Sustainability is changing the competitive landscape and reshaping the opportunities and threats that companies face. However, for companies to become green they need employees to develop, believe and engage with these initiatives. To achieve success with sustainable practices, companies can use internal marketing which is based on the satisfaction of employees as a premise to achieve the retention and attraction of top talent that will lead to corporate success. It is estimated that the internal customer satisfaction and loyalty contribute to satisfying the external customers, leading ultimately to a company's profit maximization. In this paper I explore the impact of companies' sustainability efforts among their employees. More specifically, we examine the results of an online survey conducted on employees of 10 multinational companies regarding the implementation of green internal marketing and corporate social responsibility to enhance their satisfaction at work.


OpenPGP is the most widely used email encryption standard in the world. It is based on PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) as originally developed by Phil Zimmermann. The OpenPGP protocol defines standard formats for encrypted messages, signatures, and certificates for exchanging public keys.PGP & GPG is an easy-to read, informal tutorial for implementing electronic privacy on the cheap using the standard tools of the email privacy field - commercial PGP and non-commercial GnuPG (GPG). The book shows how to integrate these OpenPGP implementations into the most common email clients and how to use PGP and GPG in daily email correspondence to both send and receive encrypted email.The PGP & GPG book is written for the moderately skilled computer user who is unfamiliar with public key cryptography but who is nevertheless interested in guarding their email privacy. Lucas's trademark informal and relaxed tone makes public key cryptography as simple and clear as possible, so that any reasonably savvy computer user can understand it.


Disease due to Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of mortality and morbidity globally. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) are being routinely introduced in immunisation programmes with support from Gavi, the Vaccine alliance, in low-income countries but uncertainty remains around the impact of different PCV introduction strategies in such settings, and in particular catch-up campaigns (CCs), which so far have not been conducted in Gavi-supported countries due to supply constraints.
This thesis explored the potential impact on nasopharyngeal carriage and disease of introducing PCV with and without CCs, in Nha Trang, Vietnam, through a dynamic transmission model. Vietnam is yet to introduce PCV vaccination, as are most South-East Asian countries. Additional studies on the vaccine efficacy against carriage (VEC) and its waning, social contact patterns relevant for pneumococcal transmission, and age-specific epidemiology of carriage and serotype distribution were also conducted, the results of which fed directly into the transmission model.
A meta-analysis provided the first ever-global estimates of VEC and its waning, by serotype and schedule. A large survey in southwest Uganda, collecting data on both social contact patterns and carriage from the same participants, shed light on which social contacts are important for pneumococcal transmission, showing that the frequency of close contacts, but not casual contacts, increased the colonisation risk, thereby informing the parameterisation of the transmission model. Results from the latter predicted elimination of vaccine type (VT) serotypes with near-complete replacement by non-VT across all age groups, within 10 years of PCV introduction with 90% coverage. The predicted benefit of CCs to expanded age groups was most pronounced in the first three years after PCV introduction, insofar that CCs result in limited introduction delays.
This thesis provided important insight into the epidemiology and transmission dynamics of pneumococci, to inform policy in countries that have not yet introduced PCV.


Evaluation of multimedia and multilingual information access systems needs to be performed from a usage oriented perspective. This document outlines use cases from the three use case domains of the PROMISE project and gives some initial pointers to how their respective characteristics can be extrapolated to determine and guide evaluation activities, both with respect to benchmarking and to validation of the usage hypotheses. The use cases will be developed further during the course of the evaluation activities and workshops projected to occur in coming CLEF conferences.


Background: The QUOROM and PRISMA guidelines were created in an attempt to improve the standard of reporting systematic reviews. At present there are no studies in the dental literature that have assessed the compliance of papers with these two sets of guidelines.
Aims: To determine whether the reports of systematic reviews in four dental specialities comply with the QUOROM and PRISMA statements, whether there has been an improvement in standard over time and whether Cochrane reviews differ from other reviews.
Design: Retrospective observational study
Method: A search of the Cochrane library identified 181 systematic reviews and meta-analyses for inclusion across four dental specialities (orthodontics, periodontics, preventive dentistry and endodontics). Each review was scored using a 63-item checklist developed from the QUOROM guidelines and a 63-item checklist developed from the PRISMA guidelines.
Results: The mean QUOROM score for the whole sample was 70.86% (SD 11.36%, 95% CI 69.20%, 70.86%) and the mean PRISMA score for the whole sample was 74.07% (SD 10.48%, 95% CI 72.53%, 75.61%). The mean PRISMA score for Cochrane reviews was 85.19% (SD 5.03%, 95% CI 83.79%, 86.59%) and the mean PRISMA score for non-Cochrane reviews was 69.59% (SD 8.60%, 95% CI 68.09%, 71.09%). This difference was statistically significant (mean difference 15.50% (95% CI 13.58%, 17.62%; p<0.00001). The mean PRISMA score for orthodontic papers was 75.07% (SD 10.36%, 95% CI 72.32%, 77.82%), for periodontic papers it was 74.91% (SD 7.96%, 95% CI 72.80%, 77.03%), for preventive dentistry papers the means score was 71.50% (SD 13.73%, 95% CI 67.22%, 75.78%) and for endodontic papers the mean score was 74.20% (SD 9.37%, 95% CI 70.33%, 78.07%). The differences between these scores was not statistically significant (p = 0.851). There was a weak negative linear relationship between the age of a Cochrane review and its PRISMA score, indicating a small improvement in compliance with the PRISMA guidelines over time. This was statistically significant (p = 0.019). There was also a weak negative linear relationship between the age of a non-Cochrane review and its PRISMA score but this was not statistically significant (p=0.422). The age of a paper, the speciality it belonged to and the type of review (Cochrane versus non-Cochrane) accounted for 46.5% of the variability in the final PRISMA score.
Conclusions: The compliance of systematic reviews and meta-analyses with the QUOROM and the PRISMA guidelines was highly variable. There were significant differences between the PRISMA scores of non-Cochrane reviews and Cochrane reviews with the latter scoring more highly. There was also a slight increase in the compliance of Cochrane reviews over time, which was statistically significant. Although the speciality of orthodontics had the highest mean PRISMA score, there were no significant differences between the four specialities.


Linda Cohen and Matthew Spitzer's study, "The Government Litigant Advantage," sheds important light on how the Solicitor General's litigation behavior may impact the Supreme Court's decision making agenda and outcomes for regulatory and administrative law cases. By emphasizing how the Solicitor General affects cases that the Supreme Court decides, Cohen and Spitzer's findings confirm that administrative law's emphasis on lower appellate court decisions is not misplaced. Some say that D.C. Circuit cases carry equal-if not more-precedential weight than Supreme Court decisions in resolving administrative law issues. Cohen and Spitzer use positive political theory to provide a novel explanation for some of this bias towards circuit court decisions in defining the rule of law in administrative law practice and scholarship. However, this Comment argues that what Cohen and Spitzer's empirical finding of "government litigant advantage" means more generally for the rule of law in the regulatory context requires further elaboration.


The author explores the practices of Polish butō dancers. Underlining the transcultural potential of the genre, she discusses in particular their individual body-mind practices and so-called butō techniques in order to produce a generalised account of butō training. Her argument is underpinned by complex field research which she carried out as an expert observer and a workshop participant. Drawing on a transdisciplinary approach, which combines insights and findings from the fields of cultural and performance studies, cultural anthropology and cognitive sciences, the book depicts the sequence of three phases which make up the processual structure of butō training: intro, following and embodiment.


Although the Internet of Things (IoT) is a vast and dynamic territory that is evolving rapidly, there has been a need for a book that offers a holistic view of the technologies and applications of the entire IoT spectrum. Filling this void, The Internet of Things in the Cloud: A Middleware Perspective provides a comprehensive introduction to the IoT and its development worldwide.It gives you a panoramic view of the IoT landscapefocusing on the overall technological architecture and design of a tentatively unified IoT framework underpinned by Cloud computing from a middleware perspective. Organized into three sections, it: Describes the many facets of Internet of Thingsincluding the four pillars of IoT and the three layer value chain of IoT Focuses on middleware, the glue and building blocks of a holistic IoT system on every layer of the architecture Explores Cloud computing and IoT as well as their synergy based on the common background of distributed processing The book is based on the authors two previous bestselling books (in Chinese) on IoT and Cloud computing and more than two decades of hands-on software/middleware programming and architecting experience at organizations such as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, IBM, BEA Systems, and Silicon Valley startup Doubletwist. Tapping into this wealth of knowledge, the book categorizes the many facets of the IoT and proposes a number of paradigms and classifications about Internet of Things' mass and niche markets and technologies.


