The previous decade has been well known in Australia for the methodological wars. This culminated in a modest increase in interpretivist research. However, critical theory and postmodernist methodologies have not been taken up with any great enthusiasm both here in Australia or elsewhere. This paper attempts to outline the practical and historical reasons and the theoretical difficulties for the failure of these paradigms in contemporary IS. Secondly, it attempts to identify why IS must embrace these paradigms for the future, and the emerging postmodernist approaches in particular, in the light of the rise of ubiquitous information systems. The paper proposes a new set of research questions for the discipline.


To some, the reductions in information asymmetry provided by the main securities-specific disclosure, fraud, and insider-trading laws help ordinary investors in meaningful ways. To others, whatever their larger social value, such reductions do little, if anything for these investors. For decades, these two sides of this investor-protection divide have mostly talked past each other.

This Article builds on economic theory to reveal something striking: The reductions in information asymmetry provided by the core securities laws likely impose a long-overlooked cost on buy-and-hold ordinary investors. More specifically, I explain why there is much reason to believe that the reductions take away investment return from these investors, while providing them with only limited benefits. Thus, the article presents a serious challenge to conventional wisdom on information asymmetry and the protection of ordinary investors, and argues in favor of a shift in investor-protection efforts away from the main securities laws and to areas of regulation that have received relatively little attention to date.


Cloud computing, while ubiquitous, still suffers from trust issues, especially for applications managing sensitive data. Third-party coordination services such as ZooKeeper and Consul are fundamental building blocks for cloud applications, but are exposed to potentially sensitive application data. Recently, hardware trust mechanisms such as Intel's Software Guard Extensions (SGX) offer trusted execution environments to shield application data from untrusted software, including the privileged Operating System (OS) and hypervisors. Such hardware support suggests new options for securing third-party coordination services. We describe SecureKeeper, an enhanced version of the ZooKeeper coordination service that uses SGX to preserve the confidentiality and basic integrity of ZooKeeper-managed data. SecureKeeper uses multiple small enclaves to ensure that (i) user-provided data in ZooKeeper is always kept encrypted while not residing inside an enclave, and (ii) essential processing steps that demand plaintext access can still be performed securely. SecureKeeper limits the required changes to the ZooKeeper code base and relies on Java's native code support for accessing enclaves. With an overhead of 11%, the performance of SecureKeeper with SGX is comparable to ZooKeeper with secure communication, while providing much stronger security guarantees with a minimal trusted code base of a few thousand lines of code.


The authors describe property rights as "overlapping 'bundles' of rights", which can be grouped as "use rights" and "control or decisionmaking rights". The authors then explain the concept of legal pluralism or many sources of rights and the implications for property rights. from Text.


Merino lines that were divergently selected from the same base population from 1986 to 2009 for their ability to rear multiples were assessed for dag score in autumn and spring, breech wrinkle score, and crutching time. Animals in the Low (L) line had higher dag and breech wrinkle scores and took longer to be crutched than High (H) line contemporaries. Expressed relative to H line least squares means, means of L line individuals were respectively 54%, 65%, 42% and 40% higher for autumn dag score, spring dag score, breech fold score, and crutching time. Gender effects for dag score were inconclusive, as ewe hoggets were more daggy than rams in autumn, with an opposite trend in spring. Shearer (n = 6) also affected crutching times, with an almost twofold difference in mean crutching time from the quickest shearer (27.7 ± 3.1 seconds) to the slowest shearer (49.4 ± 3.7 seconds). The inclusion of dag score and breech wrinkle score as linear covariates in an analysis on crutching time eliminated the effect of selection line. It thus seems that the quicker crutching times of H line animals may be related to line differences for dag score and, to a lesser extent, for breech wrinkle score.


We explore the framework of permutation-based p-values for assessing the behavior of the classification error. In this paper we study two simple permutation tests. The first test estimates the null distribution by permuting the labels in the data; this has been used extensively in classification problems in computational biology. The second test produces permutations of the features within classes, inspired by restricted randomization techniques traditionally used in statistics. We study the properties of these tests and present an extensive empirical evaluation on real and synthetic data. Our analysis shows that studying the classification error via permutation tests is effective; in particular, the restricted permutation test clearly reveals whether the classifier exploits the interdependency between the features in the data.


Mayelane v Ngwenyama 2013 4 SA 415 (CC) is arguably the most important judgment concerning the recognition of customary marriages in recent times. This article attempts to unpack some of the many issues that arise from the case, namely: (a) the practical difficulties associated with ascertaining living customary law and the problems of identifying legal versus social norms; (b) the meaning of consent as a requirement of a customary marriage; (c) the implications of the case for equality between multiple wives in a customary marriage, and as between wives across customary marriages of different cultural traditions; and (e) the implications of the case for equality considerations more broadly. While the authors sympathise with the court in respect of the complex decision before it, it questions the Court's method and result, specifically for the equality rights of a second (or further) "wife" in a Vatsonga customary marriage. The authors suggest that the issues should be put to democratic deliberation by the legislative arm, rather than leaving courts in the unenviable position of having to decide these matters.


Objectives Systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness topics are increasing in number, and groups including the Institute of Medicine emphasize the importance of attention to financial conflicts of interest. Little guidance exists, however, on how to manage the risk of bias for systematic reviews (SRs) from nonfinancial conflicts of interest (NFCOI) such as strongly held beliefs, personal relationships, and desire for career advancement. Our objective was to provide practical guidance on ensuring adequate clinical or content expertise while maintaining independence of judgment on SR teams by (1) defining NFCOI as it applies to SR teams, (2) developing guidance and an instrument, supported by examples, on to identify, characterize, and manage NFCOI, and (3) improve transparency of judgment regarding NFCOI for users of reviews. Study design and setting Fourteen workgroup members reviewed existing guidance from international and domestic institutions on managing conflicts. We built on these approaches to define NFCOI. We then developed practical guidance in the form of an instrument and examples for each potential source of conflict. Authors revised the draft document following peer review and public comment. Results We modified the Institute of Medicine's definition of conflict of interest to arrive at a definition specific to NFCOI in the context of systematic review. We define NFCOI as "a set of circumstances that creates a risk that the primary interest—the quality and integrity of the systematic review—will be unduly influenced by a secondary or competing interest that is not mainly financial." We believe that context influences the risk of NFCOI. We propose questions for funders and SR principal investigators to evaluate whether the SR topic is subject to intense advocacy, active policy debate, large interspecialty variations, and limited availability of clinical or content expertise. Responses to these contextual questions can serve as a guide to creating an SR team that appropriately balances critical clinical and content expertise with independence of judgment. Once the team is assembled, we suggest additional questions on personal beliefs, previously published opinions, institutional relationships, and career advancement. Once the risk of NFCOI has been identified, the range of options for managing conflicts include: disclosure followed by no change in the SR team or activities, inclusion on the team along with other members with differing viewpoints to ensure diverse perspectives, exclusion from certain SR activities, and exclusion from the project entirely. The selection of one or more approach will depend upon the risk of NFCOI based on the context of the topic. Conclusion NFCOI, when ignored, can call into question the impartiality of a review. Equally, the results of a review can be invalid when management of NFCOI results in the exclusion of necessary topical expertise. This document is a consensus effort attempting to achieve the appropriate balance between supplying needed expertise and minimizing NFCOI by proposing approaches to identify and evaluate NFCOI. However, the utility of these approaches and barriers to implementation must be investigated.


ABSTRACT The envelope glycoprotein E2 of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the target of neutralizing antibodies and is presently being evaluated as an HCV vaccine candidate. HCV binds to human cells through the interaction of E2 with the tetraspanin CD81, a putative viral receptor component. We have analyzed four different E2 proteins from 1a and 1b viral isolates for their ability to bind to recombinant CD81 in vitro and to the native receptor displayed on the surface of Molt-4 cells. A substantial difference in binding efficiency between these E2 variants was observed, with proteins derived from 1b subtypes showing significantly lower binding than the 1a protein. To elucidate the mechanism of E2-CD81 interaction and to identify critical regions responsible for the different binding efficiencies of the E2 variants, several mutants were generated in E2 protein regions predicted by computer modeling to be exposed on the protein surface. Functional analysis of these E2 derivatives revealed that at least two distinct domains are responsible for interaction with CD81. A first segment centered around amino acid residues 613 to 618 is essential for recognition, while a second element including the two hypervariable regions (HVRs) modulates E2 receptor binding. Binding inhibition experiments with anti-HVR monoclonal antibodies confirmed this mapping and supported the hypothesis that a complex interplay between the two HVRs of E2 is responsible for modulating receptor binding, possibly through intramolecular interactions. Finally, E2 proteins from different isolates displayed a profile of binding to human hepatic cells different from that observed on Molt-4 cells or isolated recombinant CD81, indicating that additional factors are involved in viral recognition by target liver cells.


A new kind of resonator for doubly resonant continuous-wave (CW) intracavity sum-frequency mixing (SFM) is presented. A coherent radiation of 327 mW at 555 nm is generated by mixing 1342-nm Nd:YVO4 laser and 946-nm Nd:YAG laser. The M2 beam quality factor of the sum-frequency mixed yellow-green laser is less than 1.7. The low-noise characteristic of the yellow laser is demonitrated.


