Orthodox economics has played a role in the gradual narrowing of the concept of man from a being involved with the fullness of life to "economic man" an efficiently functioning mechanism within present-day technological society. The current subservience to economic and technological efficiency has produced a spiritual malaise that Wright believes must be challenged. He argues that the reconstruction of "economic man" involves the recuperation of both "universal" knowledge from the past and "local" knowledge from within one's own culture. Citing the Bible as the text for universal knowledge for the West, Wright examines the work of Blake, Kierkegaard, and Tillich as representative figures who have challenged the narrow scientism of the "idea of progress" and "economic man." For local knowledge, he turns to the work of Margaret Atwood, Harold Innis, and Alex Colville representative figures who speak to the dissonant tensions that lie at the heart of Canadian culture. Each has identified the main features of Canadian existence and potential and, in spite of the diversity of their intellectual orientation, shares the view that we are burdened with bias and domination men over women, civilization over nature, space over time, foreign control over nationalism, and centre over margin. Wright believes it is imperative to have a positive theory of Canadian nationalism available if the free-trade agreement begins to collapse, and argues that Canadians would recognize the enormously privileged position of their country if they could only summon the political will to go beyond the narrow confines of "economic man" and abandon their acceptance of the debilitating pursuit of the "idea of progress." The book includes six paintings by Alex Colville reproduced in black and white.


In this paper, I offer a perspective into a creative research practice I have come to term as Ecological Performativity. This practice has evolved from a number of non-linear audiovisual installations that are intrinsically linked to geographical and everyday phenomena. The project is situated in ecological discourse that seeks to explore conditions and methods of co-creative processes derived from an intensive data-gathering procedure and immersion within the respective environments. Through research the techniques explored include computer vision, data sonification, live convolution and improvisation as a means to engage the agency of material and thus construct non-linear audiovisual installations. To contextualize this research, I have recently reoriented my practice within recent critical, theoretical, and philosophical discourses emerging in the humanities, sciences and social sciences generally referred to as 'the nonhuman turn'. These trends currently provide a reassessment of the assumptions that have defined our understanding of the geo-conjunctures that make up life on earth and, as such, challenge the long-standing narrative of human exceptionalism. It is out of this reorientation that the practice of Ecological Performativity has evolved.


This study analyzes a range of professional beliefs held by a sample of incoming teacher candidates in the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), a service-learning teacher education program at the University of Notre Dame, and a sample of preservice teachers in a traditional teacher education program at a state university. The key dependent variables in this study are preservice teachers' sense of professional responsibility and self-efficacy beliefs regarding the intellectual and moral aspects of their teaching. Findings indicate that ACE teacher candidates hold a greater sense of responsibility for helping disadvantaged students academically and for fostering all children's moral growth compared to their counterparts in the traditional program. This study is the first stage in a longitudinal research project that explores the effectiveness of ACE's model of teacher education in preparing professionally competent and responsible teachers.


To understand carbon and oxygen dynamics in sediments with deep oxygen penetration, we investigated eight locations (160–318‐m depth) throughout Lake Superior. Despite the 2–4 weight percent organic carbon content, oxygen penetrated into the sediment by 3.5 to > 12 cm at all locations. Such deep penetration is explained by low sedimentation rates (0.01–0.04 cm yr−1), high solubility of oxygen in freshwater, and a shallow (~ 2 cm) bioturbation zone. In response mainly to oxygen variations in the bottom waters, the sediment oxygen penetration varied seasonally by as much as several centimeters, suggesting that temporal variability in deeply oxygenated sediments may be greater than previously acknowledged. The oxygen uptake rates (4.4–7.7 mmol m−2 d−1, average 6.1 mmol m−2 d−1) and carbon mineralization efficiency (~ 90% of deposited carbon) were similar to those in marine hemipelagic and pelagic sediments of comparable sedimentation rates. The reactivity of organic carbon was found to decrease with age similarly to the power‐law documented in marine environments. The burial flux of carbon into the deep sediment (0.7 mmol m−2 d−1) was 2.5% of the previously estimated primary production. Maximum volume‐specific carbon degradation rates were 0.3–1.5 µmol cm−3 d−1; bioturbation coefficient near the sediment surface was 3–8 cm2 yr−1. These results indicate that carbon cycling in large freshwater systems conforms to many of the same trends as in marine systems.


I would urge all who have enjoyed Lerone Bennett's masterful text, Before the Mayflower, to read his new book, Forced Into Glory, which deals with the presidency and life of the "Great Emancipator", Abraham Lincoln. Forced Into Glory is a work of true scholarship which exposes a myth which has been cleverly concealed by well-meaning white scholars over the past century. Bennett reveals another side of one of America's most revered Presidents. He describes Lincoln's continuing support of "Black Codes" during Lincoln's legislative career in Illinois and the path he took, beginning in 1836, when he gave his support to the taxation of Blacks to pay for White schools, until 1855 when he led a movement to start a Black separate school in Springfield. Bennett points out that in 1849 Lincoln voted against an anti-slave trade resolution in the Congress and notes Lincoln's active support of the oppressive 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. Bennett also tells of Lincoln's call, in 1852, for compensated emancipation and the deportation of all Blacks in a draft of a Constitutional Amendment The author tells us that in 1854, and again in 1860, Lincoln contended that the Negro race was inferior to the White race, and in 1858 he confessed that slavery had always been a "minor question" to him until the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act which produced "Bleeding Kansas." Bennett also describes Lincoln's hatred of miscegenation, or "Amalgamation" as he called it. On September 18, 1858 in Charleston, Illinois, Lincoln told a cheering audience, "I'll say then that I am not now, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about, in any way, the social and political equality of the White and Black races...nor of making voters or jurors of them or qualifying them to hold office, nor to have them intermarry with White people...I will say, in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the White and Black races which I believe will forever forbid the two from living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior and I as much as any White man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the White race." Bennett points out that between 1854 and 1860 Lincoln said publicly, at least twice that America was made for White people and not for the Negroes, and eight times that he was in favor of White Supremacy and twenty times that he was opposed to equal rights for Blacks. During his Presidency, Lincoln addressed African-Americans (with the possible exception of Frederick Douglass) as "boy" and autographed a picture for a Black heroine, "To Aunty Sojourner Truth", after her visit. In 1862, Lincoln remained terrified of the idea of freeing four million Blacks who might "amalgamate" with Whites though flagrant miscegenation. Lincoln also feared the prospect of economic competition from a group who possessed more skills than poor Whites, and that job competition might become violent. Also at this time the border states rejected his plan of the government compensating slaveholders and deporting their freed slaves. Bennett also points out that most of Lincoln's generals (80 out of 110 Brigadier Generals) were from the Democratic Party who hated slaves and admired slaveholders and had no special inclination to attack them. On July 22, 1862, Lincoln was supposed to give the Proclamation of Enforcement speech but lost his nerve and on the 28th he finally gave it, mainly to further explain the Confiscation Act. He neglected to mention the section of the Emancipation which did not free some slaves from Confederate territory that was under Union control. Secretary Chase noted that the Emancipation Proclamation was not even mentioned in any Cabinet meetings during the six weeks or so after late July. However, in two "State of the Union" addresses, and in the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln did call for the deportation of Blacks and on another occasions called for their colonization. …


