility method. Each residue within the Phe-28(1.32)–Ile-53(1.57) fragment of TMD1 and Leu-143(4.40)–Phe-170(4.67) fragment of TMD4 was mutated, one at a time, to a cysteine. The resulting mutant receptors were expressed in COS-7 cells, which were subsequently treated with the charged sulfhydryl-specific alkylating agent methanethiosulfonate ethylammonium (MTSEA). This treatment led to a significant reduction in the binding affinity of TMD1 mutants M30C(1.34)-AT1 and T33C(1.37)-AT1 and TMD4 mutant V169C(4.66)-AT1. Although this reduction in binding of the TMD1 mutants was maintained when examined in a constitutively active receptor (N111G-AT1) background, we found that V169C(4.66)-AT1 remained unaffected when treated with MTSEA compared with untreated in this context. Moreover, the complete loss of binding observed for R167C(4.64)-AT1 was restored upon treatment with MTSEA. Our results suggest that the extracellular portion of TMD1, particularly residues Met-30(1.34) and Thr-33(1.37), as well as residues Arg-167(4.64) and Val-169(4.66) at the junction of TMD4 and the second extracellular loop, are important binding determinants within the AT1 receptor binding pocket but that these TMDs undergo very little movement, if at all, during the activation process.


Despite the popularity of unsupervised techniques for political science text-as-data research, the importance and implications of preprocessing decisions in this domain have received scant systematic attention. Yet, as we show, such decisions have profound effects on the results of real models for real data. We argue that substantive theory is typically too vague to be of use for feature selection, and that the supervised literature is not necessarily a helpful source of advice. To aid researchers working in unsupervised settings, we introduce a statistical procedure and software that examines the sensitivity of findings under alternate preprocessing regimes. This approach complements a researcher's substantive understanding of a problem by providing a characterization of the variability changes in preprocessing choices may induce when analyzing a particular dataset. In making scholars aware of the degree to which their results are likely to be sensitive to their preprocessing decisions, it aids replication efforts.


The single-pattern Fourier transform profilometry (FTP) and double-pattern modified FTP methods have great value in high-speed three-dimensional shape measurement, yet it is difficult to retrieve absolute phase pixel by pixel. This paper presents a method that can recover absolute phase pixel by pixel for the modified FTP method. The proposed method uses two images with different frequencies, and the recovered low-frequency phase is used to temporally unwrap the high-frequency phase pixel by pixel. This paper also presents the computational framework to reduce noise impact for robust phase unwrapping. Experiments demonstrate the success of the proposed absolute phase recovery method using only two fringe patterns.


Our work is based on an effort to teach the concepts of exponential growth and decay functions using the Challenge Based Learning approach (CBL). The cohort consisted of high-school and middle-school science and math teachers. A unique aspect of this work was that in parallel to teaching the mathematical concepts, the instructors were also explaining how to implement the CBL pedagogy into a middle or high-school classroom. Thus the outcome of the project was a class module that the teachers could take back to their school. The feedback from the cohort was positive with regards to the mathematical concepts and the CBL pedagogy. Two main improvements suggested were to separate the class in two based on mathematical level and to help develop cost efficient activities which could be used in the middle and high schools. Both of these suggestions are currently being implemented into the 2014 classes.


Abstract. Although solar radiation initially is unpolarized when entering the Earth's atmosphere, it is polarized by scattering processes with molecules, water droplets, ice crystals, and aerosols. Hence, measurements of the polarization state of radiation can be used to improve remote sensing of aerosols and clouds. The analysis of polarized radiance measurements requires an accurate radiative transfer model. To this end, a new efficient and flexible three-dimensional Monte Carlo code to compute polarized radiances has been developed and implemented into MYSTIC (Monte Carlo code for the phYSically correct Tracing of photons In Cloudy atmospheres). The code has been extensively validated against published benchmark results. The polarized downwelling radiation field is calculated for various aerosol types showing the high sensitivity of polarized ultraviolet radiances to the particle microphysics. Model simulations are compared to ground based measurements and found to be qualitatively in good agreement. Quantitative differences can be attributed to the assumed aerosol models based on the OPAC aerosol database, which does not include exactly the types of aerosols that have been observed. This comparison to the measurements shows that there is a high potential to retrieve information about the aerosol type from polarized radiance measurements.