The United States is facing a retirement crisis, in significant part because defined benefit pension plans have been replaced by defined contribution retirement plans that, whatever their theoretical merit, have left significant numbers of workers unprepared for retirement. A troubling example of the continuing movement away from defined benefit plans is a new phenomenon euphemistically called "pension de-risking."Recent years have been marked by high-profile companies engaging in various actions designed to reduce the company's exposure to pension funding risk (hence the term "pension de-risking"). Some de-risking strategies convert a federally-guaranteed pension into a more risky private annuity. Other approaches convert the pension into cash for the beneficiary, which may be insufficient to provide lasting retirement income. These strategies have raised many concerns that participants are getting the short end of the stick and that pension de-risking is undermining the statutory purpose of ERISA.Regulators are only beginning to consider ways to appropriately police pension de-risking behavior. We propose that the government should take an aggressive stance in regulating such conduct. Participants as a class should not be made worse off by a pension de-risking transaction, and the relevant de-risking rules should so reflect. More specifically, regulators should (1) encourage desirable forms of de-risking by establishing regulatory safe harbors; (2) require a battery of procedural safeguards for annuitization transactions; (3) require improved disclosures for cash buyouts; and (4) limit cash buyouts when beneficiaries are not likely to meaningfully understand the potentially adverse consequences of trading a pension for cash.


The project involves the design of a survey scale to measure values for natural areas:
intrinsic, use, non-use and recreation. Focus groups in regional and metropolitan areas
were conducted to identify the terminology and concepts people use with respect to
natural areas. Literature in psychology, environmental philosophy and economics
provided the definitions and theoretical background for the project. A total of 6000
surveys were sent out, comprising 4000 to the general public, 1000 to environmentalists
and 1000 to farmers. A 55% response rate was achieved. Factor analysis identified 20
items which comprise the Natural Area Value Scale (NAVS). The NAVS can be used for
large population samples to comprehensively measure natural area values. Intrinsic value
can now be measured in a way that is comparable with use and non-use values. We have
also demonstrated that the NAVS produces valid results across different populations and
different environments. This provides decision-makers with more reliable and
comprehensive information about how people value natural areas.
People can be grouped according to scores for the values they held, and the relative
importance they gave to each value. Cluster analysis identified five clusters with similar
characteristics across the three population samples: Traditional, Pro-use, Moderate, Green
Recreationist and Pro-intrinsic. These groups define the different combinations of
intrinsic, non-use, use and recreation values which people hold. We also show that it is
not just the scores for the individual values that is important to decision making, but the
way in which people rate the importance of the four values relative to each other.
A Natural Area Preference Model (NAPM) was developed using structural equation
modelling, and incorporating results from the factor analysis, cluster analysis and some
information relating to environmental behaviour. The model also used results from two
decision questions respondents had been asked to make with respect to the management
of a natural area. The NAPM shows that all four value sub-scales and cluster
membership, together with pro environment behavioural factors can be used to explain
people's environmental preferences and willingness to make sacrifices for the sake of the
environment.


Tipping points have become a key concept in research on climate change, indicating points of abrupt transition in biophysical systems as well as transformative changes in adaptation and mitigation strategies. However, the potential existence of tipping points in socio-economic systems has remained underexplored, whereas they might be highly policy relevant. This paper describes characteristics of climate change induced socio-economic tipping points (SETPs) to guide future research on SETPS to inform climate policy. We review existing literature to create a tipping point typology and to derive the following SETP definition: a climate change induced, abrupt change of a socio-economic system, into a new, fundamentally different state. Through stakeholder consultation, we identify 22 candidate SETP examples with policy relevance for Europe. Three of these are described in higher detail to identify their tipping point characteristics (stable states, mechanisms and abrupt change): the collapse of winter sports tourism, farmland abandonment and sea-level rise-induced migration. We find that stakeholder perceptions play an important role in describing SETPs. The role of climate drivers is difficult to isolate from other drivers because of complex interplays with socio-economic factors. In some cases, the rate of change rather than the magnitude of change causes a tipping point. The clearest SETPs are found on small system scales. On a national to continental scale, SETPs are less obvious because they are difficult to separate from their associated economic substitution effects and policy response. Some proposed adaptation measures are so transformative that their implementations can be considered an SETP in terms of 'response to climate change'. Future research can focus on identification and impact analysis of tipping points using stylized models, on the exceedance of stakeholder-defined critical thresholds in the RCP/SSP space and on the macro-economic impacts of new system states.


ABSTRACT Thirteen liverworts and the same number of mosses are reported from recent collections in New Caledonia and from some type specimens kept in PC. Among them, 13 are new to this French oversea territory (seven liverworts and six mosses, including the new genus Rhaphidostichum M.Fleisch.). Ectropothecium papillosulum Thér. is a new synonym of E. sodale (Sull.) Mitt. and Isopterygium sarasinii Thér. is proposed as a synonym of I. albescens (Hook.) A.Jaeger. Hymenostomum francii Thér. is transferred to Weissia Hedw. as W. francii (Thér.) Thouvenot comb. nov. and H. aristatulum Broth. & Paris is transferred to Trichostomum Bruch as T. tonghoueensis Thouvenot nom. nov. The occurrences in New Caledonia of nine species are confirmed. That includes three liverworts and one moss only known from their types, one liverwort only known from the types of synonyms, one liverwort and one moss new to North Province, and a new locality for the liverwort Cololejeunea morobensis (Pócs) Pócs that complement single earlier report. As a result, New Caledonian bryophyte flora includes 1064 species or infraspecific taxa (522 mosses, 528 liverworts and 14 hornworts). All the species involved are commented, three of them are described, seven illustrated and a key to the New Caledonian Myurium Schimp. species is provided.


The World Bank oil, gas and mining unit, in its capacity as a driver for best practice related to extractive industry contributions to poverty alleviation, has a strong interest in the sustainable development of mine-impacted communities. As part of the growing global expectation that the extractive industry should contribute positively to long-term local development, a discourse has grown surrounding a variety of structures and processes aiming to deliver development benefits to communities affected by mineral resource projects. Examples of these strategies include social/community investment programs, development forums, community-controlled trusts, development funds, and foundations. These strategies may be led by government, the companies, the impacted community, or through collaborative bilateral or multi sector partnerships and agreements. They may be a regulatory requirement or negotiated voluntarily in response to mining companies' commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles. This document describes some of the main considerations and processes regarding the development and implementation of these strategies, specifically in relation to Community Development Agreements (CDAs). In the last few years the World Bank oil, gas and mining unit has worked to analyze CDAs within the mining sector as an instrument for more sustainable and equitable benefits. This process of analysis and research has involved a series of reports by the World Bank and external specialists aiming to provide technical input on the process, case studies, lessons learned, and best practices for CDA development. This report builds on previous studies to deliver a knowledge product on CDA development with the aim of providing specific assistance to the process and delivery of CDAs. This source book has been developed from learnings relating to existing regulations/ requirements, past experiences, and case studies. Volume 2 contains the World Bank Extractive Industries Sourcebook, Good Practice Notes: Community Development Agreements, and Volume 3 is the Mining Community Development Agreements - Practical Experiences and Field Studies. Volume 4 is the Community Development Agreement - Model Regulations and Example Guidelines.


We extend an approach of Beliakova for computing knot Floer homology and implement it in a publicly available computer program. We review the main programming and optimization methods used. Our program is then used to check that the Floer homology of a prime non-alternating knot with less than 12 crossings has no torsion.


In this chapter, we provide a technical overview of cloud DCs and their network infrastructure evolution and discuss how SDN has emerged as a prominent technology for configuring and managing large-scale complex networks in this space. After comparing and contrasting the most common DC network topologies (such as canonical and fat tree, B-cube, DCell, etc.), we discuss the main challenges that SDN can help addressing due to, among others, the fast and flexible deployment of advanced services it can facilitate, its inherent programmability, and its suitability for supporting measurement-based resource provisioning. We subsequently describe the benefits of using SDN for DC network configuration and management and briefly outline some prominent SDN deployments over large-scale DCs. We discuss the potential of SDN to play the role of the central nervous system for the converged management of server and network resources over single-administrative DC environments and, finally, we highlight promising open issues for future research and development in this area.


Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing the total factor productivity (TFP) gap between the USA and eight Latin American countries for the period of 1970-2000.Design/methodology/approach– The paper provides an explicit application of TFP estimation by employing a growth accounting approach (Solow Residual) in the presence of non-constant returns to scale and a non-parametric approach (DEA – Malmquist Index) while relaxing the scale-related constraint. A macro-based economic model of innovator and follower countries is employed to explore the linkage between technology gaps and innovations, labor productivity, trade openness, foreign direct investment, and adult workforce illiteracy rates. A pooled model and a fixed effects model are used to determine the factors of the technology gap between the innovator and the follower countries.Findings– The results show that the labor productivity gap, adult work force illiteracy rates, patent filing gap, and trade openness are significant determinants of the technology gap between innovator and follower country.Practical implications– Latin American countries would benefit from the technology diffusion from an innovator country; but a minimum threshold of human capital, such as adult workforce illiteracy rates and patent filing has to be met. The authors find government policies on trade openness also have large effects on technology limitations in foreign countries.Originality/value– This paper is of value to researchers, policy makers, and economic development specialists trying to improve the rate of technology adoption and innovation.