You want to explore functional programming, but are put off by the academic feel (tell me about monads just one more time). You know you need concurrent applications, but also know these are almost impossible to get right. Meet Elixir, a functional, concurrent language built on the rock-solid Erlang VM. Elixir's pragmatic syntax and built-in support for metaprogramming will make you productive and keep you interested for the long haul. This book is the introduction to Elixir for experienced programmers. Maybe you need something that's closer to Ruby, but with a battle-proven environment that's unrivaled for massive scalability, concurrency, distribution, and fault tolerance. Maybe the time is right for the Next Big Thing. Maybe it's Elixir. This edition of the book has been updated to cover Elixir 1.2, including the new with expression, the exrm release manager, and the removal of deprecated types. As a developer, you've probably heard that functional programming techniques help manage the complexities of today's real-world, concurrent systems. You're also investigating designs that help you maximize uptime and manage security. This book is your guide to Elixir, a modern, functional, and concurrent programming language. Because Elixir runs on the Erlang VM, and uses the underlying Erlang/OTP architecture, it benefits from almost 20 years of research into high performance, highly parallel, and seriously robust applications. Elixir brings a lot that's new: a modern, Ruby-like, extendable syntax, compile and runtime evaluation, a hygienic macro system, and more. But, just as importantly, Elixir brings a sense of enjoyment to parallel, functional programming. Your applications become fun to work with, and the language encourages you to experiment. Part 1 covers the basics of writing sequential Elixir programs. We'll look at the language, the tools, and the conventions. Part 2 uses these skills to start writing concurrent code--applications that use all the cores on your machine, or all the machines on your network! And we do it both with and without OTP. And Part 3 looks at the more advanced features of the language, from DSLs and code generation to extending the syntax. By the end of this book, you'll understand Elixir, and know how to apply it to solve your complex, modern problems.


Recognizing Plato's role as dramatist rather than as stenographer for Socrates reveals that the Ion presents a model for the creation and transfer of meaning that is remarkably similar to that described by Shelley's A Defence of Poetry. Even though Socrates criticizes the poet for diluting the truth, Plato's text, through its metaphor of the iron rings and through its own structure as a dramatic dialogue, presents and itself serves as a model of how meaning is created, a model which serves as a basis for Shelley's text. The Ion's iron rings suggest the interminable progression of metaphor by which meaning is constructed and kept current, and this view of language, in which meaning is constructed by the poet rather than reflected or distorted, points to a reprieve for poetry from Socrates's banishment of it in Republic X.


Black and White in Colour: African History on Screen. Edited by Vivian Bickford-Smith and Richard Mendelsohn. Athens: Ohio University Press; Oxford: James Cuney; Cape Town: Double Storey, 2007. Pp. ix, 374. $26.95. This book is a significant contribution to the study of both African history and film studies, as it focuses on the intersection of mainstream historiography and fiction film. Both editors are professors in the department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town, professing a special interest in film and history. The contributors are scholars of African history, historical anthropology, and religious studies from universities around the world, including Australia, Great Britain, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States. The volume presents a refreshing augmentation of US-based scholarship of African cinema and African history on film. The editors' introduction emphasizes the "value of film as a means of engaging with the past" in contrast to conventional academic skepticism towards this medium (p. 1), and provides a brief overview of the emerging field of "film and history," a field they firmly locate in historiography beyond the mere use of film as a teaching aid. The introductory outline discusses the "convergence of two historical streams: African History and 'Film in History'" (p.1), and describes this discourse as commencing with "a debate in pages of the ... American Historical Journal in the late 1980s," (pp. 1, 2) continuing in the journal, Film and History, and promoted in other publications by Hayden White, Peter C. Rollins, Robert Toplin, Mbye Cham, Josef Gugler, and others. The discourse on film as a means of engaging Africa extends to studies of African cinema by authors including Imruh Bakari, Manthia Diawara, Francoise Pfaff, Keyan Tornaselli, Frank N. Ukadike, Jonathan Haynes, and the genre of ethnographic film, not mentioned here. Yet, contrary to previous studies, the editors of the cunent volume "focus squarely on the historical and include films both African and non-African in provenance" (p. 3). The editors have procured seventeen contributions dealing with African history in fiction film, and asked the contributors-Mahir Saul, Ralph A. Austen, Robert Baum, Robert Harms, Nigel Worden, Carolyn Hamilton and Litheko Mosidane, Richard Mendelsohn, Shamil Jeppie, Bill Nasson, Nigel Penn, Ruth Watson, Patrick Harries, David Moore, Teresa Barnes, Vivian Bickford-Smith, Mohamed Adhikari, and David Philips-to take into account the "theorizing of film and history, particularly Rosenstone" (p. 4). The films discussed include Weend Kuni, Ceddo, Lumumba, Hotel Rwanda, The Battle of Algiers, Cry Freedom, Flame, Chocolat and Nowhere in Africa, among others, and focus on a broad range of times, places, historic figures, invented characters, and topics ranging from a distant but unspecified period in West African history represented by prominent French African film makers, to the African side of the transatlantic slave trade, political and religious colonialism, resistance and heroism, African conscripts in both World Wars, colonial life, white women and projections of Africa, Apartheid, sexual preference and gender as bases for discrimination and oppression, the South African War, Rwanda's genocide, torture, the Algerian War, women in resistance, and post-Apartheid South Africa. …


This article applies instruments of social network analysis to a study of communication networks within the Italian and German extremist right. Web links between organizational websites are used as a proxy. Indeed, extremist groups increasingly use and abuse the Internet for their propaganda and their recruitment, and also for their internal communication. The analysis includes both political parties and non-party organizations, even violent groups. In a macro-, micro-, and meso-analysis, the various specificities of the two national political sectors are demonstrated and linked to the offline reality. The Italian network appears to be very fragmented, highly diversified, and difficult to be coordinated ('policephalous network'), whereas the German network is denser and much more concentrated on a few central actors ('star structure'). These differences are mainly due to political opportunity structures in the two countries. Additionally, whereas the Italian network structure allows for the construction of a typology of sub-groups of organizations, the German communicative structure seems to be more erratic and less coordinated. The article also highlights the function of websites which are not related to any specific group. Indeed, these are of special importance for the far right as a political arena which is usually banned from the dominant societal discourses (if not even legally forbidden). Considering this, new modes of communication can be of greater use for extremist groups than for more traditional political actors.


Urban gardens take on different forms and meanings, which vary depending on the socio-economic context where they located/used and how it evolves over time. This makes a garden comparable to a micro-social ecosystem, different from other gardens and ever changing. As with every social-ecosystem resulting from a territorialisation process, there is a certain degree of social inertia that makes it difficult for outsiders with new motivations and demanding new spaces to enter into the "garden ecosystem". Drawing on existing literature and fieldwork in two urban communal gardens in Turin, the paper is mainly concerned with the spatiotemporal dimension of urban gardening, with a special focus on governance aspects. In particular, the article offers insights about the involvement of the governance process in the dynamics of urban allotment gardens and looks at the impact of regulations. Despite being areas with a limited extension, the complex nature of the structural coupling of the relationship among gardeners and the assigned allotment, makes it clear that urban garden management is far from being unproblematic. The attempt to govern and manage the phenomenon by the local government and promoting associations often represents a real challenge in terms of adaptability and response to a phenomenon in constant evolution and fully inserted in the urban transition. This is a process characterized, on the one hand, by internal, conservative resistance and, on the other hand, by pressures asking for social change and innovation from the outside. In an era of urban agriculture renaissance, both aspects are relevant factors to keep in mind to face the rising demand from new people for cultivating urban spaces. These aspects have not been sufficiently considered in the governance practices or in the reflections of the scientific community.


Visual words have recently proved to be a key tool in image classification. Best performing Pascal VOC and ImageCLEF systems use Gaussian mixtures or k-means clustering to define visual words based on the content-based features of points of interest. In most cases, Gaussian Mixture Modeling (GMM) with a Fisher information based distance over the mixtures yields the most accurate classification results. In this paper we overview the theoretical foundations of the Fisher kernel method. We indicate that it yields a natural metric over images characterized by low level content descriptors generated from a Gaussian mixture. We justify the theoretical observations by reproducing standard measurements over the Pascal VOC 2007 data. Our accuracy is comparable to the most recent best performing image classification systems.


This book features the first comprehensive interdisciplinary study of the mosaics from Antioch, one of the four capitals of the Roman and Early Christian world. A follow-up to the critically acclaimed Antioch: The Lost Ancient City by Christine Kondoleon, this volume includes the latest scholarly and scientific discoveries that grew out of the Antioch exhibition. For the first time, the research of art historians and archaeologists is combined with that of conservators and scientists to shed new light on mosaic and glass workshops. The authors take an in-depth look at the Antioch excavations, which yielded a range of mosaics, sculpture, and glass- and metalwork spanning four centuries. They also explore the development of mosaic conservation in museums since the 1930s. Included are recent findings on mosaic materials, artistic techniques, glassmaking technology, stone quarries, workshops, trade, and patronage. An introduction by the director of the Worcester Art Museum outlines the history of the museum's involvement with the excavations of Antioch, and gives insight into several personalities who were key to the realization of the project. The catalogue section offers detailed information regarding the archaeological context, art historical significance, and technical study of over 150 objects, including the finest group of Roman and Early Byzantine mosaics in North America, and a chronological series of 106 coins from Antioch. With 400 photographs and illustrations, The Arts of Antioch provides a new basis for future scientific and art historical study. The contributors to the book include Paula Artal-Isbrand (Worcester Art Museum), Anna Gonosova (University of California, Irvine), Florent Heintz (Antiquities Department, Sotheby's), Rebecca Molholt (Columbia University), Richard Newman (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Antero Tammisto (Institutum Historicum Universitatis Helsingiensis), Cornelius Vermeule III (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), James A. Welu (Worcester Art Museum), Anne Leinster Windham (Assumption College), and Mark T. Wypyski (Metropolitan Museum of Art).