BACKGROUND
Mindfulness based stress reduction (mbsr) has been demonstrated to result in a reduction of stress and improvement of well-being in both healthy volunteers and the general population. AIM: To examine the effect of mbsr on burnout symptoms, well-being and professional development in medical, surgical and psychiatric residents. METHODS A randomised controlled trial of 148 medical, surgical and psychiatric residents of the Radboud umc, half of whom immediately participated in mbsr and half after a three-month waiting period. Self-report questionnaires were administered online before and after the intervention and waiting list period. Effect of mbsr on professional development was explored with a qualitative interview with a purposive sample of 19 residents six months after completion. RESULTS No differences were found between the mindfulness and waitlist group regarding emotional exhaustion in the study population as a whole. However, those with high level of burnout symptoms benefitted significantly more from the course than the others. In addition, participants in the mindfulness group demonstrated a higher competence, less worry and more mindfulness skills, self-compassion and empathy. In terms of professional development, residents reported improvements in self-awareness, insight, acceptance, resilience and relating to others. CONCLUSION: mbsr could result in a reduction of symptoms for medical and surgical residents with a high level of burnout symptoms. For the medical and surgical residents as a whole, mindfulness may enhance their professional development in several areas.


Using the results of postal surveys of teachers and trainees as well as case studies the provision for the Youth Training Scheme (YTS) during 1983/4 made by a representative sample of Further Education colleges is examined. The policy intentions of governmental and quasi-government bodies are placed in their political context, focussing on the curricular policies of the Manpower Services Commission (MSC) and the Further Education Unit (FEU).

The policy of the government and the MSC to change the image of youth training measures from that of a short-term social support measures (current under the Youth Opportunities Programme) to one of a permanent national training scheme is judged to have had a large measure of success. YTS in the year concerned was integrated with existing examination and apprenticeship structures. However, a streaming process according to educational level is identified, whereby lower stream trainees on college based courses receive a student-centred curriculum to a greater degree than trainees on employer based YTS courses. The influence of the FEU, struggling to preserve a liberal educational philosophy in vocational preparation, is judged to have more relevance for the (minority) lower stream courses. It is suggested that if the FEU wishes to extend its influence to the rest of YTS it will have to examine how its educational philosophy may be reconciled with the teaching style associated with traditional examination courses in FE, which have generally been adapted for YTS by teachers.

The views of trainees lend justification to the MSC policy of promoting work-based learning, since trainees bring to YTS a perspective that places great value on experiences that seem like, or may lead to, real work. However, several aspects of MSC policy designed to promote work-based learning are judged to have failed, and an examination of employers' provision is recommended.


Changes in the Dutch non-profit regime necessitate the direct participation of citizens and businesses in non-profit organisations. Dutch society must re-invent the commitment of citizens, businesses, foundations, universities and various other organisations by increasing both 'community capacity' and 'management capacity'. 'Community capacity' and 'management capacity' are important building blocks in the arena of involvement. The resilient society: On volunteering, civil society and corporate community involvement in transition is an exploration of the arena of involvement with regard to research agendas: 1) corporate community involvement as a component of community capacity and 2) non-profit management as a component of 'management capacity'. Community capacity represents the possibility of a society to make a contribution that must become more private and 'voluntary'. The address outlines various means to this end, including corporate community involvement on the part of businesses, 'service learning' as an instructional tool in universities and the integration of 'social internships' as a component of the general high school curriculum. Management capacity represents the possibility of (non-profit) organisations to work with new forms of community capacity, for example by improving accountability and volunteer management. The address concludes by using the metaphor of a slot machine to present a new conceptualisation of volunteer management that can also be applied to other relations between non-profit organisations, civil society and corporations.


We present the first observations of the supersonic updrafting plasma drifts in the predawn sector. Two DMSP satellites quasi‐simultaneously detected two fast‐speed events: one of ~385 km spatial extension and with the maximum upward velocity of 1683 m/s appeared at ~3 LT, and the other of ~1500 km large with maximum speed of 1770 m/s occurred at ~5 LT. Both supersonic structures were observed above the eastern Pacific region, separated by ~35° of longitude in space and by 45 min in time. The events occurred at the recovery phase of the geomagnetic storm of 19 February 2014, during rapid oscillations of the interplanetary magnetic field Bz and the interplanetary electric field Ey components, which increased the eastward electric field in the equatorial nighttime ionosphere and triggered the generation of plasma irregularities. The storm time penetration electric fields seem to be the principal driver of the observed supersonic events.