Moringa peregrina is one of the species of the genus Moringa and is the only genus in Moringaceae family with small dark leaves of flowering plant. It is used in treatment of infectious diseases, inflammation, gastrointestinal, hematological, cardiovascular and hepatorenal disorders. In recent studies anti-fat-like effect of this plant has also been focused by researchers. The aim of this article is to investigate phytochemical properties of Moringa peregrina. So, the plant was prepared by the specified code from Isfahan Center for Research of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources. After getting the required approvals, anthraquinone, saponins, tannins, phenolic groups, flavonols, flavonoids, alkaloids, and cardiac glycosides were tested. Experiments showed that the plant contained alkaloid, tannin, glycoside, flavonoid, flavonol, and phenolic compounds but no antraquinone or saponnin. Based on the results of this research, it is obvious that ethanolic extract of M. peregrina has noticeable antioxidant ability against various oxidative systems. Furthermore, this extract can be used as an accessible source of natural antioxidants in food supplements or in pharmaceutical industries.


SUMMARY.—Intraspecific variation in the wing shape of the long-distance migrant Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus: effects of age and distance of migration. The wing morphology of Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus was studied during the breeding and non-breeding cycle in a western Mediterranean area. Wing morphology was first analysed by means of a principal component analysis (PCA) on primary lengths, which corrects for allometric effects on wing shape. Two-way ANOVAs were then used to test for differences in wing morphology according to age, month and their interaction. The PCA produced two components that were related to flight-related traits, namely wing convexity and wing-tip roundness. Primary feather wear was the factor that produced most differences between ages, since adults had a more convex and rounded wing than juveniles at the outermost edge of the wing. Monthly differences in wing shape appear to indicate that differential time of migration among morphologically distinct ages could have accounted for temporal variation in wing shape, pointing that adults increased the wing components during migratory passages while juveniles showed little variation. The existence of a morphological trade-off between costs of manoeuvrability and costs of migration is discussed in order to explain differences in wing shape between ages.


ABSTRACT The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, is a mollusk bivalve commercially important as a food source. Pacific oysters are subjected to stress and diseases during culture. The autophagy pathway is involved in numerous cellular processes, including responses to starvation, cell death, and microorganism elimination. Autophagy also exists in C. gigas, and plays a role in the immune response against infections. Although this process is well-documented and conserved in most animals, it is still poorly understood in mollusks. To date, no study has provided a complete overview of the molecular mechanism of autophagy in mollusk bivalves. In this study, human and yeast ATG protein sequences and public databases (Uniprot and NCBI) were used to identify protein members of the C. gigas autophagy pathway. A total of 35 autophagy related proteins were found in the Pacific oyster. RACE-PCR was performed on several genes. Using molecular (real-time PCR) and protein-based (western blot and immunohistochemistry) approaches, the expression and localization of ATG12, ATG9, BECN1, MAP1LC3, MTOR, and SQSTM1, was investigated in different tissues of the Pacific oyster. Comparison with human and yeast counterparts demonstrated a high homology with the human autophagy pathway. The results also demonstrated that the key autophagy genes and their protein products were expressed in all the analyzed tissues of C. gigas. This study allows the characterization of the complete C. gigas autophagy pathway for the first time. Abbreviations: ATG: autophagy related; Atg1/ULK: unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase; ATG7: autophagy related 7; ATG9: autophagy related 9; ATG12: autophagy related 12; BECN1: beclin 1; BSA: bovine serum albumin; cDNA: complementary deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid; GABARAP: GABA type A receptor-associated protein; IHC: immunohistochemistry; MAP1LC3/LC3/Atg8: microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3; MTOR: mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase; NCBI: national center for biotechnology information; ORF: open reading frame; PBS: phosphate-buffered saline; PCR: polymerase chain reaction; PtdIns3K: class III phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; RACE-PCR: rapid amplification of cDNA-ends by polymerase chain reaction; RNA: ribonucleic acid; SQSTM1: sequestosome 1; Uniprot: universal protein resource; WIPI: WD repeat domain, phosphoinositide interacting.


The purpose of this study was to examine differences between residents' perceptions of their learning after participation in a simulation, and residents' perceptions of their learning after participation in a simulation followed by a reflection and feedback session. Twelve first-year surgical residents participated in this study, and they were randomly assigned to one of three groups (named A, B, and C) with four participants in each group. Participants in groups A and C participated in a simulation followed by a reflection and feedback session, and participants in group B participated in a simulation only. The survey was administered prior to their participation in the simulation. A direct observation was conducted at each group's activities and discussions during the simulation sessions, and reflection and feedback sessions (for the applicable groups). Then, individual interview was conducted to each of participants after simulation session (for group B), and simulation followed by reflection and feedback session (for groups A and C) have completed. Results of this study indicated that the residents in groups A, B, and C were able to articulate areas of perceived learning. They were able to identify the problems of complexity, distractions, and teamwork; the residents in groups A and C were able to identify solutions for the problems based on the feedback they received during the reflection and feedback session. The identification of the problems were area of perceived learning for residents in all three groups, but the solutions provided as feedback during the reflection and feedback session is an additional area of perceived learning for residents in groups A and C.


"This study documents how poor small-scale farmers in lowland tropical Mexico use improved maize germplasm and how this contributes to their well-being. It does this by assessing both the direct adoption of improved varieties and examining the process of their "creolization." By exposing improved varieties to their conditions and management, continually selecting seed of these varieties for replanting, and in some cases promoting their hybridization with landraces, either by design or by accident, farmers produce what they recognize as "creolized" varieties. Our key hypothesis is that poor farmers benefit from improved germplasm through creolization. Creolization provides farmers with new options, as they deliberately modify an improved technology generated by the formal research system to suit their own circumstances and needs. Different methodologies such as participatory methods, ethnography, household case studies, a household sample survey, and a collection and agronomic evaluation of maize samples were used. This study was carried out in two regions: the coast of Oaxaca and the Frailesca in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, two of the poorest in Mexico. While one study area is subsistence-oriented and the other commercial, in both, extreme poverty is pervasive. Maize continues to play a key role in the livelihoods of the poor in both study areas. Authors' Abstract


Echo is an ambitious distributed file system. It was designed around a truly global name space. It uses a coherent caching algorithm. It is fault tolerant. And it is real—it was the primary file system for a large group of researchers. Its novel aspects include an extensible " junction " mechanism for global naming; extensive write-behind with ordering semantics that allow applications to maintain invariants without resorting to synchronous writes; and fault tolerance mechanisms that are highly configurable and that tolerate network partitions. It was designed with the intention that its performance could be as good as a local file system, while supporting large numbers of clients per server. Its reliability was designed to be higher than other distributed file systems, and higher than centralized systems. It was designed to work well in arbitrarily large networks.


In an age when faith and science seem constantly to clash, can theologians and scientists come to a meeting of minds? Yes, maintains the intrepid Hans Kung, as he brilliantly argues here that religion and science are not mutually exclusive but complementary. Focusing on beginnings - beginnings of time, of the world, of man, of human will - Kung deals with an array of scientific precepts and teachings. From a unified field theory to quantum physics to the Big Bang to the theory of relativity - even superstring and chaos theories - he examines all of the theories regarding the beginning of the universe and life (of all kinds) in that universe.Kung seeks to reconcile theology with the latest scientific insights, holding that "a confrontational model for the relationship between science and theology is out of date, whether put forward by fundamentalist believers and theologians or by rationalistic scientists and philosophers." While accepting evolution as scientists generally describe it, he still maintains a role for God in founding the laws of nature by which life evolved and in facilitating the adventure of creation. Exhibiting little patience for scientists who do not see beyond the limits of their discipline or for believers who try to tell experts how things must have been, Kung challenges readers to think more deeply about the beginnings in order to facilitate a new beginning in dialogue and understanding.


Off-the-shelf robotic kits are found in almost all retail stores. Most share common elements like motors, sensors, and a computer processor that permits the robots to be programmed to move autonomously in their environment. In addition, the wide scale availability and relatively low cost have made the robotic kits increasingly popular among students and teachers. Robotics competitions that are held annually in most countries are especially popular. The experience presented here is about the efforts of a group of students to teach each other in a peer-to-peer fashion and to manage several contest-related projects.


Objectives: To investigate the effects of salsalate on fasting and postprandial (PP) glycemic, lipidemic, and inflammatory responses in persons with tetraplegia. Methods: This study was a randomized, double-blind, cross-over design. It was conducted at a university laboratory. Ten males aged 25 to 50 years with SCI at C5–8 levels for ≥1 year underwent 1 month of placebo and salsalate (4 g/day) treatment. Blood samples were drawn before and 4 hours after breakfast and lunch fast-food meal consumption. Results: Descriptive statistics indicate that fasting and PP glucose values were reduced with salsalate (pre-post mean difference, 4 ± 5 mg/dL and 8 ± 8 mg/dL, respectively) but largely unchanged with placebo (0 ± 6 mg/dL and −0 ± 7 mg/dL, respectively). Insulin responses were generally reciprocal to glucose, however less pronounced. Fasting free fatty acids were significantly reduced with salsalate (191 ± 216 mg/dL, p = .021) but not placebo (−46 ± 116 mg/dL, p = .878). Results for triglycerides were similar (25 ± 34 mg/dL, p =.045, and 7 ± 29 mg/dL, p = .464). Fasting low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels were higher after salsalate (−10 ± 12 mg/dL, p = .025) but not placebo (2 ± 9 mg/dL, p = .403) treatment. Inflammatory markers were largely unchanged. Conclusion: In this pilot trial, descriptive values indicate that salsalate decreased fasting and PP glucose response to fast-food meal challenge at regular intervals in persons with tetraplegia. Positive effects were also seen for some lipid but not for inflammatory response markers. Given the relatively "healthy" metabolic profiles of the participants, it is possible that salsalate's effects may be greater and more consistent in people with less favorable metabolic milieus.