In this paper, we generalize the treatment of isolated horizons in loop quantum gravity, resulting in a Chern–Simons theory on the boundary in the four-dimensional case, to non-distorted isolated horizons in 2(n + 1)-dimensional spacetimes. The key idea is to generalize the four-dimensional isolated horizon boundary condition by using the Euler topological density E(2n) of a spatial slice of the black hole horizon as a measure of distortion. The resulting symplectic structure on the horizon coincides with the one of higher-dimensional SO(2(n + 1))-Chern–Simons theory in terms of a Peldan-type hybrid connection Γ0 and resembles closely the usual treatment in (3 + 1) dimensions. We comment briefly on a possible quantization of the horizon theory. Here, some subtleties arise since higher-dimensional non-Abelian Chern–Simons theory has local degrees of freedom. However, when replacing the natural generalization to higher dimensions of the usual boundary condition by an equally natural stronger one, it is conceivable that the problems originating from the local degrees of freedom are avoided, thus possibly resulting in a finite entropy.


This research is aiming to help marketers that require a deep understanding of social media. In a more complex, fast paced and changing digital environment, marketers need to quickly adapt their marketing strategy aligned with their business goals and use the right channels of communication on the Internet to reach their target audience. Today the digital environment offer various tools to advertise and promote products or services. New technologies have accelerated and influenced the digital landscape. New companies have recently emerged and have changed the way consumers communicate on the Internet. For instance, using social media networks today is a normal part of life for millions of people worldwide and this gives huge opportunities for marketers to reach precisely their audience and create a true connection between their organization and consumers. As social media is a new area for marketers, this research is focusing on all the aspects and the challenges that excite the marketing community. As Facebook is by far the most used social media platform, with more than 955 million monthly active users worldwide, a case study will be used to help marketers to understand how they can utilise Facebook marketing solutions in the most efficient way aligned with their marketing objectives. Some companies in different varied industries will also benefit from understanding their potential marketing success on the Facebook social media platform. This will help marketers to use social media in the most efficient way and give them the ability to respond to their marketing objectives while creating real online connection with their clients.


Increasing demands on reliability and safety of automated driving functions require an augmented usage of simulation tools for the efficient calibration of these functions. However, finding an optimal solution can be costly, especially when the objective function is represented by scenario simulations. To face these challenges, a novel optimization scheme for simulation based calibration problems, that enables reduced computational effort is introduced. The approach is based on sensitivity analyses that provide scenario specific influential parameter spaces. Using these information, all parameter combinations are checked for reference candidates obtained in preceding iterations that are expected to have an equivalent solution as the new set. Thus, expensive simulation runs can be replaced by taking results from a reference set. The so called 'scenario simulation reduction' approach is applied to the parameterization of an SAE level 3 automated driving function with a genetic algorithm as optimizer. In order to take modeling inaccuracies into account, a robustness analysis with respect to simulation model parameters is conducted. Finally, a validation of the optimization scheme is performed using an extensive sampling approach. Studies confirm that negligible errors occur that are not expected to disturb optimization progress.


The region of Latin America and the Caribbean is already a global low-carbon leader in terms of power generation from hydrological and biomass resources, and it recently has made great strides in developing its other renewable energy sources. Declining costs, maturing technologies, and vast untapped potentials for renewables offer an unprecedented opportunity for further development of the renewable energy market in the region. Continuing to invest in renewables will provide Latin America and the Caribbean with the opportunity to address key economic, social, and environmental challenges in the energy sector.


We investigate, using scanning tunnelling microscopy, the adsorption of pentacene on Ni(111) at room temperature and the behaviour of these monolayer films with annealing up to 700 °C. We observe the conversion of pentacene into graphene, which begins from as low as 220 °C with the coalescence of pentacene molecules into large planar aggregates. Then, by annealing at 350 °C for 20 minutes, these aggregates expand into irregular domains of graphene tens of nanometers in size. On surfaces where graphene and nickel carbide coexist, pentacene shows preferential adsorption on the nickel carbide phase. The same pentacene to graphene transformation was also achieved on Cu(111), but at a higher activation temperature, producing large graphene domains that exhibit a range of moiré superlattice periodicities.


For project managers in charge of complicated, 10-person-plus projects, one of the best ways to take control and produce predictable, repeatable results is to focus on both complex theory and practical techniques. Modern Project Management helps them do that, filling in the knowledge gaps and answering the questions of this often misunderstood process. By going through project management step-by-step, the book presents an integrated approach that balances theory, methods, psychology, and practice, and helps even novice project managers achieve superior results. Readers will learn how to: Plan the project to maximize productivity Motivate others to execute the plan Analyze the actual results Rework and tune the plan as the project is executed. Also included with this book is a project management toolset called Modern Project (c). Easily installed on a personal computer, this software is far more than just a scheduler. It features tools designed to help project managers plan, estimate, monitor, and control projects.