Habituation of the cold shock response and adaptation in deep body cooling with prolonged cold water immersion is well documented in adults. This study aimed to determine whether children exhibit similar adaptive responses. Eight children aged 10–11 years underwent a 5 min static immersion in 15 °C (59 °F) water, five then swam for up to 40 min, before and after a year of regular cold water swim training. Following acclimatization, no differences were found in heart rates or respiratory frequencies on initial immersion, despite a smaller relative VO2. Children reported feeling warmer (p < .01) and more comfortable (p < .05), implying acclimatization of subjective perception of cold. No difference was found in cooling rates while swimming. On comparison with data of adults swimming in 12 °C (53.6 °F) water, no difference was found in cooling rates, but the trend in both acclimatized groups to a slower rate of cooling was significant (p ≤ .026) when the data were pooled. These data may support a theory of insulative adaptation.


The goal of this project is to create a software application. The application will use dynamic relaxation to check the feasibility of transporting equipment along a predefined path. It is going to validate and optimize the predefined path and visualize the movement. When engineers checks for feasibility of a path, he or she does a manual check by moving and rotating the transportation object for every position. This application will simulate the movement and do the check. As an engineer has to use a lot of time with manual check, this application is more effective. A master thesis from 2014 worked on the same problem, but used an expensive software and used a time-consuming collision detection. The goal for this thesis is to develop a software that is open source, user friendly and free to use. This application is a .NET windows application, programmed in C# and XAML. ParaView is a visualization software that visualizes the results of the verification process. Inputs are a 3D geometry model of the area, a path and a transportation object. It is normal to design a model of the workspace (like an offshore platform) in a 3D program. That is why the application has to read 3D model files and understand the file format to solve the problem. It also reads a path file that user has to create in ParaView. The user set the properties of the transportation object in the application. It simulates the movement through the geometry model, along the path, using dynamic relaxation. The results is an animation of the transportation object that moves along the path. It detect collisions with the geometry model and optimizes the path if it is possible. A lot of work went to gathering theory about the dynamic relaxation algorithm and collision detection. These two algorithm was crucial for developing a functioning application with meaningful results. It was also a lot of work to understand how to represent the results for visualizing it in ParaView. ParaView is a software I have never used and I am quite new to data visualization. Gathering theory was therefore important to develop a functioning application.


Law enforcement officers expect to be issued the most effective less lethal weapons to stop the escalation of force. At the same time, citizens expect law enforcement officers to utilize their training and skills to resolve situations with the least amount of force possible. This research project attempts to answer the following research questions: (1) What weapon, short of lethal force, is most effective in stopping the escalation of force? (2) What factors do officers take into account in choosing a particular weapon and why? The study results may assist local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and policymakers in three ways: (1) inform them of the most effective less lethal weapons that stop the escalation of force; (2) make suggestions for policy revisions and develop new policies for less lethal equipment implementation; and (3) identify those decision making variables that officers use or do not use as part of their perceptual shorthand. The focal concerns perspective and street-level bureaucrat theories guide the theoretical framework. The focal concerns perspective draws from Steffensmeier's work from the 1980's and expounds upon the work done by Skolnick (2011) by providing evidence of the factors that officers use as their perceptual shorthand. The research findings also build upon the street-level bureaucrat construct in that they show evidence of the high level of discretion each officer possesses when they are involved in a use of force incident. Data are collected from a sample of 113 "Use of Force Reports." The method of force (weapon) was recorded for each suspect involved in the use of force incident. Also, the dependent variable, whether the method chosen was effective or ineffective, was recorded. A mixed methods approach using the convergent triangulation strategy is employed. The qualitative section employs semistructured interviews with officers.


This article examines the advanced technological, information and cyber components of hybrid war and the introduction of suggested countermeasures to counter information and cyber threats and attacks. The main hypothesis of the authors is that revolutionary development and rapid implementation of technologies in innovative ways in all spheres of life facilitate and shape the basis for the transformation of theoretical and practical paradigms of war and conflict. The focus of the article is on the hybrid nature of modern conflict.


Our research focuses on routing the Clock Distribution Network (CDN). The CDN consumes an increasing portion of all resources in terms of wiring area, power, and design time. Different approaches that have been proposed, such as Deferred-Merge Embedding algorithm (DME) and Greedy-DME (GDME), require the re-calculation of the whole solution when there is a change in the skew constraint or the location or the load capacitance of the clock pins. Redesigning the CDN would be an extremely computation intensive process for a complex system, and very painful with the increase in demand for shorter time to market. For this reason, we have used an incremental routing scheme. The incremental routing or ECO (Engineering Change Order) routing is a new field that has been introduced to meet the demand of high performance and complex designs. We propose a new method, called Adaptive Wire Adjustment (AWA), to minimize the skew of a given CDN to any given bound by tuning its wire lengths in order to cope with minor modifications in System on Chip (SoC) during the design process. The proposed algorithm outperforms DME and GDME for implementing ECO for large CDNs. Moreover, to speed up AWA's convergence, we propose the use of a Local Topology Modification (LTM) technique. Additionally, LTM helps to enhance the CDN's quality in terms of total wire length and wire elongations. We show that GDME relies heavily on wire elongations and offers a solution that suffers from large Standard Deviation of the Path Lengths (SDPL) between clock pins and the CDN's root. To our knowledge, this thesis is one of the first of its kind that deals with minor CDN's modifications and local topology modification. In addition to satisfying the timing requirements, the CDN has to be routed with minimum wire length. Moreover, it is often the case that the interconnects of a net must not intersect with some obstacles in the routing plane. We propose a simple model called Shortest Paths Polygon (SPP) to describe the routing area of shortest paths between two points among obstacles. A methodology is proposed to determine the SPP of two points using a gridless graph. The SPP model facilitates a better routing of any multi-terminal net since it determines all shortest paths. Consequently, using the SPP would provide a good correlation between detailed routing and other design phases. This is important because it satisfies the system requirements and supports ECO routing effectively. The SPP model is applied to three problems related to the CDN routing: tuning the CDN under obstacle constraints, designing a ZSCDN under obstacle constraints, and routing the CDN in two layers.


Floodplain management on alluvial fans has become an increasingly important issue with continued growth and urbanization in the southwest. The design of flood control facilities for new development on alluvial fans must take into account potential debris flow conditions. A debris flow event results when sediments loading from an undeveloped watershed is very large, for example, after a major fire. Under conditions the volume of sediment can nearly equal the volume of water, creating at times a slurry type flow event that can cause tremendous damage, and possible loss of life. Damage occur during debris flow events not only from floodwaters, but also from impacts such as deposition of sediment in streets and buildings, high impact boulder transport and deposition, unpredictable flow paths and flood-surge inundation. Alternatives for managing urban development on alluvial fans include; mapping and zoning; debris basins; debris transporting channels; and various combinations of these approaches. Selection of the appropriate management approach depends on site specific conditions and generally, no single approach is universally applicable or appropriate. In the case of the Wild Rose residential development, located on an alluvial fan near Corona, California, the best alternative was design of a debris transporting channel. The Wild Rose project is a good case study of the important factors involved in the design of flood control facilities on alluvial fans.


Testing 429 valid questionnaires distributed in 20 green restaurants located in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, this study explored the intentions of consumers to dine at green restaurants based on their perceptions of green restaurant attributes and their attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control toward green restaurants. The results of this study indicated that the perceptions of green restaurant attributes positively influenced consumers' attitudes toward green restaurants, which in turn positively influenced their intentions to visit green restaurants. In addition, consumers' subjective norms and perceived behavioral control both positively influenced consumption intentions regarding green restaurants. We used altruism as the moderating variable in this study. The results indicated that altruism exhibited a strong and significant influence on the relationship between attitude and consumption intentions. In order to promote green restaurants, managers must examine how the restaurant industry, government units, and academic units can contribute to enable the dining industry to meet international standards and cater to the international trends of the "chimney-free" dining industry.


A classical result due to Segre states that on a real cubic surface in ${\mathbb P}^3_\R$ there exists two kinds of real lines: elliptic and hyperbolic lines. These two kinds of real lines are defined in an intrinsic way, i.e., their definition does not depend on any choices of orientation data. Segre's classification of smooth real cubic surfaces also shows that any such surface contains at least 3 real lines. Starting from these remarks and inspired by the classical problem mentioned above, our article has the following goals:
- We explain a general principle which leads to lower bounds in real algebraic geometry,
- We explain the reason for the appearance of intrinsic signs in the classical problem treated by Segre, showing that the same phenomenon occurs in a large class of enumerative problems in real algebraic geometry.
- We illustrate these principles in the enumerative problem for real lines in real hypersurfaces of degree $2m-3$ in ${\mathbb P}^m_\R$.


Interlanguage 'novel unaccusative' (term borrowed from BALCOM 1997) has been a subject of investigation since the late 1970s, though it has usually been discussed under the terms of an interlanguage syntactic structure called the 'pseudo-passive' (e.g., SCHACHTER & RUTHERFORD 1979; RUTHERFORD 1983; YIP 1995; HAN 2000). While most of the research to date is in favor of the view that the interlanguage structure is primarily induced by L1 discourse/syntactic influence, BALCOM (1997) provides an alternative explanatory account. Assuming a lexical perspective, she sees the interlanguage structure as the creation of a 'novel unaccusative' through a lexical process of detransitivization. In this paper, I shall discuss Balcom's view, in particular, her contention that interlanguage novel unaccusatives and native-like unaccusatives with transitive counterparts share the same underlying lexical process of detransitivization. Drawing on both natural longitudinal data and elicited data (HAN 1998), I will show that Balcom's view would be over-generalizing if applied across language acquisition contexts. What renders the application problematic is the fact that while some novel unaccusatives from L2 acquisition may derive from the lexical process of detransitivization as in L1 acquisition, some do not. It seems imperative to me that in the context of SLA, we discriminate, at least in loose terms, between developmental and L1-induced novel unaccusatives. Such a distinction is important not only because it helps to refine our understanding of what underlies novel unaccusatives in L2 acquisition, but also because it would lend more accurate guidance to L2 teachers in dealing with novel unaccusatives in the classroom.


Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question ... Oh, do not ask, "What is it?" Let us go and make our visit.


This volume covers advanced polymer processing operations and is designed to provide a description of some of the latest industry developments for unique products and fabrication methods. The contributors for this volume are from both industry and academia from the international community. This book contains nine chapters covering advanced processing applications and technologies.


Microorganisms have the potential to remove heavy metals from polluted waters and effluents and may be used in clean-up processes. Microbial associations were enriched for and adapted to grow in nutrient solutions containing various concentrations of different metals. As immobilised cells are known to be more stable and more efficient in metal uptake than are corresponding planktonic or free-living cells the attachment of the microbial associations was investigated using a model stream and it was found that biofilm development was better on rough surfaces such as ground glass and polystyrene than on smooth surfaces such as unetched glass plates and glass beads. When comparing metaluptake by planktonic and attached microorganisms, attached populations were found to have a greater metal-uptake capacity . The uptake of individual metals from various metal combinations was tested with various proportions of pregrown metal-adapted microbial populations as inoculum and it was found that a particular metal was taken up more readily by microbial associations which h~d ,previously been exposed to that metal. Lead (Pb+) appeared to be taken up more readily than copper (Cu2+) or cadmium (Cd+) while Cd+ was more actively removed than Cu2+ from solution. pH also affected metal uptake and the optimum range for Cu2+ uptake by the Cu2+ -adapted microbial association was found to be between 5.8 and 7.0. Dead microbial biomass was investigated and found to have efficient metal uptake capacity . Living mycelium from an isolated Aspergillus species showed poor uptake of Cu+ initially , but when this fungus was pregrown and subsequently killed by moist heat treatment the non-living mycelium was efficient in removal of Pb2+ and Cu2+ ions. The optimum mycelial biomass concentration for metal uptake was also determined. The mechanism of metal uptake by this Aspergillus species was determined, using electron microscopy and EDX techniques, to be metabolism-independent biosorption onto the hyphal surface. Thus the microbial associations and fungal cultures used in this study were shown to have the potential for use in the removal of heavy metals from polluted waters.


OBJECTIVE--To determine the demand placed on local cardiological services by patients prescribed nitrates for ischaemic heart disease. DESIGN--A follow up study of a cohort of patients identified in 1985. SETTING--Nottingham Health District. PATIENTS--Four hundred and ninety nine patients prescribed nitrates in 1985 for presumed ischaemic heart disease. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Referral to medical outpatients, admittance to hospital with chest pain, cardiological investigations, and mortality. RESULTS--Over the seven year period 26% of patients were admitted urgently with chest pain and 15% were referred to the medical outpatient department--a referral rate of 6% a year. 4% of patients had an exercise test and 6% a coronary angiogram. The death rate was 6% a year and a higher proportion died of cardiovascular causes than would be expected in the general population. CONCLUSIONS--Prescription of nitrate is useful in the determination of the prevalence of ischaemic heart disease. Most patients with angina are still treated within the community, and the rate of specialist investigation remains low.


Many low-level vision algorithms assume a prior probability over images, and there has been great interest in trying to learn this prior from examples. Since images are very non Gaussian, high dimensional, continuous signals, learning their distribution presents a tremendous computational challenge. Perhaps the most successful recent algorithm is the Fields of Experts (FOE) [20] model which has shown impressive performance by modeling image statistics with a product of potentials defined on filter outputs. However, as in previous models of images based on filter outputs [30], calculating the probability of an image given the model requires evaluating an intractable partition function. This makes learning very slow (requires Monte-Carlo sampling at every step) and makes it virtually impossible to compare the likelihood of two different models. Given this computational difficulty, it is hard to say whether nonintu-itive features learned by such models represent a true property of natural images or an artifact of the approximations used during learning. In this paper we present (1) tractable lower and upper bounds on the partition function of models based on filter outputs and (2) efficient learning algorithms that do not require any sampling. Our results are based on recent results in machine learning that deal with Gaussian potentials. We extend these results to non-Gaussian potentials and derive a novel, basis rotation algorithm for approximating the maximum likelihood filters. Our results allow us to (1) rigorously compare the likelihood of different models and (2) calculate high likelihood models of natural image statistics in a matter of minutes. Applying our results to previous models shows that the nonintuitive features are not an artifact of the learning process but rather are capturing robust properties of natural images.


A dusty plasma system containing Boltzmann-distributed electrons, non-thermal ions, and mobile charge fluctuating negative dust has been considered. The nonlinear propagation of the dust-acoustic (DA) waves in such a dusty plasma has been investigated by employing the reductive perturbation method. It has been found that the dust charge fluctuation is a source of dissipation, and is responsible for the formation of DA shock waves in such a dusty plasma. The basic features of the DA shock waves have been identified in this investigation which could be useful in understanding the properties of localized space dusty plasmas. It has been proposed to design a new laboratory experiment, which will be able to identify the basic features of the dust-acoustic shock waves predicted in this theoretical investigation.


This essay considers the misperception that picture books comprise a genre and that they are exclusively intended for the very young. It argues that educators, librarians, parents, and all who are involved in the promotion of children's literature should promote the reality that the picture book is not a genre, but rather is a form of literature with benefits for people of all ages. To understand this form, it is imperative to consider the interplay of the words and pictures.


This paper describes the development of an Intellectual Property (IP) core in VHDL able to implement a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) artificial neural network (ANN) topology with up to 2 hidden layers, 128 neurons, and 31 inputs per neuron. Neural network models are usually developed by using programming languages, such as Matlab®. However, their implementation in configurable logic hardware requires the use of some other tools and hardware description languages, such as as VHDL. For easy migration, a Matlab Graphical User Interface (GUI) to automatically translate the ANN architecture to VHDL code has been developed. In addition, the use of an activation function based on fuzzy logic for the implementation of the MLP neural network simplifies the logic and improves the results. The environment was tested using a typical prediction problem, the Mackey-Glass series, where several ANN topologies were generated, tested and implemented in an FPGA. Results show the excellent agreement between the results provided by the software model and the hardware implementation.


The wavelength-division-multiplexed passive optical network is actively being developed to meet the ever-increasing bandwidth demands of end users in a cost-effective and future-proof manner. In this work, we propose a novel scheme that utilizes injection-locked 1.55-mum vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) for operation as low-cost, stable, directly modulated, and potentially uncooled upstream transmitters, whereby the injection-locking master source is furnished by modulated downstream signals. Our scheme eliminates the need for external injection-locking optical sources, external modulators, and wavelength stabilization circuitry. We show through experiments that the injection-locked VCSEL favors low injection powers and responds only strongly to the carrier but not the modulated data of the downstream signal, with good upstream transmission performance obtained over 25-km fiber


In this paper we study the efficient allocation of health resources across individuals. We focus on the relation between health resources and income (taken as a proxy for productivity). In particular we determine the efficient level of the health care social safety net for the indigent. We assume that individuals have different life cycle profiles of productivity. Health care increases survival probability. We adopt the classical approach of welfare economics by considering how a central planner with an egalitarian (ex-ante) perspective would allocate resources. We show that, under the efficient allocation, health care spending increases with labor productivity, but only during the working years. Post retirement, everyone would get the same health care. Quantitatively, we find that the amount of inequality across the income distribution in the data is larger that what would be justified solely on the basis of production efficiency, but not drastically so. As a rough summary, in U.S. data top to bottom spending ratios are about 1.5 for most of the life cycle. Efficiency implies a decline from about 2 (at age 25) to 1 at retirement. We find larger inefficiencies in the lower part of the income distribution and in post retirement ages.


Expected utility theory is widely used to formally model decisions in situations where outcomes are uncertain. As uncertainty is arguably commonplace in political decisions, being able to take that uncertainty into account is of great importance when building useful models and interpreting empirical results. Expected utility theory has provided possible explanations for a host of phenomena, from the failure of the median voter theorem to the making of vague campaign promises and the delegation of policymaking.
 A good expected utility model may provide alternative explanations for empirical phenomena and can structure reasoning about the effect of political actors' goals, circumstances, and beliefs on their behavior. For example, expected utility theory shows that whether the median voter theorem can be expected to hold or not depends on candidates' goals (office, policy, or vote seeking), and the nature of their uncertainty about voters. In this way expected utility theory can help empirical researchers derive hypotheses and guide them towards the data required to exclude alternative explanations.
 Expected utility has been especially successful in spatial voting models, but the range of topics to which it can be applied is far broader. Applications to pivotal voting or politicians' redistribution decisions show this wider value. However, there is also a range of promising topics that have received ample attention from empirical researchers, but that have so far been largely ignored by theorists applying expected utility theory.
 Although expected utility theory has its limitations, more modern theories that build on the expected utility framework, such as prospect theory, can help overcome these limitations. Notably these extensions rely on the same modeling techniques as expected utility theory and can similarly elucidate the mechanisms that may explain empirical phenomena. This structured way of thinking about behavior under uncertainty is the main benefit provided by both expected utility theory and its extensions.