This research analyses preservice teachers' knowledge of fractions. Fractions are notoriously difficult for students to learn and for teachers to teach. Previous studies suggest that student learning of fractions may be limited by teacher understanding of fractions. If so, teacher education has a key role in solving the problem. We first reviewed literature regarding students' knowledge of fractions. We did so because assessments of required content knowledge for teaching require review of the students' understanding to determine the mathematics difficulties encountered by students. The preservice teachers were tested on their conceptual and procedural knowledge of fractions, and on their ability in explaining the rationale for a procedure or the conceptual meaning. The results revealed that preservice teachers' knowledge of fractions indeed is limited and that last-year preservice teachers did not perform better than first-year preservice teachers. This research is situated within the broader domain of mathematical knowledge for teaching and suggests ways to improve instruction and student learning.


While the prescription of intravenous medications to be medical responsibility, the nurse is the professional responsible for preparing and applying them, as well as their effects. Therefore must know all aspects and stages of drug therapy in order to prevent complications and provide patients with highly complex nursing care quality. This is a computerized literature research, conducted in electronic databases in order to answer the clinical question: On account of high complexity, which the effectiveness of nursing prescription parenteral administration of medications (insulin intravenously) for the treatment hyperglycemia? Were selected for analysis 10 articles, these met the inclusion criteria of this study, then their results were discussed, some implications in clinical practice of nurses caring for patients with high complexity. The role of nurses in IV infusion of insulin and prevention of their adverse events is large and indispensable to its effectiveness. Therefore, we believe that this study may contribute to a nursing care safer and better quality, because it contains updated information and stimulate a nursing care based on evidence.


Background Metastatic bone disease is a frequent cause of morbidity in patients with advanced breast cancer, but the role of the bone mineral hydroxyapatite (HA) in this process remains unclear. We have developed a novel mineralized 3-D tumor model and have employed this culture system to systematically investigate the pro-metastatic role of HA under physiologically relevant conditions in vitro. Methodology/Principal Findings MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells were cultured within non-mineralized or mineralized polymeric scaffolds fabricated by a gas foaming-particulate leaching technique. Tumor cell adhesion, proliferation, and secretion of pro-osteoclastic interleukin-8 (IL-8) was increased in mineralized tumor models as compared to non-mineralized tumor models, and IL-8 secretion was more pronounced for bone-specific MDA-MB231 subpopulations relative to lung-specific breast cancer cells. These differences were pathologically significant as conditioned media collected from mineralized tumor models promoted osteoclastogenesis in an IL-8 dependent manner. Finally, drug testing and signaling studies with transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) confirmed the clinical relevance of our culture system and revealed that breast cancer cell behavior is broadly affected by HA. Conclusions/Significance Our results indicate that HA promotes features associated with the neoplastic and metastatic growth of breast carcinoma cells in bone and that IL-8 may play an important role in this process. The developed mineralized tumor models may help to reveal the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms that may ultimately enable more efficacious therapy of patients with advanced breast cancer.


The Haitian Revolution and its aftershocks had a profound impact on American constitutionalism. The six administrations from George Washington through John Quincy Adams responded to the slave revolt and establishment of Haitian independence in ways that greatly expanded executive power and changed the nation's approach towards the law of nations. The Executive took effective control over the nation's most important dimensions of foreign policy, creating and employing instruments of power that are used to this day. For the first time, presidents unilaterally provided funds and military equipment to a foreign belligerent, intervened in a foreign civil war, negotiated secret commercial, diplomatic and military agreements with a foreign nation and the leader of a rebellion, used military force abroad, expanded the treaty and recognition powers and, with the acquiescence of the Supreme Court, violated accepted doctrines of the law of nations. These actions formed a blueprint for executive dominance over foreign policy, war and international law. This forgotten history is essential for a contemporary understanding of the foundations of modern presidential power over foreign affairs and war. Many of the most controversial questions presidents face in the modern era — whether to support regime change, use military force to protect American interests abroad, intervene in civil wars, arm foreign rebellions, form secret agreements with governments or belligerents, adhere to the requirements of international law — were first faced in the American reactions to the Haitian Revolution. Those decisions set precedents for the expansion of executive power whose legacies still exert a deep if unrecognized influence today. This article also illuminates the relationship of slavery to American foreign policy in the early Republic. The near-universal abhorrence and fear of a slave revolt was a powerful force in executive foreign policy decisions. But two other factors also influenced presidents in dealing with the Haitian Revolution — trade and geopolitics. When these other forces overcame domestic pro-slavery demands, presidents supported blacks fighting for their freedom and helped to create independence from the crucible of a slave revolt. However, when these forces were aligned with, or at least did not conflict with, the existential threat of a permanently successful slave revolt, the determination to isolate or crush the Haitian Revolution prevailed. As Haiti lost its strategic and economic importance to the United States, a consensus developed in the executive, legislative and judicial branches that, in the legal contemplation of the American government, the nation of Haiti did not exist.


This study aimed to determine whether gratefulness training increased the breast cancer patient's resilience. The design of this experiment research was one-group pretest-posttest design with a follow up. The subject consisted of 2 breast cancer patients in Yogyakarta. The data were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive analysis. To strengthen the quantitative data, the researchers also used observation and interview to obtained qualitative data. The gratefulness training module was based on the gratitude theory from Al-Jauziyah (2010). Resilience measured using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) with 27 items that have been modified by Dong, et al. (2013) (Cronbach's Alpha = 0,88). The results showed that gratefulness training increased the breast cancer patient's resilience.


Abstract
 Sediment transport, one of the key processes of river systems, is altered or stopped by dams, leaving lower river reaches barren of sand and gravel, both of which are essential habitat for fish and macroinvertebrates. One way to compensate for losses in sediment is to supplement gravel to river reaches below impoundments. Because gravel addition has become a widespread practice, it is essential to evaluate the biotic response to restoration projects in order to improve the efficacy of future applications. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the response of the macroinvertebrate community to gravel addition in a high-gradient, regulated river in western North Carolina. We collected benthic macroinvertebrate samples from gravel-enhanced areas and unenhanced areas for 1 season before gravel addition, and for 4 seasons afterwards. Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance indicated that the responses of macroinvertebrates to gravel addition were generally specific to individual taxa or particular functional feeding groups and did not lead to consistent patterns in overall family richness, diversity, density, or evenness. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling showed that shifts in macroinvertebrate community composition were temporary and dependent upon site conditions and season. Correlations between macroinvertebrate response variables and substrate microhabitat variables existed with or without the inclusion of data from enhanced areas, which suggests that substrate-biotic relationships were present before gravel addition. A review of the current literature suggests that the responses of benthic macroinvertebrates to substrate restoration are inconsistent and dependent upon site conditions and the degree habitat improvement of pre-restoration site conditions.


Cationic rhodium(I) complexes with P,O‐functionalised arylphosphine ligands are efficient catalysts for the regioselective anti‐Markovnikov oxidative amination of styrene with piperidine. The mechanism of the catalytic reaction has been investigated by spectroscopic means under stoichiometric and catalytic conditions. In the presence of piperidine, the catalyst precursor [Rh{κ2‐P,O‐Ph2P(CH2)3OEt}2]+ (5) gave the piperidine complex [Rh{κ1‐P‐Ph2P(CH2)3OEt}2(HNC5H10)2]+ (8) that was transformed into the neutral amido–piperidine species [Rh{κ1‐P‐Ph2P(CH2)3OEt}2(NC5H10)(HNC5H10)] (9) under thermal conditions. NMR studies performed in the presence of styrene under catalytic conditions showed that 9 is a key species in the catalytic oxidative amination of styrene. Related cyclooctadiene‐containing catalyst precursors [Rh(cod){κ1‐P‐Ph2P(CH2)3OEt}n]+ (n=1, 2) also gave 9 under the same conditions. The proposed catalytic cycle has been established by a series of DFT calculations including the transition states of the key steps that have been identified and characterised. These studies have shown that, after elimination of the enamine, regeneration of catalytic active species takes place by direct transfer of the proton of a piperidine ligand to the alkyl group resulting from the insertion of styrene into the RhH bond and formation of ethylbenzene. Against the expectations, the formation of a dihydride intermediate by NH oxidative addition is a highly energy‐demanding process. Catalyst 5 has also been applied for the oxidative amination of substituted vinylarenes with several secondary cyclic and acyclic amines.


The 2008 financial crisis has necessarily raised the question of regulatory redesign. Were regulatory failures responsible to any significant degree for the insolvency of the major investment banks? Even prior to the crisis's cresting, the Treasury Department issued a Blueprint in early 2008 concluding that the regulation of financial institutions in the U.S. was overly fragmented. This paper analyses both the Treasury Department's proposals and the role of the SEC in the rapid increase of leverage at major investment banks in the 2005 to 2008 era that led to their insolvency. Finding the SEC to be more competent at consumer protection and antifraud enforcement than at prudential financial regulation, this paper supports a twin peaks model for financial regulation in preference to either a universal regulator or the U.S.'s current system of functional regulation. It disagrees, however, with the Treasury's recommendation of greater reliance on self-regulation and principles over rules, finding that deference to self-regulation was at the heart of the SEC's recent failure in the Consolidated Supervised Entity Program and provides a paradigm of when self-regulation will fail. An alternative (and more modest) proposal is also made to Treasury's proposed preemption of state securities regulation. This article will appear in the 75th Anniversary SEC Symposium in the Virginia Law Review.