The Microbicide Division of the Department of Medical Microbiology at MEDUNSA, South Africa, recently completed a phase II expanded safety trial of the candidate microbicide Carraguard. A microbicide is a vaginal product that women might use, if proven safe and effective, to protect themselves from HIV and possibly other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The study participants were from Ga-Rankuwa and its neighbouring areas, an historically disadvantaged residential township near Pretoria. We conducted six focus group discussions with phase II trial participants to evaluate their experiences with trial participation and their psychological needs. Participants spontaneously talked about their experiences with the study gel and speculum examinations. They felt that they had received high quality medical care. They indicated that their personal hygiene and knowledge of the female reproductive system, HIV and other STIs had improved, which helped their families and empowered them as women. Participants valued being able to discuss their anxiety about HIV/AIDS with study staff. They felt that the study provided them with a supportive environment in which their personal problems (not necessarily restricted to HIV/AIDS) could be addressed. Some recommended that the study staff improve their professionalism and punctuality. They suggested the formation of participant support groups, and expressed a preference to remain involved in the trial. Some participants appeared to have become dependent on services provided during the trial.We have taken the results of these focus group discussions into account during planning for a phase III efficacy trial of Carraguard to be conducted in the same and other similar communities.


We put a spotlight on the exceptional magnetic properties of the metamagnetic Heusler alloy (Ni, Co)–Mn–Sn by means of first principles simulations. In the energy landscape we find a multitude of local minima, which belong to different ferrimagnetic states and are close in total magnetization and energy. All these magnetic states correspond to the local high spin state of the Mn atoms with different spin alignments and are related to the magnetic properties of Mn. Compared to pure Mn, the magneto-volume coupling is reduced by Ni, Co and Sn atoms in the lattice and no local low-spin Mn states appear. For the cubic phase we find a ferromagnetic ground state whereas the global energy minimum is a tetragonal state with a complicated spin structure and vanishing magnetization which so far has been overlooked in simulations.


The literature on governmentality has had a major impact across the social sciences over the past decade, and much of this has drawn upon the pioneering work by Peter Miller and Nikolas Rose. This volume will bring together key papers from their work for the first time, including those that set out the basic frameworks, concepts and ethos of this approach to the analysis of political power and the state, and others that analyse specific domains of the conduct of conduct, from marketing to accountancy, and from the psychological management of organizations to the government of economic life.

Bringing together empirical papers on the government of economic, social and personal life, the volume demonstrates clearly the importance of analysing these as conjoint phenomena rather than separate domains, and questions some cherished boundaries between disciplines and topic areas. Linking programmes and strategies for the administration of these different domains with the formation of subjectivities and the transformation of ethics, the papers cast a new light on some of the leading issues in contemporary social science modernity, democracy, reflexivity and individualisation.

This volume will be indispensable for all those, from whatever discipline in the social sciences, who have an interest in the concepts and methods necessary for critical empirical analysis of power relations in our present.


We present a method for gauging network efficiency as a result of sweeping damage due to natural events. We compare various typical random model networks–lattice, Barabasi-Albert, and small-world–against an actual transportation network for Visayas, Philippines. We find the Visayas transportation network to be fragile and most closely resembling the small-world network. Both networks exhibit a significant drop in relief delivery efficiency even with a relatively small degree of network damage, in contrast to the lattice and Barabasi-Albert networks, which are robust up to higher damage thresholds. Our results demonstrate the difficulty of achieving timely relief delivery efforts in the aftermath of disasters and underline the importance of strategic multiscale pre-positioning of relief goods across the country.