This paper describes the use of origin Autonomous System (AS) information to optimise online First Person Shooter (FPS) game server discovery. Online FPS games typically use a client-server model, with thousands of game servers active at any time. Traditional server discovery probes all available servers over multiple minutes in no particular order, creating thousands of short-lived UDP flows. Using Valve's Counterstrike:Source game this paper demonstrates a multi-step process: Sort available game servers by origin AS, probe a subset of servers in each AS, rank each AS in ascending order of estimated round trip time (RTT), then probe all remaining game servers according to the rank of their origin AS. Probing game servers in approximately ascending RTT expedites the identification of playable servers. This new approach may take less than 20% of the time and network traffic of conventional server discovery (without exceeding conventional server discovery time and traffic consumption in the worst case).


As HIV infected individuals live longer, the prevalence of HIV associated neurocognitive disorders is increasing, despite successful antiretroviral therapy. CD14+CD16+ monocytes are critical to the neuropathogenesis of HIV as they promote viral seeding of the brain and establish neuroinflammation. The mechanisms by which HIV infected and uninfected monocytes cross the blood brain barrier and enter the central nervous system are not fully understood. We determined that HIV infection of CD14+CD16+ monocytes resulted in their highly increased transmigration across the blood brain barrier in response to CCL2 as compared to uninfected cells, which did not occur in the absence of the chemokine. This exuberant transmigration of HIV infected monocytes was due, at least in part, to increased CCR2 and significantly heightened sensitivity to CCL2. The entry of HIV infected and uninfected CD14+CD16+ monocytes into the brain was facilitated by significantly increased surface JAM-A, ALCAM, CD99, and PECAM-1, as compared to CD14+ cells that are CD16 negative. Upon HIV infection, there was an additional increase in surface JAM-A and ALCAM on CD14+CD16+ monocytes isolated from some individuals. Antibodies to ALCAM and JAM-A inhibited the transmigration of both HIV infected and uninfected CD14+CD16+ monocytes across the BBB, demonstrating their importance in facilitating monocyte transmigration and entry into the brain parenchyma. Targeting CCR2, JAM-A, and ALCAM present on CD14+CD16+ monocytes that preferentially infiltrate the CNS represents a therapeutic strategy to reduce viral seeding of the brain as well as the ongoing neuroinflammation that occurs during HIV pathogenesis.


We are facing an era, where pressures on health costs are extremely high, and the reforms in health system are almost constant. But over time, one factor remains unchanged – Technology continues being the sustenance of health care. Manufacturers, clinicians, patients, diagnostic and therapeutic technicians, hospital managers, government leaders, among others, either in public or private sector, are increasingly demanding in the sustained seek for information that support its decisions. Those decisions are about different types of issues: if, or how the technology can be developed, whether a technology should or should not enter the market, whether to acquire and use certain technology, and so forth. Such demand is well implied in the growth and development of Health Technology Assessment (HTA). This specialised field is commonly understood according to the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA, 2003) as an multidisciplinary analysis and decisional field, which studies the implications of clinical, social, ethical and economic development, dissemination and use of health technologies, without neglecting its political analysis (Goodman, 2004). The political decisions made based on HTA reports should be based on scientific evidence, linking efforts between the technical, economic and political dimensions, resourcing to a participatory vision, so that we can translate the best possible decision (Novaes 2006). On the other hand, the success of these decisions depends critically on the skills of the researcher to convey wisdom and confidence in applying rules of argumentation (Grunwald, 2007). In this paper we analyse the technical and methodological aspects of HTA, seen as a tool for evaluating health procedures and techniques. And we analyse the needs for skills and qualifications development of the actors involved in this process.


The Oldest Vocation: Christian Motherhood in the Middle Ages By Clarissa W. Atkinson. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. 1991. Pp. xiv, 274. $24.95.) Early in this impressive book, Clarissa Atkinson reminds us of the exemplary case of the young North African matron, mother, and martyr, Perpetua. Writing her own account of the events preceding her death, at the very beginning of the third century, she rejected her father's appeal to her familial and maternal ties the proud insistence that the only name by which she would identify herself was the name of "Christian." For Perpetua and her companion, Felicitas, who went to the arena fresh from childbirth, motherhood was "neither an obstacle nor an avenue" to holiness, to the martyrdom by which they proclaimed their Christian identity and sacred vocation. When the present study reaches its end, in the early modern centuries, motherhood itself had come to define the "good" Christian woman. For both Protestants and Catholics, "women's reproductive labor served both God and man; developing ideologies idealized and enforced such service." To discover how and why these and earlier ideologies came to share in the "construction" of Christian motherhood is the central purpose of an inquiry that belongs, as its author carefully notes, more to the history of ideas than to social history. In her excavations of motherhood's "vast buried history," she is by no means inattentive to the "real," that is, biological mothers o appear, at times significantly, often fleetingly, in the pages of this book. They appear most actively as the late medieval "mothers of love and tears" whose saintly achievements contributed to a major reshaping of Christian motherhood. With these and similar exceptions, however, this artifact of history and ideology was largely the creation of men rather than the work of mothers themselves. Its ideologies were formed and reformed in a world controlled, broadly speaking by fathers, a world whose religious and intellectual Life, during much of this period, was dominated by the celibate men who powerfully influenced successive phases in the Christian construction of motherhood. Assembling the building-blocks of the new "institution" in its diverse ancient contexts, Atkinson's early chapters focus on the challenges that Christian mothers offered to, and encountered in, traditional social and physiological views of motherhood. To ancient notions of modernity as women's sole or primary claim to status and significance, early Christian women such as Perpetua opposed a conviction that motherhood was essentially irrelevant to their spiritual aspirations. Challenging these aspirations in more complicated ways were the sometimes conflicting, chiefly male notions of physical motherhood and, more generally, of women's bodies, and the meanings of sex and gender, propagated in the works of ancient and medieval science and medicine. Often stressing female inferiority, learned writers might well convey ideas of maternity supporting the incompatibility of "health" and "holiness." Holiness was, in any case, the goal strongly stressed by the exaltation of virginity and spiritual motherhood that marked the new ideology most vigorously fostered by the dominant monastic life and culture of the early Middle Ages. In spiritual motherhood, the only religious leadership open to women, as Atkinson notes, the term "mother," transformed, retained its ancient power. Its early representatives, commonly virgin abbesses of women's monasteries, displaced the physical mothers to whose often precarious fortunes during these centuries we have a singular witness in the manual of advice composed by the ninth-century Frankish noblewoman, Dhuoda, for her young son. Uniquely joining virginity and maternity, the changing images of the Virgin Mary introduce the next phase in the remodeling of motherhood, which Atkinson explores in a perceptive analysis of the stages in the theological, and popular, construction of the Mother of God. …


In the last two decades, advancement in technology has transformed every aspect of librarianship. Law Librarianship in Academic Law Libraries discusses issues and model practices in academic law libraries. This text will help librarians and library school students understand the operation, resources and facilities that are available in the academic law library. It explains the practices and trends that are widely practiced in different parts of the world. This book describes the expectations of an aspiring professional with an interest in specializing in law librarianship; revealing facts pertaining to management and administration which are not necessarily taught in library schools. The first chapter introduces the history of academic law libraries, and defines law librarianship. The remaining chapters are dedicated to different aspects of law librarianship including the importance of emerging technologies and how they are implemented in the academic law libraries setting, finishing with a concluding chapter on global opportunities available for law librarians. * Provides an insight to academic law librarianship practices* Practical tips on building a career in academic law librarianship* Describes in detail the education and professional development opportunities for academic law librarianship* Features customized classification schemes that have been used in academic law libraries


Abstract The increasing environmental and regulatory restrictions for recording 3D seismic, along with urban constraints, are limiting the acquisition of new 3D seismic information in some areas. A low-cost methodology can provide a pseudo-3D seismic data set. Geologic complexity is the most important condition to understand to assess the quality of the pseudo-3D volume created. These data can help to reduce many structural uncertainties that can be solved geometrically or at least outlined, giving real improvement in evaluation of prospective areas or in delineation of fields and generating new drilling strategies. In addition, the generated 3D data can be used as input for seismic-attribute calculation that otherwise would not have been possible because of discrete 2D information. The technique basically consists of conducting prestack migration using 24 offset planes, limiting with a structure control, and using the spatial propagation of the migration operator. The results of this data treatment show ...


What is to be done when nothing is known yet? How is one to proceed? The very beginning of all scientific activity is rarely treated in undergraduate or graduate studies. The method for systematic observation has been developed exactely for this purpose, the. It consists in the application of five easily memorized formulas. They help the investigator and the researcher be more proficient observers and to make sure that no details have been left out when it comes to abduct hypotheses. The five formulas determine which steps are to be taken at first. They are listed as follows:
I. Compare the object of observation to a model and/or to similar cases.
II. Separate formal aspects from the contents and analyze each of them.
III. Structure the object into functional elements, and explore each of them separately.
IV. Explore inconsistencies, contradictions, mistakes, or astonishing coincidences within the context of the established structure.
V. Look for the absence of signs (with models and after structuring the object).
Testing the Plausibility of Hypotheses Then, after going through the process of systematically registering every import detail, we are able to draw first hypotheses (the abduction process according to Peirce). These hypotheses should consequently be checked for plausibility in listing systematically each sign of evidence for and each against them, in order to get a clear picture of the case


This volume explores the issues with which evaluators of nonformal education programs (such as parks, zoos, community outreach organizations, and museums) struggle. These issues are not unique to nonformal programs and settings. Rather, they pose different sets of problems and solutions from those that face evaluators of traditional education programs. The authors address this topic from extensive experience as evaluators and education professionals who have worked in nonformal education settings. Billions of dollars are spent annually on nonformal, informal, and nontraditional education programs and collaborative formal-nonformal efforts. Public and private dollars fund literally thousands of programs, and yet the field of program evaluation has provided little guidance for evaluating such efforts. There are precious few resources available to lead program administrators, staff, and evaluators through the maze of programs with the diversity of the constituencies that support them. The stakeholders and audiences of nonformal education programs are numerous, and these programs can range from a one-shot, hour-long lecture to an ongoing, one-day-a-week volunteer program, to a three-week study tour, to a four-weekends-across-one-year-work camp, to a "stop by when you can" museum collection.