Prior studies have suggested that higher public pensions are associated with lower income inequality among the elderly, whereas the reverse is true for private pensions. Van Vliet et al. (2012) empirically test whether relative shifts from public to private pension schemes entail higher levels of income inequality among the elderly using panel data from the OECD SOCX and the EU-SILC databases. Contrasting earlier empirical studies using either cross-sectional or time-series data, they do not find evidence that shifts from public to private pension provision are associated with higher levels of income inequality or poverty among elderly. The aim of the current paper is to extend the analysis of Van Vliet et al. by 1) adding additional countries, 2) adding additionally available years, and 3) using revised OECD SOCX data. In contrast to Van Vliet et al., we find that a greater relative importance of private pensions is associated with higher levels of income inequality and poverty among elderly. A central explanation of the difference in conclusions stems from revision of OECD SOCX data.


Iraq is at risk of multiple hazards including both natural and man-made calamities. Little effort had been made before 2003 to address the disaster risk; even though many legislations enacted to provide a relief in the event of the acute crisis, they were mainly focused on the reactive response to the calamities without taking into consideration the prevention, preparedness and mitigation approach. The recent years have witnessed some positive attitude from the government and international society to develop strategies for disaster risk reduction in Iraq. Iraq for the first time has drafted a law that is distinctive for the disasters. The purpose of this article is to review the possibilities and challenges of disaster risk reduction in Iraq.


This paper reports and critically discusses, against the literature on culturally sensitive and cultural competency practices, the findings of a qualitative study which explored the needs and expectations of older people and their carers from eight different migrant communities and the white British majority. The study investigated the accessibility and acceptability of care and support services in Bradford, UK, a city with a large migrant population. A total of 167 study participants were recruited from February 2008 to October 2008; of these 134 were older people and 33 carers. The age ranged from 25 to 90 years. The study found that older migrants and their carers described expectations of services as complex constructions of 'abstract expectations', the study participants' general beliefs regarding what services should be about, and 'pragmatic expectations', their specific views about how they would like to receive care and access services. All groups, irrespective of their ethnic background, expressed three 'abstract expectations': high standards of good practice; cultural understanding; and responsiveness to individual expectations. This similarity did not imply a similarity in their preferences for how services should provide for their 'abstract expectations'. Dignity was a central expectation for all older people in the care of their bodies. However, a number of culturally specific 'pragmatic expectations' emerged in the practices that older people and carers associated with maintaining dignity in older age. Nevertheless, differences could not always be explained as an outcome of different cultural backgrounds, but were rather linked to individual characteristics and life experiences. This study indicates that whether and how older migrants' knowledge systems inform their expectations of care and support should be objects of investigation rather than taken for granted, as implied in some literature on culturally sensitive practices. Exploration of older migrants' knowledge systems may help us to understand if older migrants' expectations differ with regard to what they expect to receive from a certain service, their 'abstract expectations', and/or how they expect to receive it, their 'pragmatic expectations'. This information should help to identify if different communities require different culturally competent interventions and of what type: interventions at the organisational level, at the structural level or at the clinical level.


The purpose of the thesis is to investigate whether Islamic laws, without relaxing the nature of the Shari 'a, could be expanded and adapted to meet the changing needs of
modem Muslim societies. The focus is on the Shi'ites' approach to the law with special reference to the debates in Iran following Imam Khomeini's emphasis on the "role of the time and place in Utihad". The thesis suggests that scientific knowledge in different areas should play a role in jtihad beside the judgements of those possessing the
accomplishments necessary to be a qualified mujtahid.

The first three of the seven chapters are designed to provide a general overview of Shi 'i law, the concept of tihad and its development and also the sources and the
methodology of tihad (usul al-fiqh) among the Shi'ite 'ulama. The fourth chapter discusses the relation between Utihad and the comprehensiveness of the Shari'a, and
examines the different theories introduced by both traditional 'ulama and Muslim modernists in adapting Islamic law to the requirements of the modern age. The fifth
chapter focuses on the "role of the time and place" in tihad, and the ways and principles through which changes in the law may be justified. In investigating the stages through which a mujtahid may find out the rulings of the Shari 'a on a particular subject, some new and controversial issues including insurance policies, Islamic banking, human dissection, organ donation, and woman's right to judge and to be followed are discussed briefly in the sixth chapter. By studying and examining in detail the rulings of the Shari'a, as extracted by some leading fuqaha, on the new reproductive technologies, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilisation and human cloning, it is shown how scientific knowledge can affect the procedure of jjtihad.

Overall it is concluded that participation of the fuqaha in regulating the law and giving practical instruction regarding different problems requires the authorisation of
division in ijtihad and cooperation between mujtahidun and scientific authorities on various subjects. It is by recognising these necessities and considering the conditions of the time that they may be able to bring Islamic law successfully into harmony with the requirements of modern life.


OBJECTIVE
Children exposed to severe, chronic stress are vulnerable to mental and physical health problems across the lifespan. To explain how these problems develop, the neuroimmune network hypothesis suggests that early-life stress initiates a positive feedback loop between peripheral inflammatory cells and networked brain regions involved in threat and reward processing. The authors sought to test this hypothesis by studying a sample of urban children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

METHODS
The authors examined the basic predictions of the neuroimmune network hypothesis in 207 children (mean age=13.9 years, 63% female; 33% Black; 30% Hispanic), focusing on poverty as a stressor. The children had fasting blood drawn to quantify five inflammatory biomarkers-C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukins-6, -8, and -10-which were averaged to form a composite score. Children also completed two functional MRI tasks, which measured amygdala responsivity to angry facial expressions and ventral striatum responsivity to monetary rewards.

RESULTS
Poverty status and neural responsivity interacted statistically to predict inflammation. Among children living in poverty, amygdala threat responsivity was positively associated with inflammation, and the same was true for ventral striatum responsivity to reward. As children's socioeconomic conditions improved, these brain-immune associations became weaker. In sensitivity analyses, these patterns were robust to alternative measures of socioeconomic status and were independent of age, sex, racial and ethnic identity, and pubertal status. The associations were also condition specific; no interactions were apparent for amygdala responsivity to neutral faces, or striatal responsivity to monetary losses.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that childhood poverty is associated with accentuated neural-immune signaling, consistent with the neuroimmune network hypothesis.


The production, diffusion and exchange of luxury goods have always played a major role in the symbolic communication of human societies, be it among various segments within societies or across geographical distance and cultural boundaries. In this volume, historians and archaeologists look at so-called minor art from the Near East and the eastern Mediterranean, particularly ivory carvings of the early first millennium BCE, in their triple function as artifacts, visual media and reflections of cultural contact and artistic emulation. Objects and images are considered as material culture, i.e. products of craftsmen, workshops and schools drawing on various styles and iconographic repertoires; and in iconological terms as media vehiculating culturally encoded messages and as symbolic expressions of particular traditions, worldviews and beliefs.
What happened to images and styles when they moved from one place to another within larger contexts of cultural exchange and socio-political and economic relationships? Before trying to address such a question, one must determine the origin and date of the material objects and object groups. The coherent classification of the primary evidence is one of the most basic research issues. What are the assumptions and criteria that scholars apply when they define groups according to material, function, style or iconography? Is it possible to relate such categories to historical entities (such as 'workshops' or 'schools') and to locate these more specifically in space and time? Such were the basic questions of an international workshop held at the University of Fribourg in February 2001, the proceedings of which are published in the present volume.
Several contributions concentrate on typology, classification, terminology and method, from the point of view of the practitioner or in more theoretical terms. As an epigrapher used to long-established criteria of phenotypical classification, A.R. Millard examines script on artifacts. G. Herrmann and I.J. Winter expound on the classification of ivories in general. Taking the so-called "roundcheeked and ringletted" style group of ivory carvings as an example, D. Wicke asks whether and how it is possible to identify and to locate specific regional styles. Horse trappings, a particular class of objects that were predominant on the Phoenician coast, are discussed by E. Gubel, while E. Rehm investigates the depiction of another class of objects, royal furniture in Assyrian monumental art. Ch. Uehlinger reassesses ivory carvings found at Samaria and raises questions about ivory craftsmanship in Iron Age Israel. Further classes of objects looked at include North Syrian pyxides and bowls made of stone (S. Mazzoni) and Cypriote stone statuary of Egyptianizing style (F. Faegersten). Two studies concentrate on iconography, exploring particular motifs that occur in various media and across cultures: the winged disc (T. Ornan) and the Egyptianizing figure carrying a ram-headed staff and a jug (S.M. Cecchini). Crete is the focus of two contributions: one reviews its orientalizing metalwork and vase painting (H. Matthaus), whereas the other scrutinizes present interpretations of imports and borrowings, raising the question how to define cultural identity from material culture (G. Hoffman).


