Yellow taxicabs are an iconic symbol of New York City. Almost as wellknown as the City's yellow taxis are the valuable licenses that vehicles must have in order to be used as taxis. Often called medallions, these licenses constitute a form of private property. They are routinely bought and sold, leased, used as collateral for loans, and count as assets in bankruptcy. This Article emphasizes the political character of property rights in the modern state through a case study of why New York taxi medallions continue to exist. Prominent explanations of the evolution of property rights imply that they are a distinct category of rights that emerge organically within society because their benefits exceed their costs. This Article takes a decidedly more regulatory view of property rights as top-down creations of the state. As instruments of the state, property rights arise and persist from political decision-making processes influenced by interest group pressures. This avowedly regulatory conception of property rights suggests that we likely have both efficient and inefficient property rights because there is no necessary correspondence between what is cost-beneficial for society as a whole and the outcomes of political decision-making processes. This Article argues that New York taxicab licenses are an instance of inefficient private property rights sustained by political decision-making processes subject to pressures from powerful interest groups.


A solid body of research findings substantiates that most vocabulary, in first, second or foreign language, is acquired incidentally which is defined as learning vocabulary as a by-product of any activity not explicitly geared to vocabulary learning. Therefore, the present study mainly focused on the impact of instruction and intervention in deriving word meaning on incidental vocabulary learning in EFL context; secondly, it aimed to find out whether the contextualized words that appear with more clues learned better and consequently kept longer; finally, it sought to explore whether instruction could lead to increase in incidental vocabulary learning in the text. To these ends, 50 freshmen Iranian college students from Teacher Training University of Azerbaijan participated in this study. These students enrolled for the reading class in two separate semesters. The results of the TOEFL and Vocabulary Level Test (VLT) revealed that the participants enjoyed approximately the same level of proficiency. There were two post-tests which were taken at certain time intervals. The results of this study showed that the instruction in deriving word meaning had positive effect on students' incidental vocabulary learning. Also it was concluded that students should meet the words in contextualized forms more frequently in order to keep and retain them in the long run.


Abstract We quantified long-term successional trajectories of canopy arthropods on six tree species in a tropical rainforest ecosystem in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico that experienced repeated hurricane-induced disturbances during the 19-yr study (1991–2009). We expected: 1) differential performances of arthropod species to result in taxon- or guild-specific responses; 2) differences in initial conditions to result in distinct successional responses to each hurricane; and 3) the legacy of hurricane-created gaps to persist despite subsequent disturbances. At least one significant effect of gap, time after hurricane, or their interaction occurred for 53 of 116 analyses of taxon abundance, 31 of 84 analyses of guild abundance, and 21 of 60 analyses of biodiversity (e.g., richness, evenness, dominance, and rarity). Significant responses were ~60% more common for time after hurricane than for gap creation, indicating that temporal changes in habitat during recovery were of primary importance. Both increases and decreases in abundance or diversity occurred in response to each factor. Guild-level responses were probably driven by changes in the abundance of resources on which they rely. For example, detritivores were most abundant soon after hurricanes when litter resources were elevated, whereas sap-suckers were most abundant in gaps where new foliage growth was the greatest. The legacy of canopy gaps created by Hurricane Hugo persisted for at least 19 yr, despite droughts and other hurricanes of various intensities that caused forest damage. This reinforces the need to consider historical legacies when seeking to understand responses to disturbance.


With today's technology it has become possible to generate and control personalized as well as authentic avatar faces in 3D for social Virtual Reality (VR) applications, as Lombardi et al. [LSSS18] have recently shown. Creating a personalized avatar with facial expressions is expensive in terms of time, computational power and hardware. Against this background, the question arises whether the creation of such a costly avatar with facial expressions is justifiable. A simple, anthropomorphic and generic avatar could be sufficient and probably allows for the same perception of presence. We conducted an initial and brief experiment with 22 participants in two groups and found indications that an arbitrary (in this case a generic) anthropomorphic representation of the dialog partner seems to lead to a lower perception of social presence compared to a personalized representation that resembles the dialog partner. Furthermore, it seems that co-presence is not affected by a personalized avatar. However, further research as well as a more sophisticated experiment design is necessary to finally verify our hypotheses.


A general mathematical formulation for solving the ellipsometric equation of a substrate covered by an arbitrary number of transparent or absorbing layers is presented. For single-wavelength and single-angle-of-incidence ellipsometry, from a single measurement (Δ, Ψ), the procedure allows the finding of any two-parameter combination, provided that one of the unknowns is a thickness.


Brazilian policy makers and researchers have discussed the introduction of a complementary pension system to complement the Regime Geral de Previdencia Social (RGPS), specially for those that want a retirement income above the RGPS ceiling. This article first recommends that the complementary system must be SUPER (Simple, Universal, Portable, Efficient with low cost and Robust Regulatation). It then proposes the adoption of a financial innovation called SeLFIES (Standard-of-Living, Forward-starting, Income-only Securities), as the default investment option for a modern capitalization regime. Brazil presents an interesting opportunity to be the first country to adopt and implement SeLFIES given the initial conditions, especially the innovations introduced in the market for government bonds. This financial innovation would help the Brazilian government address two challenges simultaneously: improve retirement security (by including even the most financially illiterate people and those in the informal sector in retirement plans) and boost infrastructure financing.


We present a robust and efficient technique for matching dense sets of points undergoing non-rigid spatial transformations. Our main intuition is that the subset of points that can be matched with high confidence should be used to guide the matching procedure for the rest. We propose a novel algorithm that incorporates these high-confidence matches as a spatial prior to learn a discriminative subspace that simultaneously encodes both the feature similarity as well as their spatial arrangement. Conventional subspace learning usually requires spectral decomposition of the pair-wise distance matrix across the point-sets, which can become inefficient even for moderately sized problems. To this end, we propose the use of random projections for approximate subspace learning, which can provide significant time improvements at the cost of minimal precision loss. This efficiency gain allows us to iteratively find and remove high-confidence matches from the point sets, resulting in high recall. To show the effectiveness of our approach, we present a systematic set of experiments and results for the problem of dense non-rigid image-feature matching.


The solution of mathematical problems by numerical analysis is
a large, intricate subject in its own right, and the substance-of many
Ph. D. theses in mathematics. The advancement of numerical analysis and
computer technology are clearly not mutually exclusive. Moreover this
combination through the growth in computer software facilities is' easily
within reach of a researcher with no expertise in either numerical
analysis or computer programming. In particular the Numerical Algorithms
Group (NAG) based in Oxford provides a library of subroutines for
incorporation into source programmes across a broad spectrum of
mathematics. The relevance of this development for the economist lies
with the considerable scope for providing quantitative evaluations of
microeconomic models outside of traditional statistical methods. To
justify such a claim the thesis develops a number of applications from
microeconomic theory: imperfect information in a non-sequential search
framework; optimum tax with endogenous wages; a two sector general
equilibrium model of union and non-union wage rate determination;
Chamberlin's welfare ideal; and a quantity setting duopoly analysis of
the structure conduct performance paradigm.
It is hoped that the insights gained from such diverse topics will
convince the reader as to the appropriateness of applying numerical
computing to microeconomic questions in general, and the usefulness of
the NAG software in particular.


Efficiency is a watchword in policy circles. If we choose policies that maximize people's willingness to pay, we are told, we will grow the economic pie and thus benefit the rich and poor alike. Who would oppose efficiency when it is cast in this fashion?

However, there are actually two starkly different types of efficient policies: those that systematically distribute equally to the rich and the poor and those that systematically distribute more to the rich.

Our collective failure to grasp this distinction matters enormously for those with a wide range of political commitments. Many efficient policies distribute more to the rich without the rich having to pay for their bigger slice. Because these "rich-biased" policies are ubiquitous, efficient policymaking places a heavy thumb on the scale in favor of the rich. Especially at this time of heightened concern about inequality, getting efficiency right should matter to a wide swath of the policymaking spectrum, from committed redistributionists to libertarians. We should support efficient policies only when the poor are compensated for their smaller slices or when efficient policies systematically distribute equally to the rich and the poor as we grow the size of the economic pie.

This Article points a way forward in ensuring that a foundational tenet of the law does not follow a "rich get richer" principle, with profound consequences for policymaking.


In his dissent in the 2003 case Goodridge v. Department of Health, Justice Robert Cordy of the Massachusetts Supreme Court introduced a novel argument in support of state bans on same-sex marriage: that marriage is an institution designed to create a safe social and legal space for accidental heterosexual reproduction, a space that is not necessary for same-sex couples who, by definition, cannot accidentally reproduce. Since 2003, every state appellate court considering a same-sex marriage case has adopted Justice Cordy's dissent until the recent California Supreme Court decision In Re Marriage Cases. In case after case, courts have held that marriage allows states to send a message to potentially irresponsible procreators that 'marriage is a (normatively) necessary part of their procreative endeavor' and that same-sex couples do not need marriage because they only procreate after considerable effort and forethought. This article examines the accidental procreation argument through the lenses of anthropological theory, history, literature, and constitutional law. We conclude that marriage has sometimes been used to channel male heterosexuality into reproduction, but to argue that this goal is the sine qua non of marriage is to vastly oversimplify its history in both law and culture. We then undertake a genealogy of the accidental procreation argument and speculate about its possible effects on the institution of marriage. We suggest that if courts continue to insist upon a definition of marriage that is so distinct from the actual practice of the institution, the law may actually be less and less influential in regulating intimate behavior.


