We designed, constructed, and tested an automated chamber system for continuously monitoring soil respiration. Our objective was to design a chamber that would permit monitoring of CO 2 efflux rates over long time periods without altering the natural microclimate within the chamber. Furthermore, the design would permit accurate measurements even in a highly fluctuating CO 2 environment. We built a chamber that operates by closing over the soil in response to a control signal and remains closed for a 14-min period before opening again. Thus, the chamber allows normal drying and wetting of the soil between measurements. An automated switching system was programmed to sequentially open and dose chambers in concert with an infrared gas analysis system (IRGA). The IRGA was operated in a differential mode, and equivalent flow rates of reference gas (ambient air) and sample gas (air exiting chamber) were maintained with mass flow controllers. A flexible neoprene lid, stretched tightly over each chamber when closed, provided an airtight seal. This feature and the use of a large mixing bottle (for buffering frequent changes in ambient CO 2 concentration) permitted us to measure soil CO 2 efflux rates even in an environment with highly variable atmospheric CO 2 concentration. Soil respiration rates, measured over a period of several weeks with the automated chambers, were in agreement with traditional point-in-time measurements, and the soil microclimate was not affected by the chambers. However, when extrapolated over a period of several weeks the point-in-time measurements overestimated CO 2 efflux rates based on continuous measurements with the automated system.


Abstract Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) promotes cancer progression by affecting cell proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and the immune response. It has been reported that PGE2 is transported or passes through the cell membrane via prostaglandin-specific transporters including the prostaglandin transporter (PGT, an influx transporter) and the multidrug resistance-associated protein 4 (an efflux transporter). PGT can facilitate the removal of PGE2 from the extracellular milieu by transporting it into the cell, where 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH) then oxidizes PGE2 into 15-keto PGE2. We previously reported that 15-PGDH expression is reduced in most colorectal cancers, indicating the tumor suppressor role of this gene. In the present study, we show that PGT expression is also decreased (whereas multidrug resistance-associated protein 4 expression is elevated) in human colorectal cancer specimens (compared with expression in normal mucosa) and in colorectal cancer cell lines. Furthermore, we found that PGT expression decreased in premalignant adenomas in APCmin mice and was partially restored (in human colorectal cancer cell lines) by treatment with a DNA demethylating agent or histone deacetylase inhibitor. Forced PGT overexpression in vitro dose dependently reduced extracellular PGE2 levels and increased intracellular levels of its catabolic product 15-keto PGE2. Our collective data suggest that the existing model to explain increased PGE2 in colorectal neoplasia should be modified to include the novel mechanism of coordinated up- and down-regulation of genes involved in PGE2 transport.


The drinking water network in the city of Mendoza, Argentina, is, for a great proportion of pipes, more than 40 years old. The network is confronted with a significant number of repairs and leakage is very important. The operator uses a methodology issued from experience in France, which consists of sampling representative lengths of pipes and analysing them for corrosion. Environmental influences are also taken into account for the calculation of corrosion speed. The objective is to obtain a program of replacement based upon the estimation of the remaining lifespan of each pipe in the network.


In this work, we present a theoretical analysis of wireless optical nanolinks formed by plasmonic nanoantennas, where the antennas considered are Yagi-Uda and cylindrical nanodipoles made of Au. The numerical analysis is performed by the finite element method and linear method of moments, where the transmission power and the near electric field are investigated and optimized for three nanolinks: Yagi-Uda/Yagi-Uda, Yagi-Uda/dipole and dipole/dipole. The results show that all these case can operate with good transmission power at different frequencies by adjusting the impedance matching in the transmitting antennas and the load impedance of the receiving antennas.


Dr Maria Turkenburg, University of York, and Dr Lyn Haynes, Canterbury Christ Church University, in England are working on the development of a framework for better supporting disabled teachers. Lyn is a science teacher trainer and has trained disabled teachers in addition to training the beginning teachers about working with pupils who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Maria has worked to support a science teacher with impairments in the classroom.
We believe that our work, while currently outside the remit of your proposed book, would add enormous value and significantly widen the gamut of the book. We see teachers as being learners too so a chapter on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in terms of supporting pupils as well as colleagues with special educational needs would be a valuable extension to your planned project.
We would thus propose a chapter on how to cater for special educational needs in pupils and teachers. We would include how to support teachers with special needs and include student voice. We have current science teachers whom we trained who would provide the experience from the perspective of a trainee and an experienced classroom teacher. These individuals include physical impairments and being on the autistic spectrum. We believe that these voices of experience need to be heard as they can share their education from the perspectives of having been school pupils with SEND, then university students, trainee teachers and finally as practicing teachers. We are also increasingly aware that the number of trainee science teachers with impairments is increasing.
Furthermore, the inclusion of such material will be invaluable for teacher trainers, and while our work was designed for England, it is essentially universal.


This thesis explores how English is perceived in Taiwan and what impact it has on society and culture by drawing on three kinds of data: (i) analysis of policy and documents, (ii) critical discourse analysis of textual data, and (iii) interviews with respondents from different levels of the education system. It aims to provide an indepth study of the role and cultural politics of English in Taiwan. Rather than offering a general and quantitative picture of global English, this research concentrates on qualitative and contextual data. It focuses on issues which arise when English is given an important role in national policy and when English instruction is introduced into Taiwan's elementary education system. By analysing governmental documents, educational publications and media texts, this research identifies a number of ideological assumptions about English in Taiwan and argues that the ideology of English in Taiwan is based on a strong association between English, globalization and economic competitiveness. It also reflects, to an extent, the underlying uncertainty and anxiety regarding Taiwanese's politico-economic future. Furthermore, in the investigation of perceptions of English in Taiwan, informants' responses corresponded somewhat with ideological assumptions embedded in discourses on English. English is highly approved of in areas related to national and personal economic well-being, while the prevalence of English also leads to concern about local languages and cultures. This research suggests that the overall impact of English is considered more positive than negative. Moreover, since the necessity of English is assumed by Taiwanese society, the main concern is thus how to adapt global English effectively without undermining local languages and cultures. Taiwan can be regarded as a typical case among East Asian countries in terms of the socio-economic and educational impact ofEnglish, while the ideological assumptions and perceptions of global English reflect Taiwan's unique cultural, economic and political status in the world.


In 2005, the government of India enacted the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act in order to attract investment, generate export revenues and create manufacturing jobs. However, several planned projects faced difficulties in acquiring land for setting up the SEZ. In December 2007, the government introduced a new piece of legislation, which proposed to extend the power of eminent domain to allow the government to acquire land for SEZs. Was this the right response to the land acquisition problems of private firms? Was the SEZ strategy the right one for India's economic growth?


Extending water and sanitation services to the urban poor will often involve contractual relationships between small-scale entrepreneurs and municipalities or utilities. The expectation is that poor communities are more likely to receive improved services when delivery is formalised under contractual agreements that provide clarity to all parties, as well as systems for enforcement of contractual obligations. This Topic Brief draws on WSUP's experience in the six-city African Cities for the Future (ACF) programme to illustrate ways of dealing with the challenges that arise when developing contracts between large and small service providers in the urban setting. The Topic Brief gives practical guidance for programme managers on how to make contracts of this type more effective and more enforceable. Designing effective contracts for small-scale service providers in urban water and sanitation


The earthquake swarm that has struck Canterbury, New Zealand from September 2010 has led to widespread destruction and loss of life in the city of Christchurch. In response to this the New Zealand government convened a Royal Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908. The terms of reference for this enquiry were wide ranging, and included inquiry into legal and best-practice requirements for earthquake-prone buildings and associated risk management strategies. The Commission produced a final report on earthquake-prone buildings and recommendations which was made public on the 7th December 2012. Also on the 7th of December 2012 the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) released a Consultation Document that includes many of the recommendations put forward by the Royal Commission. This paper examines the evidence presented to the Royal Commission and reviews their recommendations and those of MBIE in relation to the management of earthquake-prone buildings. An analysis of the likely impacts of the recommendations and proposals on both the property market and society in general is also undertaken.


Coraliomargarita akajimensis Yoon et al. 2007 is the type species of the genus Coraliomargarita. C. akajimensis is an obligately aerobic, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, non-motile, spherical bacterium that was isolated from seawater surrounding the hard coral Galaxea fascicularis. C. akajimensis is of special interest because of its phylogenetic position in a genomically under-studied area of the bacterial diversity. Here we describe the features of this organism, together with the complete genome sequence, and annotation. This is the first complete genome sequence of a member of the family Puniceicoccaceae. The 3,750,771 bp long genome with its 3,137 protein-coding and 55 RNA genes is a part of the GenomicEncyclopedia ofBacteria andArchaea project.


Genotype, environmental temperature, and agronomic management of parents influence seed yield in three-way cross hybrid maize seed production. The objective of this research was to generate information on the seed production of six three-way cross hybrids and their progenitors, adapted to tropical lowlands. Data on days to—and duration of—flowering, distance to spike and stigmas, and seed yield of five female single crosses and five male inbred lines were recorded for different combinations of four planting densities and four sowing dates in Mexico. The effect of planting density was not significant. The male inbred line T10 was the earliest and highest seed yield and T31 the latest, occupying second place in yield. The single crosses T32/T10 and T13/T14 were the earliest and had the highest effective seed yield. At the earliest sowing date, the females were later in their flowering, accumulated fewer growing degree days (GDD), and obtained higher yields since the grain-filling period coincided with hot days and cool nights. To achieve greater floral synchronization and therefore greater production of hybrid seed, differential planting dates for parents are recommended based on information from the accumulated GDD of each parent. The three-way cross hybrids were classified according to the expected seed yield of the females and the complexity in the synchronization of flowering of their parents.