There is limited research within the UK investigating the effects of shift work on paramedics. Paramedics have relatively high rates of sickness levels and there are
links between shift work and health. This study explores UK paramedics' perceptions of the impact of working shifts.

Methods: Exploratory qualitative research was utilised to investigate the perceptions of UK paramedics on the impacts of working shifts. Two focus groups were completed involving 11 paramedics. The transcriptions were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results: Paramedics described factors associated with working shifts that mirror research already completed within different occupations: effects on physical health,fatigue, family life, safety and performance; but paramedics additionally described factors that are more limited to working in the paramedic profession such as a broader range of psychological stressors and organisational factors. The theme of psychological health was a wider theme that went beyond shift work and encompassed the overall paramedic role and the unique and stressful nature of the work.

Conclusions: This research has allowed an insight into the perceived effects of shift work on UK paramedics and exposes the challenges paramedics face in their working environment. There is a suggested link between the relatively high rates of sickness and the effects of shift work and paramedics' overall working environment. Further exploration and recognition of the effects of shift work on UK paramedics is recommended.


This thesis examines how association football evolved in Liverpool in the period before the Great War, and how the sport impacted on the lives of Liverpudlians during this period. Specific consideration is given in the first two chapters to the introduction of football to Liverpool and its progressive commercialisation. The third chapter examines the backgrounds of the city's professional footballers and their relationship with supporters and clubs. The role in Liverpool of amateur, semi-professional, and schoolboy football is considered in the fourth chapter. Identities form a common theme of the final chapters, which examine the local culture of football supporters and newspapers' relationship with the game. The study uses a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including some previously unconsidered evidence.

It is argued that previous interpretations of the sport's introduction are misleading and that football actually originated as a Muscular Christian initiative by Cambridge educated clergy at the end of the 1870s. Despite this comparatively late introduction, political and business interests influenced football, and in Liverpool the sport underwent an intense process of commercialisation. Profit seems to have been a priority for the original Everton FC and its positive commercial prognosis led to the club's selection as a founder member of the Football League.

The scale of importation of professional footballers by Everton and Liverpool football clubs was to the detriment of local talent, although the city's amateur game was thriving by the 1900s. Though football was immensely popular in Liverpool, the city's unusual social and economic demography meant that a significant proportion of its population were unable to attend professional matches, or to make a significant contribution to the amateur game. From the 1900s, attendances in Liverpool grew more slowly as major football clubs in other cities attracted more spectators.


A laboratory investigation was conducted to evaluate the applicability of dissolved He and Ne as partitioning tracers for detecting and quantifying nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) in the saturated zone. Based on the results of batch experiments, the equilibrium NAPL–water partition coefficients (KN,W) of these tracers for two common dense NAPLs (DNAPLs), tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE), are: KPCE,W = 1.28 and KTCE,W = 2.42 for He, and KPCE,W = 1.84 and KTCE,W = 3.24 for Ne. Tracer partitioning is linear across the range of concentrations tested, and appears to be linear even near aqueous solubility limits of the gases. Multiple partitioning tracer tests (PTTs) were conducted in columns, and residual TCE saturations (STCE) ranging from 4.7 to 10.5% were successfully measured by the tracers. Sensitivity analysis for the column experiments indicates that random tracer‐measurement error of up to ±20% had little effect on results; however, accurate characterization of the tail region of the tracer curves is particularly important. Therefore, the low analytical detection limits possible with dissolved He and Ne (4 to 5 orders of magnitude below aqueous solubility) may permit better tracer curve characterization than commonly used alcohol partitioning tracers, and is a notable advantage for these tracers. Due to their high Henry's Law constants, these gases will also partition into trapped air present in the tracer sweep zone. Equations are presented for estimating both trapped air and NAPL saturation for PTTs where three phases are present (water, trapped air, and residual NAPL). The results of this investigation provide a basis for field‐scale application of dissolved He and Ne as groundwater partitioning tracers.


Mica is generally known to be a deleterious substance in aggregates used for the manufacture of concrete. In regions where micaceous aggregates are the only materials available they have nevertheless been used extensively for this purpose. There is thus a discrepancy between the engineer's distrust of a material regarded as deleterious and an impressive record of successful use of this material. An investigation was carried out by the National Building Research Institute to determine the effect of mica contained in the fine aggregate upon the workability, compressive strength and drying shrinkage of concrete made with such an aggregate. It was found that the effects depend much more on the nature of the micaceous particles than on their quantity. Mica in the form of biotite caused only small effects, whereas the presence of muscovite profoundly changed the concrete-making properties of a fine aggregate.


This project aims to apply image processing techniques in computer vision featuring an omnidirectional vision system to agricultural mobile robots (AMR) used for trajectory navigation problems, as well as localization matters. To carry through this task, computational methods based on the JSEG algorithm were used to provide the classification and the characterization of such problems, together with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) for pattern recognition. Therefore, it was possible to run simulations and carry out analyses of the performance of JSEG image segmentation technique through Matlab/Octave platforms, along with the application of customized Back-propagation algorithm and statistical methods in a Simulink environment. Having the aforementioned procedures been done, it was practicable to classify and also characterize the HSV space color segments, not to mention allow the recognition of patterns in which reasonably accurate results were obtained.


Ligaments are unique wet biological tissues with high tensile modulus and fracture stress, combined with high bending flexibility. Developing synthetic materials with these properties is a significant challenge. Hydrogel composites made from high stiffness fabrics is a strategy to develop such unique materials; however, the ability to produce these materials has proven difficult, since common hydrogels swell in water and interact poorly with solid components, limiting the transfer of force from the fabric to the hydrogel matrix. In this work, for the first time, we successfully produce extraordinarily tough hydrogel composites by strategically selecting a recently developed tough hydrogel that de-swells in water. The new composites, consisting of polyampholyte hydrogels and glass fiber woven fabrics, exhibit extremely high effective toughness (250 000 J m−2), high tear strength (∼65 N mm−1), high tensile modulus (606 MPa), and low bending modulus (4.7 MPa). Even though these composites are composed of water-containing, biocompatible materials, their mechanical properties are comparable to high toughness Kevlar/polyurethane blends and fiber-reinforced polymers. Importantly, the mechanical properties of these composites greatly outperform the properties of either individual component. A mechanism is proposed based on established fabric tearing theory, which will enable the development of a new generation of mechanically robust composites based on fabrics. These results will be important towards developing soft biological prosthetics, and more generally for commercial applications such as tear-resistant gloves and bulletproof vests.


While most everyone would agree that valuations matter, the question remains as to whether clients with a long-term outlook (such as those planning for retirement) can hope to act successfully on information about valuations. This article provides favorable evidence based on the historical record for long-term conservative investors to obtain improved retirement planning outcomes (lower savings rates, higher withdrawal rates) using valuation-based asset allocation strategies. This is illustrated with a specific example comparing a 50/50 fixed allocation strategy to a Graham and Dodd inspired valuation-based strategy with a stock allocation of 25, 50, or 75% determined by the value of the cyclically-adjusted price-earnings ratio with respect to its median value up to that point in history. Important caveats are discussed. But even if clients or advisors decide against adopting valuation-based asset allocation, advisors may at least be able to use the findings of this research to help persuade clients to stay the course and not give in to the temptation to change their asset allocations in the "wrong direction," such as increasing stock holdings after valuations rise or panicking and selling stocks after a plummet in valuations.


Individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI) have been shown to have increased lateral plantar pressure during walking which is thought to contribute to symptoms associated with CAI. The objective of this study was to determine whether real-time video feedback can reduce lateral plantar pressure in individuals with CAI. Twenty-six participants with CAI completed 30 s of treadmill walking while plantar pressure was measured using an in-shoe plantar pressure system (baseline). Next, participants completed an additional 30 s of treadmill walking while receiving video feedback (VID FB). During the VID FB condition, participants had a significant decrease in medial forefoot peak pressure and medial midfoot pressure-time integral; however, both changes were associated with small effect sizes. Real-time video feedback did not reduce lateral plantar pressure in individuals with CAI; therefore, other gait retraining strategies should be considered when treating patients with CAI.


Alternative justice—conflict resolution outside formal law—seeks to alleviate
pervasive social issues, such as the school-to-prison pipeline. Alternative justice
practitioners increasingly seek to transform the legal system and the violence it perpetuates
from within by implementing programs and processes in collaboration with
formal law and legal actors. However, this collaborative approach requires practitioners
to create bureaucratic processes and procedures such as memoranda of understanding,
complex filing systems, and data tracking. Multisited ethnographic research in
the United States (2014–2017) reveals that there is little consensus among these practitioners
as to whether this bureaucratization will benefit or harm their work. The
bureaucracy of processing case work, implementing standardized procedures, extending
training requirements, and cost barriers are viewed positively insofar as they gain
legitimacy for the field. Is bureaucratization necessary to achieve legitimacy, or does
it restrict practitioners' ability to fulfill client needs and the principles of their justice
paradigm?


Immersed in Buddhist psychology prior to studying Western psychiatry, Dr. Mark Epstein first viewed Western therapeutic approaches through the lens of the East. 'This posed something of a challenge', he observes. 'The central tenet of Buddha's wisdom is the notion of no-self, while the central focus of Western psychotherapy is the self. Yet both systems promise liberation through self-awareness'. This book, which includes writings from the past twenty-five years, wrestles with the complex relationship between Buddhism and psychotherapy and offers nuanced reflections on therapy, meditation, and psychological and spiritual development. A bestselling author and popular speaker, Epstein has long been at the forefront of the effort to introduce Buddhist psychology to the West. His unique background enables him to serve as a bridge between the two traditions, which he has found to be more compatible than at first thought. Engaging with the teachings of the Buddha as well as those of Freud and Winnicott, he offers a compelling look at desire, anger, and insight and helps reinterpret the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and central concepts such as egolessness and emptiness in the psychoanalytic language of our time.