This is the second part of two articles reporting investigation on a thermal-detector-type far-infrared sensor operating in the 8–14m wavelength region using Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) deposited low-stress Si-rich nitride (SiN) membrane as its thermal absorber. The use of the SixNy membrane material as a far-infrared radiation absorber has been reported in many papers, there are still few reports addressing its fundamental optical absorption property at this wavelength region, in relation with its thermal properties, utilized in an infrared sensing device. After dealing with optical absorptivity of such membrane in the first paper, this second article deals with the thermal property, as well as the overall sensitivity issue of the sensor. In this report, similarly, a combination of analytical modelling, numerical simulation, and experimental characterisation is carried out. The issue of scaling down is also addressed. Results show that the thermal sensitivity depends on the membrane size. A 1000m × 1000m will achieve 80 K/(W cm −2 ), while membrane as small as 10m × 10 m has only 0.15–0.3 K/(W cm −2


Stable isotope analysis of diet has become a common tool in conservation research. However, the multiple sources of uncertainty inherent in this analysis framework involve consequences that have not been thoroughly addressed. Uncertainty arises from the choice of trophic discrimination factors, and for Bayesian stable isotope mixing models (SIMMs), the specification of prior information; the combined effect of these aspects has not been explicitly tested. We used a captive feeding study of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to determine the first experimentally-derived trophic discrimination factors of C and N for this large carnivore of broad conservation interest. Using the estimated diet in our controlled system and data from a published study on wild wolves and their prey in Montana, USA, we then investigated the simultaneous effect of discrimination factors and prior information on diet reconstruction with Bayesian SIMMs. Discrimination factors for gray wolves and their prey were 1.97‰ for δ13C and 3.04‰ for δ15N. Specifying wolf discrimination factors, as opposed to the commonly used red fox (Vulpes vulpes) factors, made little practical difference to estimates of wolf diet, but prior information had a strong effect on bias, precision, and accuracy of posterior estimates. Without specifying prior information in our Bayesian SIMM, it was not possible to produce SIMM posteriors statistically similar to the estimated diet in our controlled study or the diet of wild wolves. Our study demonstrates the critical effect of prior information on estimates of animal diets using Bayesian SIMMs, and suggests species-specific trophic discrimination factors are of secondary importance. When using stable isotope analysis to inform conservation decisions researchers should understand the limits of their data. It may be difficult to obtain useful information from SIMMs if informative priors are omitted and species-specific discrimination factors are unavailable.


The Ottawa Valley is a region of Canada straddling the Ottawa River in Ontario and Quebec that is well known for its rich singing, storytelling, fiddling and step dancing traditions. Settled largely by the Irish, Scots and the French over the past two hundred years, it had the largest concentration of people of Irish origin in Canada by the late 19th century. Travelling through the Valley one gets the sense of coming face to face with the past. While its dramatic history is filled with incidents of extreme hardship and tragedy, the overriding impression is of a triumphant survivalism associated with its strong men of the past; the voyageurs, the coureurs du bois and the lumbermen. The legacy of this unique heritage - from fiddling and step dancing to tales of priests, lumbermen, and Orange and Green rivalries - is explored in this book through the voices of Valley people themselves. The author reveals the importance of place and history in the transmission of this vibrant regional culture down to the present day.


Tree search is a common technique for solving constraint satisfaction and combinatorial optimization problems. The most popular strategies are depth-first search and limited discrepancy search. Aside from pruning or ordering the children of each node, these algorithms do not adapt their search order to take advantage of information that becomes available during search, such as heuristic scores or leaf costs. We present a framework called best-leaf-first search (BLFS) that uses this additional information to estimate the cost of taking discrepancies in the search tree and then attempts to visit leaves in a best-first order. In this way, BLFS brings the idea of best-first search from shortest path problems to the areas of constraint satisfaction and combinatorial optimization. Empirical results demonstrate that this new dynamic approach results in better search performance than previous static search strategies on two very different domains: structured CSPs and the traveling salesman problem.


The Arab-Israeli conflict has become the most prominent arena of regional and international tension over the past century. Within the realm of international law, the conflict has contributed greatly to the development of international rule-making. The laws of war, the scope of international humanitarian and human rights law, the rights of refugees, the centrality of self-determination, the laws on terrorism and the content of modern treaty-making -- all have been significantly shaped by the norms established through the copious resolutions, diplomatic statements and legal commentary on the many features of the conflict. Yet, at the same time, the efficacy of international law has suffered because the principal actors have marginalized it as a diplomatic tool by the parties and the international community to shape a lasting peace in the region. This essay is a revised and expanded version of an encyclopedia entry on public international law. It summarizes the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict since the beginning of the 20th century, before turning to the principle issues in international law that speak to the most contentious issues between the parties.


The concept of reputation in defamation law has not been the subject of detailed academic analysis. The most comprehensive account of reputation in defamation law remains Robert C. Post's seminal article, 'The Social Foundations of Defamation Law: Reputation and the Constitution' (1986) 74 California Law Review 691. Post identifies at least three concepts of reputation in defamation law: reputation as property; reputation as honor; and reputation as dignity. This article seeks to apply Post's concepts of reputation to Australian defamation law. Through a case-study of two recent defamation cases, the high-profile litigation of Ettingshausen v Australian Consolidated Press and the comparatively little known case of Shepherd v. Walsh [2001] QSC 358, this article explores the concept of reputation in Australian defamation law. Although these two cases bear important similarities - both involve plaintiffs suing in respect of the publication of naked photographs they claimed exposed them to ridicule - the differences are more striking. This article argues that reputation can be understood as an economic and a social construct but should also be recognized as a media construct - reputation as celebrity.


In 2008, the Wharton Leadership Venture Program and the Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership cooperated to bring an environmental theme to the Antarctic Leadership Venture. This week‐long experiential leadership education trek takes place on King George Island. Wharton MBAs camp out, trekking in an ecologically rich maritime Antarctic environment, primarily working on leadership skills and team dynamics. Following the first year's experiment, the author volunteered to organize environmental curriculum ahead of the 2009 trek, as a representative of IGEL within the Venture Office. This paper details lessons learned from both 2008 and 2009, and proposes strategies for keeping the Antarctic trek rich with environmental education opportunities moving forward. The paper identifies other candidate Ventures for curriculum development both environmentally and in the broader theme of sustainability. The author recommends that the Venture Office continue to actively engage students on environmental issues ahead of the Antarctic Venture, and continue to welcome trail guests as appropriate. The author recommends that IGEL reevaluate and redefine the role of the IGEL Fellow: to make them responsible for curriculum support ahead of the trek, and perhaps for elements on the trail as well. The author identifies the Atacama, Patagonia, Adirondacks, and Mount Kilimanjaro treks as Ventures with the right foundations to reevaluate for sustainable curriculum development. The author considers what the next steps for both the Antarctic and other potential sustainability‐themed Ventures might look like, and urges that they be taken. This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/mes_capstones/23 GREENING THE WHARTON ANTARCTIC LEADERSHIP VENTURE Preparing Leaders for a Sustainable Future Kathleen A. Atkins, M.E.S. May 2010


A concern about the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm) is that, even at subsidized prices, ACTs may be too expensive for "the poorest of the poor." An additional end-user subsidy may be required to lower the economic barrier even more for wider financial access to ACTs. This paper reviews the policy options for a second stage subsidy for ACTs, based on experience of subsidies for health care, basic services, food, and other commodities. The range of approaches to targeted and untargeted subsidies, their pros, cons, and relative costs, are considered.


As part of a comprehensive survey and analysis of the spectrum and structure of the neutral vanadium atom, the photographic V i emission spectrum has been remeasured under uniform conditions by using VCl3 electrodeless discharge tubes, the Paschen-Runge spectrograph at Argonne National Laboratory, thorium lines as standards excited in thorium iodide electrodeless discharge tubes, and an automated self-convolution measuring technique to obtain center-of-gravity line positions of the hyperfine structures encountered. This was undertaken after finding systematic errors in the previously published spectral data which led to numerous internal inconsistencies in the early V i energy level structure analysis, and to ambiguities in spectral line classifications. From the observations of approximately 1600 V i lines and an analysis of the structure of the neutral vanadium atom based upon these observations, upon ultraviolet absorption measurements, and upon measurements of the extra photographic infrared spectrum, which will be presented in later articles, it is apparent that an improvement of about an order of magnitude in wave-number uncertainty has been achieved, with uncertainties in general less than 0.05 cm−1.