This study was carried out to examine the effect of short-term selection for 5-weeks of age body weight in divergent lines of Japanese quail. Growth curves for both sexes within each selection group resembled the general sigmoid shape of a typical growth curve. Gompertz model curves and the observed growth curves were very similar. In both males and females the parameter estimates of the Gompertz growth curve were obtained with a high determination coefficient (0.9898 ≥ R2 ≥ 0.9840). Sex differences in asymptotic weight were found to be significant across lines. Similarly, in both sexes a significant divergent selection effect was determined for parameter A. The growth rate in all the Japanese quail lines was significantly higher in males than in females. There was also a significant increase in growth rate of the females selected for increased 5-week body weight over the control females, as well as a significant decline in growth rate of males selected for decreased 5-week body weight compared to the unselected control group. Keywords : Gompertz model; growth curve; asymmetric response;growth rate South African Journal of Animal Sciences Vol. 35 (2) 2005: pp.83-89


This research concentrates mainly on the impact of organisational culture on the
dimensions of pay satisfaction in the construction industry in Libya, specifically
with regard to Consultant Engineering Firms (CEF) in both the private and public
sectors in Libya. The study primarily aims to establish a framework for this
impact, which may result in applying sound Human Resource Management
(HRM) policies in individual firms and in CEF in the both sectors.
Historical reviews of the literature and of models of pay satisfaction found a void
in the investigation of the impact of organisational culture on pay satisfaction
namely in the context of the Middle East in general and Libya in particular. On
this basis, this study presents the theories in the literature on pay satisfaction
from 1930 through to the present date.
It is generally agreed that pay dissatisfaction is one of the first causes of anxiety
for those concerned with decreasing productivity phenomena. It also has
negative consequences on the national economy. The negative consequences
caused by pay dissatisfaction have also been argued to lead to lower motivation
levels and performance.
Based on the data on the dimensions of pay satisfaction (pay levels, pay
benefits, pay rises and pay structure), this study examines targeted hypotheses
concerning the link between organisational culture, demographic characteristics
and the dimensions of pay satisfaction. Using a Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire
(PSQ), 219 engineers working in the construction industry in both the private and
public sectors participated in the study. The data obtained were used to analyse
the impact of demographic characteristics and organisational culture consent on
the dimensions of pay satisfaction. It is evident that demographic characteristics
affect engineers in the private sector more than engineers working the public sector. Generally, engineers in the private sector are very satisfied with the
salaries and wages policies in their sector. On the other hand, engineers in the
public sector show dissatisfaction regarding their payments, due to the problems
caused by the Law No 15 /1981 in Libya. Accordingly, engineers in this sector
claim that there is a need for a reconsideration of the law and for establishing a
schedule consistent with the current circumstances. Furthermore, the study has
not been able to find any improvement in the policies pertaining to the salary
system adopted by Libyan public construction firms.
The study has identified organisational culture as a decisive factor that is
influenced by pay satisfaction. Moreover, the study has found that all the types of
organisational culture (clan culture; adhocracy culture, hierarchy culture, and
market culture) have an impact on all the dimensions of pay satisfaction in Libyan
private construction firms. On the other hand, only the dimension of "clan culture"
has an impact on the dimensions of pay satisfaction in Libyan public construction
firms.
After studying organisational culture on pay satisfaction, the study recommends
establishing a national research centre for salaries and wages in Libya to
oversee all aspects of salaries and wages' laws as well as helping to establish
plans for the future.


Landfill gas (LFG) recovery predictions obtained using Mexico Landfill Gas Model 2.0 were compared to LFG recovery rates from the two biggest landfills in Mexico (Mexico City Landfill called "Bordo Poniente" and Monterrey City Landfill "SIMEPRODE".).The corresponding landfill characteristics (e.g. leachate levels and handling; use of covers and/or liners, compaction procedures, etc.) where analyzed and considered for the modeling in both cases, resulting in recovery efficiency rates and correction factors for each site.For Mexico City landfill, a pumping test was performed for a period of 25 days during a bidding process, started by Mexico City Government. 11 extraction wells were installed for the test along with a blower-flare system, with a capacity of 1,000 m3/hr. During the test period, individual well measurements were taken every 4 hours obtaining information such as: gas composition (CH4, CO2 and O2), vacuum pressure and gas temperature. Also a main measurement was taken every 4 hours at the blower-flare system in which obtained the total LFG flow in addition to the above information.Modeling results for Mexico City landfill show a good accuracy (below the actual recovery rate obtained during the test).For Monterrey City landfill, the recovery rates were obtained from the historical data from the LFG to energy (LFGTE) project running since 2003 by BENLESA. Only the information between 2009 and 2012 were considered due to the last expansion of the plant to 16 generators, 1.06 MW each. Modeling results for Monterrey City landfill, overestimated the actual LFG recovery for the last 4 years including 2012. The causes for the difference between modeled and actual recovery rates for both landfills were analyzed and recommendations to improve the modeling results and the recovery rates were made.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


We propose a new first-order optimization algorithm to solve high-dimensional non-smooth composite minimization problems. Typical examples of such problems have an objective that decomposes into a non-smooth empirical risk part and a non-smooth regularization penalty. The proposed algorithm, called Semi-Proximal Mirror-Prox, leverages the saddle point representation of one part of the objective while handling the other part of the objective via linear minimization over the domain. The algorithm stands in contrast with more classical proximal gradient algorithms with smoothing, which require the computation of proximal operators at each iteration and can therefore be impractical for high-dimensional problems. We establish the theoretical convergence rate of Semi-Proximal Mirror-Prox, which exhibits the optimal complexity bounds, i.e. O(1/∊2), for the number of calls to linear minimization oracle. We present promising experimental results showing the interest of the approach in comparison to competing methods.