This study aimed to prepare zeolite from rice hull, characterize the prepared zeolite and apply it in the removal of nitrate in water. Pretreatment of rice hull before ashing was done using distilled water and 1M HCl. Purity of the rice hull ashes obtained in the process was verified by determining their percent carbon content. Using EDX, the alumina and silica ratios were calculated from the data gathered. SEM was used to determine the shape and pore size and XRD method to know the possible crystal lattice of the prepared zeolites.The rice hull washed with water (RHA-W) has 21:16 (Si:Al) framework ratio while that acid-washed (RHA-A) 23:17 (Si:Al) which could mean that the Si-Al framework ratio of the samples are 1.3:1 and 1.4:1, respectively. SEM scans at 7500x magnification revealed that zeolites derived from RHA-W has bigger pore sizes (2 ?m) compared to those derived from RHA-A with approximately 1?m diameter. Using XRD spectroscopy, the rice hull-derived zeolites possible lattice was determined and both were not simple cubic crystals. The trapping and exchanging capacity of the prepared zeolites were determined by treating a water sample with 69.0 ppm of NO3- and loading it with 0.2 g zeolite per liter of solution. Results show that the zeolite derived from RHA-W was able to decrease the concentration of nitrate in water by 99.11% while that derived from RHA-A by 99.26% while only 98.77% for the commercial zeolite.


The first night of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's "The School for Scandal", on 8 May 1777, was one of the great dates in theatrical history. From then on, Sheridan was launched into eighteenth-century society, as much at home in the salons of the Duchess of Devonshire and the Prince of Wales as in the taverns and coffee-houses around Drury Lane. Sheridan's comedies were all written by the time he was twenty-eight. For the next thirty years he was wholly involved in his twin careers as manager of the Drury Lane theatre and Member of Parliament. At a time when politics were dominated by a few aristocratic families, he rose above his poverty to become one of the greatest parliamentary figures of the age. In the theatre, he presided over one of the most brilliant periods in the history of the English stage. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, Kelly gives a comprehensive picture of Sheridan's tempestuous career and chaotic private life. For all his faults, his charm was irresistible - 'there has been nothing like it since the days of Orpheus,' wrote Byron. It is charm that illuminates her narrative, bringing Sheridan to life. 'I can imagine no better biography of this talented, dynamic, impossibly unreliable firework of a man' - Victoria Glendinning, "Daily Telegraph".


One of the simplest location models in terms of its constraint structure in location‐allocation modeling is the location set‐covering problem (LSCP). Although there have been a variety of geographic applications of the set‐covering problem (SCP), the use of the SCP as a facility location model is one of the most common. In the early applications of the LSCP, both potential facility sites as well as demand were represented by points discretely located in geographic space. The advent of geographic information systems (GIS), however, has made possible a greater range of object representations that can reduce representation error. The purpose of this article is to outline a methodology using GIS and K = 3 central place lattices to solve the LSCP when demand is continuously distributed over a bounded area and potential facility sites have not been defined a priori. Although, demand is assumed to exist over an area, it is shown how area coverage can be accomplished by the coverage of a point pattern. Potential facility site distributions based on spacings that are powers of one‐third the coverage distance are also shown to provide more efficient coverage than arbitrarily chosen spacings. Using GIS to make interactive adjustments to an incomplete coverage also provides an efficient alternative to smaller spacings between potential facility sites for reducing the number of facilities necessary for complete coverage.


Abstract The diversity patterns of the polychaete fauna from a Pacific coastal lagoon were described. Polychaetes were collected in 1995 and 1998. This lagoon is formed by 2 arms: the western arm named Bahia Falsa and the eastern arm named Bahia San Quintin. 46 stations were sampled with a geological box corer. A total of 3,275 polychaetes, 28 families, 56 genera, and 104 species were identified in 1995, and 3,168 polychaetes were collected in 1998, 21 families, 39 genera and 65 species. From all the macrofauna collected in both surveys, polychaetes represented 45.2%. From the species collected, 55% correspond to new records for the area. Families Dorvilleidae, Polynoidae, Oweniidae, Scalibregmatidae, Sternapsidae and Sigalionidae present in 1995, were not in 1998 survey. The stations with higher abundances: (> 100 specimens/0.02 m2) were located on the southern half of Bahia San Quintin. Species richness and diversity were also higher in San Quintin Bay. From the 30 families previously reported for San Quintin lagoon, 23 have been collected and 6 families were added: Ampharetidae, Oweniidae, Scalibregmatidae, Sternapsidae, Dorvilleidae and Sigalionidae. Families not found in both surveys were: Paraonidae, Magelonidae, Apistobranchidae, Sphaerodoridae, Trichobranchidae, Chrysopetalidae and Arenicolidae. Results showed slightly lower redox potential values (−336 to +187 mV), slightly higher sediment temperatures (19.8°–22.1°C) and organic matter contents (0.3–4.1%) in 1998. From 1995 to 1998 a change in the composition and structure of the polychaete communities was noted; species richness diminished from 104 to 65 species. The trophic complexity changed with an increase of deposit-feeders, the abundance of other trophic categories decreased, indicating a loss of complexity. Significant changes in the abundance of some families were detected, some increased their abundances: Spionidae from 17% to 48%, Orbiniidae from 4% to 13%; other families decreased in terms of abundance and number of species: Lumbrinereidae from 11% to 1.4%, Nereididae from 9% to 1% and Sabellidae from 14% to 5%. These modifications altered the composition and structure of the polychaete communities in this lagoon. Increased anthropogenic disturbance (oyster culture, agriculture) and environmental variability due to the ENSO 97–98 may have affected recruitment and survival of some polychaete species.


Background: Decision-making in periodontal therapeutics is critical and is influenced by accurate diagnosis of osseous defects, especially furcation involvement. Commonly used diagnostic methods such as clinical probing and conventional radiography have their own limitations. Hence, this study was planned to evaluate the dimensions of furcation defects clinically (pre- and post-surgery), intra-surgically, and by cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) (pre- and post-surgery). Materials and Methods: The study comprised a total of 200 Grade II furcation defects in forty patients, with a mean age of 38.05 ± 4.77 years diagnosed with chronic periodontitis which were evaluated clinically (pre- and post-surgically), by CBCT (pre- and post-surgically), and intrasurgically after flap reflection (40 defects in each). After the presurgical clinical and CBCT measurements, demineralized freeze-dried bone allograft was placed in the furcation defect and the flaps were sutured back. Six months later, these defects were evaluated by recording measurements clinically, i.e., postsurgery clinical measurements and also postsurgery CBCT measurements (40 defects each). Results: Presurgery clinical measurements (vertical 6.15 ± 1.71 mm and horizontal 3.05 ± 0.84 mm) and CBCT measurements (vertical 7.69 ± 1.67 mm and horizontal 4.62 ± 0.77 mm) underestimated intrasurgery measurements (vertical 8.025 ± 1.67 mm and horizontal 4.82 ± 0.67 mm) in both vertical and horizontal aspects, and the difference was statistically not significant (vertical P = 1.000, 95% confidence interval [CI], horizontal P = 0.867, 95% CI). Further, postsurgery clinical measurements (vertical 2.9 ± 0.74 mm and horizontal 1.52 ± 0.59 mm) underestimated CBCT measurements (vertical 3.67 ± 1.17 mm and horizontal 2.45 ± 0.48 mm). There was statistically significant difference between presurgery clinical–presurgery CBCT (P < 0.0001, 95% CI) versus postsurgery clinical–postsurgery CBCT (P < 0.0001, 95% CI) values in both vertical and horizontal aspects. Conclusion: The use of CBCT appears to be prudent for accurate diagnosis of furcation defects in advanced periodontal diseases. Presurgical and postsurgical three-dimensional imaging enable the clinician to optimize treatment decisions and assess the quantum of healing more definitively.


This article presents the observation that disjunction cannot take wide scope in negative non-wh-questions and declaratives with a preposed negative element. This rules out the alternative question reading for non-wh-questions with preposed negation and the wide scope or reading for neg-inverted declaratives. We show that effects parallel to the ones associated with preposed negation can be reproduced in affirmative non-wh-questions and declaratives when focus is involved. We propose that preposed negation in non-wh-questions and preposed negative adverbials in declaratives necessarily contribute focus marking (in particular, verum focus) and argue that the lack of wide scope disjunction reading in both declaratives and non-wh-questions results as a by-product of the interaction between focus and the LF syntax of disjunctive structures, which we argue involves ellipsis.


This thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate factors that influence the extent to which environmental policy and practice are founded on the best available knowledge of the environment. The study focuses on the "forest effect", a long-contested environmental impact whereby afforestation is seen to exacerbate freshwater acidification. A social constructivist approach is taken to focus on the factors that impact the inclusion and exclusion of different forms of knowledge (scientific and lay, local and outside knowledges) held by different environmental actors within the environmental decision making process. The methodology follows a stakeholder-based approach. It works alongside a group including policy makers, land managers, environmental regulators and NGO "interested parties" to develop an understanding of the contested nature of the "forest effect". Many methods from the social sciences such as participant observation, semi-structured interviews and discussion of participatory maps are utilised. Key differences in the ways that stakeholders conceptualise the "forest effect" are identified. These differences in conceptualisation are identified as being the primary factors contributing to the prevention of information from local knowledge being included within the decision making process. Two significantly different conceptions of the "forest effect" were identified. The first, the "mechanism-down" effect, draws on scientific understandings of the sulphate-scavenging role of forestry and is reflected in policy by a risk- based approach using catchment-based Critical Loads analysis. The second view of a wider "forest effect" was drawn from local knowledge of unusually high acidity and damage to fish populations in afforested areas. To explore these two "forest effects" in a statistical manner, regional datasets were collated in a catchment-based database that included contemporary and long-term regional field surveys of water quality data, forest maps generated from satellite imagery. Statistical analysis supports a wider "forest effect" than that represented by the "mechanism-down" effect represented in the Forestry Commission's Forest and Water Guidelines. A statistically significant "forest effect" of decreasing pH, charge balance ANC and increasing sulphate, chloride, sodium, CI:Na ratio and DOC with increasing catchment forest in areas outside of those identified as at risk by the Forest and Water Guidelines. Furthermore, further supporting evidence for a "forest effect" as a factor reducing the potential for long-term recovery from acidification is identified. Three factors are identified as having influenced the extent to which knowledge of this wider "forest effect" is recognised by environmental policy and practice. Firstly, it was shown that privilege was given by policy makers to one interpretation of science surrounding the "forest effect". The faith put in the science-derived risk-based approaches as sufficient to control for the "forest effect" lead to the exclusion of local knowledge that contradicted this. Furthermore, this lead to real but pragmatic factors (such as the impracticalities of wide-scale water chemistry survey or the cost of felling large proportions of the forest estate) often being either couched in terms of Science, or not being directly discussed, rather than raised frankly as legitimate issues. Secondly, there was little recognition of the complexity and uncertainty surrounding either the nature of the "forest effect" itself, the scientific process used to study it and the ramifications for the varied actors depending on both the forest and water resources. Finally, it was shown that relationships between organisations played a key role in encouraging/deterring the transmission of knowledge; decisions were shown to be based on Better Available Knowledge when the parties involved integrate knowledge from other actors. Hierarchical and institutional ties, on the other hand, were shown to have the potential to restrict the openness to knowledge transfer. This thesis suggests a social learning approach is taken. This approach encourages the recognition of environmental problems as resource uncertainties to which there is no one determinable answer that suits all and around which decisions can best be legitimised through consensus between impacted parties, informed by the best available scientific data and with recognition of the wider social, political and economic consequences of any action taken.


Drowning at open-water areas is the second leading cause of unintentional death among Washington State children. Providing written and visual safety instructions and loaned life jackets at swim sites ("loaner boards") may reduce the risk of drowning. This study sought to understand parental perceptions regarding loaner boards and behaviors related to bringing flotation devices for children to use while swimming. Of the 102 surveys administered to parents on the beach at 10 different open-water sites, 29 were collected from sites with loaner boards. Parents provided information about ages of family members present, flotation devices brought and perceptions surrounding loaner boards. The majority (85%) of families with young children (under six years old), brought some type of flotation device and 59% of them brought life jackets compared to 57% and 8% of families with only children six or older, respectively. Results provide evidence that parents of children younger than 6 years old more often plan for children to use life jackets while swimming; this may partially explain low rates of life jacket use among older children. Findings can guide efforts to increase the efficacy of loaner board programs and develop strategies to promote parental encouragement of life jacket use for older children.


Bad language is one feature of language through which strong emotions such as anger, disgust, frustration and surprise is revealed. People use bad language which includes categories such as cursing, swearing, obscenity, blasphemy, profanity, obscenity, vulgarism, insults and slurs, epithets, slangs and scatology. All these categories vary in their themes in terms of the varying degrees of offensiveness. One of the contexts in which bad language occurs is the social media network sites such as Facebook which has become an important part of one's daily lives since it is used as a common form of communication and interaction mode. Facebook is the media termed as technology of self because it is perceived as the site where people do things with words (Foucault cited in Basel, 2010). In this regard, Facebook can be seen as a representative site where appealing features of language use can be detected and in the context of this study, appealing features of bad language. This study aims to unravel the use of bad language by Malaysian netizens. Data were extracted from Facebook posts communicated among Malaysians from February 2013 to August 2014. Bad language used in Facebook page, "Only in Malaysia", by Malaysian netizens as a way of expressing were extracted and then classified and categorized according to specific linguistic and non-linguistic features predominantly by using Thelwall's (2008), McEnery's (2005) and Anderson (2002) model. Moreover, the study aims to determine the types and functions of bad language based on the model proposed by Andersson, and Trudgill (1990). Using discourse analysis as an approach, this study also uses questionnaires and interviews to triangulate the methodology for a more comprehensive finding. The study reveals that bad language used among Malaysian users of English on Facebook has unique and distinctive aspects and features. It was found that the most favored taboo theme used by Malaysian netizens were those related to stupidity, animals and sexual relations. They were used mostly
iv
by the netizens as personal insult. This study also showed that Malaysians mostly prefer to use mild bad language for their various intentions and that the abusive functions denoted through the use of bad language was the result of anger.


The DMDX software package (Forster & Forster, 2003) is a Windows-based application that displays stimuli and records responses. Recent developments in this program have made it possible to deploy DMDX experiments over the Internet. This study evaluates the viability of the web-deployable implementation of DMDX, or webDMDX, for masked priming experiments. A lexical decision task (LDT) with masked repetition priming on high- and low-frequency words and an e/a letter detection task were conducted with both lab-based DMDX (labDMDX; Experiment 1) and webDMDX. The webDMDX experiments were run on lab computers (Experiments 2) and on different (unknown) hardware (Experiment 3). The labDMDX and webDMDX experiments yielded comparable results on the LDT. In the e/a-detection task, the only important difference observed among the tests was between the lab-based experiment (Experiment 1) and the first webDMDX experiment (Experiment 2), at the 50 ms display duration. However, after a minor change in keyword coding (Experiment 2 follow-up) and an adjustment to the millisecond-to-retrace conversion process (Experiment 3), the detection rates at all display durations were similar in both labDMDX and webDMDX. Taken together, these results indicate the utility of webDMDX for masked priming experiments as well as for other time-sensitive methodologies.


Male heterosexual identity development has received little empirical attention. The current study examines sexual orientation questioning processes of heterosexual-identified men and offers a comparison of these processes with those employed by their sexual-minority counterparts. Participants included 184 male college students (ages 18 to 23, M = 19.6), 149 primarily identified as "exclusively straight or heterosexual" and 35 as sexual minorities. Of exclusively straight respondents, 53 percent (n = 79) and all of the sexual-minority respondents indicated having questioned their sexual orientation. Heterosexual men's questioning processes included five categories: unelaborated questioning, other-sex exploration, the social context as informants or sites of knowledge, hypothetical thinking and perspective taking, and attraction comparisons between men and women. Several unifying and differentiating themes emerged between sexual orientation groups. Results suggest that conventional notions of a "standardized" heterosexual identity appear simplistic and reveal ways in which men's identification with a majority heterosexual sexual identity can be purposeful.


To rigorously test the in vivo cell fate specificity of bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), we generated chimeric animals by transplantation of a single green fluorescent protein (GFP)–marked HSC into lethally irradiated nontransgenic recipients. Single HSCs robustly reconstituted peripheral blood leukocytes in these animals, but did not contribute appreciably to nonhematopoietic tissues, including brain, kidney, gut, liver, and muscle. Similarly, in GFP+:GFP− parabiotic mice, we found substantial chimerism of hematopoietic but not nonhematopoietic cells. These data indicate that "transdifferentiation" of circulating HSCs and/or their progeny is an extremely rare event, if it occurs at all.


Cardiac catheterisation personnel are exposed to occupational radiation and its health risks. Little data exist regarding the efficacy of radiation-protective equipment from congenital catheterisation laboratories (CLs). The authors retrospectively reviewed data in which CL operators wore a radiation dosemeter during catheterizations on patients of >20 kg. A leaded under-table skirt was present in all cases. Three additional radiation-protective devices were utilised at operator discretion: a top extension to the under-table skirt, a ceiling-mounted shield and a disposable patient drape. Case details, operator position, fluoroscopy time, incident air KERMA in the patient plane (K, mGy) and dose-area product (DAP, µGy·m2) were recorded. A total of 136 catheterizations over 8 months were included. Median operator dose (OpD) was 12 µSv (range 0-930) and indexed to K and DAP to correct for patient factors and case times. Indexed OpD decreased significantly with each additional shield used (14.8 vs. 1.3 nSv µGy-1 m-2 and 124 vs. 14 nSv mGy-1 with one and four shields, respectively, p < 0.001). This trend was not significant with operator at head-of-bed. Combinations that included the ceiling shield had the lowest indexed OpD. The patient drape did not further reduce OpD when all other shields were used (1.3 vs. 2.2 nSv µGy-1 m-2, p = 0.5; 14 vs. 17 nSv mGy-1, p = 0.4) and was associated with higher patient exposure indexed to weight and fluoroscopy time (4.5 vs. 3.1 µGy m2 kg-min-1, p = 0.009; and 0.51 vs. 0.38 mGy kg-min-1, p = 0.01). Supplemental radiation barriers can decrease operator-absorbed radiation. A ceiling-mounted shield may provide greatest benefit. The authors do not recommend routine use of disposable patient drapes.