Objective Analyze NASA's efforts to "sell†both its mission and its successes from its origins in 1958 to the present. Methods Use public opinion polling and qualitative sources to establish change over time. Results Study suggests that NASA's public support was less important than most have previously asserted, and that the overall activities of NASA have been advanced by a small base of supporters, challenged by a small group of opponents, and sustained by a larger number of people who accept a status quo in space exploration. Conclusion A general public lack of support for expending many dollars on spaceflight has been a fundamental reality of NASA since its beginning. It is not changing, and probably not changeable, in the predictive future. Accordingly, NASA's quest for human spaceflight's popular appeal remains an elusive goal.


This paper analyzes the evolution of gender segregation in the workplace in Mexico between 1994 and 2004, using a matching comparisons technique to explore the role of individual and family characteristics in determining gender segregation and wage gaps. The results suggest that the complete elimination of hierarchical segregation would reduce the observed gender wage gaps by 5 percentage points, while the elimination of occupational segregation would have increased gender wage gaps by approximately 6 percentage points. The results also indicate that the role of occupational segregation in wage gaps has been increasing in magnitude during the period of analysis, while the role of hierarchical segregation in the determination of wage gaps has been decreasing.


A setup for measuring gravitational constant in a university laboratory is described. The setup includes a torsion pendulum which swings under the action of gravitational attraction from test masses whose positions are made to change periodically in phase with pendulum oscillations by a special device. The gravity constant is calculated from the amplitude of steady-state oscillations. The experimental and calculation procedure is described and measurement errors are estimated.


The dictionary approach to signal and image processing has been massively investigated in the last two decades, proving very attractive for a wide range of applications. The effectiveness of dictionary-based methods, however, is strongly influenced by the choice of the set of basis functions. Moreover the structure of the dictionary is of paramount importance regarding efficient implementation and practical applications such as image coding. In this work, an overcomplete code for sparse representation of natural images has been learnt from a set a real-world scenes. Experiments have been carried out using images of different sizes in order to check the influence of this parameter on the learnt bases. The functions found have been organized into a hierarchical structure. We take advantage of this representation of the dictionary, adopting a tree-structured greedy algorithm to build sparse approximations of images. Using this procedure, no a-priori constraint is imposed on the structure of the dictionary, allowing great flexibility in its design and lower computational complexity.


Abstract This study examines whether and how labor unionization influences firm-specific stock price crash risk. Using a regression discontinuity design that leverages locally exogenous variation in unionization generated by close union elections, we find that unionization leads to a significant decline in crash risk. We further explore the underlying mechanisms through which unionization affects crash risk and find that unions limit risk-taking, constrain overinvestment, and improve information flow, which in turn reduces crash risk. Overall, our study resolves some of the current debate over the implications of unions and sheds new light on their net impact on shareholder welfare.


We present the paradigm of natural and exploratory shape modeling by introducing novel 3D interactions for creating, modifying and manipulating 3D shapes using arms and hands. Though current design tools provide complex modeling functionalities, they remain non-intuitive and require significant training since they segregate 3D shapes into hierarchical 2D inputs, thus binding the user to stringent procedural steps and making modifications cumbersome. In addition the designer knows what to design when they go to CAD systems and the creative exploration in design is lost. We present a shape creation paradigm as an exploration of creative imagination and externalization of shapes, particularly in the early phases of design. We integrate the capability of humans to express 3D shapes via hand-arm motions with traditional sweep surface representation to demonstrate rapid exploration of a rich variety of fairly complex 3D shapes. We track the skeleton of users using the depth data provided by low-cost depth sensing camera (Kinect™). Our modeling tool is configurable to provide a variety of implicit constraints for shape symmetry and resolution based on the position, orientation and speed of the arms. Intuitive strategies for coarse and fine shape modifications are also proposed. We conclusively demonstrate the creation of a wide variety of product concepts and show an average modeling time of a only few seconds while retaining the intuitiveness of communicating the design intent.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


To develop a ready-to-drink (RTD) milk coffee retaining the original coffee flavor, the effects of processing conditions during manufacture on retronasal-arma (RA) compounds from the milk coffee were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using an RA simulator (RAS). Thirteen of 46 detected compounds in the RAS effluent (RAS compounds) decreased significantly following pH adjustment of coffee (from pH 5.1 to 6.8) and 5 compounds increased. RAS compounds from coffee tended to decrease through the pH adjustment and subsequent sterilization. Significantly higher amounts of 13 RAS compounds were released from the milk coffee produced using a blending-after-sterilization (BAS) process without the pH adjustment than from that using a blending-before-sterilization (BBS) process with the pH adjustment. In BAS-processed milk coffee, significantly lower amounts of 8 high-volatility compounds and 1H-pyrrole were released from coffee containing infusion-sterilized (INF) milk than from coffee containing plate-sterilized (PLT) milk, whereas 3 low-volatility compounds were released significantly more from coffee using PLT milk. Principal component analysis revealed that the effect of the manufacturing process (BAS, BBS, or homemade (blending unsterilized coffee without pH adjustment with sterilized milk)) on milk coffee volatiles was larger than that of the sterilization method (INF or PLT) for milk, and that the sterilization method could result in different RAS volatile characteristics in BAS and homemade processes. In conclusion, a BAS process was found to be superior to a BBS process for the manufacture of an RTD milk coffee that retains volatile characteristics similar to that of a homemade milk coffee.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Ready-to-drink (RTD) milk coffee manufactured using the conventional blending-before-sterilization process does not retain its original coffee flavor due to pH adjustment of the coffee during the process. The new blending-after-sterilization (BAS) process enabled the production of RTD milk coffee whose volatiles are closer to that of homemade milk coffee, as demonstrated by the results of RAS-GC-MS analysis. The BAS process has already been applied to the manufacture of RTD milk coffees in Japan.


The optimal approach to tracking a moving source in an uncertain environment is one which incorporates both the continuity of the environment in which the source is located and the nature of the source movement. This differs from the suboptimal approach which performs a series of optimal independent source localizations and then combines the results to estimate the path taken by the source. The optimum uncertain field processor (OUFP) [A. M. Richardson and L. W. Nolte, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 89, 2280–2284 (1991)] is a class of algorithms which incorporates parameter estimation theory into source localization, making it a method of matched‐field processing which is robust to uncertainties in the propagation environment and source parameters. However, previous applications of the OUFP have been for stationary sources. Incorporating the nature of the source motion into the OUFP results in a more accurate method of estimating the path taken by a moving source. The performance of this processor is evaluated by examining the probability of correctly estimating the source path and the mean absolute errors in range and depth of the estimated path. Specific results are presented for a shallow water environment. [Research supported by ONR (Ocean Acoustics).]


If $P\subset {\Bbb R}^d$ is a rational polytope, then $i_P(t):=\#(tP\cap {\Bbb Z}^d)$ is a quasi-polynomial in $t$, called the Ehrhart quasi-polynomial of $P$. A period of $i_P(t)$ is ${\cal D}(P)$, the smallest ${\cal D}\in {\Bbb Z}_+$ such that ${\cal D}\cdot P$ has integral vertices. Often, ${\cal D}(P)$ is the minimum period of $i_P(t)$, but, in several interesting examples, the minimum period is smaller. We prove that, for fixed $d$, there is a polynomial time algorithm which, given a rational polytope $P\subset{\Bbb R}^d$ and an integer $n$, decides whether $n$ is a period of $i_P(t)$. In particular, there is a polynomial time algorithm to decide whether $i_P(t)$ is a polynomial. We conjecture that, for fixed $d$, there is a polynomial time algorithm to compute the minimum period of $i_P(t)$. The tools we use are rational generating functions.


We study a general equilibrium model in which firms choose their capital structure optimally, trading off the tax advantages of debt against the risk of costly default. The costs of default are endogenous: bankrupt firms are forced to liquidate their assets, resulting in a fire sale if there is insufficient liquidity in the market. When the corporate income tax rate is zero, the optimal capital structure is indeterminate, there are no fire sales, and the equilibrium is Pareto efficient. When the tax rate is positive, the optimal capital structure is uniquely determined, default occurs with positive probability, firms' assets are liquidated at fire-sale prices, and the equilibrium is constrained inefficient. More precisely, firms' investment is too low and, although the capital structure is chosen optimally, in equilibrium too little debt is used. We also show that introducing more liquidity into the system can be counter-productive: although it reduces the severity of fire sales, it also reduces welfare.


The main concern of this thesis is the study of problems involving collections of subsets of a finite set [n] = {1,2,...,n} and especially antichains on [n]. An antichain is a collection of sets in which no two sets are comparable under set inclusion. An antichain A is flat if there exists an integer k ≥ 0 such that every set in A has cardinality either k or k + 1. The size of A is |A| and the volume of A is ∑A∈A |A|. A unifying problem in the thesis is the flat antichain conjecture which states that A is an antichain on [n] if and only if there exists a flat antichain on [n] with the same size and volume as A. The truth of the conjecture would provide a simple test for the existence of antichains on [n] with a given size and volume. The flat antichain conjecture is known to hold in several special cases. This thesis shows that it holds in several further cases. Two main approaches have been taken in the investigation of the flat antichain conjecture. The first approach consists of studying the volumes of antichains. Building on earlier work of Clements we observe that for given n and s, the antichains on [n] of size s which achieve minimum (maximum) volume are flat antichains, where the minimum (maximum) is taken over all antichains on [n] of size s. Further, we show that if A is an antichain on [n] then there exists a flat antichain on [n] with the same volume as A. In proving this last result we prove that the flat antichain conjecture holds in one special case. The second approach involves counting the number of subsets and supersets of certain collections of sets as defined below. The squashed (or colex) order on sets is a set ordering with the property that the number of subsets of a collection of k-sets is minimised when the collection consists of an initial segment of k-sets in squashed order. In the universal set [n], consider the collections Lk+1(p) and Lk-1(p) consisting of the last p (k + 1)-sets in squashed order and the last p (k - 1)-sets in squashed order respectively. Let a1 be the number of supersets of size k of the sets in Lk-1(p). Let a2 be the number of subsets of size k of the sets in Lk+1(p) which are not subsets of any (k + 1)-set preceding the sets in Lk+1(p) in squashed order. We show that a1 + a2 > 2p. This result, called the 3-levels result, enables us to show that the flat antichain conjecture holds in several cases. Several conjectures and open problems which are related to the 3-levels result are stated and implications of the truth of the flat antichain conjecture are considered.