In the lowlands of arid and semiarid rangelands woody plants plays an important role in soil fertility maintenance, providing food, medicine, cosmetics, fodder, fuel wood and pesticides. A better understanding of the interaction of woody plants on their immediate environment is needed to guide optimum management of native vegetation in the production landscapes. However, the response of herbaceous vegetation to woody plant species remains poorly understood. This study evaluates the impact of two dominant woody plant species (Acacia senegal and Balanite aegyptica) on herbaceous vegetation in rangelands of eastern Ethiopia. Eighteen trees of relatively the same diameter at breast height were selected to study the effect of the tree on herbaceous vegetation. Vegetation sample data were collected from under canopy and open areas, and analysed for herbaceous vegetation parameters using two ways ANOVA. The herbaceous vegetation parameters under both woody plant species was significantly higher especially with regard to dry matter (101.3±0.97g/m2), basal cover (65.02±0.7%) and species richness (6.9±0.1211 no. species/m2) than the open grassland with dry matter (74.2±0.72g/m2), basal cover (50.53±0.67%) and species richness (5.3±0.11 no. species/m2). The species composition of herbaceous species also showed significant improvements under woody plant canopy with regard to percentage composition of perennial grasses (0.40%) than the open grassland with percentage composition of perennial grasses (0.27%). The positive effect woody plant presence can be also ascribed to some understory species such as Cenchrus ciliaris, Panicum maximum and Eragrostis papposa which have a good pastoral value, grow better under woody plants. Presence of woody plants facilitates the establishment of more palatable herbaceous vegetation under unfavorable climatic conditions that characterize these environments. Therefore, this tree has a significant effect on herbaceous vegetation improvement in resource poor rangelands and as a result, it is important to retain scattered A. senegal and B. aegyptica plants in the rangelands of eastern Ethiopia.


European consumers are skeptical towards genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food production, and their willingness to buy such products is low. Previous research also shows that these attitudes are quite resistant to attempts to change them by giving additional information. The aim of the study was to investigate if positive sensory experience with a (purportedly) GMO-based food product would influence consumers' attitude towards the use of GMOs in food production. An experiment was conducted in which subjects in the experimental group tasted cheeses, one of which was labeled as "produced using GMOs." The cheeses were selected in a way that ensured that the subject had a sensory preference for the GMO cheese. A control group tasted cheeses that were unlabelled. After the tasting, subjects completed a conjoint analysis task about cheese, in which the type of starter culture used (GMO|conventional) was one of the attributes. Subjects also were administered a set of items measuring attitude towards the use of GMOs in food production. Results showed that for subjects in the experimental group (who believed that they had tasted a GMO cheese, with which they had a positive sensory experience) (1) attitude towards GMO in food production was less negative, and (2) type of starter culture used (GM|conventional) had less impact on their buying intentions with regard to cheese than for subjects in the control group. lEconLit citations: L660, M310, Q130r. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 20: 95-107, 2004.


Abstract. Methods are developed to study hydrologic interactions across the surficial/groundwater interface in a native prairie ecosystem. Surficial ecohydrologic processes are simulated with the USDA's EPIC model using daily climate data from the Kansas Weather Data Library, vegetation and soil data from the USDA, and current land-use management practices. Results show that mean annual precipitation (from 1985–2005) is partitioned into 13% runoff regionally and 14% locally over the Konza LTER, lateral flow through soil is 1% regionally and 2% locally, groundwater recharge is 11% regionally and 9% locally, and evapotranspiration accounts for the remaining 75%. The spatial distribution of recharge was used in a regional Modflow groundwater model that was calibrated to existing groundwater observations and field measurements gathered for this study, giving a hydraulic conductivity in the Flint Hills region of 1–2 m day−1 with a local zone (identified here) of 0.05–0.1 m day−1. The resistance was set to fixed representative values during model calibration of hydraulic conductivity, and simple log-log relations correlate the enhanced recharge beneath ephemeral upland streams and baseflow in perennial lowland streams to the unknown resistance of the streambeds. Enhanced recharge due to stream transmission loss (the difference between terrestrial runoff and streamflow) represents a small fraction of streamflow in the ephemeral upland and the resistance of this streambed is 100 000 day. Long-term baseflow in the local Kings Creek watershed (2% of the groundwater recharge over the watershed) is met when the resistance of the lowland streambed is 1000 day. The coupled framework developed here to study surficial ecohydrological processes using EPIC and groundwater hydrogeological processes using Modflow provides a baseline hydrologic assessment and a computational platform for future investigations to examine the impacts of climate change, vegetative cover, soils, and management practices on hydrologic forcings.


Genomic selection is being used increasingly in plant breeding to accelerate genetic gain per unit time. One of the most important applications of genomic selection in maize breeding is to predict and select the best un-phenotyped lines in bi-parental populations based on genomic estimated breeding values. In the present study, 22 bi-parental tropical maize populations genotyped with low density SNPs were used to evaluate the genomic prediction accuracy (rMG) of the six trait-environment combinations under various levels of training population size (TPS) and marker density (MD), and assess the effect of trait heritability (h2), TPS and MD on rMG estimation. Our results showed that: (1) moderate rMG values were obtained for different trait-environment combinations, when 50% of the total genotypes was used as training population and ~200 SNPs were used for prediction; (2) rMG increased with an increase in h2, TPS and MD, both correlation and variance analyses showed that h2 is the most important factor and MD is the least important factor on rMG estimation for most of the trait-environment combinations; (3) predictions between pairwise half-sib populations showed that the rMG values for all the six trait-environment combinations were centered around zero, 49% predictions had rMG values above zero; (4) the trend observed in rMG differed with the trend observed in rMG/h, and h is the square root of heritability of the predicted trait, it indicated that both rMG and rMG/h values should be presented in GS study to show the accuracy of genomic selection and the relative accuracy of genomic selection compared with phenotypic selection, respectively. This study provides useful information to maize breeders to design genomic selection workflow in their breeding programs.


Aside from limited studies on individual cemeteries or tomb types, analysis of Middle Minoan III funerary evidence remained in the shadow. Reasons can be found in the dearth of archaeological remains, and it is useful to remember that most of the evidence for this period, both domestic and mortuary, derived mainly from sites occupied in the following period (Late Minoan IA) and destroyed in Late Minoan IB. By collecting information on tomb architecture, cemetery distribution and burial assemblages the paper aims to investigate the development and regionalism of burial practices during Middle Minoan III, and to explore aspects of the social and political landscape. In particular, two palatial regions will be considered to be paradigmatic in understanding how burial choices were strictly related to different polities and social realities: the north-central and south-central Crete. The mortuary customs of these two areas reflect different political and social dynamics at the beginning of the Neopalatial period. The variety of burial practices among different regions of the island is also highlighted and provides significant evidence for the transitional stage of Middle Minoan III that saw regional shifts after the destruction of the first Palaces and before the reconstruction of new centres of power.


When a country discovers large new natural resource energy reserves, its citizens are gifted with possibility of financing a great economic transformation. Yet, often, the state which manages the transformation fails to deliver a sufficient high and well timed contribution to the well being of current and future citizens. Is it a lack of depth in financial markets or political impatience to spend that best explains the failure of energy revenues to achieve its potential? I answer this question with a model where both resource revenues and returns to the public sector's financial and physical assets and its liabilities are uncertain. Calibrating for Colombia, I find that when policymakers discount at 20%, 18pp below the social rate, the welfare cost is equivalent to about a quarter of consumption for ever, the net stock of assets is much smaller than it should be and discretionary expenditures are very sensitive to surprise resource revenues. If financial markets are sufficiently underdeveloped, we can generate welfare costs of the same magnitude. But imperfect financial markets cannot also explain why there are insufficient net effective assets as seems to be the case in Colombia, nor can they explain a heightened sensitivity to revenues. As political impatience is thus the main culprit, a continued emphasis on fiscal policy arrangements that directly address the temptation to spend too soon is warranted.


Abstract. We describe a 0.5 Mm3 rock avalanche that occurred in 2008 in the western Alps and discuss possible roles of controlling factors in the context of current climate change. The source is located between 2410 m and 2653 m a.s.l. on Mont Crammont and is controlled by a densely fractured rock structure. The main part of the collapsed rock mass deposited at the foot of the rock wall. A smaller part travelled much farther, reaching horizontal and vertical travel distances of 3050 m and 1560 m, respectively. The mobility of the rock mass was enhanced by channelization and snow. The rock-avalanche volume was calculated by comparison of pre- and post-event DTMs, and geomechanical characterization of the detachment zone was extracted from LiDAR point cloud processing. Back analysis of the rock-avalanche runout suggests a two stage event. There was no previous rock avalanche activity from the Mont Crammont ridge during the Holocene. The 2008 rock avalanche may have resulted from permafrost degradation in the steep rock wall, as suggested by seepage water in the scar after the collapse in spite of negative air temperatures, and modelling of rock temperatures that indicate warm permafrost (T > −2 °C).