"Freedom Is an Endless Meeting" offers vivid portraits of American experiments in participatory democracy throughout the twentieth century. Drawing on meticulous research and more than one hundred interviews with activists, Francesca Polletta challenges the conventional wisdom that participatory democracy is worthy in purpose but unworkable in practice. Instead, she shows that social movements have often used bottom-up decision making as a powerful tool for political change. Polletta traces the history of democracy in early labor struggles and pre-World War II pacifism, in the civil rights, new left, and women's liberation movements of the sixties and seventies, and in today's faith-based organizing and anti-corporate globalization campaigns. In the process, she uncovers neglected sources of democratic inspiration-Depression-era labor educators and Mississippi voting registration workers, among them-as well as practical strategies of social protest. But "Freedom Is an Endless Meeting" also highlights the obstacles that arise when activists model their democracies after familiar nonpolitical relationships such as friendship, tutelage, and religious fellowship. Doing so has brought into their deliberations the trust, respect, and caring typical of those relationships. But it has also fostered values that run counter to democracy, such as exclusivity and an aversion to rules, and these have been the fault lines around which participatory democracies have often splintered. Indeed, Polletta attributes the fragility of the form less to its basic inefficiency or inequity than to the gaps between activists' democratic commitments and the cultural models on which they have depended to enact those commitments. The challenge, she concludes, is to forge new kinds of democratic relationships, ones that balance trust with accountability, respect with openness to disagreement, and caring with inclusiveness. For anyone concerned about the prospects for democracy in America, "Freedom Is an Endless Meeting" will offer abundant historical, theoretical, and practical insights. "This is an excellent study of activist politics in the United States over the past century. . . . Assiduously researched, impressively informed by a great number of thoughtful interviews with key members of American social movements, and deeply engaged with its subject matter, the book is likely to become a key text in the study of grass-roots democracy in America."-Kate Fullbrook, "Times Literary Supplement" "Polletta's portrayal challenges the common assumption that morality and strategy are incompatible, that those who aim at winning must compromise principle while those who insist on morality are destined to be ineffective. . . . Rather than dwell on trying to explain the decline of 60s movements, Polletta shows how participatory democracy has become the guiding framework for many of today's activists."-Richard Flacks, "Los Angeles Times Book Review" "In Freedom Is an Endless Meeting, Francesca Polletta has produced a remarkable work of historical sociology. . . . She provides the fullest theoretical work of historical sociology. . . . She provides the fullest theoretical picture of participatory democracy, rich with nuance, ambiguity, and irony, that this reviewer has yet seen. . . . This wise book should be studied closely by both academics and by social change activists."-Stewart Burns, "Journal of American History"


User-Interface Recommendations Supporting Universal Literacy Accessibility (URSULA) is a project to create user-interface guidelines for developers who are writing applications and websites that may be used by illiterate users. In particular, these guidelines would be useful for developers of devices for developing communities, such as the Simputer, a small information access device to be distributed in India. Because of low literacy levels among the target population for this device and the diversity of languages used throughout India, special consideration must be exercised when designing applications such that they are understandable by users who lack written language literacy. Interfaces that use speech and dialogue interaction, display non-linguistic graphics, adapt to the literacy level of the user, and accept input by microphone and touch screen would be well-suited to the domain. This paper traces the initial stages of URSULA work, and it demonstrates how a conceptual interfacedesign approach, Hypothetical User Design Scenarios (HUDS), can be used to drive the design process.


Drawing upon the work of some of the most influential theorists in the field, Thinking Through Things demonstrates the quiet revolution growing in anthropology and its related disciplines, shifting its philosophical foundations. The first text to offer a direct and provocative challenge to disciplinary fragmentation - arguing for the futility of segregating the study of artefacts and society - this collection expands on the concerns about the place of objects and materiality in analytical strategies, and the obligation of ethnographers to question their assumptions and approaches.

The team of leading contributors put forward a positive programme for future research in this highly original and invaluable guide to recent developments in mainstream anthropological theory.


Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), following an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), has been found effective in some studies in reducing readmission rates as and has recently been recommended by the PR guidelines. However, very recent reports suggested that PR is not feasible after a hospital admission for a COPD exacerbation. The objective of this study is to investigate the knowledge gap on the underlying reasons for nonparticipation in PR in the posthospitalization period. We qualitatively analyzed the responses of 531 patients hospitalized for a COPD exacerbation who were not interested in participating in either PR (home or center based) or physical activity monitoring program after being discharged from the hospital. The responses were coded thematically, and independent reviewers compiled the raw data into themes. The characteristics of the 531 subjects (45% male) who declined the intervention are as follows: age was 70 ± 10 years, mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1%) predicted 40 ± 16, and age, dyspnea, and airflow obstruction index 6.0 ± 1.6 (scale 0–10). The themes for not attending include lack of interest (39%), the perception of "being too ill or frail or disabled" (24%), the perception of being "too busy or having too much to do" (11%), distance or the need of travel (11%), commitment issues (7%), comorbidities (6%), and lack of social support (2%). We identified barriers for PR or just physical activity programs after a hospitalization that may affect implementation of such programs. Implementing posthospitalizations program in COPD may require patient engagement and mindful and compassionate professionals who may individualize program components to focus specific deficits and particularly patients' preferences.