Purpose Little is known about oncofertility practice in developing countries that usually suffer from a shortage of health services, especially those related to cancer care. Materials and Methods To learn more about oncofertility practice in developing countries, we generated a survey to explore the barriers and opportunities associated with oncofertility practice in five developing countries from Africa and Latin America within our Oncofertility Consortium Global Partners Network. Responses from Egypt, Tunisia, Brazil, Peru, and Panama were collected, reviewed, and discussed. Results Common barriers were identified by each country, including financial barriers (lack of insurance coverage and high out-of-pocket costs for patients), lack of awareness among providers and patients, cultural and religious constraints, and lack of funding to help to support oncofertility programs. Conclusion Despite barriers to care, many opportunities exist to grow the field of oncofertility in these five developing countries. It is important to continue to engage stakeholders in developing countries and use powerful networks in the United States and other developed countries to aid in the acceptance of oncofertility on a global level.


Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the concept of adverse possession. An owner of an estate in land (paper owner) is under no obligation to make use of that land; mere neglect will not end ownership. However, where that land is adversely possessed by another for the required period, the paper owner will lose his title to the land. Through his acts of adverse possession, the adverse possessor acquires a better title to the land than the paper owner. This is so even if such acts stem from an initial wrong, such as a trespass.


Entangled state analysis is one of the basic techniques in quantum information processing. However, it is impossible to fully distinguish the three-photon Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states with only linear optical elements. Here, we propose a deterministic scheme to complete three-photon spatial-polarization hyperentangled GHZ-state analysis (HGSA) by using the giant optical Faraday rotation induced by an excess electron spin in a quantum dot inside a one-sided optical microcavity as a result of cavity quantum electrodynamics. It is divided into two steps. The first step is used to distinguish the eight three-photon GHZ states in the spatial-mode degree of freedom (DOF) without destroying the polarization states. The second step is used to distinguish the eight GHZ states in the polarization DOF. This scheme can be generalized to N-photon spatial-polarization HGSA and has useful applications in quantum communication protocols.


Abstract: The Kehre (turn) in Heidegger's thought has been greatly discussed and debated. The introduction of the notion of metontology (Metontologie) in 1927 has fruitfully informed this debate since it entails a concern for the ontic domain on the part of Heidegger that is not present in earlier works. The fact that this notion disappears right after being introduced, however, challenges its contribution to this debate. In this paper, I show that the disappearance of metontology does not imply the disappearance of Heidegger's concern for the ontic, but the opposite. I will begin by presenting Freeman's view of a tension between the ontic and the ontological in Heidegger's thought in the mid-to-late 20s that results in the introduction of metontology in 1927. Later on, I will show that McNeill's explanation of the disappearance of metontology as a consequence of Heidegger's mid-30s view that the a priori projection of being is a withdrawal of being (Entzug des Seins), allows saying that this disappearance does not entail Heidegger's sudden lack of concern for the ontic. By considering Heidegger's analysis of 'the mathematical' in Die Frage nach dem Ding, I will finally argue that metontology disappears from Heidegger's thought because its dependency upon ontology prevents it to account for his increasing concern for the ontic properly.


Superaustenitic stainless steels exhibit excellent corrosion resistance, at a wide variety of exposure temperatures, especially in chloride containing environments, coupled with desirable mechanical properties. Previous studies have shown that these steels are prone to precipitation of secondary phases, such as sigma phase (σ), chi phase (χ), Laves-phase, carbides, nitrides or secondary austenite, when exposed at elevated temperatures, directly affecting their mechanical properties and corrosion behaviour. A detailed study of the effect of isothermal ageing on the microstructure of S32654 (Fe-24Cr-21Ni-7Mo-0.5N-0.013C) and S31254 (Fe-20Cr-18Ni-6Mo-0.2N-0.012C) superaustenitic stainless steels was carried out. Samples were aged within the temperature range of 650 οC to 950 οC for times up to 3000 h. Following ageing, precipitation of secondary phases was clearly observed with precipitates varying in volume fraction, size, shape and spatial distribution. Several secondary phases were identified via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron diffraction (ED). The orientation relationships between the austenitic matrix and the secondary phases were identified. Interaction and also phase transformation among different types of precipitates, such as between precipitates and the austenitic matrix were observed and an attempt of understanding these phase transformations was carried out.


Stable isotopes are a powerful tool for deciphering the fluid histories of metamorphic terranes. The nature of fluid flow, fluid sources, and fluid fluxes can be delineated in well-constrained studies. Observed isotopic gradients in metamorphic rocks and minerals can thus shed light on many processes involved in mass-transport including diffusion, recrystallization, fluid infiltration, volatilization, metasomatism, and heat flow. Modeling of fluid flow and mineral exchange kinetics offers greatly enhanced understanding of metamorphic processes that can be tested and refined by application of new micro-analytical techniques. This review will concentrate on the principles of stable isotope fluid-rock interaction with an emphasis on fluid-rock interaction and fluid flow in contact metamorphism. Earlier reviews discuss some aspects of regional metamorphism and hydrothermal systems (Valley 1986; Kerrich 1987; Nabelek 1991; Young 1995; Ferry and Gerdes 1998; Bowman 1998).

Isotopic studies are especially useful for defining the scale of fluid migration. The intensity of interaction between fluids and the minerals in rocks can be assessed. During metamorphism, the scale of isotopic exchange can vary from less than a micrometer to over 10 kilometers. Many fluid-driven processes are characterized by the degree to which fluid flow is concentrated into zones of high permeability. Thus, the definition of two end-member situations is useful. The flow of a pervasive fluid is distributed throughout the pores in a rock. Pervasive flow can be along grain boundaries or fine-scale crack networks and the effect is to homogenize the chemical potential of all components, including stable isotopes, at a macroscopic scale. In contrast, the flow of a channeled fluid is along vein systems, shear zones or other channelways such as rock contacts or more permeable lithologic units. Channeled flow leads to local chemical heterogeneity, allowing some rocks to remain unaffected while others are extensively infiltrated …


Aberrant activation of mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) in glomerular podocytes leads to glomerular insufficiency and may contribute to the development of glomerular diseases, including diabetic nephropathy. Thus, an approach for preventing mTORC1 activation may allow circumvention of the onset and progression of mTORC1-dependent podocyte injury and glomerular diseases. mTORC1 activation requires inputs from both growth factors and nutrients that inactivate the tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), a key suppressor of mTORC1, on the lysosome. Previous studies in mice revealed that the growth factor-phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway and mTORC1 are essential for maintaining normal podocyte function, suggesting that direct inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway or mTORC1 may not be an ideal approach to sustaining physiologic podocyte functions under certain disease conditions. Here, we report the role of the Ragulator complex, which recruits mTORC1 to lysosomes in response to nutrient availability in podocytes. Notably, podocytes lacking Ragulator maintain basal mTORC1 activity. Unlike podocyte-specific mTORC1-knockout mice, mice lacking functional Ragulator in podocytes did not show abnormalities in podocyte or glomerular function. However, aberrant mTORC1 activation induced by active Rheb in podocyte-specific TSC1-knockout (podo-TSC1 KO) mice did require Ragulator. Moreover, ablation of Ragulator in the podocytes of podo-TSC1 KO mice or streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice significantly blocked the development of pathologic renal phenotypes. These observations suggest that the blockade of mTORC1 recruitment to lysosomes may be a useful clinical approach to attenuate aberrant mTORC1 activation under certain disease conditions.


Understanding and adequately
protecting habitat is at the forefront of modern conservation concerns. Turtles
are especially vulnerable to habitat loss, and are therefore a top priority for
habitat research. To help meet this need, I used radio telemetry to collect
microhabitat data from two imperiled species of turtles that occupy a military
base in Michigan. Preliminary data exploration was carried out with principal
components analysis (PCA). Microhabitat use was then modeled for each species using
conditional logistic regression (CLR), with a generalized estimating equation
(GEE) element to limit bias due to individual variation. Finally, I compared
habitat use between sympatric Blanding's and Wood Turtles using Mann-Whitney U
tests and Mood's median tests to investigate the degree of overlap in
microhabitat use when these species occur in sympatry. Evidence for
microhabitat selection in Blanding's Turtles was weak, suggesting that they
likely do not make habitat decisions at this level. Wood Turtles selected sites
that were farther from water and had fewer trees, less overstory canopy cover,
and more ground cover. Additionally, the two species differed in several
aspects of microhabitat use; Wood Turtles were more terrestrial and more
tolerant of tree cover than Blanding's Turtles. Patterns of microhabitat use
found in this study match previously observed behavior of turtles in high
quality habitat, suggesting that managers should work to maintain the habitat
currently available at Camp Grayling. Additionally, because both turtle species
were associated with open canopy, selective logging could benefit turtles
provided care is given to timing and methods.


Using molecular dynamics configurational sampling combined with ab initio energy calculations, we determined the low energy isomers of the bisulfate hydrates. We calculated the CCSD(T) complete basis set (CBS) binding electronic and Gibbs free energies for 53 low energy isomers of HSO(4)(-)(H(2)O)(n=1-6) and derived the thermodynamics of adding waters sequentially to the bisulfate ion and its hydrates. Comparing the HSO(4)(-)/H(2)O system to the neutral H(2)SO(4)/H(2)O cluster, water binds more strongly to the anion than it does to the neutral molecules. The difference in the binding thermodynamics of HSO(4)(-)/H(2)O and H(2)SO(4)/H(2)O systems decreases with increasing number of waters. The thermodynamics for the formation of HSO(4)(-)(H(2)O)(n=1-5) is favorable at 298.15 K, and that of HSO(4)(-)(H(2)O)(n=1-6) is favorable for T < 273.15 K. The HSO(4)(-) ion is almost always hydrated at temperatures and relative humidity values encountered in the troposphere. Because the bisulfate ion binds more strongly to sulfuric acid than it does to water, it is expected to play a role in ion-induced nucleation by forming a strong complex with sulfuric acid and water, thus facilitating the formation of a critical nucleus.