Mock circulatory systems (MCS) are often used for the development of cardiovascular devices and for the study of the dynamics of blood flow through the cardiovascular system. However, conventional MCS suffer from the repeatability, flexibility, and precision problems because they are typically built up with passive and linear fluidic elements such as compliance chamber, manual valve, and tube. To solve these limitations, we have developed an impedance simulator, comprised of a feedback-controlled positive displacement pump that is capable of generating analogous dynamic characteristics as the conventional fluidic elements would generate, thereby replacing the conventional passive fluidic elements that often cause problems. The impedance simulator is experimentally proven to reproduce the impedance of the various discrete elements, such as resistance and compliance of the cardiovascular system model, as well as the combined impedances of them.


Multinomial choice models are fundamental for empirical modeling of economic choices among discrete alternatives. We analyze identification of binary and multinomial choice models when the choice utilities are nonseparable in observed attributes and multidimensional unobserved heterogeneity with cross-section and panel data. We show that derivatives of choice probabilities with respect to continuous attributes are weighted averages of utility derivatives in cross-section models with exogenous heterogeneity. In the special case of random coefficient models with an independent additive effect, we further characterize that the probability derivative at zero is proportional to the population mean of the coefficients. We extend the identification results to models with endogenous heterogeneity using either a control function or panel data. In time stationary panel models with two periods, we find that differences over time of derivatives of choice probabilities identify utility derivatives "on the diagonal," i.e. when the observed attributes take the same values in the two periods. We also show that time stationarity does not identify structural derivatives "off the diagonal" both in continuous and multinomial choice panel models.


We use a recently developed thermodynamically accurate mesodynamical method (Strachan and Holian 2005 Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 014301) where groups of atoms are represented by mesoparticles to characterize the shock compression and dynamical failure (spall) of a model molecular crystal. We characterize how the temperature rise caused by the shockwave depends on the specific heat of the degrees of freedom (DoFs) internal to the mesoparticles (Cint) and the strength of the coupling between the internal DoFs and the mesoparticles. We find that the temperature of the shocked material decreases with increasing Cint and decreasing coupling and quantify these effects. Our simulations also show that the threshold for plastic deformation (the Hugoniot elastic limit) depends on the properties of the internal DoFs while the threshold for failure is very insensitive to them. These results have implications on the results of all-atom MD simulations, whose classical nature leads to a significant overestimation of the specific heat of molecular materials.


Participants in the study were recreational runners (N = 244) who maintained online diaries. Once a week for approximately 3 months they indicated how far they had run each day that week, and at the end of the week, they provided measures of their psychological well-being. A series of multilevel modeling analyses (weeks nested within persons) found that well-being, measured in terms of self-esteem, life satisfaction, self-efficacy, meaning in life, and affect, was positively related to how many days people ran each week and how far they ran each week. Satisfaction with one's progress mediated relationships between well-being and the amount of running, suggesting that increases in running lead to increases in satisfaction with progress, which lead to increased well-being. These results complement and extend existing research on the psychological benefits of exercise.


Elderly Americans who live with people under age 18 have lower life evaluations than those who do not. They also experience worse emotional outcomes, including less happiness and enjoyment, and more stress, worry, and anger. In part, these negative outcomes come from selection into living with a child, especially selection on poor health, which is associated with worse outcomes irrespective of living conditions. Yet even with controls, the elderly who live with children do worse. This is in sharp contrast to younger adults who live with children, likely their own, whose life evaluation is no different in the presence of the child once background conditions are controlled for. Parents, like elders, have enhanced negative emotions in the presence of a child, but unlike elders, also have enhanced positive emotions. In parts of the world where fertility rates are higher, the elderly do not appear to have lower life evaluations when they live with children; such living arrangements are more usual, and the selection into them is less negative. They also share with younger adults the enhanced positive and negative emotions that come with children. The misery of the elderly living with children is one of the prices of the demographic transition.


The present study aimed to determine whether the general slowing hypothesis (GSH) could be extended to the motor domain by comparing cognitive and motor age-related slowing. To achieve this objective, we compared the slopes of Hick–Hyman's law and Fitts' law, in young and older adults. The general hypothesis was that, due to the dedifferentiation of cognitive and motor neural resources during aging, the slopes of Hick–Hyman's law and Fitts' law should become closer, if not similar, in older adults. Ten young adults (mean age = 26 ± 3 years) and 14 older adults (mean age = 78 ± 7 years) participated in the experiment. They had to perform a discrete rapid-aiming task and a reaction time (RT) task. In the aiming task, five index of difficulty (ID) levels were used (from three to seven bits by increments of 1.0 bit). Task difficulty was scaled via the manipulation of target distance from home position. In the RT task, five IDs were selected: 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 bits, with incompatible S–R associations. RT and movement times were recorded. Efficiency and Brinley regression functions were calculated. Age-related slowing ratios were estimated. Response times increased in both tasks in older adults. The slopes of Hick–Hyman's law and Fitts' law were steeper in older adults than in young participants. In young participants, the slope of Hick–Hyman's law was smaller than that of Fitts' law. In older adults, no difference was found. Slowing ratios observed in both tasks were equivalent. The present results extended the GSH to the motor domain. They suggested that, due to dedifferentiation of cognitive and motor neural resources, decrease in processing speed acts as a common cause to behavioral slowing in both cognitive and motor tasks.


We report the observation of superfluid quantum interference in a compact, large-area matter-wave interferometer consisting of a multiple-turn interfering path in reciprocal geometry. Utilizing the Sagnac effect from Earth's rotation in conjunction with a phase shifter made of superfluid heat current, we demonstrate that such a scheme can be extended for sensitive rotation sensing as well as for general interferometry.