In this work, I argue that administrative discretional decision-making, achieving a public interest to protect, is an evaluation process that occurs through the reasonable and proportional comparison of several private (secondary) interests conflicting with a single public (primary) interest. I suggest that the dynamics of weighing competing interests are similar to the procedure for balancing constitutional rights. Thus, drawing on Robert Alexy's constitutional balancing model, I propose a model that is applicable to discretionary administrative decisions, in which the outcome of the proportional weighing of secondary interests works as a "moderation factor" for the primary interest. In my model, the outcomes of the discretional process can be converted into numerical values, simplifying decision consistency so as to make it simple, complete and reasonable at the same time.


The introduction of some animal and plant pest species in New Zealand has facilitated the establishment and success of other introduced pest species. Classic examples include rodents and rabbits, which have provided prey for a number of introduced mammalian predator species. Control of these introduced predators in New Zealand has historically focussed on removing them directly by lethal means. This approach suffers from density-dependent population responses that accelerate population recovery at low population densities. I suggest adopting an ecologically-based approach to pest control that breaks the interactive linkages between invasive mammalian pests at high trophic levels and the other introduced species that they rely on as their primary food resource. Some of these primary food species are, in turn, affected by land management practices and land-use policy. Removing the primary food resource for introduced pests at high trophic levels should, in theory, weaken the density-dependent responses that reduce the impact of lethal control. This 'bottom-up' form of pest control has the added advantage of reducing pest impacts at lower trophic levels. A greater emphasis on bottom-up pest management that targets lower trophic levels could greatly enhance current tactical approaches that focus directly on pests at higher trophic levels. Examples of where this approach could assist management of introduced pests in New Zealand and overseas are discussed.


Abstract Cranswickite is a newly recognized mineral of composition MgSO4·4H2O from Calingasta, San Juan Province, Argentina (IMA2010-016). Cranswickite is monoclinic, space group C2/c, a = 11.9236(3), b = 5.1736(1), c = 12.1958(3) Å, β = 117.548(2)°, V= 667.0(1) Å3, Z = 4, dobs = 1.917 g/cm3, and dcalc = 1.918 g/cm3. The mineral occurs0 as a soft white vein filling in a metasedimentary rock. The atomic structure has been determined by direct methods and refined by Rietveld analysis of powder diffraction data. The atomic structure consists of chains of corner-sharing magnesium-containing octahedra and sulfate tetrahedra similar to the structure of pentahydrite. All the water molecules directly coordinate magnesium in the structure. The five strongest lines in the powder X-ray diffraction data are [dobs in angstroms (I) (hkl)]: 5.259 (100) (200), 3.927 (46) (112̄), 3.168 (45) (113̄), 4.603 (29) (111̄), 2.570 (23) (311). Infrared and Raman spectra are very similar to the spectra measured from starkeyite. The chemical composition of cranswickite is the same as starkeyite MgSO4·4H2O, but starkeyite has an atomic structure where two sulfate tetrahedra and two Mg(H2O)6 octahedra share corners to form a four-membered ring and not a chain as in cranswickite. The new mineral is named in honor of Lachlan M.D. Cranswick (1968-2010), an Australian crystallographer who helped to developed and maintain the Collaborative Computational Project No. 14 in Powder and Small Molecule Single Crystal Diffraction (CCP14).


The effect of exemestane (6-methylenandrosta-1,4-diene-3,17-dione) 25 mg p.o. once daily on in vivo aromatization was studied in 10 postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer. Aromatization was determined before treatment and after 6-8 weeks on therapy by administering a bolus injection of [3H]androstenedione (500 microCi) and [14C]estrone (5 microCi) followed by measurement of the isotope ratio of urinary estrogens after high-performance liquid chromatography purification. In addition, plasma endogenous estrogens were measured with highly sensitive radioimmunoassays after separation with high-performance liquid chromatography. Treatment with exemestane suppressed whole body aromatization from a mean pretreatment value of 2.059% to 0.042% (mean suppression of 97.9%). Plasma levels of estrone, estradiol, and estrone sulfate were found to be suppressed by 94.5%, 92.2%, and 93.2%, respectively. This is the first study revealing near total aromatase inhibition in vivo with the use of a steroidal aromatase inhibitor. The observation that exemestane is a highly potent aromatase inhibitor, together with the fact that the drug is administered p.o. and causes limited side effects, suggests that exemestane is a promising new drug for the treatment of hormone sensitive breast cancer.


Concurrent partnering contributes to high HIV prevalence. This is in part due to the natural history of the virus. After transmission, an individual's viral load spikes in a period of 'acute infection' during which they are highly infectious. Models estimate that around 10 - 45% of HIV acquisition arises from sex with an individual in the acute infection period.
If everyone in a population abstained from high-risk sex for a given period of time, in theory the viral loads of all recent seroconverters should pass through the acute infection period. When risk behaviour resumed there would be almost no individuals in the high-viraemic phase, thereby reducing infectivity, and HIV incidence would fall.
Recurring population-wide shifts in risk behaviour are not unheard of. Many, in fact, occur as part of existing religious observances. The month of Ramadan in Muslim communities is perhaps one of the most obvious cases. Ramadan sees significant behaviour changes. In addition to fasting from sunrise to sunset, observant individuals abstain from coitus during daylight hours. There is anecdotal evidence that risky sexual behaviours are also significantly reduced over this period. In Indonesia, for instance, it was reported that research with sex workers was not possible during Ramadan because people 'abstained from sex from one end of the month to the other … Many sex workers returned to home villages during this time.'
This article argues that a population-wide interruption of risk behaviour for a set period of time could reduce HIV incidence and make a significant contribution to prevention efforts. It calls for mathematical modelling of periodic risk behaviour interruptions, as well as encouragement of policy interventions to develop campaigns of this nature. A policy response, such as a 'safe sex/no sex' campaign in a cohesive population, deserves serious consideration as an HIV prevention intervention. In some contexts, periods of abstinence from risk behaviour could also be linked to existing religious practices to provide policy options.


Organizations in the digital networked media environment must increasingly rely on data about audiences' allocation of their attention to obtain positive returns on their marketing budgets; provide better and more personalized services; or achieve more successful outcomes of health, political, or other campaigns or interventions. Thus, a variety of attention technologies (tracking, storage, and analytics) and an attention brokerage industry have developed over time. These developments are grounded in concepts of the information and knowledge economy, information economics, media advertising models, the attention economy, and diffusion of innovations theory. After this contextualization, the study analyzes how the business press represents the attributes associated with the diffusion of these attention technologies (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, communicability, uncertainty, and reinvention), and new subdimensions of each, and by promoting or adopting company, over time (1990–2017).


This paper quantifies the effect of three policy levels on the water and energy futures of Melbourne, Australia. During a time of severe water shortages attributed to climate change, water strategies lacked consideration of energy consequences. Modeling, guided by urban metabolism theory, demonstrated that a compact urban form, reduced water consumption by 90 GL/a, compared with a sprawling city, and had greater water conservation impact than simulated demand management measures. Household water conservation, coupled with increased use of solar hot water systems, reduced grid energy use by some 30 PJ/a. Desalination, tripled water supply energy demand, growing to a total of 4.5 PJ/a, by 2045. While the increase is less than 1% of total Melbourne urban energy use, it contributes to a substantial increase in the energy bill for urban water provision. Importantly, the energy impact could be offset through demand management measures. Recommendations for the combined management of water and energy include improving energy characterization of the urban water cycle; impact-evaluation of regional plans; using total urban water and energy balances in analysis to provide context; and developing reporting mechanisms and indicators to help improve baseline data across the water and energy systems.