In the years following the demise of the Third Reich, the task of Holocaust education fell predominantly to survivors. Now, as the generation of survivors passes along this responsibility, growing numbers of individuals and institutions are committed to Holocaust education. "Lessons and Legacies II "focuses on matters unique to Holocaust education. Consisting of selected papers delivered at the second Lessons and Legacies conference in 1992, the volume is organized in three sections: Issues, Resources, and Applications. Taken individually, the essays speak directly to specific concerns surrounding Holocaust education: the growing maturity of the Holocaust as a field of study; the difficult issue of explaining the perpetrators' behavior; the process of decision-making within Jewish communities during the Holocaust; issues of gender and family; the scope and content of survivor literature; and the structure of courses and the implications of being an educator in the field. Taken as a whole, the volume speaks to the reciprocal and mutually reinforcing relationship between teaching and scholarship in this important field.


The specific objectives of the study were to: (l) determine
the appropriate approach in developing roles and communication skills required by field extension workers; (2) develop an inventory of roles of frontline extension workers using selected approaches; and (3) develop an inventory of specific communication skills needed by frontline extension workers using selected approaches.
In addition, the study also attempted to develop a prototype
instrument to assess the communication skills training needs of field extension workers. The study was descriptive in nature involving the use of three methods of data gathering namely open-ended questionnaire, individual interviews and focus group interview. A total of 39 respondents were selected to gather the data. The findings of the study were as follows; 23 roles of frontline extension workers were derived from the experts and
practitioners through the use of open-ended questionnaire. From these 23 roles, 33 communication skills were derived. The initial 23 roles were later compressed into five major roles through the follow up interviews. Nineteen communication skills were derived from the five major roles.
Through the use of focus group interview. l4 roles of
extension workers were derived. The experts and practitioners listed 21 communication skills needed to perform the 14 roles of extension workers. For each of the 21 communication skills, specific skills were again derived. The study found that the focus group interview provided the most comprehensive data among the three methods of data gathering used in the study. The 21
communication skills derived through the focus group interview could be used in deter mining a prototype instrument for developing training needs assessment instrument required by frontline extension workers.
Based on the findings of the study, the experience and
observations of the researcher, it is recommended that focus
group interview should be given priority in providing
comprehensive data for developing an inventory of communication skills and roles of frontline extension workers.


This article sheds light on the European Union's (EU) efforts to facilitate the fight against corruption and promote good governance through the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Our analysis shows that the level of corruption in the Eastern Neighbourhood is strongly connected to the success of democratic and economic reforms. The ENP theoretically corresponds to the complex nature of the phenomenon by placing equal emphasis on strengthening state institutions, restructuring the economy, and pushing for democratic reforms. As the EU, however, by and large seeks cooperation with state actors and pursues a 'one-size-fits-all' approach mostly based on 'soft' mechanisms such as socialisation and capacity-building, the implementation of politically sensitive reforms seems to be unlikely. Moreover, the EU potentially allows its partner governments to 'pick and chose' from the overall reform agenda and evade real political and economic change towards better governance.


Large penetrations of wind power is prevented in most power systems, mainly because it is highly stochastic. One important aspect of this uncertainty is the large power gradients that wind farms may impose to the grid. To mitigate such undesirable fluctuations, this paper proposes a power smoothing service using the demand response of electric vehicles connected to the adjacent networks. A hierarchical controller is proposed, in which the top layer calculates the ramp rate and sends a request signal to all participant vehicles. In the second layer, a fuzzy controller is developed introducing two fuzzy indices that measure how ready each vehicle is to participate in mitigating large positive and negative fluctuations. These indices are inferred from the state-of-charge and time-to-departure of the vehicle, and are used as the participation factors of the vehicle to provide this service. As much as possible, the proposed controller tries to supply the required service by controlling the vehicles charging load instead of using V2G, which wears out their expensive batteries. Numerical studies on microgrids with high penetrations of wind power corroborate the success of the proposed algorithm in limiting the power fluctuations as well as charging the vehicles in proper time.


"HIV is in our blood, it's not in the mind." "We want people living with the virus to go to the schools to teach the kids." "You have to have a healthy life, please." The voices of three Namibian women, Acceptance: Living With HIV/AIDS Paul van der Veur is the executive producer/editor of the four part video series, Acceptance: Living With HIV/AIDS (http://web.cortland.edu/acceptance/). As a former Peace Corp volunteer, Paul is involved in many facets of international programs. Paul recently returned from a 5-month trip to Namibia where he interviewed women living with HIV/AIDS in a four-part series production, Acceptance: Living With HIV/AIDS. The series was produced with funding by a Fulbright scholarship, a grant from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for the U.S. Department of State, Windhoek, Namibia in 2006, and a $250,000 grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb for AIDS education and prevention for Swaziland. Acceptance: Living With HIV/AIDS was screened during the 2006 AIDS Day program in the Namibian capital of Windhoek and entered in the 2007 Wild Cinema Film Festival in the same city. The series was screened nationally by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation. Acceptance: Living With HIV/AIDS is also being distributed on DVD. Paul van der Veur currently serves as chair of the Communication Studies Department and as Program Coordinator of the Bachelor of Arts program in New Communication Media at Cortland College, which is part of the State University of New York. After arriving at Cortland in 2002, he has been the recipient of over $50,000 in grants to develop the new media program. In this interview, conducted in Ithaca, New York, September 2007, I spoke with Paul, focusing on the off-screen or behind the scene story of the video series, Acceptance: Living With HIV/AIDS. Jean Young (JY): Paul, please tell us about your background in broadcast journalism and video production. What attracted you to the documentary form? What unique perspective does your combination of production background, academic background and/or social activist background give you in terms of research and representation of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa? Paul van der Veur (PV): My foundational background is in fine arts. I have a Bachelor of Arts from MTS Vakschool Schoonoven in the Netherlands and a Master of Fine Arts from Ohio University. I also have a PhD from Ohio University in the United States. I have tried to incorporate aspects from these experiences into my work since that time. I have been shooting, editing and producing video for about 15 years. I worked in the communication for development arena for several years in Lesotho before my doctoral research in Southern Africa. My documentary work began in Montana (U.S.) where I created a variety of multimedia productions centered on environmental issues of the region. During that time, I produced works for both the Montana Department of Justice and the Arco Corporation among others. My work is strongly influenced by my background in the fine arts, my life in Africa, and my involvement in development, human rights and environmentalism. I think my research into the colonial legacies of mass communication on the continent has also strongly influenced my work. JY: How do you, as a scholar and as a broadcast journalist, utilize the digital medium for maximum benefit? What are some of the advantages of this type of reporting over print journalism or traditional academic writing? PV: Video allows a higher level of interaction with the subject matter than either print journalism or traditional academic writing. Documentary videos are potentially more participatory. They allow individuals to retain more authority over their own stories than either of the above forms. JY: Please talk about the instances that fueled your interest and subsequently lead you to produce the video series, Acceptance: Living With HIV/AIDS. …


The perception of shape, it has been argued, also often entails the perception of time. A cookie with a bite taken out of it, for example, is seen as a whole cookie that was subsequently bitten. Similarly, a twisted towel is represented as an untwisted towel that was subsequently twisted. It has never been clear, however, whether such observations truly reflect visual processing alone. To explore this, we tested whether the perception of history in static shapes is powerful enough to influence the perception of other visual features. Observers were told that they would see short movies of a shape (e.g. a square) changing from its complete form into a truncated form, with a "piece" of it missing, and that this change could occur in two ways: (1) all at once, in a single flash; or (2) gradually, with the missing piece quickly "growing" into the shape (as when you poke your finger into a lump of clay). Our primary manipulation involved the contours of the missing piece itself. On some trials, these contours implied a causal history: the static result looked as if another shape had at one time 'intruded' on the original shape. On other trials, these contours implied no such past gradual transformation. When presented as an actual change (from the full shape to the truncated shape), this variable influenced whether observers actually perceived motion. In particular, when the contours of the missing piece suggested a type of historical 'intrusion', observers actually saw that intrusion occur: it appeared as if the change actually occurred gradually, in a type of transformational apparent motion. (Catch trials with real gradual motion ruled out the possibility of a response bias.) Thus the perception of causal history in shapes is powerful enough to induce illusory motion percepts. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


While moving through the environment, our central nervous system accumulates sensory information over time to provide an estimate of our self-motion, allowing for completing crucial tasks such as maintaining balance. However, little is known on how the duration of the motion stimuli influences our performances in a self-motion discrimination task. Here we study the human ability to discriminate intensities of sinusoidal (0.5 Hz) self-rotations around the vertical axis (yaw) for four different stimulus durations (1, 2, 3 and 5 s) in darkness. In a typical trial, participants experienced two consecutive rotations of equal duration and different peak amplitude, and reported the one perceived as stronger. For each stimulus duration, we determined the smallest detectable change in stimulus intensity (differential threshold) for a reference velocity of 15 deg/s. Results indicate that differential thresholds decrease with stimulus duration and asymptotically converge to a constant, positive value. This suggests that the central nervous system accumulates sensory information on self-motion over time, resulting in improved discrimination performances. Observed trends in differential thresholds are consistent with predictions based on a drift diffusion model with leaky integration of sensory evidence.