In light of the introduction of compulsory seat belt use, random alcohol breath testing and speed reduction strategies, harm minimisation for victims of road trauma may be an appropriate strategy for a further reduction in the road toll. Research publications were sought to identify studies of the number of fatalities that may have been avoided by early intervention, research on legislation regarding "Good Samaritan" protection and a legal requirement to assist injured crash victims, and research either discussing strategies or making recommendations for reducing roadside death by early intervention. This review attempts to highlight the most pertinent issues and draws out the major arguments from the research currently available. Recommendations are put forward to develop and implement a first aid strategy to reduce the number of deaths that may have been avoided had basic life-saving first aid been applied at the crash scene. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see IRRD abstract no. E202589.


At the onset of modernity in the sixteenth century, literature and history were wrenched apart. Wlad Godzich, one of the animators of the turn toward literary theory, seeks to restore historical consciousness to criticism after a period of painful depression. In this sweeping study, he considers the emergence of the modern state, the institutions and disciplines of culture and learning, as well as the history of philosophy, the history of historiography, and literary history itself. He offers a powerful account of semiotics; an important critical perspective on narratology; a profound discussion of deconstruction; and many brief, practical demonstrations of why Kant, Hegel, and Heidegger remain essential resources for contemporary critical thought. The culture of literacy is on the wane, Godzich argues. Throughout the modern period, language has been the institution that provided the condition of possibility for all other institutions, from university to church to state. But the pervasive crisis of meaning we now experience is the result of a shift in the modes of production of knowledge. The culture of literacy has been faced with transformations it cannot accommodate, and the existing organization of knowledge has been challenged. By wedding literature to a reflective practice of history, Godzich leads us toward a critique of political reason, and a profound sense of how postmodernity can overcome by deftly sidestepping the modern. This book will bring to a wider audience the work of a writer who is recognized as one of the most commanding figures of his generation for range, learning, and capacity for innovation.


This paper proposes the web service education technology for postgraduate parallel computing course, e-learning students, real-time solutions and for supervising projects related to the application of parallel computing, that focuses on the fundamental principles to parallel computer architecture, multimedia, communication cost, master-worker model, parallel algorithm, web services and performance evaluations. These courses will actively engage the students in exploring the concepts of the development the parallel algorithm in visualizing the grand challenge applications of mathematical problems. In this paper, the Grid portal technology with open source parallel computing platform is developed and presented that offers the Web Based Education (WBE) dealing with partial differential equation (PDE). The increasing needs of remote and easy-to-access material, growing the aspirations in the development of a web-based service that is easily reached by potential users and easily maintain and update by administrator. The accessible and maintainable characteristics of the web-based service provided are important in providing online solvers service for education in PDE field. C Programming, PVM, MPI and Matlab Distributed Simulation are used to fabricate the system.


This paper deals with a secret language (kalamo) spoken by the Anakara clan of the Antaimoro tribe in the south-east of Madagascar. According to their own tradition, they migrated to the island between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries, from the Arabian peninsula. Their sacred writings (sorabe) are written in Arabic script in a mixture of Malagasy and Arabic. The secret language kalamo contains a large number of Arabic loanwords, as well as Malagasy words that have been coded by various phonological processes. The analysis of the loanwords helps to elucidate the origin of the kalamo, which may contain elements of a pre-existing Arabic pidgin. Their phonetic form shows that the Islamic migrants in Madagascar may indeed have come originally from the Arabian peninsula.


textabstractChild and adolescent psychopathology is a great burden to individuals, their
families, and to society at large. Children and adolescents with behavioral and
emotional problems suffer from impairments in several domains of functioning,
including difficulties with friendship, self-esteem and school functioning. Parents
often suffer from a lack of knowledge about their child's problems, which keeps
them from seeking professional help and which causes persistence of problems,
difficulties in school, poor family relations, and concurrent psychopathology.
Society is faced with the consequences of school dropout and higher workload, but
also with costs associated with mental health care, police and the judicial apparatus.
Psychopathology in children not also disturbs children's functioning, it may also
have long lasting consequences into adulthood. For example, difficulties in
sustaining intimate relationships, in educational success and in building up a
professional career.
Longitudinal studies of the developmental course of psychopathology from
childhood into adulthood are needed to determine which children are at increased
risk of lifetime psychopathology. These children should be given special attention
in prevention and interventional programs by mental health care professionals
working with children and adolescents. This may reduce long-term continuity of
psychopathology.


This paper claims that phonology should express the relationship between vowel length and obstruent voicing operationally rather than in parallel. The empirical focus in on Friulian and Milanese. The distribution of vowel length in Friulian is predictable from the underlying laryngeal specification of obstruents. Stressed vowels are long before underlyingly voiced word-final obstruents although they devoice. This situation creates opacity. In the light of the interaction between vowel lengthening and final devoicing, this paper argues in favor of Harmonic Serialism, a version of Optimality Theory that combines constraint ranking with serial derivations. I demonstrate that only in Harmonic Serialism does vowel length naturally follow from the independent need to satisfy NoVoicedCoda and FootBinarityμ, instead of assuming that vowel lengthening is the consequence of whether or not obstruents project a mora depending on their laryngeal specification. The facts of Milanese are also considered. Milanese patterns as Friulian except that final devoicing is not categorical. I use Serial Variation (Kimper 2011) to solve the problem of opacity and variation in the realization or not of final devoicing. An alternative approach to Milanese that assumes gradual devoicing is also suggested. This analysis combines Harmonic Serialism and turbid output representations (Goldrick 2001, van Oostendorp 2008), and allows us to express formally the difference between Friulian and Milanese in terms of categorical versus gradual devoicing.