Introduction The Internet has opened a virtual Pandora's box of sexually explicit images, including child pornography. New and improved technologies such as digital cameras and editing software have made it easier to produce and distribute child pornography (Meier, 1999; Ong, 2005; Schell et al, 2007). And while there is disagreement as to the utility and legality of sexually explicit images of adults, most would agree that there is no acceptable argument in favor of legalizing depictions of children forced to engage in sexual activity or poses. Child pornography can be seen as a higher degree of crime than simple child sexual abuse in that the sexual abuse is chronicled by photographs or videotape, for the perpetrator or whomever he/she chooses to view again and again. In this, the images are a permanent record of the child's abuse (New York v. Ferber, 1982; Medaris and Girouard, 2002). Yet, the harm in child pornography is not limited to the inherent injury to its victims. Indeed, the harm can be extended to how the material is used by sexual predators, who may show sexually explicit photos of children to potential victims in an effort to break down barriers and desensitize them to sexual activity (Adler, 2001; Medaris and Girouard, 2002; Ong, 2005). What constitutes "child pornography" is difficult to articulate given the vagaries of the law. In New York v. Ferber, the US Supreme Court established that child pornography is not protected under the First Amendment and that it should be prohibited because of the harm sustained by victims during its production (1982) as well as the serious long-term consequences for victims' self-esteem (Ong, 2005). In the wake of NY v. Ferber, the US Congress enacted the 1984 Child Protection Act, which defined child pornography in very broad terms (Adler, 2001). Another Supreme Court ruling allowed states to prohibit depictions of child nudity if there was "graphic focus on the genitals" (Osborne v. Ohio, 1990), thereby making possession of child pornography illegal (Adler, 2001). Current US statute defines child pornography as "a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct" (18 U.S.C. 2256 [8]). On a global level, though, definitions vary from region to region, country to country. Erotica, degrading pornography, violent pornography--there is no consensus on key terms relating to this area (Fisher and Barak, 2001). What is considered illegal material in one country may be legal in others (Burke et al, 2002). Moreover, statues have to be written very carefully because if they are too broad and far-reaching, they can be struck down as infringements on citizens' rights (Schell et al, 2007). Akdeniz warns that regulations intended to protect children should not include categorical prohibitions against Internet use to distribute material in areas where the material is readily available to adults in other forms (2001). Some have opposed Internet regulation by the government arguing that that it should be self-regulated by site owners, parents, and international cooperation (Cassanova et al, 2000). Definitional issues also include what constitutes a child and what constitutes pornography (Burke et al, 2002; Kleinhans, 2004; Krone, 2004; Jewkes and Andrews, 2005; Oswell, 2006). In the US, the minimum legal age for sexual activity can range from 14 to 18 (Kleinhans, 2004). As well, the age of majority varies from one country to another, and different countries have different standards as to what constitutes obscenity or pornography (Cassanova, 2000; Kleinhans, 2004; Ong, 2005; Oswell, 2006). For example, while the US considers computer generated sexually explicit images of children legal, they are illegal in the UK (Kleinhans, 2004; Oswell, 2006), Hong Kong (Ong, 2005), and Canada (Bailey, 2007). Further, not all countries prohibit sexually explicit images of children (Cassanova, 2000). Moreover, cultural mores may preclude an open discussion of issues such as sexual abuse, sex, and pornography, which may delay passage of legislation banning child pornography (Ong, 2005). …


Rituals obviously utilize the human senses. Theological and mystical interpretations frequently comment on sensation as a source of metaphors for religious experience. However, the discourse used in religious rituals themselves usually avoids using the normal vocabulary appropriate to particular sensations, while focusing on ritual performance instead. This raises the question of whether it is generally the case that ritualizing sensation diverts attention from sensation to ritual behavior, and whether ritual interpretations usually divert attention from the sensation to its metaphorical meaning. This essay addresses these questions with the analytical tools of metaphor theory and ritual theory. To test and apply these theories, it focuses on one kind of ritual practices, those that involve written texts, especially books of scripture, and how they use the senses of sight, hearing, and touch.


Introduction: Over 50% of adults with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) require second-line therapy after steroids, but these options are plagued by low rates of response, which are often delayed by 2–3 months. Romiplostim is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist (TPO-RA) that has shown significant efficacy in this setting and is now available in a generic formulation. No data on the efficacy and safety of the same are available in the India context. Methodology: This study was conducted from August 2019 to July 2020. Romiplostim was used for patients with ITP that was (a) steroid or intravenous immunoglobulin (IvIg) refractory or (b) not responding to other second-line agents. Results: A total of 11 patients were included in the analysis (M:F = 6:5) with a median age of 44 years (range, 18–67). Initial therapy was corticosteroids for all patients of which nine (81%) had an initial response. Second-line therapy included azathioprine for six patients (54%) and IvIg for four (36%) patients. All patients were refractory to the second-line therapy and initiated on romiplostim at a median dose of 3.68 μg/kg/week (range, 2.7–6.2). A sustained response was observed in 10 patients (90.9%) after a median duration of 13 days (range, 2–32). At a median follow-up of 5.5 months, nine patients (81%) had stable platelet counts. Conclusion: Initial data suggest that generic romiplostim is an effective and safe second-line medication for ITP and can potentially avoid splenectomy in steroid and IvIg refractory patients. Prospective follow-up of more patients will provide a better perspective on efficacy and cost-effectiveness of TPO-RAs.


The results from a new water treatment system for arsenic removal are presented. The technology is based on the employment of an electrolytic iron dissolution and efficient aeration procedure prior to sand filtration. The treatment was introduced and investigated in a pilot scale plant and full scale waterworks. The pilot scale results showed the potential for efficient arsenic removal from spiked solutions (with As in the range of 50–85 μg/L) depending on the process conditions (flow and applied current). In the waterworks where the system was implemented for a period of 14 months, there was a relationship where the higher applied current from the iron generator resulted in a better quality of water produced. The long period of use also helped to determine a proper iron dosage (the Fe/As ratio 68 mg/mg) and identify carbonate scale formation in the electrochemical process. The electrolytic dissolution of the Fe was found to be a practical method for iron dosing; however more work has to be done on process improvement and optimization that will focus on the Fe anode geometry.


BACKGROUND
Many patients requiring implant therapy present with hopeless teeth exhibiting periapical pathology. The advisability of implant placement in such situations has not been conclusively determined.

METHODS
Sixty-four patients underwent therapy in their maxillary incisor region. Treatment consisted of immediate implant placement in a site demonstrating periapical pathology, and immediate implant placement in a "pristine" site, either during the same visit or during separate visits. The implants placed in the sites demonstrating periapical pathology were followed in function for ≤117 months, with a mean time in function of 64 months. The implants placed in pristine sites were followed in function for ≤120 months, with a mean time in function of 62 months.

RESULTS
Two implants in the central incisor positions of one patient demonstrated 2 mm of buccal recession after ≈46 months in function. These implants were deemed esthetic failures, despite the absence of inflammation and continued clinical implant immobility, yielding cumulative survival rates of 98.1 and 98.2 for implants placed in sites with periapical pathology and implants placed in sites without periapical pathology, respectively, according to published criteria.

CONCLUSIONS
Implants immediately placed in sites demonstrating periapical pathology yielded results comparable to those immediately placed in pristine sites. The difference in survival rates was not statistically significant.


Mining is not sustainable as mineral deposits have a limited life time. But the future of the mining industry is not doomed as the consumption of minerals increases as the population increases. As metals are in use, and demand is increasing, recycling cannot replace mining. In fact, less than 10% of the metals in demand are supplied by recycling processes.
Sustainability is a concept that integrates social, environmental and economic aspects. Mining can use these concepts to establish policies to move forward. This is a relatively new concept to a mining industry that used to assess technical-economic aspects first, then the possible environmental impacts and at the very end of a project, the social implications. This is changing. Social issues are increasingly recognized as significant inhibitors to mineral development projects. Increasingly, social risk is being recognized as a key factor determining the success of a mineral investment. Groups opposed to a mine for social or political reasons often use environmental impacts, real or perceived, to prevent mine development. These risk factors depend largely on cultural perceptions of mining activities and must be understood as such in order to be appropriately managed. A first step to addressing the sustainability of mining is inclusive, transparent and meaningful engagement of stakeholders who should not be simple viewers of a mining project implementation but participants in all decisions. This process allows stakeholders to understand what the other parties value in order to collectively establish a common currency for development and the creation of mutual value.
Expanding the scope of benefits and values a mine can bring is of increasing importance to mining companies. Training technical staff, engineers and geologists, who make initial and ongoing contact with local interests, in a holistic approach to mine development, is crucial to successful mineral development projects. Further extending this conversation to the general public, media governments and non-governmental organizations is a necessary step in developing a meaningful discourse on the benefit of mining activities.


The neurotransmitter GABA acts in the immune system to ameliorate symptoms in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a neurotransmitter that acts in the central nervous system (CNS) to inhibit neuronal excitability. GABA also acts in the immune system to decrease inflammatory responses; however, its role in adaptive immune responses remains poorly characterized. Noting that multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the CNS, Bhat et al. sought to determine the effects of GABA signaling in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of human MS. Western blotting analysis showed that dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages contained glutamic acid decarboxylase, the enzyme that synthesizes GABA. Patch-clamp experiments demonstrated that macrophages possessed functional GABA-A receptors (GABA-A-Rs), and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays showed that T cells and macrophages expressed genes that encode GABA transporter proteins and GABA transaminase (GABAT), the main enzyme that degrades GABA. In vitro experiments demonstrated that GABAergic compounds, such as an analog of GABA, an agonist of GABA-A-R, and an inhibitor of GABAT, inhibited the production of proinflammatory cytokines by DCs but not by T cells. The effects of GABAergic agents on DCs were associated with the decreased phosphorylation and activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases. When treated with GABAergic agents, mice with EAE (which was induced by immunization with a myelin peptide) had slower progression to disease and milder symptoms than did untreated EAE mice. Furthermore, naïve mice that received immune cells from mice that had been immunized with myelin peptide and treated with GABAergic compounds also exhibited less severe disease than did mice that received cells that had not been treated with GABAergic compounds. In light of these findings, the authors suggest that modulating the GABA system may provide therapeutic effects in the treatment of MS. R. Bhat, R. Axtell, A. Mitra, M. Miranda, C. Lock, R. W. Tsien, L. Steinman, Inhibitory role for GABA in autoimmune inflammation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 2580–2585 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Graphs have been commonly used to represent complex data structures. In models dealing with graph-structured data, multivariate parameters may not only exhibit sparse patterns but have structured sparsity and smoothness in the sense that both zero and non-zero parameters tend to cluster together. We propose a new prior for high-dimensional parameters with graphical relations, referred to as the Tree-based Low-rank Horseshoe (T-LoHo) model, that generalizes the popular univariate Bayesian horseshoe shrinkage prior to the multivariate setting to detect structured sparsity and smoothness simultaneously. The T-LoHo prior can be embedded in many high-dimensional hierarchical models. To illustrate its utility, we apply it to regularize a Bayesian high-dimensional regression problem where the regression coefficients are linked by a graph, so that the resulting clusters have flexible shapes and satisfy the cluster contiguity constraint with respect to the graph. We design an efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm that delivers full Bayesian inference with uncertainty measures for model parameters such as the number of clusters. We offer theoretical investigations of the clustering effects and posterior concentration results. Finally, we illustrate the performance of the model with simulation studies and a real data application for anomaly detection on a road network. The results indicate substantial improvements over other competing methods such as the sparse fused lasso.