This research is focused on Industry 4.0 or better known as the 4th industrial revolution. In the initial section, the proposition is to analyze how the implementation of sectoral collaboration, intellectual capital and public policies affect and influences the development of Industry 4.0 in technology-based firms in the Tijuana-San Diego area, then the problem statement, research questions, hypotheses, objectives and justification of the research were carried out. Afterwards, the research foundation was developed to support and validate the information from the theoretical and contextual framework. A survey of 45 questions was carried out and it was aimed at employees of technology-based companies, in which it seeks to know if the employees are aware of the variables we study and if new technologies are being implemented in their organization. The survey was conducted with a total of 384 employees using an online questionnaire. To validate the data in the SPSS program and find out if the questions have a high Cronbach's Alpha. The analysis of the survey was carried out through a quantitative study to later have the conclusions of the research in general and be able to know if the employees know and apply the industry 4.0 Among the results the correlation of the study variables was confirmed.


Interview in one session, June 14, 1999, with Lee F. Browne, Lecturer in Education, emeritus. Browne served as Director of Secondary School Relations and Special Student Programs at Caltech from 1970 until 1990. The interview briefly covers Browne's youth in the 1920s in North Carolina, his natural curiosity, and the importance of his education to his family; his time at Storer College prep school in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Failure to be admitted to Duke University and lack of permission to live on campus at Michigan State for race reasons discourages him. He then applies to West Virginia State College, graduates in biology and chemistry. Details about service in World War II in desegregated division of the U.S. navy. He moves to Los Angeles as teaching assistant at UCLA, then eventually gets permanent job at Valley Junior College and buys house in Pasadena, then Altadena. Change to secondary school teaching in chemistry, first at Muir High School, then Blair High School in Pasadena. Remarks about bussing in Pasadena in the 1970s. Teaching the children of Caltech faculty. He tells about his recruitment to Caltech and a general mandate to get good students, beginning around 1970. Survey of the programs he started, including summer classes; problems of recruiting and funding good students from minority backgrounds. Comments on race relations on campus. Notes change in direction of minority recruitment activity during the late 1980s to 1990, leading to his retirement. Concludes with an assessment of Caltech's success or lack thereof in getting and keeping African-American and Latino students.


A growing number of institutions undertaking "guided pathways" reforms are rethinking how students select programs of study, choose courses, and make other program-related choices. One primary aim is to help students make thoughtful decisions about their programs early on as a means to encourage faster and more satisfying college completion. The City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) has been undertaking a guided pathways reform effort for several years. Based largely on student interviews, this paper describes how degree-seeking students at CCC make choices about their programs in their first year of enrollment, focusing especially on how they interact with advisors and how they use college-based resources in program selection and program planning. We find that the complex process of program selection and planning is undertaken differently by students with greater or lesser tolerance for ambiguity, and that inconsistent or conflicting information about program details is particularly frustrating for some students. We recommend that institutions engaging in guided pathways reform efforts clarify advising processes and materials to reduce contradictory information and confusion.


Many organizations experience cyberattacks with the aim of the dissemination of malicious information. Situational awareness is a tool to counteract the campaigns of malicious information and reduce its dissemination. This article proposes a conceptual model for a cyber defence awareness system, which aims to support human operators to avoid this type of threat. The system will identify (classify) three campaign types of malicious information operations – malicious information injections in web content, malicious information injections in fake social network accounts, and malicious information dissemination via email messages. A model for identification of the type of campaign of malicious information operations based on Dempster-Shafer evidence theory is proposed. The work presented here is a part of the Cyber Rapid Analysis for Defence Awareness of Real-time Situation CyRADARS project. A R T I C L E I N F O : RECEIVED: 08 MAY 2020 REVISED: 12 AUG 2020 ONLINE: 21 AUG 2020 K E Y W O R D S : cyber defence, situational awareness, malicious information, CyRADARS Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 Cyber Defence Awareness of Campaigns with Malicious Information


In this paper, we demonstrate the concept of a cost-effective, environment-friendly, highly stable, and efficient organic luminescent solar concentrator (OLSC) structure based on the use of an optically transparent lamination layer comprising a blend of an organic semiconductor host material and an organic red dye material, which is sandwiched between two glass panes. Experimental results demonstrate that the developed OLSC can achieve a power conversion efficiency of up to 5.3% and a lifetime of >1.0 × 105 h when operated in ambient environment. This is attributed to the enhanced solar light harvesting of the host materials, the ultra-low ultraviolet transmission, and negligible oxygen and water content permeability of the ultraviolet cured lamination layer. The high efficiency in conjunction with the cost-effective material selection contributes to the low cost per peak watt, making the reported OLSC structures attractive for building-integrated photovoltaic applications.


Background: The goodness of fit of a statistical model is commonly assessed by describing how well the model fits the observed data. For logistic regression the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test compares the number of expected events from the logistic regression model to the number of observed events within deciles of predicted probabilities. This research evaluates two translations of the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test for logistic regression to the Cox proportional hazards model, the Cook-Ridker (CR) and the D'Agostino-Nam (DAN) tests. These translations are compared to a test which was designed specifically for survival data, the Gronnesby and Borgan (GB) test. The GB test uses martingale residuals to compare the count of events to the semi-parametric estimates from the Cox proportional hazards model on a cumulative hazards scale. In contrast, the CR and DAN translations compare the non-parametric Kaplan-Meier estimate and the semi-parametric Cox proportional hazards estimate of survival at a fixed time. Methods: The sizes of these tests are investigated by simulating survival data and varying the baseline hazard function (exponential, Weibull and log-logistic), effect size, percentage of censoring, sample size, number of groups, and the choice of fixed time point (for the CR and DAN tests). Results: The sizes of the CR and DAN tests are near the nominal level in very few of the simulated scenarios. For most scenarios the CR and DAN tests have a size that is either much larger or much lower than the nominal level. However, when using half the maximum simulated time as the fixed time point the sizes of the CR and DAN test are near or closer to the nominal level in more scenarios compared to when the maximum time point is used. In addition, numerical issues can occur when the estimated survival probability is zero and when the estimated expected number of events is either close to zero or close to one. These results also expand on previous simulation studies showing that the size of the Gronnesby and Borgan test is notably above 0.05 in larger sample sizes (1000 or more). Conclusions: Although the CR and DAN translations of the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test to the Cox proportional hazards regression are conceptually intuitive they appear to have an incorrect size and numerical issues can occur. The Gronnesby and Borgan test should be used instead since it has a more appropriate size when used with the correct number of groups.


How can we make sure that the software we build does what it is supposed to? This book provides an insight into established techniques which help developers to overcome the complexity of software development by constructing models of software systems in early design stages. It uses one of the leading formal methods, VDM (Vienna Development Method), and combines training in the formalism with industry-strength tool support and examples derived from real industrial applications. The principles taught here also apply to many of the current generation of formal methods. This second edition has been updated to include advanced online tool support for formal modeling as well as up-to-date reports on real commercial applications in areas as diverse as business information systems and firmware design.


The present study was conducted in rural area of district Mardan. The major objectives were to examine the effects of ZTBL Finance Program on buffaloes production on various size of farms, problems and constraints faced by farmer in financing procedure by bank,  The universe of the study consists of three tehsils, namely Mardan, Takhth Bahi and Katlang. Purposively from each tehsil two villages namely Gujar gari, Rustum, Lund khawar, Sharegarh, Katlang and Jamal Gari were respectively selected. All beneficiaries of the ZTBL consist of 260 while the number of buffalo owners was 100 in the study area. In tehsil Mardan 29,  Takhth Bahi 19, Katlang 52 while  through questionnaire data were collected.  Descriptive statistics, correlation and paired t-test were used for analysis. The result indicates illiterate farmers 28% and literate 72%. The owner farmer  93%, owner-cum-tenant,7% and tenant  zero percent. The total amount disbursed to sampled buffalo owners was Rs.25736000 and short term 16%, medium term 80% while the long term exposure was only 4%.  Average buffalo number after credit was 1.87 and before 1.91, while percent change was -2 %, t value -.180 and P value .857 at .05 levels.   The result was found non- significant which explains that credit has no effect on buffalo's number. Average annual cost after credit were Rs. 90810 and before Rs.48730 however percent change was 86%. The result was found highly significant at .05 levels. The average annual production value after  credit was Rs.149860 and before 100760,  while % changes was estimated 49% and  result was found significant at .05 level. High costs of fodder; non availability of quality breeds; high interest rate; complicated procedure of the bank; non availability of loan in time etc were observed in the study area On the basis of problems  which are stated as  Loan should be provided to farmers according to requirements;  interest rate should be decreased in future;  fodder cost of the buffalo should be decreased by protecting grazing field;  hospitals facilities should be provided for treatment of animals;  one window operation policy should be applied by bank and Special buffaloes program should be arranged in future for enhancement of buffaloes production for high return to farmer in the study area etc. Keywords : Effects, Zari Tarqiati Bank, Credit Program, Buffalo  Production, Rural Areas of District Mardan


This paper examines the concept of interactivity in the context of online stores. The aim is to investigate its influence on customers' shopping experience and intentions to revisit online stores. The study followed a quantitative research approach. Data was collected from 201 online shoppers from Gauteng, South Africa using a structured questionnaire. Version 21 of the SPSS/AMOS software was used to analyse the data.
The findings show that factors relating to web system interactivity, namely navigation ease and customisation are important predictors of enjoyable online shopping experience. Factors relating to personal interactivity, namely two-way communication and customer communications were not found to have significant influence on shopping enjoyment. Shopping enjoyment was found to have significant influence on online customers' intentions to revisit online stores.
The findings contribute to a better appreciation of the need for ensuring that internet technology is applied in ways that take into consideration human needs. Specifically, the findings point to the need for online managers to pay attention to interactivity levels of their websites in order to ensure that customers have an enjoyable shopping experience at their online stores.