In this thesis, a new framework has been proposed, designed and developed
for creating efficient and cost effective logistics chains for long items within the
building industry. The building industry handles many long items such as pipes,
profiles and so on. The handling of these long items is quite complicated and
difficult because they are bulky, unstable and heavy. So it is not cost effective
and efficient to handle them manually. Existing planning frameworks ignore
these special requirements of such goods and are not planned for handling
these goods. That leads to that many additional manual handling steps are
currently required to handle long items. Therefore, it is very important to
develop a new framework for creating the efficient and cost-effective logistics
chain for long items.
To propose such a new framework, the expert interviews were conducted to
gain the fully understanding about the customer requirements. The experts from
all stages of the building industry supply chain were interviewed. The data
collected from the expert interviews has been analysed and the meaningful
findings about the customer requirements have been applied as the valuable
inputs for the proposition of the new framework.
To have fully knowledge about current practices, all existing planning
frameworks have been analysed and evaluated using SWOT analysis. The
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the current planning
frameworks have been comparatively analysed and evaluated. The findings
from SWOT analysis have been used for proposing, designing and developing
the new framework.
The great efforts have been made during the implementation stage. The six
different key parameters for a successful implementation have been identified.
They are:
• Improvement Process with Employees
• Control of the Improvements
• Gifts/Money for the Improvements and Additional Work
• KAIZEN Workshops
• Motivation of the Employees for Improvements
• Presentation of the Results
Among these six parameters, it has been found that KAIZEN workshops is a
very effective way for creating an efficient and cost-effective logistics chain for
long items.
It is believed that the new framework can be theoretically used for the planning
of logistics that handle long items and commercial goods. This framework can
also be used to plan all kinds of in-house logistics processes from the incoming
goods, storage, picking, delivery combination areas and through to the outgoing
goods area.
The achievements of this project are as follows (1) the new framework for
creating efficient and cost-effective logistics chains for long items, (2) the data
collection and the data evaluation at the preliminary planning, (3) the decision
for one planning variant already at the end of the structure planning, (4) the
analysis and evaluation of customer requirements, (5) the consideration and
implementation of the customer requirements in the new framework, (6) the
creation of figures and tables as planning guideline, (7) the research and further
development of Minomi with regards to long items, (8) the research on the
information flow, (9) the classification of the improvements and the improvement
handling at the implementation, (10) the identification of key parameters for a
successful implementation of the planning framework.
This framework has been evaluated both theoretically and through a case study
of a logistics system planning for handling long items and commercial goods. It
has been found that the new framework is theoretically sound and practically
valuable. It can be applied to creating the logistics system for long items,
especially for building industry.


This thesis seeks to explore the hybrid nature of Social Enterprises (SEs) by
investigating how they incorporate co-existence of social and economic goals and
embed in multiple institutional domains. By synthesising insights from three literature domains - hybrid organisations, institutional views and strategic management - this thesis advances the understanding about the hybrid nature of SEs mainly in two ways. First, it examines the extent to which managerial tensions may result in hybrid SEs due to co-existence of values and influences from pluralistic institutional
domains. Second, it explores how such organisations mobilise resources and capabilities in order to respond to internal tensions. The three research questions
addressed in the thesis are: i) What is the nature of SE growth in Bangladesh?; ii) How does the institutional context influence SE growth in Bangladesh? and iii) What role do SEs' resources and capabilities play in responding to the institutional influences? The study adopts a multiple case study approach, collecting data from eleven Bangladeshi SEs. With rapid rise of hybrid forms of SEs in Bangladesh, the
findings of the study have both practical and policy implications. The insights on SEs' internal tensions can enable Bangladeshi policy makers to realise the needs and challenges of hybrid SEs in the country. This may aid the development of customised policies, incentives and support systems that are required to facilitate the growth of such organisations. The insights on the management of tensions can aid the leaders and managers in hybrid SEs to respond to their internal tensions more
appropriately.The study identifies six operational models through analysis of the
social goal, economic mission, income source, governance structure and institutional setting of the studied cases. These models are: SEs that are fully reliant on grant, NGOs with trading elements, NGOs with full reliance on trading, social business
es, public and private limited corporations, and NGOs with conventional subsidiary enterprise. The findings further showed that the studied SEs have pursued social and economic goals simultaneously through adoption of four growth strategies: expansion, diversification, autonomous growth and partnership. The study identifies a
number of competing pressures originating from multiple institutional domains which
have affected the way they accomplished their social and economic goals. This interplay between SEs' dual goals and institutional influences led to ten different tensions inside the studied cases. The management of these tensions, at the functional level, involved orchestration of SEs' resources and capabilities in a particular way.
The specific ways of mobilisation of resources and capabilities ultimately led
the SEs towards five different growth paths: i) forced adoption/coercive adoption, ii) proactive response, iii) adapt, iv) influence, and v) side-stepping.


This study has sought to address the nature of the evolution of sports policy in ROC/Taiwan
since 1973, within the context of a strategic relations approach to the analysis of policy. These
aims have been addressed by the development of the analysis of the ROC/Taiwan's position in
international relations and its implications for sports policy; of the internal structure and history
of the state at national level and their implications for national level policy; and finally, analysis
of the local government context. In each case explanation sought to identify both the structural
context of policy development and the explanation provided by individual policy actors.
The empirical analysis of policy draws on the evidence provided by key actors in the
ROC/Taiwan state who have played a significant role in enabling sports policy output. In order
to understand sports policy mechanisms since 1973, politicians' perceptions (evidenced in a
review of parliamentary debates from 1984 to 2002) provide a useful empirical picture of sports
policy. Other data sources employed included government reports, and press accounts as well as
interviews with policy actors. The interviewees were drawn from the central government civil
service, local government, the national governing bodies of sport and the business community
(n--21). Qualitative data analysis software (QSR) was used to manage and organise the data in
an inductive and deductive thematic analysis.
The theoretical framework on which the study draws involves a recognition that the state is
influenced by particular interest groups (characterised in the thesis as the neo-pluralist position),
in which elites (the neo-elitist position) often, though not exclusively, drawn from business
interests (the neo-Marxist position) are in evidence. The particular make-up of these groups will
vary according to the issues concerned at the particular point of time in the history of the
ROC/Taiwan state on which one focuses. In the early stages of the ROC/Taiwan state, the
military elite was closely allied with the business elite'and with ethnic interest groups
(Mainlander Chinese groups rather than native Taiwanese). Such political and ethnic divisions
subsequently had an impact on party political affiliations and on the geographic location of
facilities and services as the North and Souih of"the' island, and those cities under the
Kuomintang and Democratic Progressive Party control, vied with one another to capture
resources.