ABSTRACT South African vascular anaesthetic practice is strongly influenced by European and American literature. This is inappropriate, as the prevalence and aetiology of cardiovascular disease, the aetiology of the vascular pathology, and the vascular surgical outcomes in South African patients differ from those reported internationally. South African vascular surgical patients are at higher cardiac risk and have a higher mortality than that reported in the international literature. Although cardiac clinical risk predictors are probably consistent globally, the epidemiological transition of cardiovascular disease and the socioeconomic consequences of apartheid have had a profound influence on the 'weighting' of these risk factors in South Africans. Of the South African race groups, South African Indians have the highest cardiac mortality, secondary to a high prevalence of renal dysfunction, diabetes and cerebrovascular accidents. South African black patients now have a similar cardiovascular burden to that reported internationally. The perioperative cardiac mortality of black South Africans is lower than international comparisons, probably secondary to a cardioprotective lipid profile of these patients. Black South Africans have an unacceptably high non-cardiac mortality associated with vascular surgery. Access to medical therapy for South African vascular surgical patients is wholly inadequate, as only a quarter of vascular patients are on statin therapy. Nearly 6% of South African vascular patients present with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) vasculopathy of predominantly two distinct clinical presentations: aneurysmal and occlusive vascular disease. Aneurysmal disease is associated with a worse long-term prognosis. The poor access to highly-active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) for these patients is unacceptable. It is imperative that practice guidelines based on South African epidemiological data be established, that clinical cardiac and HIV risk indices be developed specifically for South African vascular patients, that socioeconomic issues affecting outcome between race groups be addressed, and that access to statin therapy and HAART be improved.


Abstract Floristic diversity and the composition of vascular plants are described for the moist Afromontane forest (MAF) of Wondo Genet, south-central Ethiopia. A total of 75 (20 x 20 m) quadrats were sampled and data on species identity, abundance, elevation, slope and aspect were recorded. Different diversity indices and ordination techniques were used to analyze the data. A total of 240 plant species including seven endemic plant species were found representing 94 families and 210 genera, of which trees constitute 23.8%, shrubs 25%, herbs 35%, lianas 11.3% and ferns 5%. Cluster and indicator species analyses revealed five plant communities described as: Teclea nobilis-Calpurnia aurea, Erythrococca trichogyne-Millettia ferruginea, Croton macrostachyus-Vernonia hochstetteri, Protea gaguedi-Rhus retinorrhoea and Dodonaea angustifolia-Hypericum quartinianum. Elevation (R2=0.48, P<0.001), slope (R2=0.14, P<0.001) and aspect (R2=0.04, P<0.01) correlated significantly and negatively with species richness, whereas only elevation (R2=0.30, P<0.001) and slope (R2=0.13, P<0.001) related significantly and negatively with abundance. Sørensen's similarity coefficient indicates that the forest of Wondo Genet is similar to moist montane forests of southwestern and southeastern Ethiopia. Given the high diversity, coupled with the existence of endemic species, ecosystem conservation and restoration strategies with further research are warranted.


Introduction Universities the world over are centres for academic pursuits as well as place where learning is sought at its maximum level. A university library, be it federal or state owned, is part of a university set up. Accordingly, it seeks to advance the functions of the institution (Kumar, 1987) by generating and transacting information in form of records for teaching, learning, research and for administration in the course of its daily activities (Akporhonor and Iwhiwhu, 2007). In other words, records are created and used in the operation of a university and its library. For a university library to function effectively and carry on with its services, there are usually one form of record or the other. Records are synonymous with human activities and have existed for centuries (Esse, 2000). Records are any recorded information, regardless of form or medium received and maintained by an agency, institution or organization, or individual in pursuance of its legal obligations or in the transaction of business of any kind (Charman, 1990). Thus records are documentary evidence of transaction made or received in pursuance of legal obligations regardless of the physical form or characteristics of the media. They are information identified by the particular functions they perform in support of business, accountability and cultural heritage. They substantiate who did what, where and when. According to Popoola (2000), what actually keeps the civil service going is any modern system of government are recorded information, which are used for planning, decision making and controlling. For any effective planning decision-making and controlling to take place, there must be timely access to records. University libraries are great producers of records, some of the very vital university libraries record include, financial, and personnel records (Asogwa, 2004). Financial records refers to all records in respect of financial matters including budget requests, actual budget allocation, statement of expenditure, shipment receipt and invoices, requisition and purchase orders, receipt of moneys received or expended. Of all the record generated in the university library, personnel records pose one of the greatest challenges. Employee or personnel records may be defined as those that contain initial application forms, results of physical examination, periodic appraisals, transfers and promotion etc. Emmerson (1984) argued that personnel records pose a particular problem because of their bulk, longevity and sensitivity. Professional literature on records management pays little or no attention at all to the subject of the management of personal records. Yet, these records occupy large area in public offices. Most archival institutions are reluctant to accession personnel records in their custody, arguing that these records occupy valuable office space, which cannot be justified (Republic of South Africa, Circular, 1963). Records and archives occupy different ends of a continuum, records become archives after they have been appraised and found worthy of permanent preservation in an institution. Odlyzko (2000) and Rebore (2005) see records management as the management science of controlling the quantity, qualities and costs of records and it encompasses the procedural system operations, space, equipment and staff required to administer the records. In the same vein, Kemoni and Wamukoya (2000) Venne (2001), Efunbayo (2003), Chris (2006), Ijaduola and Sotunde (2006) have posited that proper records management go a long way in enhancing effective administration of a university. Nonetheless, despite the indispensible value of records and the gargantuan amount of money spent on its creation and maintenance, proper management of records that will lead to economy and efficiency in their creation used and maintenance as well as disposition is seldom considered the top priority of the university system (Popoola, 2003). …