Symbolic model checkers can construct proofs of properties over very complex models. However, the results reported by the tool when a proof succeeds do not generally provide much insight to the user. It is often useful for users to have traceability information related to the proof: which portions of the model were necessary to construct it. This traceability information can be used to diagnose a variety of modeling problems such as overconstrained axioms and underconstrained properties, and can also be used to measure completeness of a set of requirements over a model. In this paper, we present a new algorithm to efficiently compute the em inductive validity core (IVC) within a model necessary for inductive proofs of safety properties for sequential systems. The algorithm is based on the UNSAT core support built into current SMT solvers and a novel encoding of the inductive problem to try to generate a minimal inductive validity core. We prove our algorithm is correct, and describe its implementation in the JKind model checker for Lustre models. We then present an experiment in which we benchmark the algorithm in terms of speed, diversity of produced cores, and minimality, with promising results.


It is humbling to consider that not long ago, the optimal thromboembolic risk management in patients with atrial flutter (AFl), let alone atrial fibrillation (AF), was considered an unknown. Indeed, it was only as recently as 2001 that the issue was addressed in published guidelines. Even then, the recommendation was a tepid one, reflecting the paucity of data to provide strong guidance: 'Until more robust data become available, and although the overall thromboembolic risk associated with atrial flutter can be lower than with AF, it seems prudent to estimate risk by use of similar stratification criteria'. Up until that time, the argument for anticoagulation in patients with AF was gaining strength, but the data for AFl were limited.

Up to 2001, the data consisted mostly of small, observational and retrospective studies subject to the usual limitations of small event rates and heterogeneity with regard to important inclusion or exclusion criteria such as the presence or absence of structural heart disease (valvular disease, cardiomyopathy), the presence or absence of hypertension and importantly the coexistence of AF in a particular patient with AFl. Despite the heterogeneity, however, the data began to paint a picture of increased thromboembolic risk in patients with flutter, particularly those undergoing cardioversion.1

In their Heart publication, Vadmann et al 2 offer a systematic review of the literature related to AFl and thromboembolic risk. A key study included in the present review was a case–control study by Biblo et al 3 that examined 8-year outcomes in 749 988 Medicare patients …


T lymphocyte numbers in the human body are kept constant by homeostatic mechanisms balancing cell gain and loss. These mechanisms eventually fail in HIV infection, which is characterized by progressive immune deficiency attributable to a slow but relentless depletion of CD4+ T cells, the main viral targets. HIV infection is also associated with increased T cell turnover and a state of generalized immune
activation. One of the fundamental questions in the field of HIV research is the relation between CD4+ T cell depletion and immune activation. It has been suggested
that the virus has a direct effect by killing CD4+ T cells and increased T cell turnover reflects a homeostatic response to CD4+ T cell depletion. Alternatively, chronic
immune activation may lead to enhanced turnover of T cells by ongoing proliferation-differentiation
and cell death. In both cases, AIDS is the result of an exhaustion of the regenerative capacity of the immune system. To address these questions we examined the consequences of activated CD4+ T cell
killing in a virus-free mouse model. Immunodeficiency viruses are highly selective
for activated/memory and regulatory CD4+ T cells due to restricted expression of CCR5, the co-receptor for HIV and SIV, or CD134 (OX40, TNFRSF4), the cellular
receptor for FIV. Activated CD4+ T cells were depleted by conditional reactivation of diphtheria toxin gene mediated by Tnfrsf4-driven Cre recombinase expression.
Conditional ablation of activated CD4+ T cells resulted in accelerated turnover, with
only a minimal apparent effect on their numbers, and was associated with a reduction
in CD4:CD8 ratio and development of CD4+ T cell immune deficiency, resembling
HIV infection. Importantly, activated CD4+ T cell killing also resulted in generalized immune activation, including lymph node enlargement, B cell expansion, elevated
serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines and increased turnover and activation of
CD8+ T cells, characteristic of HIV infection. CD8+ T cell activation correlated with
lack of regulatory CD4+ T cell function and was prevented upon regulatory CD4+ T
cell reconstitution.
We therefore propose a causal link between memory and regulatory T cell depletion
and immune deficiency and immune activation, respectively.


Recently, cloud computing rapidly expands as an alternative to conventional computing due to it can provide a flexible, dynamic and resilient infrastructure for both academic and business environments. In public cloud environment, the client moves its data to public cloud server (PCS) and cannot control its remote data. Thus, information security is an important problem in public cloud storage, such as data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. In some cases, the client has no ability to check its remote data possession, such as the client is in prison because of committing crime, on the ocean-going vessel, in the battlefield because of the war, and so on. It has to delegate the remote data possession checking task to some proxy. In this paper, we study proxy provable data possession (PPDP). In public clouds, PPDP is a matter of crucial importance when the client cannot perform the remote data possession checking. We study the PPDP system model, the security model, and the design method. Based on the bilinear pairing technique, we design an efficient PPDP protocol. Through security analysis and performance analysis, our protocol is provable secure and efficient.


The vision for Australia's national electronic health record system included empowering consumers to become active participants in their own health care. This paper aims to critically review the literature on consumer perspectives of Australia's My Health Record (formerly PCEHR). The review is based on a subset of articles (n=12) identified in the Australian EHR Repository (N=143), a repository of metadata of Australian Research on EHR located at Flinders University. Results show low levels of awareness and concerns about sharing records and equity of access for all Australians, which in view of the change from opt in to opt out raises concerns about explicit consent. Improved promotion and support, along with different models of access might lead to higher consumer engagement with, and use, of My Health Record, especially for populations at risk of digital exclusion.


Existing ad hoc routing protocols are either unicast or multicast. In this paper we propose a simple extension to the Dynamic Source Routing Protocol (DSR) to cater for group communications where all node addresses are unicast addresses and there is no single multicast address. The proposed sliding window protocol for multiple communications results in significant improvement in total packet delivery. Due to the high frequency of mobility, attrition and reinforcement in ad hoc networks, in order to preserve confidentiality, it becomes necessary to rekey each time a member enters or leaves a logically defined group. We compare our group rekeying rate on sliding window protocol versus other kinds of Rekeying algorithms. The proposed sliding window protocol performs better. The proposed sliding window is therefore simple and improves both communications and security performance.


The Canyon Group (Missourian Series) is a sequence of westward-dipping, genetically related carbonate and terrigenous clastic facies that crop out in a northeast-southwest belt across North-Central Texas. The section includes stratigraphic units between the base of the Palo Pinto Limestone and the top of the Home Creek Limestone. Surface and subsurface studies within thirteen counties indicate that terrigenous clastic rocks are principally component facies of high-constructive delta systems. The Perrin delta system repeatedly prograded westward and northwestward from source areas in the Ouachita Fold Belt. Algal-crinoid banks flanked the Perrin delta system on the northeast and southwest. A typical vertical deltaic sequence includes (upward) (a) organic rich, prodelta mudstone, devoid of invertebrate fossils; (b) thin, distal delta-front sandstone and mudstone, displaying graded beds, sole marks, and flow rolls; (c) thicker proximal delta-front sandstone, exhibiting contorted beds, flow rolls, and contemporaneous faults; (d) locally contorted distributary-mouth bar sandstone; and (e) distributary channel sandstone, containing abundant trough cross stratification and local clay-chip conglomerate. Thin, coal-bearing delta-plain deposits occur locally on top of deltaic sequences. All delta facies are rich in plant debris. During delta abandonment and destruction, shallow bay-lagoon environments developed. Destructional facies include bioturbated sandy mudstone, burrowed sandstone and thin, platy argillaceous limestone with abundant invertebrate fossils. Fossiliferous mudstone units grade upward into transgressive shelf carbonate units commonly composed of phylloid algal-crinoid biomicrudite and local intraclastic biosparite shoal facies. Shelf carbonate includes onlapping sheetlike deposits; thick elongate bank deposits, which stood above the sea floor with slight bathymetric relief; massive platform carbonate; and shelf edge reef-bank accumulations. The Henrietta fan-delta system, occurring exclusively in the subsurface of Montague, Clay, Wichita, Archer and Baylor counties, is composed of thick wedges of feldspathic sandstone and conglomerate that were deposited by high-gradient fluvial systems, which built southwestward into northern Texas from source areas in the Wichita-Arbuckle Mountains of southern Oklahoma.