As every crisis, current COVID19 pandemic caused economic setback, brings not only heavy losses for all the countries, but opportunity to succeed also. The opportunity and success not require heavy governmental spending but termination of various practices harming both business climate and public morale. Deep deregulation and respect of freedom of contract, termination of violation of freedom of private choice under pretext of 'fighting discrimination' will benefit the courageous society and will pave the way for lasting prosperity.


Bland, Nick. The Magnificent Tree . Illus. Stephen Michael King. Toronto: Scholastic Canada, 2013. Print. "Bonny and Pop were always bursting with ideas. Bonny's ideas are clever yet simple, Pop's are "big, brave and brilliant." Nick Bland's direct, down-to-earth text is constantly "set up" by Stephen King's wildly inventive illustrations. Thus, when Bonny and Pop decide they wish to encourage the birds to stay nearby, they set about making a tree, each in their own way. Pop's method is, as you may guess, big and brave, indeed his idea is so complex "it could not fit in his head all at once". Bonny's is simple- it basically fits into the palm of her hand. The results are fantastic, and simple, and "Just perfect." This seems a simple story, but it has so much wit, gentleness and creativity in it, and so much to discover- both obvious and implied, that there are hours of pleasure in it. Each way of looking at life, Bonny's or Pop's, and each unique creation gives a text that is simple and clever and illustrations that are both bold and brave. This is the first time that the Australian author and illustrator have worked together.  May the partnership continue. Highly Recommended: 4 out of  4 stars Reviewer: Andrea Deakin Andrea has been involved with books since she was class librarian in Primary School, Student Librarian in Grammar School, student librarian for the Education Faculty when she was a student, and school librarian in schools both in England and in Canada, except for the first two years in Canada where she arrived in 1959. When she retired from teaching ( English and History) she was invited to review in February 1971, and continued to review for press, radio, and finally on the Internet (Deakin Newsletter from Okanagan College) until she retired in 2011. Forty years seemed sufficient- although she still cannot keep her nose out of good children's and YA fare.


In a traditional Ames room, perception of size is distorted by the observer's assumptions about parallel and perpendicular lines. For the illusion to be convincing, the room must be viewed from one vantage point. Using an immersive virtual reality system, we generated a dynamic version of the Ames room illusion. Subjects were free to move around and yet they experienced gross failures of size constancy. Head position and orientation were tracked to generate binocular views of a virtual scene, presented in a head mounted display. As the subject walked, the entire scene was scaled (expanded or contracted) about the cyclopean point (midway between the eyes). The instantaneous change in scale was not perceptible. Subjects compared the size of a reference object viewed in one part of the room (where the scale of the entire room was small) with the size of a test object viewed in another part of the room (where the scale was up to 3 times larger). Neither test nor reference object were visible as the subject walked between the two locations (2.5m apart) but the rest of the room could be viewed freely. Using a forced choice procedure, we found that subjects perceived the test and reference objects to be the same size when their sizes actually differed by more than a factor of two. Under normal conditions (when the scale of the room remained constant), subjects were able to make correct size matches. In the dynamic Ames room, the subject's assumption that the room remains a constant size has a powerful influence on size judgements, overcoming consistent and correct information from binocular disparities and motion parallax.


The bulk of Philippine radical politics contemporary writing on the Communist Party of the Philippines' (CCP-ML) military arm, the New People's Army, should not diminish the fact that the Party has assigned importance to the urban sectors. In reality, the studentry is among the urban-based sectors the Party has given attention to. In this context, this paper aims to outline how the so-called Philippine student movement has come to occupy a central role in the CPP-ML's politics and the historical impact of Party politics on the student sector. Initially, the student sector was viewed with extreme suspicion and it was only in the 1960s when the University of the Philippines spearheaded a nationalist campaign that the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas gave due importance to the studentry. The radicals were Party members and were tasked to form the Party's student mass organization, Kabataang Makabayan (KM). Tension spiked between the senior cadres and the youthful recruits and the expelled mostly young members created the Communist Party of the Philippines with KM as their solid mass organization. The role of students and the youth in the revolutionary process was education and propaganda. However, there came a rejection of the academe when a reconceptualization of the cultural struggle meant that the students needed to learn from the masses. Urban-based "revolutionary storms" still ranked second to rural resistance and when Martial Law was declared, the student movement was weakened. The inclusion of the studentry into the CCP-ML allowed a significant growth of the Party but it had also stunted the development of the student sector and thereby limited its contributions to the general struggle for social change. The full contribution of the student movement to the overall struggle remains undeveloped until serious rethinking be conducted and a much broader areas of growth defined.


The enzymic oxidn. of isoniazid by the catalase-peroxidase of Mycobacterium tuberculosi was studied. The reaction products suggest two reaction pathways involving both electrophilic and radical species. Labeling expts. are consistent with a reaction mechanism involving the formation of an acyldiimide intermediate followed by decompn. to the corresponding aldehyde and peracid. The results suggest that isoniazid is oxidized by the catalase-peroxidase to a reactive species that may act by inactivating an essential enzyme of M. tuberculosis. [on SciFinder (R)]


This paper proposes simple, data-driven, optimal rate-adaptive inferences on a structural function in semi-nonparametric conditional moment restrictions. We consider two types of hypothesis tests based on leave-one-out sieve estimators. A structure- space test (ST) uses a quadratic distance between the structural functions of endogenous variables; while an image-space test (IT) uses a quadratic distance of the conditional moment from zero. For both tests, we analyze their respective classes of nonparametric alternative models that are separated from the null hypothesis by the minimax rate of testing. That is, the sum of the type I and the type II errors of the test, uniformly over the class of nonparametric alternative models, cannot be improved by any other test. Our new minimax rate of ST dii¬€ers from the known minimax rate of estimation in nonparametric instrumental variables (NPIV) models. We propose computationally simple and novel exponential scan data-driven choices of sieve regularization parameters and adjusted chi-squared critical values. The resulting tests attain the minimax rate of testing, and hence optimally adapt to the unknown smoothness of functions and are robust to the unknown degree of ill-posedness (endogeneity). Data-driven coni¬ dence sets are easily obtained by inverting the adaptive ST. Monte Carlo studies demonstrate that our adaptive ST has good size and power properties in i¬ nite samples for testing monotonicity or equality restrictions in NPIV models. Empirical applications to nonparametric multi-product demands with endogenous prices are presented.