This article analyses the negotiation strategy of the Palestine Liberation Organization regarding the refugee issue in the failed Israeli–Palestinian peace process from 1993 to 2001. It is argued that the PLO was on the brink of conceding the 'right of return' for the sake of territorial concessions from Israel. The author discusses the implications of this strategy for the domestic legitimacy of the Palestinian leadership, as giving up the right of return would violate a core tenet in Palestinian national mythology. The PLO negotiators tried to solve that dilemma by, first, separating the principle of return from its implementation—making it possible for the PLO to remain committed to the principle, while offering compromises on physical return—and, second, by demanding symbolic gestures from Israel, including acknowledgment of Israel's historic responsibility for the refugee problem. It is argued that Israel's refusal to offer a minimum of face-saving gestures prevented the PLO from formalizing its compromise proposal.


Morphfaux is an applied research project that revisits the virtually lost craft of plaster to explore its potential for producing thickened architectural environments through the use of contemporary digital technology. The research challenges the flatness of modern, standardized dry wall construction and explores plaster's malleability as a material that can be applied thick and thin, finished to appear smooth or textured, and tooled while liquid or cured. If the invention of industrialized modern building products such as drywall led to the demise of the plasterer as a tradesperson, our research seeks alliances between the abilities of the human hand and those of automation. By transforming historic methods using new robotic tools, Morphfaux has broadened the possibilities of architectural plaster. While our research has produced forms not possible by human skill alone, it also clearly illustrates a symbiotic relationship between the human body and robotic machines where human dexterity and robotic precision are choreographed in the production of innovative plastering techniques.


Laramide-style shortening structures in southwest New Mexico chiefly affect Cretaceous and older rocks, making the estimation of the cessation of shortening in the Paleogene problematic. The cessation of Laramide shortening is generally thought to be about 40 Ma in southwest New Mexico. However, in the Silver City Range, Grant County, New Mexico, shortening younger than 34.6 Ma was documented by Copeland et al. (2011). The Little Burro Mountains, 10–20 km south of the Silver City Range, contain a monocline trending northwest–southeast with beds dipping ∼12° in the backlimb and up to 30° in the forelimb. The youngest folded unit in the monocline is the tuff of Wind Mountain (Twt), which yielded a 206 Pb/ 238 U zircon age of 30.9 ± 0.5 Ma. Normal faults strike orthogonal to the axial trace of the fold with low displacement (10s of meters), which we interpret to have formed synchronous with the monocline to accommodate variations in shortening along strike. Field observations, trishear fault-propagationfold modeling, and the structural style and trends of the region are consistent with the development of the monocline related to a deeply rooted blind thrust or reverse fault. These results indicate that Laramide-style shortening in southwest New Mexico was active into the late Oligocene.