Translocations can take a variety of forms, and there is considerable debate as to what defines an acceptable translocation. This is particularly so if a proposal suggests moving a species beyond its natural range, which might be necessary for conservation purposes if habitat within the natural range is extensively modified. An extension of this approach is to use closely related ecological analogs to replace extinct species. This approach is controversial, and opportunities to do so will be rare, particularly for vertebrate species, but the use of ecological analogs is not without precedent, and ultimately will provide for more complete ecological restoration. We discuss the current use of ecological analogs to replace extinct species and conclude with a rare opportunity to replace the extinct New Zealand quail Coturnix novaezelandiae with the extant Australian brown quail Coturnix ypsilophora.


This paper presents the development of a low rate and low power consumption low rate wireless network. Low rate wireless networks are cheap and comprised of a small fully autonomous processing, communication and remote control devices. The purpose of this study is to develop the system for remote wireless lighting system. They will work with wireless network system (WNS). WNS has been restricted power supply, communication distance and low computing power. But they will work with network in vast area, send and receive raw data from each network node. It has the ability to cooperatively collect data and retransmit in order to process or alert. The step of the experiment is creating main node and sub node in lighting area and transmission of control data between them with less electrical wiring. When wireless node not receiving or transmitting data, the module can be switched into the sleep mode, low power consumption mode. We can reduce the use of electrical wiring, insulated insulation material or other that related to and include energy too.


Data acquired with the charge coupled device camera on the HST are modeled as an additive Poisson-Gaussian mixture, with the Poisson component representing cumulative counts of object-dependent photoelectrons, object-independent photoelectrons, bias electrons and thermoelectrons, and the Gaussian component representing read-out noise. Two methods are examined for compensating for read-out noise. One method is based upon approximating the Gaussian read-out noise by a Poisson noise and then using the expectation-maximization (modified Richardson-Lucy) algorithm for Poisson distributed data to effect the compensation. This method has been used for restoring HST images. The second method directly uses the expectation-maximization algorithm derived for the Poisson-Gaussian mixture data. This requires the determination of the conditional-mean estimate of the Poisson component of the mixture, which is accomplished by the evaluation of a nonlinear function of the data. The second method requires more computation than the first, but modest improvements in the quality of the restorations are realized, particularly for fainter objects.


The regulations of the European Union (EU) Council in 2004 are the basis of the deployment of electronic passports within the EU. Since then EU member states adopt the format and the access protocols to further electronic machine readable travel documents (eMRTD) like national electronic ID cards and electronic residence permits, respectively. The security protocols to communicate with an eMRTD are based on the paradigm of strong cohesion and loose coupling, i.e., each step is designed to ensure only a particular security goal like authorisation to access a certain data group, authenticity and integrity of the data, originality of the chip, or the linkage between the eMRTD and its holder. However, recently a discussion evolved to integrate the linkage security goal within the connection establishment, which currently only aims at limiting basic access of authorised terminals to the eMRTD. For instance, the BioPACE protocol proposes to replace the knowledge-based shared `secret' of PACE by a biometric-based one. The goal of the paper at hand is twofold: First, we evaluate the BioPACE protocol and propose improvements to enhance its features. Second, we analyse the expediency of integrating our BioPACE version 2 into the eMRTD domain. Our initial evaluation shows that our BioPACE version 2 is expedient if the EAC protocols and the corresponding PKI are abandoned.


Contract law is celebrated for empowering private parties to enact customized legal rules. Anyone can summon state actors to enforce personally tailored laws that govern private agreements. Yet this unique power is obviously limited in scope and context, and it is important to consider where and why we draw these borders. One can write a contract that annuls tort liability, for instance, but criminal laws cannot be overruled by contract - even in a hypothetical lawless commune where everyone is willing to accede to the change. One of the most interesting and persistent theoretical border- lands relates to gift promises. The consideration doctrine formally bars gift promises from the domain of contract law, but there are a number of side doors - such as reliance, moral obligation, and irrevocable trusts - that permit some gratuitous promises to be treated like contractual obligations. These one-way promises do involve future transfers, after all, and they feel very close to bilateral exchange. Contract law has refused to convert all gift promises into binding obligations, however, and it has even made it more difficult to form mindful commitments here by repealing the efficacy of the seal. But there is another, previously unexplored dimension to this puzzle. Contract law embraces special rules that protect third-party beneficiaries - outsiders who enjoy legal enforcement rights despite a lack of privity. Moreover, these rights can be vested as irrevocable. This Article argues that this obscure corner of contract law should receive independent legal significance, such that a mindful promisor should be able to recruit a willing counterparty to make a binding gift promise in any context. It demonstrates this third-party beneficiary technique, evaluates the implications for the borders of contract law, and concludes that vested third-party beneficiary rights are a feasible (though unexpected) device for moving gift promises comfortably in- to the realm of contract law.


ABSTRACT Urban studies and thinking topologically. Territory, Politics, Governance. This paper explores how topological thinking may be a useful heuristic offering increased conceptual flexibility for those grappling with how best to make comparison and generalizations across geographical locations. We review the existing literature that has used topology as a means of thinking about connectivity, space and spatial relations. We argue that thinking topologically helps when thinking about relationships between elements rather than about the distance between them, such as how practices of creativity work in urban development and bind distinct places and practices together, producing similar urban forms. It also is useful for making generalizations and comparisons without appealing to universal truths or producing universalizing claims about the urban, whether forms, practices or elements. We draw on the relationships between two glass museums – in Tacoma, Washington in the US and Shanghai, China – to draw out these points about topological thinking. We examine how particular expressions and practices of creativity, specifically in the Kids Design Glass programme, have shaped the relationship as well as the materiality of each museum site and argue that it is through practices of creativity that these sites 'hang together' in a topological way. We conclude that thinking topologically raises additional questions about assumptions and categories embedded in urban studies.


The doctrine of the properties of terms, which deals with the referential functions of expressions of speech in a sentential context, was one of the most important achievements of mediaeval philosophy. The second treatise of Albert of Saxony's "Perutilis Logica" treats as properties of terms: supposition and ist sub-forms and the complementary properties of ampliation and appellation, as well as offering a commentated collection of rules for their use, which is of unusual detail and quality. The "Perutilis Logica" is both by its content and its didactic value the most paradigmatic logical compendium of the 14th century, yet the fact that it has yet been little researched is probably due to the verdict of a widespread traditional orientation, particularly to Buridan. The study presented here tries to show on the basis of an interpretative analysis of the second treatise that the doctrine of the properties of terms is stated in an unusually developed form in the "Perutilis logica" and that suggestions that it lacks originality must be revised. The study is supplemented by an appendix containing an edition based on what is probably the earliest MS of 1356.


Processing issues for the fabrication of capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) arrays have been studied using surface micromachining. This work focuses on the critical steps of process fabrication such as membrane formation, sacrificial layer properties and vacuum sealing performance of cavity. We describe a four-mask process for the realization of sealed cMUT. We demonstrate that the use of a sacrificial layer with a columnar structure gives a fast etching rate (29 nm s−1) in a buffered hydrofluoric acid solution. The mechanical stress of LPCVD silicon nitride (SiNx), used as membrane, was evaluated. We compared the vacuum sealing performance of different materials in order to find the best material in terms of lateral deposition inside the cavity. Functional transducers have been obtained. We proposed an electrical test in order to evaluate the vacuum sealing of the cavity based on the collapse voltage determination. Laser interference measurements were used to characterize the dynamic displacement of the membrane.


The conventional wisdom is that OS APIs should behave predictably, facilitating software development. From a system security perspective, this predictability creates a disproportionate advantage for attackers. Could making OSes behave unpredictably create a disproportionate advantage for system defenders, significantly increasing the effort required to create malware and launch attacks without too much inconvenience for "good" software? This article explores the potential benefits and challenges of unpredictable and deceptive OS behavior, including preliminary measurements of the relative robustness of malware and production software to unpredictable behavior. We describe Chameleon, an ongoing project to implement OS behavior on a spectrum of unpredictability and deceptiveness.


Improved parameters for the description of Rayleigh scattering in air and for the detailed rotational Raman scattering component for scattering by O(2) and N(2) are presented for the wavelength range 200-1000 nm. These parameters enable more accurate calculations to be made of bulk molecular scattering and of the Ring effect for a variety of atmospheric radiative transfer and constituent retrieval applications. A solar reference spectrum with accurate absolute vacuum wavelength calibration, suitable for convolution with the rotational Raman spectrum for Ring effect calculations, has been produced at 0.01-nm resolution from several sources. It is convolved with the rotational Raman spectra of O(2) and N(2) to produce an atmospheric Ring effect source spectrum.