This paper presents details on planning and designing human studies for Human-Robot Interaction. There is a discussion of the importance of using large sample sizes to better represent the populations being investigated in order to have a better chance of obtaining statistically significant results for small to medium effects. Coverage of the four primary methods of evaluation are presented: (1) self-assessments, (2) behavioral observations, (3) psychophysiological measures, and (4) task performance metrics. The paper discusses the importance of using multiple methods of evaluation in order to have reliable and accurate results and to obtain convergent validity. Recommendations for planning and designing a large-scale, complex human study are detailed as well as lessons learned from a recent study that was conducted using 128 participants, four methods of evaluation, and a high fidelity, simulated disaster site.


We compare the characteristics of cross talk for angular multiplexing and several phase-encoded multiplexing strategies for volume holography. We discuss the implications of these characteristics for holographic data storage and compare noise arising from cross talk with noise arising from scattering that is due to inhomogeneities within a holographic medium.


We designed a cyclic tripyrrin "locked" by a bridging benzene-1,4-diol-moiety which is perpendicular to the tripyrrin plane. The cyclic structures promote the scaffold rigidity and enhance the fluorescence. While the halogen-substitution of the bridging moiety was found to slightly affect the fluorescence of 1–3 in solution, such substitution significantly affects the aggregation behaviour and solid emission. 1 and 2 exhibit typical J-aggregate emission but 3 does not. The analysis of crystal packing combined with the reduced density gradient (RDG) analysis suggests that the bridging moieties of 1–3 play an important role in inducing the different crystal packing by tuning intermolecular interactions in the solid state. The energy decomposition analysis using symmetry adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) revealed that such weak intermolecular interactions mainly consist of halogen bonds and π–π interactions.


Comprehensive understanding of the principles governing the geological activity of the Earth was obtained in continental and oceanic mountains. It is not expected that the principles governing the overall geologic activity and evolution of other planetary bodies such as Mars will be understood if exploration is limited to nearly flat terrains, either imposed by the used exploration platform capabilities, the risk of getting stuck, or by the time required to cross the border of a landing ellipse. Surface exploration of mountains is additionally to be coupled to two-or three-dimensional geophysical surveys to correlate the surface observations with deeper processes. On the small bodies where ultra-low gravity prevails, the weight of wheel-driven platforms is not sufficient to generate the friction at the contact with the ground that is required to trigger motion of the rover relative to the ground. Under such circumstances, hopping is one of the mobility solutions. We present a new locomotion system, the hopter platform, which is adapted to these challenges on Solar System bodies having a gravity field lower than on Earth. The hopter is a robust, versatile and highly manoeuvrable platform based on simple mechanical concepts that accurately jumps to distances of meters to tens of meters and more, depending on the gravity field of the studied body. Its low mass of 10kg (including up to 5 kg of miniaturized payload), makes it possible to simultaneously launch several hopters to work as a fractionated explorer at a very competitive cost. After reviewing the payload that may be placed onboard hopters, we illustrate the scientific capabilities of hopters and hopter networks in performing basic geologic observations at distinct study sites in a variety of geological environments, obtaining data along steep geological cross sections, surveying geophysical anomalies in the subsurface, prospecting resources, monitoring micro-environments, meteorological events, and geodetic deformation, or characterizing dust activity on Mars, the Moon, and Phobos.


This paper presents the first part of results of extensive research on an alternative concept to
airport valuation. It reviews traditional and alternative valuation measures, illustrated by a
sample of eight publicly quoted European airports. The main objective is to derive a model
taking account of the underlying key value drivers.
A peer group analysis shows that only few sector multiples applied by the investors' community
are significantly correlated with key performance indicators based on business fundamentals. By
contrast to the results of this alternative driver-based valuation approach, these market
multiples are affected by stock market fluctuations and do not adequately reflect the financial
position and true value, and hence supports this paper's view that airports should be valued by
recognising key success factors.


The main purpose of this study is to predict the impact of cultural values and life styles on impulse buying behavior of Pakistani customers. Survey methodology was used to collect the data by adopting convenient sampling technique. An empirical method was used to analyze the data. The T-test indicates that gender role is the only one variable of cultural values and life style of Pakistani customers where significant difference exists between male and female customers while making impulse buying behavior. Correlation test is used to analyze the relationship among the variables of cultural values and life style; the results suggest that there exist significant relation among all the variables of cultural values and life styles. The results also suggest that impulse buying behavior is predicted by security, life satisfaction, gender role, financial satisfaction, in group contact and life style variables of cultural values and lifestyles of Pakistani consumers.


Chelodina rugosa occupies seasonally ephemeral waterholes on the coastal freshwater floodplains of the wet-dry tropics of northern Australia. It is an obligate carnivore and feeds primarily on fish, fast-moving aquatic invertebrates, and carrion. Differences between wet-season and dry-season diets, notably an increase in fish consumption and a decrease in consumption of odonate nymphs, reflect changes in abundance or accessibility of prey items. Elseya dentata occupies permanent water riverine habitats and is primarily herbivorous. The bulk of its diet consists of fruit and leaves of riparian rainforest trees, and seasonal changes in fruit species consumed reflected fruiting patterns. Filamentous algae comprised 30% by mass of the dry-season diet but was absent from the river during wet-season flooding and hence was absent from the diet. Elseya dentata readily feed on meat and fish carrion when available, but animal prey such as shrimp (Macrobrachium sp.) and freshwater sponge formed only a small proportion of their diet. Because E. dentata relies on riparian trees for most of its dietary intake, it is extremely vulnerable to land management practices that have adverse impacts on riparian forests.


I. INTRODUCTION This article reports on the recently completed independent evaluation of the New Mexico Court of Appeals' mediation program. The Court began a mandatory mediation program in September 1998. A previous article in The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process explained in detail how and why the program was designed and generally commented on the program's progress. (1) Overall, the Court has been pleased with the number and percentage of cases that have been resolved and the feedback received from the bar. After two years, however, the Court determined it would be helpful to have an analysis conducted by an independent, outside expert. It believed an objective report would enhance the Court's ability to communicate effectively about the program with judges, the bar, the legislature, and the public. The New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts sought an assessment of the program and secured a grant from the State Justice Institute to hire an independent evaluator. This article is based in large part on a report developed under that grant. (2) Improved ways of resolving disputes in the nation's state appellate courts have been perennial topics of conversation among judges, court staff, attorneys, alternative resolution experts, and scholars for the past twenty years. Are there faster, cheaper, and fairer ways to resolve a case than by a court decision based on a review of fully written briefs, oral argument, and a signed, written opinion? One of the leading alternatives is the use of mediation to encourage opposing attorneys and their respective clients to negotiate a voluntary settlement, followed by an agreed-upon dismissal of a case. Descriptions and evaluations of attempts to apply mediation are available in law reviews, journals, and other sources. (3) The basic premise of these various applications is that early intervention (i.e. prior to briefing) in the form of a settlement conference will stimulate communication among the attorneys and clients that would otherwise not occur. A mediator's presence will enable negotiations to begin and remain focused. Consequently, the participants will be better able to reach agreement on all or most of the unresolved issues. (4) Previous research has documented that this premise, to a great extent, is valid. Efforts to bring attorneys and the parties together do prompt communication. Mediators are viewed as effective facilitators, and the rate of settlement has indeed increased with the introduction of mediation, at least in some courts. Interestingly, however, one study found that when there is communication and informal negotiation among a control group of attorneys without a settlement conference, the rate of settlement is the same as it is in an experimental group with a settlement conference. (5) What remains to be determined is the element of early intervention. Is negotiation possible, probable, or frequent if and only if mediation is introduced early in the appellate process, say fifteen to thirty days or fewer after the filing of a notice of appeal? Must mediation be the first intervention by a court? The premises suggest that the answers to these questions are affirmative, because at the appellate level the room for fruitful negotiation is assumed to exist, if at all, only early in the appellate process. Mediation is considered much more possible at the trial level. Once a case has been appealed, the opportunity for mediation is constrained because appellate attorneys and their clients have developed entrenched positions. More importantly, the adversaries shore up their positions, especially after the basic costs of appellate litigation (i.e., brief writing) have been borne. Hence, settlement efforts in virtually all appellate courts are introduced shortly after the initial step of case filing in accordance with the untested assumption that bargaining prospects dwindle as the appellate process is extended. …


Ongoing research with The International Technology Alliance in Distributed Analytics and Information Sciences (DAIS-ITA) aims to enable secure, dynamic, semantically-aware, distributed analytics for deriving situational understanding in future coalitions. This paper sets out an example military scenario and operations in a future time frame, to capture the expected battlespace context and key future challenges. Key considerations involve complex multi-actor situations, high complexity information, high tempo processing, all within human-machine hybrid-teams. The coalition composition of these teams is critical and all resources will be constrained. A phased operation is proposed across rural and urban operation involving a range of ISR sensors and autonomous devices. All these are subject to enemy action and perturbation and must be used across a highly contested and congested electromagnetic spectrum. Agile command and control is required across the coalition with information arriving from multiple sources and partners that may also be utilised for learning.