This study analyses adult learners' perceptions of functional adult literacy provision in six centres in Kampala city. Specifically, what is analysed is adult learners' perceptions of what motivates adults to enroll; their views on the appropriateness of the providers' strategies, approaches, methods and materials used; the venues, facilities, equipment, quantity and quality of facilitators; the extent to which the programmes address the adult learners' needs and the use of the knowledge and skills by those who complete the functional adult literacy programmes. Interviews, observation and focus group discussions were used to collect primary data from forty one adult learners from programmes of government, NGOs and the private sector in Kampala city. On the whole, findings indicate that the programmes are relevant, can improve learners' standards of living in urban areas and can help enable learners to live as useful citizens in their communities. A major de-motivator to participation was identified as shame associated with attending FAL classes. Some of the recommendations put forward are that: • Start up capital should be availed to the learners as literacy skills alone will not help them get out of poverty. • Facilitators should be well trained so as to be able to correctly use the strategies, approaches, participatory methods and adapt the rural based materials in a way that best facilitates learning. • Conditions of learning should be enhanced by improving the quality and quantity of facilities, equipment and facilitators. • The integrated functional adult literacy approach should be strengthened as it is preferred by both the learners and providing agencies.


Information and computing infrastructures (ICT) involve levels of complexity that are highly dynamic in nature. This is due in no small measure to the proliferation of technologies, such as: cloud computing and distributed systems architectures, data mining and multidimensional analysis, and large scale enterprise systems, to name a few. Effective computing and network systems administration is integral to the stability and scalability of these complex software, hardware and communication systems. Systems administration involves the design, analysis, and continuous improvement of the performance or operation of information and computing systems. Additionally, social and administrative responsibilities have become nearly as integral for the systems administrator as are the technical demands that have been imposed for decades. The areas of operations research (OR) and system dynamics (SD) modeling offer system administrators a rich array of analytical and optimization tools that have been developed from diverse disciplines, which include: industrial, scientific, engineering, economic and financial, to name a few. This paper proposes a research framework by which OR and SD modeling techniques may prove useful to computing and network systems administration, which include: linear programming, network analysis, integer programming, nonlinear optimization, Markov processes, queueing modeling, simulation, decision analysis, heuristic techniques, and system dynamics modeling.


Wheat straw has been hydrolyzed in two different conditions, namely subcritical water and 100 °C boiled water, and the hydrolysates obtained are used to dye wool yarns. The wool samples are pretreated with three types of mordants before dyeing with wheat straw hydrolysates. Irrespective of the metal types used in pretreatment process, subcritical water hydrolysate always results in same color in dyeing process. However, three colors are obtained for each mordant when 100 °C boiled water is used as a dyeing reagent. The effect of the total phenolic contents of the hydrolysates on color development has also been evaluated. The total phenolic and sugar contents of subcritical water hydrolysate are found higher and the dyeing performance of this hydrolysate is better than the 100 °C boiled water hydrolysate. Light and wash fastness of dyed wools are also assessed. Light and wash fastness tests result in 3-4 and 4-5 rating respectively.


The purpose of this Delphi study was to explore and identify a panel of experts' opinions of essential elements for successful multi-family group therapy (MFGT) and to propose the identified elements as guidelines for future MFGT theoretical and program development. Multi-family group therapy continues to be implemented while there is little empirical research to support how it is effective and with what populations and presenting problems it is best employed. A panel of MFGT experts identified 35 essential elements for successful MFGT. Many of the identified elements coincided with elements identified in the relevant literature. However, elements specific to MFGT were distinguished. The essential elements are presented as guidelines for MFGT theoretical and program development. The implications of this study for theory, research, and practice are discussed.


Recently both d-q and instantaneous symmetrical components (i.s.c.) models for faulty cage induction machines have been proposed for numerical simulations of stator instantaneous currents. Applying FFT algorithm to stator current the sideband components at frequencies (1-2s)f can be evaluated. The amplitudes of these components are commonly used as diagnostic index to assess rotor condition in the MCSA diagnostic procedures. With the assumption of infinite machine-load combined inertia value or ideal speed control the speed ripple due to rotor asymmetry will not be present. Steady-state conditions can be considered and only the component at frequency (1-2s)f will appear. If the above assumption does not hold, the (1-2s)f component correspond to the sum of the two sideband lines. In any case the parameterization, i.e. the definition of an asymmetry factor used as diagnostic index to define the fault severity, is a key item. The simplest asymmetry factor may be the definition of an equivalent additional resistance DeltaRr linked to the number of contiguous broken bars. In this paper the proposals about the quantization of DeltaRr found in the literature are reviewed and compared with reference to one broken bar. A new proposal is also presented and its effectiveness is proven.


ABSTRACT Although approaches to user centered software development have existed for almost twenty years a rift still exists between theory and practice. In practice, many software projects are designed at the code level to the detriment of the endusers. Good Usability Engineering combines complex back-end functionalities with attractive, effective and efficient user interfaces. Successful interfaces minimize cognitive load and help users to achieve their goals. Goals can be defined in terms of intended outcomes which act as benchmarks for developing and testing functionality through prototypes. Paper-based prototyping bypasses the time and effort required to create a working, coded user interface. Instead, it relies on very simple tools like paper, scissors and stickers. However, to be a reliable guide, paper mock-ups need to model accurately the site's functionality and convey the right information. This paper describes the challenges presented by a complex online information design project, an online research resource of over 45,000 records based on the catalogs of Exhibitions of the Royal Photographic Society 1870-1915. It describes how paper prototyping (used successfully previously) was used to address these challenges and reflects on the problems that came close to derailing the project this time and their impact on the design and the design process. It concludes by considering a digital alternative to paper prototyping that offers similar ease of use and low cost, combined with the ability to quickly generate interactive mock-ups that overcome some of the limitations of paper prototypes. INTRODUCTION This paper is about usability engineering and rapid prototyping in Communication Design. Although approaches to user-centered software development have existed for about twenty years a rift still exists between theory and practice (Holzinger, 2005). Many software projects are designed at code level, to the detriment of end users. "Generally the last thing you want to do when beginning to design an interactive system is write code" (Buxton, 2007, 240). Good usability engineering combines complex back-office functionality with attractive, effective and efficient user interfaces. Successful interfaces clearly signal the affordances they offer (Norman, 2002, 87-104; Krippendorff, 2006, 111-114). Affordances are the perceived and actual properties of something that determine how it could possibly be used (Gibson, 1979, 127-135). Interfaces with clear explicit affordances minimize cognitive load and help users to achieve their goals (Krug, 2000, Uff; Holzinger et al, 2008). Goals can be defined in terms of intended outcomes, and can be used as benchmarks or baselines (Brown, 2003) against which functionality of the design can be tested. If the intended outcomes of the design are clearly articulated, then the performance of the design can be tested to ascertain how well it supports those outcomes. In effect, all designs are tested after the sales launch. Sometimes they fail in use. An old but dramatic example was the Comet passenger jet aircraft. Launched in 1952 as the world's first jet airliner, the aircraft was withdrawn from service in 1953 because of serious structural cracks caused by metal fatigue (Dempster, 1960). Four years later when the redesigned aircraft was re-launched, the Boeing 707 had reached the market and went on to dominate domestic passenger jet aircraft sales. Less well-known but more recent examples are the circular mouse for the original iMac and the Power Mac G4 Cube (Buxton, 2007, 44). These examples show that performance failures don't have to be as dramatic as air crashes to matter. Norman (2002) describes a catalog of products including doorways, telephones, projectors, washing machines, refrigerators, radios, cookers, taps and hi-fi systems that frustrate their users. Also, designs don't have to fail in use to be unsuccessful. Well-known examples from the history of design and advertising are the Ford Edsel (Bonsall, 1992) and Strand cigarettes (Hackley, 2003). …


Purpose: Gantry and Collimator positional errors occur during VMAT delivery. The purpose of this work is to understand the impact of such errors on VMAT dose distribution for selected head and neck cases. Methods: Five head and neck single arc (360 degree) VMAT treatment plans were created. Two types of systematic errors were simulated for an error magnitude of 1 degree on gantry and Collimator rotations respectively. For gantry, the systematic errors were, 1)Gantry angle is shifted in the same direction of VMAT arc by one degree 2)Gantry angle is shifted in the opposite direction of VMAT arc by one degree. In case of collimator, the systematic errors of 1 degree in the collimator angle in both positive and negative directions were simulated.The gantry and collimator angles were shifted for all the control points of VMAT arc. The dose was calculated and DVH was computed. Results: Conformity index (CI), D2, D98 and Dmean for PTV did not show significant variations for gantry and collimator errors in both positive and negative directions for all the 5 patients. For a positive gantry error, the average decrease in Dmean to the left parotid was found to be 80cGy and the same found to be increased for right parotid by 60cGy. However for both the directions of collimator error, the average increase in D0.01 for spinal cord was 100cGy. For a positive collimator error, the average increase in Dmean for left parotid was 90cGy and the same was decreased by 40cGy for right parotid. For a negative collimator error, the right parotid dose was increased and left parotid dose was decreased. Conclusion: Effect of one degree collimator error was found to be more significant compared to one degree Gantry error since collimator error increased the maximum dose to spinal cord and the mean dose to the parotids.


The use of "flat" focusing devices, such as Fresnel lenses and holographic optical elements, for the passive optical separation of fluorescence and scattered light is evaluated theoretically and experimentally. Although "flat" lenses do not focus incident light isochronically, and should therefore have different spatial focusing characteristics for very short pulses (scattered light) and pseudo-continuous-wave signals (fluorescence), the optical quality of the flat lenses tested is insufficient to achieve such discrimination. Additionally, if the coherence length of the fluorescence is less than the difference in optical pathlength from extreme positions on the flat lens, fluorescence cannot be considered to be a pseudo-cw signal; this limitation constrains the potential applications of such instrumentation.