This paper addresses current debates over the scope of executive power by examining the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. While FDR did not have a theory of executive power on a par with those of Alexander Hamilton or Abraham Lincoln, he took full advantage of precedents from times of past national emergencies to advance his policies. In this respect, he set the model for the presidents of the postwar era. The paper illustrates this argument by examining FDR's use of presidential power in three distinct areas: domestic policy, foreign policy, and civil liberties in a time of war. To confront the Great Depression, FDR reimagined the role of the administrative state, defended his right to interpret the Constitution independently, and pushed the federal government to provide for economic security. This required directly challenging, or, at times, ignoring the commands of Congress and the Supreme Court. Faced with the existential threats of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, FDR acted with even greater resolve and independence despite laws barring U.S. involvement in World War II. While FDR brushed aside civil liberties objections to electronic surveillance, the military trial of Nazi saboteurs, and the internment of Japanese-Americans, the other branches of government ultimately supported his policies. FDR's expansive interpretation of executive power demonstrated that the Presidency may be better suited to act first during periods of national crisis, but that the other branches can exercise their own constitutional authority if they wish to check it. The consequences, however, seem clear: FDR's willingness to press the limits of executive power proved vital to the nation's success in overcoming World War II.


In July 2014 Teaching and Learning Cinema, an Australian artist group coordinated by Louise Curham and Lucas Ihlein, presented a reenactment of Malcolm Le Grice's Horror Film 1 (1971) at Canberra Contemporary Art Space. A key work of Expanded Cinema, Horror Film 1 involves a live performer playing with shadows, interacting with the overlapping beams of three 16mm film projectors. Our reenactment was the first time in the work's 40 year lifespan that it had been performed by anyone other than Le Grice himself. In this paper we offer some reflections on the process of making our reenactment, which we regard as ontologically double: simultaneously "the original object" and an entirely new entity. We discuss our methodology of tending the archive --an activist strategy for operating at the borders of archival and artistic practice. And we suggest that reenactment, as a creative practice, can be a way of "reaching through to the object" which sheds new light on the artwork and its cultural-technological context.


Aim and objective The relationship between supply chain relations and the workplace is topical (e.g. Fichter, Helfen and Sydow, 2011), and referred to explicitly within the International Labour Organisation agenda on decent work (Dejardin, 2008). While the globalization of production has brought significant employment and economic growth to many regions of the world, the political and exploitative nature of supply chain relationships often have implications for social relations at work (Scarbrough, 2000). Recent labour scandals involving suppliers in the electronic, food and clothing industries have resulted in increasing public concern with employment relations among suppliers to developed economy firms. At the same time, persistent pressures for weak regulation, cut-throat competition and declining real wages for a large proportion of consumers in the developed world have resulted in downward pressure on work relations. Moreover, innovations in supply chain management such as 'just-in-time' production or 'fast-fashion' have intensified work owing to increased surveillance and monitoring of workers' activities (Delbridge, Turnbull and Wilkinson, 2007). The special issue seeks to consolidate recent research in the area and to contribute to theoretical and applied knowledge on how the decisions made by parties in global supply chains impact on social relations at work through the supply chain. The call thus seeks to attract papers from scholars across a range of social science disciplines – including industrial relations, human resource management, organisational behaviour, organizational theory, and the sociology of work – who examine the power dynamics of these relationships.


The point contact tunneling technique is used to examine quasiparticle and Josephson currents in overdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O81d ~Bi-2212! single crystals with bulk Tc values ranging from 82 K down to 62 K. Superconductor–insulator–normal-metal ~SIN! tunnel junctions are formed between Bi-2212 crystals and a Au tip, which display well-resolved quasiparticle gap features including sharp conductance peaks. Reproducible superconductor-insulator-superconductor ~SIS! tunnel junctions are also obtained between two pieces of the Bi-2212 crystals, resulting in simultaneous quasiparticle and Josephson currents. The dynamic conductances of both SIN and SIS junctions are qualitatively similar to those found on optimally doped Bi-2212, but with reduced gap values, e.g., D515– 20 meV for Tc562 K. Fits to the conductance data in the gap region are obtained using a model with dx22y2 symmetry, and it is shown that this provides a better fit than s-wave symmetry. Both SIN and SIS tunneling conductances also display dip and hump features at high bias voltages similar to those found on optimal and underdoped crystals, indicating that these are intrinsic properties of the quasiparticles. The SIS data indicate that these features appear to be part of a larger spectrum that extends out to 300–400 mV. The Josephson current has been measured for 13 SIS junctions on the 62 K crystals with resistances varying over two decades. It is found that the maximum value depends on junction resistance in a manner consistent with Ambegaokar-Baratoff theory, but with a reduced IcRn product.


Machine learning (ML) has already fundamentally changed several businesses. More recently, it has also been profoundly impacting the computational science and engineering domains, like geoscience, climate science, and health science. In these domains, users need to perform comprehensive data analyses combining scientific data and ML models to provide for critical requirements, such as reproducibility, model explainability, and experiment data understanding. However, scientific ML is multidisciplinary, heterogeneous, and affected by the physical constraints of the domain, making such analyses even more challenging. In this work, we leverage workflow provenance techniques to build a holistic view to support the lifecycle of scientific ML. We contribute with (i) characterization of the lifecycle and taxonomy for data analyses; (ii) design decisions to build this view, with a W3C PROV compliant data representation and a reference system architecture; and (iii) lessons learned after an evaluation in an Oil & Gas case using an HPC cluster with 393 nodes and 946 GPUs. The experiments show that the decisions enable queries that integrate domain semantics with ML models while keeping low overhead (<1%), high scalability, and an order of magnitude of query acceleration under certain workloads against without our representation.


Effects This paper describes the theoretical and observed effects of topography onstormflow acidity in upland, forested watersheds. The theoretical effects were determined by a sensitivity analysis using the hydrologic model TOPMODEL. The observed effects were determined by an analysis of topographic and stormflow acidity data collected from eight watersheds in Wales, Great Britain. Results of the analyses indicated that the observed effects of topography were consistent with the theoretical expectations; that is, topography has an important effect on flow path, and that flow path, in turn, has an effect on stormflow acidity.


The purpose of this thesis is to determine and to better inform industry practitioners to the most appropriate classification and regression techniques for modelling the three key credit risk components of the Basel II minimum capital requirement; probability of default (PD), loss given default (LGD), and exposure at default (EAD). The Basel II accord regulates risk and capital management requirements to ensure that a bank holds enough capital proportional to the exposed risk of its lending practices. Under the advanced internal ratings based (IRB) approach Basel II allows banks to develop their own empirical models based on historical data for each of PD, LGD and EAD. In this thesis, first the issue of imbalanced credit scoring data sets, a special case of PD modelling where the number of defaulting observations in a data set is much lower than the number of observations that do not default, is identified, and the suitability of various classification techniques are analysed and presented. As well as using traditional classification techniques this thesis also explores the suitability of gradient boosting, least square support vector machines and random forests as a form of classification. The second part of this thesis focuses on the prediction of LGD, which measures the economic loss, expressed as a percentage of the exposure, in case of default. In this thesis, various state-of-the-art regression techniques to model LGD are considered. In the final part of this thesis we investigate models for predicting the exposure at default (EAD). For off-balance-sheet items (for example credit cards) to calculate the EAD one requires the committed but unused loan amount times a credit conversion factor (CCF). Ordinary least squares (OLS), logistic and cumulative logistic regression models are analysed, as well as an OLS with Beta transformation model, with the main aim of finding the most robust and comprehensible model for the prediction of the CCF. Also a direct estimation of EAD, using an OLS model, will be analysed. All the models built and presented in this thesis have been applied to real-life data sets from major global banking institutions.


Service oriented computing provides suitable means to technically support distributed collaboration of heterogeneous devices, for example those present in mobile environments. E.g., many applications are built on composite Web-Services. However, when executing these applications in dynamic environments, failures of participating entities have to be optimistically coped with, in order to avoid inconsistent system states and thereby provide suitable correctness guarantees. Transactional coordination for services so far lacks the possibility to adapt failure handling to the current execution context, e.g. dynamically bound services at runtime. In this paper, we employ transactional service properties to ensure reliable, i.e., correct execution of workflows by still respecting the autonomy of participants. We propose algorithms to verifiy and alter the structure of the composition at runtime, thus adapting the control flow to the current execution context to ensure correct execution.


The study of the development of clitic doubling in Greek and its possible connection with the other Balkan languages amounts to ascertain when it came into being, and why and under which conditions it occurred. Greek has no subject clitics. As for object clitic doubling, the oldest – isolated – examples can be found in the (private) papyri of the Hellenistic Age, but they hardly appear in literary texts. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that object clitic doubling existed in its modern form in the oldest texts that use the demotic language (from the twelfth century onwards), but that it was avoided by scribes who wanted to maintain strict standards. This popular, or even vulgar, character seems to be due to the essentially redundant nature of clitic doubling in Greek: it concerns only topics, i.e., given information, already marked for its "givenness" by specific devices, such as the anteposed definite article. It does not depend on object agreement marking through clitic doubling. In the period under study (up to ca 1600), clitic doubling is facultative, and even if the clitics cannot be separated from their verb, their position with respect to the verb (pre- or postverbal) is determined by a combination of syntactic and pragmatic factors. They are certainly not yet to be considered as verbal morphemes.