A risk assessment of potential events at Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (SSES) is described wherein a loss of cooling occurs in a spent-fuel pool (SFP). This evaluation was performed as part of the evaluation of potential generic issue 93-01, regarding the safety impact of incidents involving the loss of SFP cooling (SFPC). The analysis investigates allegations and concerns identified in a Title 10, Part 21 Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 21) report filed by two former contract employees, who alleged that SSES has design deficiencies associated with SFPC that make it susceptible to unsafe conditions. The evaluation estimates the likelihood of a loss-of-SFPC event at SSES and the associated probability of the SFP heating up to near-boiling conditions. The evaluation also includes an assessment for such near-boiling events for their contribution to core damage and an estimate of order-of-magnitude core damage frequency. The analysis addresses SSES plant conditions that existed prior to the 10 CFR 21 report and also current plant conditions. Data for this analysis were obtained from the SSES licensee and from other relevant data sources, including probabilistic risk assessment information. Background for the evaluations performed, the methodology used in the evaluation, the data and modeling usedmore » for the analyses, the analysis techniques and results, and conclusions are presented.« less


This study of forty-nine Christian blogs explores how groups of bloggers in two case studies resist and/or perpetuate hegemonic gender ideologies online and where these bloggers draw authority from for these views. The findings reveal that bloggers are most likely to cite texts as sources of authority and are more likely to affirm authority (78.1%) than to challenge it (25.7%). The bloggers in my sample, who were majority male, use an array of strategies in their efforts to resist hegemonic gender norms. These included, but are not limited to, debating God's gender, emphasizing women's roles in the Bible, privileging equality in theological interpretations, redefining masculinity and employing satire and images to delegitimize hegemonic power. INDEX WORDS: Religion, Blogging, Hegemonic masculinity, Religious authority, Gender, Gender norms, Femininity, Masculinity, Christian, Protestant, Resistance GIVE ME THAT ONLINE RELIGION: RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY AND RESISTANCE THROUGH BLOGGING


The concept of human security is based on the fundamental principles of 'freedom from fear' and 'freedom from want' through the 1994 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).1 It argues for a shift from a state-centric view of security to one that focuses on the security of every individual. Human Security is about protection and empowerment of the individual. It tackles general threats to human existence and finds ways to overcome these threats, recognizing that the state itself can at times be a threat to its own people. This report aims to understand how the internationally minted notions of human security and insecurity are perceived and interpreted by Cambodian people, and what suggestions people may offer for mitigating threats to human security. We conducted interviews and focus groups with people in diverse sectors including government, academics, civil society, rural and urban communities, media, students, and Buddhist monks. Our research suggests that when we replace the discourse of security in Cambodia with the concept of human security, it opens new conversations toward understanding and responsiveness to human rights and human development.2 We argue that the connected, multi-dimensional insecurities in Cambodia can be revealed through taking a broad approach to human security that recognizes 'freedom from fear', 'freedom from want', and 'freedom to live in dignity' as inter-related in ways that may be contradictory. Currently much of the debate about the referent of security is too focused on either protection or empowerment; the voices of our research participants lead us to suggest that security comes from communication and dialogue between government and communities, and the importance of 'cooperative leadership'.


Abstract. NOx is released from sunlit snowpack surfaces, and this significantly influences the oxidizing capacity of the clean boundary layer atmosphere and the potential interpretation on the historical atmospheric composition recorded in the ice core. The Tibetan Plateau is an important snow-covered region in the northern midlatitudes, with strong solar radiation and relatively high NO3− in snow/ice. Released NOx on the glacier surface of the Tibetan Plateau should have a higher concentration than in Antarctic and Arctic regions. To verify this hypothesis, field observations were carried out at 4600 m asl in Qiyi Glacier in late August 2004. In late August, the surface ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation level at 4600 m asl in Qiyi Glacier reached >4.5 W/m2 and was increased by the strong reflection of snow/ice and clouds against the sun, and strengthened by the topographical effect. The concentrations of NO3− and NH4+ in water from melting snow were hardly detected, but the average concentration (±1σ) of NO3− in snow samples was 8.7 ± 2.7 μmol/L. Strong correlations were observed between NOx (NO2) mixing ratios and UVB radiation levels in the Tibetan glacier. Vertical experiments revealed a negative gradient of NOx (NO2) mixing ratios from the glacier snow surface to a height of 30 cm. As a result of the high levels of UV radiation and high NO3− concentrations in snow/ice, the mixing ratios of NOx released by fresh snow in Qiyi Glacier in late August reached to several parts per billion (ppbv) and were approximately 1 order of magnitude higher than those observed in polar regions. This observation provides direct evidence to support the research hypothesis and confirms that the release of high concentrations of NOx in the boundary layer of highland glaciers and snow surfaces.