Agent-based modeling (ABM) has transformed the century-old field of mechanistic migration modeling, by shifting the unit of analysis from the city (in the gravity model) to the individual decision maker. Various efforts over the past decade have leveraged ABM tools to integrate competing labor opportunities, climatic shocks, and sharing across networks into decision-based models of migration patterns. We present the MIDAS (Migration, Intensification, and Diversification as Adaptive Strategies) framework, which draws on the 'push-pull-mooring' (PPM) theory of migration to integrate the influences of social networks, climatic shifts, and opportunities for livelihoods diversification on migration in a single framework. We demonstrate some of the strategic responses to opportunities that are possible in a true PPM modeling framework, including substitution of income streams, the choice to specialize or diversify, as well as to migrate in response to shocks. We observe what may be the emergence of a distinct class of agents within one of our experiments, highlighting the value of tools like MIDAS to capture migration and adaptive behaviors under conditions for which analogs do not yet exist in census datasets or otherwise. Importantly, we show how adaptation decisions depend strongly on a small number of behavioral parameters, key among them preferences for risk, for different forms of utility, and for time.


Bayesian networks are probabilistic graphical models with a wide

range of application areas including gene regulatory networks inference, risk

analysis and image processing. Learning the structure of a Bayesian

network (BNSL) from discrete data is known to be an NP-hard task with

a superexponential search space of directed acyclic graphs. In this

work, we propose a new polynomial time algorithm for discovering a

subset of all possible cluster cuts, a greedy algorithm for

approximately solving the resulting linear program, and a generalized

arc consistency algorithm for the acyclicity constraint. We embed

these in the constraint programming-based branch-and-bound solver

CPBayes and show that, despite being suboptimal, they improve

performance by orders of magnitude. The resulting solver also compares

favorably with GOBNILP, a state-of-the-art solver for the BNSL

problem which solves an NP-hard problem to discover each cut and

solves the linear program exactly.


'Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.' Wayne Dyer For years Wayne Dyer has been researching the power of intention, the energy that surrounds all of us. He tells us how we can train ourselves to tune into this energy and step beyond our minds and egos. When we do this we become what Dyer calls 'Connectors' and make ourselves available to the energy of success. Connectors are the people whom everyone sees as lucky, the people who get all the breaks. They don't say, 'With my luck, everything will go wrong,' they just know things will go well. They trust an invisible force that will be all-providing and just don't attract negativity to themselves. This book is full of dynamic steps that we can use to tap into this transformational energy. This book explores intention - not as something you do - but as an energy you're part of. We're all intended here through the invisible power of intention. This is the first book to look at intention as a field of energy you can access to begin co-creating your life!


The term sound designer is a relatively new addition to the professional roles in a film sound crew. Its use can be traced to the 1970s when the dismantlement of some major Hollywood studios gave space for more experimental approaches to film making. A study on acoustic ecologies and cinema sound allowed for creative and altruistic collaborations with some Australian cinema professionals. Subsequent face-to-face interviews and correspondence with the participants to the study pointed to the humanity and concerns at play behind the screen. It is apparent that the capacity of sound designer cannot be pigeonholed: it oscillates according to the demands of a film production and depends on its director's and financial backers' sonic awareness. Amongst professional sound makers themselves exists a lack of consensus on the role and importance of the position of sound designer. The author proposes a way to lessen professional ambiguity and increase public recognition of atmospheric cinema sound. Invoking atmospheric sound at the inception of an audio-visual narrative could reward its makers and audiences in unsuspected ways. To acknowledge sound designers as architects of sensations and, by the same token, include viscerality and affect as creative elements of film production, could lead to a different appreciation of our lives in sound.


One of the most exciting concepts in cancer research today is the cancer stem cell model where tumors are organized, as any other tissue, in a cellular hierarchy where the cancer stem cell sits at the apex, defined by its capacity to self-renew, the potential to differentiate into all cells of the tumor and the ability to proliferate and drive the expansion of the tumor. Besides, tumor expansion and metastasis is intimately linked to the generation of cells with stem cell features through the process of epithelial to mesenchynal transition (EMT). Understanding the mechanisms that regulate self- renewal, mobilization and poliferation of cancer stem cells could lead to more effective treatments. Current efforts in drug discovery are directed towards interfering with the mechanisms that regulate self-renewal of stem cells, mainly the Wnt, Hh and Notch pathways, thus recently awarded patents and applications deal with these topics. There is however a strong need for marker identification and novel functional assays developed to test precisely those inhibitors in the stem cell population of tumors and so is reflected in that roughly one third of the patents targeted to breast cancer stem cells protect the use, identification and isolation of cancer stem cells. Finally, we discuss the recent observation that links the tumor suppressor p53 and induced pluripotency reprogramming which has lead to the speculation that cancer stem cells may arise through an altered reprogramming-like mechanism. Indeed some or all of the pluritpotency-associated genes are overexpressed in several forms of cancer, including breast cancer.


We have used an in vitro model system of glass-supported planar membranes to study the effects of lateral mobility of membrane-bound receptors on cell adhesion. Egg phosphatidylcholine (PC) bilayers were reconstituted with two anchorage isoforms of the adhesion molecule lymphocyte function-associated antigen 3 (LFA-3). The diffusion coefficient of glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored LFA-3 approached that of phospholipids in the bilayers, whereas the transmembrane (TM)-anchored isoform of LFA-3 was immobile. Both static and laminar flow assays were used to quantify the strength of adherence to the lipid bilayers of the T lymphoma cell line Jurkat that expresses the counter-receptor CD2. Cell adhesion was dependent on LFA-3 density and was more efficient on membranes containing the GPI isoform than the TM isoform. Kinetic measurements demonstrated an influence of contact time on the strength of adhesion to the GPI isoform at lower site densities (25-50 sites/microns2), showing that the mobility of LFA-3 is important in adhesion strengthening. At higher site densities (1,500 sites/microns2) and longer contact times (20 min), Jurkat cell binding to the TM and GPI isoforms of LFA-3 showed equivalent adhesion strengths, although adhesion strength of the GPI isoform developed twofold more rapidly than the TM isoform. Reduction of CD2 mobility on Jurkat cells at 5 degrees C greatly decreased the rate of adhesion strengthening with the TM isoform of LFA-3, resulting in a 30-fold difference between the two LFA-3 isoforms. Our results demonstrate that the ability of a membrane receptor and its membrane-bound counter- receptor to diffuse laterally enhances cell adhesion both by allowing accumulation of ligands in the cell contact area and by increasing the rate of receptor-ligand bond formation.


This paper suggests a series of schemas aimed at eliminating the main drawbacks of existing schemas of Yiddish proto-vowels. It attempts to complete the schemas developed by other scholars mainly in two aspects, proposing derivational rules that (1) account for Proto-Western Yiddish and its sub-dialects and (2) explain the relation between the vowels of the German donor language and Yiddish proto-vowels. This analysis shows the impossibility of constructing a schema of a single Proto-Yiddish as a historical reality and thus implies the polygenesis of the system of stressed vowels and diphthongs of Yiddish. Proto-Western Yiddish and Proto-Eastern Yiddish had no common, specifically Jewish ancestor. The comparative analysis of various German dialects and Yiddish proposed here provides the basis for determining the regions (East Franconia and Bohemia, respectively) where the stressed vocalism of the Yiddish dialects likely appeared and the corresponding time period (the 14th–15th centuries).


South Asia has the highest rate of child malnutrition in the world, despite rapid economic growth compared to other regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. Known as the 'South Asian enigma' this feature is partly attributed to the low status of women in South Asian societies. This paper examines this tenet in the context of India, with particular emphasis on possible differences between rural and urban scenarios. The empirical evidence reveals some important differences, which are relevant for policies relating to women's empowerment against a backdrop of rapid urbanization.


In 1999, the United States and other major donor countries supported an historic expansion of the heavily indebted poor country (HIPC) debt relief initiative. HIPC had two primary goals: reduce poor countries' debt burdens to levels that would allow them to achieve sustainable growth; and promote a new way of assisting poor countries focused on home-grown poverty alleviation and human development. Three years after the initiative came into existence, we are beginning to see the apparent impact that HIPC is having, particularly on recipient countries' ability and willingness to increase domestic spending on education and HIV/AIDS programs. Yet it has also become clear that the HIPC program is not providing a sufficient level of predictability or sustainability to allow debtor countries (and donors) to reap the larger benefits, particularly in terms of sustained growth and poverty reduction, originally envisioned. An adequate amount of predictable debt relief can be an extremely efficient way of transferring resources to poor countries with reasonable economic management (indeed, more effective than traditional aid). But the full benefits of the transfer, in improved capacity to manage their economies, and in increased investor confidence in an economy's future, require that creditors, investors and committed recipient government officials have confidence that the improved debt situation will be sustained over the medium term. After reviewing some of the main critiques and proposals for change, we offer here a new way forward -- a proposal to deepen, widen, and most importantly insure debt relief to poor countries. We focus on the insurance aspect of our proposal, that would safeguard countries against external shocks for a decade, and on the advantages of financing such insurance by limited mobilization of IMF gold. We see this proposal as a practical way to make debt relief more predictably sustainable in HIPC countries, and a proposal around which international donors could consolidate their efforts in the near term.