Arden Neisser's classic on American Sign Language (ASL) is again available, with a new prologue. The Other Side of Silence chronicles the culture and issues of the Deaf community through telling interviews and research from across the country. In widely varying encounters, Neisser heard Deaf individuals recall how teachers suppressed the use of ASL in the school, how linguists fostered conflicting theories, and how various institutions diluted ASL to suit hearing patrons. This seminal book reveals the warmth, creativity, and resilience of Deaf people, and culminates in an update of the community today.


This paper investigates the role of institutions for labour market performance across European countries. As participation rates have been rather stable over the past, the unemployment problem is mainly caused by shortages in labour demand. Labour demand is expressed by its structural parameters, such as the elasticities of employment to output and factor prices. Institutional variables include employment protection legislation, the structure of wage bargaining, measures describing the tax and transfer system and active labour market policies. As cointegration between employment, output and factor prices is detected, labour demand equations are fitted in levels by efficient estimation techniques. To account for possible structural change, time varying parameter models and aysmmetries due to the business cycle situation are considered. Then, labour demand elasticities are explained by institutions using panel fixed effects regressions. The results suggest that higher flexibility and incentives of households to work appear to be appropriate strategies to improve the employment record. The employment response to economic conditions is stronger in a more deregulated environment, and the absorption of shocks can be relieved. However, the institutional database should be improved in order to arrive at more definite policy conclusions.


ABSTRACT Demand-led skills development requires linkages and coordination between firms and education and training organisations, which are major challenges considering that each represents a 'self-interested' entity. The need for a 'collaborative project' involving government, firms, universities and colleges, and other bodies is thus increasingly recognised. However, the crucial role of intermediaries has been largely overlooked. The article addresses this gap by investigating the main roles of public and private intermediaries across three case studies: sugarcane growing and milling, automotive component manufacturing, and the Square Kilometre Array sectoral systems of innovation. The research highlights the need for a move towards systemic thinking, to bridge across public and private objectives. It shows that private intermediaries play a larger role than is recognised in policy; that public–private intermediaries play crucial roles in coordination; and the potential for public intermediaries to contribute more effectively to systemic functioning.


Climate change poses challenges for decision makers across society, not just in preparing for the climate of the future but even when planning for the climate of the present day. When making climate sensitive decisions, policy makers and adaptation planners would benefit from information on local scales and for user-specific quantiles (e.g. the hottest/coldest 5% of days) and thresholds (e.g. days above 28 C), not just mean changes. Here, we translate observations of weather into observations of climate change, providing maps of the changing shape of climatic temperature distributions across Europe since 1950. The provision of such information from observations is valuable to support decisions designed to be robust in today's climate, while also providing data against which climate forecasting methods can be judged and interpreted. The general statement that the hottest summer days are warming faster than the coolest is made decision relevant by exposing how the regions of greatest warming are quantile and threshold dependent. In a band from Northern France to Denmark, where the response is greatest, the hottest days in the temperature distribution have seen changes of at least 2 C, over four times the global mean change over the same period. In winter the coldest nights are warming fastest, particularly in Scandinavia.


An urban problematic is identified by reference to the essential characteristics of cities as spatially polarized ensembles of human activity marked by high levels of internal symbiosis. The roots of the crisis of the classical industrial metropolis of the twentieth century are pinpointed, and the emergence of a new kind of urban economic dynamic over the 1980s and 1990s is discussed. I argue that this new dynamic is based in high degree upon the growth and spread of cognitive-cultural production systems. Along with these developments have come radical transformations of urban space and social life, as well as major efforts on the part of many cities to assert a role for themselves as national and international cultural centers. This argument is the basis of what we might call the resurgent metropolis hypothesis. The effects of globalization are shown to play a critical role in the genesis and geography of urban resurgence. Three major policy dilemmas of resurgent cities are highlighted, namely, their internal institutional fragmentation, their increasing character as economic agents on the world stage and the concomitant importance of collective approaches to the construction of localized competitive advantage, and their deepening social disintegration and segmentation.


Background Hypnosis is defined as "as an interaction in which the hypnotist uses suggested scenarios ("suggestions") to encourage a person's focus of attention to shift towards inner experiences". Aim of the work The focus of this review is to summarize the findings of controlled outcome studies investigating the potential of clinical hypnosis in pediatric populations. We will examine the following themes: anesthesia, acute and chronic pain, chemotherapy-related distress, along with other specific medical issues. Results Hypnosis is an effective method to reduce pain and anxiety before, during and after the administration of anesthetics, during local dental treatments, invasive medical procedures and in burn children. Hypnosis can be successfully used to manage recurrent headaches, abdominal pain, irritable bowel syndrome and chemotherapy-related distress. Hypnosis has an important role in managing symptoms and improving the quality of life of children suffering from asthma and cystic fibrosis and in facilitating the treatment of insomnia in school-age children. Finally, hypnosis can be effectively used for the treatment of some habitual disorders such as nocturnal enuresis and dermatologic conditions, including atopic dermatitis and chronic eczema Conclusions Clinical hypnosis seems to be a useful, cheap and side-effects free tool to manage fear, pain and several kinds of stressful experiences in pediatric populations. Children who receive self-hypnosis trainings achieve significantly greater improvements in their physical health, quality of life, and self-esteem.


"This is the ultimate textbook for coaches and serious students of football." - John Robinson, former head coach, Los Angeles Rams and University of Southern California From youth leagues to the pros-two of the winningest coaches in football update their top-selling instructional to help you improve your teams' skills Written for coaches and players at all levels, this is a total update of the most complete guide to coaching football. Filled with in-depth advice on howto organize a season of practices, this invaluable resource provides the latest strategies on everything from running, passing, and receiving to scouting, injury prevention, and sportsmanship.


We study the problem of estimating a temporally varying coefficient and varying structure (VCVS) graphical model underlying data collected over a period of time, such as social states of interacting individuals or microarray expression profiles of gene networks, as opposed to i.i.d. data from an invariant model widely considered in current literature of structural estimation. In particular, we consider the scenario in which the model evolves in a piece-wise constant fashion. We propose a procedure that estimates the structure of a graphical model by minimizing the temporally smoothed L1 penalized regression, which allows jointly estimating the partition boundaries of the VCVS model and the coefficient of the sparse precision matrix on each block of the partition. A highly scalable proximal gradient method is proposed to solve the resultant convex optimization problem; and the conditions for sparsistent estimation and the convergence rate of both the partition boundaries and the network structure are established for the first time for such estimators.


Reinforcement learning is a powerful paradigm for learning optimal policies from experimental data. However, to find optimal policies, most reinforcement learning algorithms explore all possible actions, which may be harmful for real-world systems. As a consequence, learning algorithms are rarely applied on safety-critical systems in the real world. In this paper, we present a learning algorithm that explicitly considers safety, defined in terms of stability guarantees. Specifically, we extend control-theoretic results on Lyapunov stability verification and show how to use statistical models of the dynamics to obtain high-performance control policies with provable stability certificates. Moreover, under additional regularity assumptions in terms of a Gaussian process prior, we prove that one can effectively and safely collect data in order to learn about the dynamics and thus both improve control performance and expand the safe region of the state space. In our experiments, we show how the resulting algorithm can safely optimize a neural network policy on a simulated inverted pendulum, without the pendulum ever falling down.


Ocean processes are dynamic and complex and occur on multiple spatial and temporal scales. To obtain a synoptic view of such processes, ocean scientists collect data over long time periods. Historically, measurements were continually provided by fixed sensors, e.g., moorings, or gathered from ships. Recently, an increase in the utilization of autonomous underwater vehicles has enabled a more dynamic data acquisition approach. However, we still do not utilize the full capabilities of these vehicles. Here we present algorithms that produce persistent monitoring missions for underwater vehicles by balancing path following accuracy and sampling resolution for a given region of interest, which addresses a pressing need among ocean scientists to efficiently and effectively collect high‐value data. More specifically, this paper proposes a path planning algorithm and a speed control algorithm for underwater gliders, which together give informative trajectories for the glider to persistently monitor a patch of ocean. We optimize a cost function that blends two competing factors: maximize the information value along the path while minimizing deviation from the planned path due to ocean currents. Speed is controlled along the planned path by adjusting the pitch angle of the underwater glider, so that higher resolution samples are collected in areas of higher information value. The resulting paths are closed circuits that can be repeatedly traversed to collect long‐term ocean data in dynamic environments. The algorithms were tested during sea trials on an underwater glider operating off the coast of southern California, as well as in Monterey Bay, California. The experimental results show improvements in both data resolution and path reliability compared to previously executed sampling paths used in the respective regions. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


This eighth volume of the Artefacts series explores how material culture has affected music and sound. Technological innovations in music that were originally created to solve existing problems have ended up expanding the range of what can be done musically and changing the landscape of music. Boon and Weium present a collection of essays exploring technological innovations and their effects on musical culture. Contributors include composers, performers, musicologists, and scientists, providing diverse insights into the nature of music. With a foreword by renowned British producer Brian Eno, Material Culture and Electronic Sound examines what has happened because technology and music crossed paths.