Abstract Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the Indigenous people of Australia. The prevalence and burden of chronic disease among them is significantly higher than that of non-Indigenous Australians. This paper describes the chronic illness experiences of 19 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in urban areas in terms of their strategic representations of self. Participants in this study used techniques of revealing and concealing chronic illness. These strategies were employed in multiple arenas – among family, among broader community, and in specific spaces including health care services. They highlight tensions that arise through the intersection between the desire to preserve family and community life, and the ways in which the physical body manifests chronic illness. In this paper we bring together notions of time (drawing on Zimbardo's time perspectives theory) and biography (drawing on Bury's disrupted biography theory). Through an analysis of shifting boundaries we conduct an exploratory investigation of the ways in which urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this study weave together elements of both past and future perspectives to mobilise modes of self-representation and agency in their management of chronic illness. We then consider some options for primary health care.


This paper discusses how the government can design investment mechanisms to induce a socially optimal capacity increase in a gas grid that is owned by a syndicate of gas producers. Designing the investment mechanisms, the government has to take account of stepwise investment and asymmetric information of the network owners' willingness to pay for a capacity increase. We show that investment mechanisms allocating capacity based on the principle of Vickrey's second-price auction combined with regulated tariffs equal to marginal costs would be preferable. However, setting higher tariffs may reduce the problems associated with coalitional manipulation, voluntary participation and open access and nondiscriminatory prices.


The paper looks into discursive practices of increasing credibility of a message and its source deployed in religious discourse for the purpose of boosting its persuasive potential. It is based on author's research and analysis of a corpus of religious texts and illustrates the use of credibility boosters by presenting examples selected from sources of several denominations and religious movements (Christians, Latter-Day Saints, Jehova's Witnesses, United Christian Action, etc.). Besides, it statistically maps the distribution of credibility boosters across four samples used by Judaism and Christianity, Church of Latter-Day Saints, Heaven's Gate, and Church of Scientology. It also points out recent trends in some of the persuasive mechanisms deployed to induce a change of individual's opinion and/or behavior.


Do education investments improve regional labor market outcomes? In principle, education could lead to higher local productivity, but potential benefits to local economies could be muted if the educated workers leave in search of better opportunities, or if shifts in the supply of skills outpace demand growth. I use a large program that redistributed public education finance across Brazilian municipalities (FUNDEF) as a source of exogenous variation to empirically study the effects of expansions in public education expenditure on attainment and labor market outcomes at the individual and the local economy levels. The program was successful at improving educational attainment levels for individuals and regions, specially at the primary school level. For individuals, education led to higher wages -mainly by enabling workers to migrate to more productive places- but my estimates of returns to schooling turn negative when I control for region-of-work characteristics. For regions, the program worsened wages and other labor market outcomes but not employment, suggesting that the increased supply of educated workers outpaced demand growth.


The increasing prevalence of media multitasking among adolescents is concerning because it may be negatively related to goal-directed behavior. This study investigated the relationship between media multitasking and executive function in 523 early adolescents (aged 11-15; 48% girls). The three central components of executive functions (i.e., working memory, shifting, and inhibition) were measured using self-reports and standardized performance-based tasks (Digit Span, Eriksen Flankers task, Dots–Triangles task). Findings show that adolescents who media multitask more frequently reported having more problems in the three domains of executive function in their everyday lives. Media multitasking was not related to the performance on the Digit Span and Dots–Triangles task. Adolescents who media multitasked more frequently tended to be better in ignoring irrelevant distractions in the Eriksen Flankers task. Overall, results suggest that media multitasking is negatively related to executive function in everyday life.


In real-time collaborative editing systems, users create a shared document by issuing insert, delete, and undo operations on their local replica anytime and anywhere. Data consistency issues arise due to concurrent editing conflicts. Traditional consistency models put restrictions on editing operations updating different portions of a shared document, which is unnecessary for many editing scenarios, and cause their view synchronization strategies to become less efficient. To address these problems, we propose a new data consistency model that preserves convergence and synchronizes editing operations only when they access overlapped or contiguous characters. Our view synchronization strategy is implemented by a novel data structure–partial persistent sequence. A partial persistent sequence is an ordered set of items indexed by persistent and unique position identifiers. It captures data dependencies of editing operations and encodes them in a way that they can be correctly executed on any document replica. As a result, a simple and efficient view synchronization strategy can be implemented.


Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are dangerous pollutants. The photolysis kinetics of PAHs are of interest because they are carcinogenic and can increase in toxicity through photodegradation into secondary products. They are often associated with particulate matter. The composition and physical properties of the particulate matter can affect PAH photolysis kinetics. We investigated the effects of sodium chloride on the photolysis kinetics of the PAH anthracene in water and octanol as well as mixed-phase solutions (water-octanol), which were used as models for aqueous-organic aerosols. A non-linear dependence on sodium chloride concentrations was observed. Sodium chloride enhanced photolysis at concentrations up to 0.25 M due to increased singlet oxygen (O2) production, and suppressed photolysis at higher concentrations because of anthracene quenching. A positive dependence on sodium chloride concentration above sodium chloride's saturation limit in aqueous solution (6.1 M) suggested that new reaction pathways, potentially on the surface of solid sodium chloride, may be occurring. 0.25 M sodium chloride increased rate constants in octanol and aqueous-organic mixtures, but to a lesser extent than in water. An increase of a factor of 9 was observed when 0.25 M sodium chloride was included in aqueous solutions, while the increase in octanol was a factor of 2. Stirring aqueous-organic mixtures during photolysis increased photolysis rates in the absence of salt, but had inconsistent effects in the presence of 0.25 M sodium chloride. EFFECTS OF SODIUM CHLORIDE ON ANTHRACENE PHOTOLYSIS KINETICS IN AQUEOUS-ORGANIC SOLUTIONS


Background Atypical environmental conditions with drought followed by heavy rainfall and flooding in arid areas in sub-Saharan Africa can lead to explosive epidemics of malaria, which might be prevented through timely vector-control interventions. Objectives Wajir County in Northeast Kenya is classified as having seasonal malaria transmission. The aim of this study was to describe in Wajir town the environmental conditions, the scope and timing of vector-control interventions and the associated resulting burden of malaria at two time periods (1996–1998 and 2005–2007). Methods This is a cross-sectional descriptive and ecological study using data collected for routine program monitoring and evaluation. Results In both time periods, there were atypical environmental conditions with drought and malnutrition followed by massive monthly rainfall resulting in flooding and animal/human Rift Valley Fever. In 1998, this was associated with a large and explosive malaria epidemic (weekly incidence rates peaking at 54/1,000 population/week) with vector-control interventions starting over six months after the massive rainfall and when the malaria epidemic was abating. In 2007, vector-control interventions started sooner within about three months after the massive rainfall and no malaria epidemic was recorded with weekly malaria incidence rates never exceeding 0.5 per 1,000 population per week. Discussion and Conclusion Did timely vector-control interventions in Wajir town prevent a malaria epidemic? In 2007, the neighboring county of Garissa experienced similar climatic events as Wajir, but vector-control interventions started six months after the heavy un-seasonal rainfall and large scale flooding resulted in a malaria epidemic with monthly incidence rates peaking at 40/1,000 population. In conclusion, this study suggests that atypical environmental conditions can herald a malaria outbreak in certain settings. In turn, this should alert responsible stakeholders about the need to act rapidly and preemptively with appropriate and wide-scale vector-control interventions to mitigate the risk.


In the past decade, Spain's generous incentive system for renewable energy production attracted substantial foreign and national investment. However, when the global financial crisis hit, and the consequent reduction of electricity consumption, the incentives began to cause a tariff deficit in the electricity system, leading the Spanish government to cut back and then eliminate the incentives. In the wake of losses, international investors turned to investment arbitration, while national investors could only present their claims before Spanish courts. The result was a potential for differential treatment between national and foreign investors. This paper examines the incentive regime and the government's changes to it in order to understand the investors' claims and the reasoning that resulted in their rejections, both in national courts and in the only arbitration award issued up to now. The paper concludes with a discussion of the effect of the renewable energies situation on the investment arbitration debate within Spanish civil society.


Grasp quality measures are important for understanding how to plan for and maintain appropriate and secure grasps for pick and place operations and tool use. Most grasp quality measures assume certain symmetries about the mechanism or the task. For example, contact points may be considered to be independent and identical, or an ellipsoidal measure such as the force manipulability ellipsoid may be used. However, many tasks have strong asymmetries, where wrenches in certain directions dominate. Tendon driven hand designs may also have strong asymmetries, leading to differing abilities to apply contact forces in different directions. This paper begins to explore empirically the validity of some of the symmetry assumptions employed by common grasp quality metrics. We examine the human hand and the shadow robot hand, and find that force abilities vary with finger choice and with location of the contact on the finger for both hands. However, while the human hand shows dramatic changes for different poses due to its asymmetric design, the shadow hand, with a symmetric design shows much smaller changes and resembles the assumption of identical and independent contact points reasonably well. Thus, we suggest that the underlying design of the hand is a very important factor to consider for grasp quality metrics and for grasp planning and control. The specific grasp quality metric we study in this paper also brings together a variety of previous research. We outline a linear programming approach for computing a grasp quality metric that includes tendon force constraints and contact constraints and can handle any task described as a polytope in wrench space