Background: Metformin is the common first-line medication for treating type 2 diabetes. Besides its anti-hyperglycemic property, various studies have isolatedly shown its effectiveness in reducing body weight and ameliorated components of metabolic syndrome. However, it has not been evidently shown weather metformin is effective as a dual treatment in cases of diet induced obesity and diabetes. We optimized a mouse model for diet induced obesity and diabetes for evaluating dual effectiveness of metformin in treating obesity and diabetes and simultaneously demonstrated histological changes in obese and diabetic kidney and heart tissues and the cellular-protective effects of metformin on these tissues.
Methods: BULB/c mice were fed with normal, high fat or high sucrose diets for 26 w. All groups were treated with metformin from w 16 to 26. Blood samples were collected and body weights recorded on d 1 and forth nightly till w 26 when all animals were sacrificed. Hearts and kidneys were dissected and prepared for historical observation. Blood samples were processed accordingly for quantitating blood glucose, ROS and ROS defense (d 1 and d 182).
Results: HFD and HSS feeds successfully created diet induced by obesity and diabetes by w 15. Metformin significantly lowered the average body weight of obese group (p<0.05) as well as the average blood glucose levels of the diabetes group (p<0.005) relative to the respective control groups. Histological studies showed no morphological cellular changes in heart and kidney tissues of obese and diabetic mice relative to respective controls (untreated). Cell shrinkage/'sick cells" were seen in the untreated obese and diabetic mice. ROS levels in the metformin treated mice remained normal relative to the untreated control groups (p<0.05).
Conclusions: We have optimized a reliable mouse model for obesity and diabetes. Metformin is effective for controlling diet induced obesity and diabetes. Metformin also showed protection against obesity and hyperglycemia related cell morphological changes.


The cost of capital concept has myriad applications in business decision-making. The standard methodology for deriving cost of capital estimates is based on the seminal Modigliani-Miller analyses. This book generalizes this framework to include non-debt tax shields (e.g., depreciation), interactions between the borrowing rate and tax shields, and default considerations. It develops several new results and shows how better cost of capital and marginal tax rate estimates can be generated. The book's unified cost of capital theory is discussed with comprehensive numerical examples and graphical illustrations. This book will be of interest to corporate managers, academics, investment bankers, governmental agencies, and private companies that generate cost of capital estimates for public consumption.


An Introduction to Web Matrix provides an easy to follow treatment of the application of this new software, which is rapidly becoming the preferred vehicle for the teaching of website design. Written by two experienced users, the material is presented in a way that makes it ideal for students meeting the subject for the first time, whether they are on an undergraduate or postgraduate course. The scope of the book includes the functionality of the software, its installation and application and the design and operation of web-based material using it. Coverage of the use of HTML and SQL is also included, as is the design and implementation of on-line databases. There are numerous examples to illustrate ideas and concepts. The examples provide a practical illustration of how the software may be used. At the conclusion of each chapter, a set of exercises is provided to allow the reader to review and practice the material presented. * A simple introduction for users with no previous experience of the design process* Abundant screen dumps and diagrams aid fast assimilation of the material* Accompanying website with a wide range of facilities


This paper deals with the stability problem of continuous-time Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy models. Based on the Tanaka and Sugeno theorem, a new systematic method is introduced to investigate the asymptotic stability of T-S models in case of having second-order and symmetric state matrices. This stability criterion has the merit that selection of the common positive-definite matrix P is independent of the subdiagonal entries of the state matrices. It means for a set of fuzzy models having the same main diagonal state matrices, it suffices to apply the method once. Furthermore, the method can be applied to T-S models having certain uncertainties. We obtain bounds for the uncertainties under which the asymptotic stability of the system is guaranteed. The obtained bounds are shown to be tight. Finally, the maximum permissible uncertainty bounds are investigated. Several examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


We present a finite volume method that is applicable to general hyperbolic PDEs, including non-conservative and spatially varying systems. The method can be extended to arbitrarily high order of accuracy and allows a well-balanced implementation for capturing solutions of balance laws near steady state. This well-balancing is achieved through the f -wave Riemann solver and a novel wave-slope WENO reconstruction procedure. The spatial discretization, like that of the well-known Clawpack software, is based on solving Riemann problems and calculating fluctuations (not fluxes). Our implementation employs weighted essentially non-oscillatory reconstruction in space and strong stability preserving Runge-Kutta integration in time. We demonstrate the wide applicability and advantageous properties of the method through numerical examples, including problems in non-conservative form, problems with spatially varying fluxes, and problems involving near-equilibrium solutions of balance laws.


Conversing on cell phones while driving is a risky, yet commonplace activity. State legislatures in the U.S. have enacted rules that limit hand-held phone conversations while driving but that allow for hands-free conversations. However, studies have demonstrated that the cognitive load of conversation is a significant source of distraction that increases the likelihood of accidents. We explore in a controlled study with a driving simulator the effectiveness of proactive alerting and mediation of communications during phone conversations while driving. We study the use of auditory messages indicating upcoming critical road conditions and placing calls on hold. We found that such actions reduce driving errors and that alerts sharing details about situations were more effective than general alerts. Drivers found such a system valuable in most situations for maintaining driving safety. These results provide evidence that context-sensitive mediation systems could play a valuable role in focusing drivers' attention on the road during phone conversations.


Using a ray-optics model, we analyze the guided modes of a slab waveguide that consists of a low-index layer sandwiched between two photonic bandgap structures. Normalized band diagrams and dispersion curves for the TE and TM waves are investigated in detail, and a nomenclature system for the guided modes based on the mode-field patterns in the waveguide is proposed. The cutoff conditions and the confinement factors of the modes are discussed. The effects of varying the physical parameters of the waveguide on the dispersion characteristics of the modes are also analyzed.


Human-caused ove rgrazing and drought periods have led to the land degradation which might cause an eventual loss of biodiversity in rangeland ecosystems of Iran. Therefore, assessment of the current condition of rangelands and suggesting efficient strategies for conservation, rehabilitation, improvement, and consequently sustainable management of rangelands are essential. To reach the mentiond purposes, creating the environmental variable (e.g. topography, climate, and soil) maps, monitoring vegetation dynamics, and determining the relations between the vegetation and environmental variables are the firs steps.
This research was conducted in rangelands of Poshtkouh area of the Yazd province in central Iran. The main aims were assessment of the current condition and suggesting efficient strategies for conservation, rehabilitation, improvement, and consequently sustainable management of the rangelands. In addition, evaluating the capability of remote sensing, GIS, geostatistics, and ecological modeling in rangeland assessment and improvement.
In the first step, available data such as topography, geology, and vegetation type maps as well as satellite images were collected and then soil and vegetation samples were taken in the study area. As the first part of the data analyses, three geostatistical methods were applied for soil mapping and the satellite and environmental data were considered as ancillary data. In the next stage, the relationship between precipitation variation and vegetation dynamic was determined using NOAA AVHRR NDVI and climatic maps, as well as the effect of environmental factors on the strength of the relations between the precipitation and NDVI was determined. Then, vegetation cover percentage of the study area was created and the best time interval of the satellite images for vegetation studies was determined. In the last part of the data analyses, using the Maxent model, habitat distribution of A. sieberi and A. aucheri species were assessed and mapped. In addition, the most effective environmental variables on these habitats were determined.
The results have shown that, taking the ancillary data (satellite images and environmental variables) into account in geostatistical estimations (cokriging and regression kriging methods) has increased the accuracy of the created maps.
Selecting the suitable time interval of satellite images to study the vegetation during its growth period has prominent effect on the results. The best satellite data to study the vegetation cover in the arid rangelands of the study area can be taken from the images recorded in the month May.
NDVI derived from NOAA AVHRR satellite images is a prominent tool for monitoring the effect of precipitation variation on vegetation dynamic. The strength of the relationship between the precipitation and NDVI depends on species' composition, and some environmental variables like soil available moisture.
Successful modeling of A. sieberi and A. aucheri has proven that Maxent is a powerful model for species distributions mapping. Furtheremore, this model can efficiently find the environmental variables correlation with the geographic distribution of species. Moreover, the results of this research have demonstrated that using the soil data in addition to the climatic and topographic data can improve the predictive capability for habitat distribution mapping of plant species using the Maxent model.
Finally, it can be concluded that remote sensing, GIS, geostatistics, and ecological modeling are the efficient tools for rangelands assessment and sustainable management. Furthoremore, as the overgrazing and climate change are the main threats of Iran's rangelands, monitoring the relations of soil, topography, and climate with vegetation as well as the impact of climate change on rangelands represents basic information for finding the proper strategies of rangeland improvement. Moreover, implementing conservation plans together with planting the suitable endemic species based on the results of the ecological modeling would be of tremendous value in rangeland rehabilitation.


This paper reports findings from a pilot study for the research project SHARP – Shared Reading After Pain Rehabilitation. SHARP explores the feasibility and effect of Shared Reading, a group-based reading intervention, as a way to improve the quality of life for people with chronic non-cancer pain who have undergone a pain rehabilitation programme (5 weeks) at Skane University Hospital in Sweden. The paper has a methodological focus. Drawing on discursive reception studies (Eriksson Barajas 2015), it aims to explore the usefulness of Judith Langer's theory of literary meaning making to analyse book talk in a Shared Reading chronic non-cancer pain context. Langer's key concepts envisionment building and stances (Langer 2011) will be used to trace instances of group members taking others' perspectives, such as those of literary characters or fellow group members. (Less)