Metal–organic frameworks are chemically versatile materials and are excellent candidates for many applications from carbon capture to drug delivery, through hydrogen storage. While most studies so far focus on the crystalline MOFs, there has been a recent shift to the study of their disordered states, such as defective structures, glasses, gels, and very recently liquid MOFs. Following the publication of the melting mechanism of zeolitic imidazolate framework ZIF-4, we use here molecular simulation in order to investigate the similarities and differences with two other zeolitic imidazolate frameworks, ZIF-8 and ZIF-zni. We perform first-principles molecular dynamics simulations to study the melting phenomena and the nature of the liquids obtained, focusing on structural characterization at the molecular scale, dynamics of the species, and thermodynamics of the solid–liquid transition. We show how the retention of chemical configuration, the changes in the coordination network, and the variation of the por...


The momentum of urbanization and its impacts are so massive that we must face up to this trend. In view of the existing cognitive, technical, economic and institutional path dependencies, a policy of business as usual – i.e. an unstructured, quasi-automatic urbanization – would lead to a non-sustainable 'world cities society'. Only if cities and urban societies are sufficiently empowered can they make use of the opportunities for sustainability and successfully follow the urban transformation pathways. The success or failure of the Great Transformation will be decided in the cities. The WBGU discusses the relevant conditions for the success of this transformation in this report.


Background We aimed to investigate the awareness of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among high-risk individuals, including men who have sex with men (MSM) and medical personnel (MP) in Korea through a cross-sectional survey, identify possible obstacles hindering their access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Methods In 2016, the first questionnaire survey was sent to randomly selected MSM and MP. To compare the changes in attitudes and knowledge of MSM, a second questionnaire survey was conducted in August 2017. Results More than half of MSM (61.3% in 2016, 88.6% in 2017) were aware of PrEP. However, MP who offered PrEP had less knowledge regarding PrEP (23.4%). The background knowledge and experience with PrEP among MSM and MP in this survey was low (3.4% in 2016 and 5.7% in 2017, 1.9% in MP). The major obstacles that MSM reported were lack of insurance coverage (29% in 2016 and 32% in 2017), concern regarding adverse effects of PrEP (19% and 21%), and risk of exposing HIV-positive status to other people (15% and 18%). Among MP, lack of knowledge regarding the efficacy of PrEP was the most common obstacle (30%), followed by lack of insurance coverage (22%), and concern regarding adverse effects (20%). Conclusion Our study showed that PrEP is required among MSM in Korea; however, most MP were not aware of PrEP. Lack of insurance coverage and knowledge regarding PrEP were major hindrances in the access to PrEP; therefore, further studies on how to make PrEP information more accessible are needed to help prevent HIV infection.


In order to maintain market position, one of the critical issues facing companies is how they can improve their commitment management. In this paper, the concept of commitment management is used to understand how suppliers and customers create mutual commitments in business agreements, and how these commitments are fulfilled. In a number of empirical case studies, commitment management problems have been the direct consequence of deficiencies in the infrastructural support. One example of such lacking infrastructural support are IT systems intended to support this commitment management process. This is of particular interest in a context of commitments created in parallel business transactions that compete for the same delivery capacity. The aim of the paper is to describe, analyse and propose solutions to some of these problems. This paper proposes a necessary extension to a framework for business interaction between suppliers and customers. This extension is based on business action theory, workpractice theory and ideas from yield management.


Large datasets often contain missing data, which needs to be dealt with when visualizing the data, either by deletion or by depicting missing data in a certain way. These visualizations are often interactive. Animated transitions can be implemented to smoothen the switch between views. In the context of the IKON project, which goal it is to facilitate knowledge transfer, animated transitions and missing data visualizations for a line chart will get conceptualized, implemented and evaluated. The general goal of the thesis is to enhance the way how users work with visualizations consisting missing data. Additionally, more information is tried be to collected regarding the user's interaction with the chosen missing data visualizations. This thesis explores the theory behind missing data, why data can be missing and what can be done to handle missing, including imputation methods and visualization techniques. It also examines already existing visualization techniques and studies, presenting their findings regarding preference of visualization types and different criteria such as accuracy and confidence in data. Next, this thesis delves into the theory of animated transitions for data graphics. This includes the different types of transitions in data graphics and rules which should be followed to create successful animated transitions. Two different studies about animated transitions are be presented and their results are summarized, showing the possible positive effect animations can have for transitions. Building on the theory of missing data and animated transitions in addition to the presented existing studies and the goal of the thesis, design requirements are set up. In the implementation "dashing" is chosen as missing data visualization and slow and simple-looking transitions are added to the line chart of the IKON project. For evaluation a pilot study is conducted in which three participants interact with the implementation. It finds that all participants prefer having an animated transition over a static one. They were able to discern missing data from existing data. The pilot study, however, did also suggest that confidence in the visualization with missing data was high since participants were not hesitant to trust the missing data visualization. With the pilot study conducted and an implementation in place this thesis presents a first glimpse on how animated transitions for missing data visualizations can be implemented, serving as a possible foundation for further studies.


This study utilized GIS and statistical methods to map the spatial variability of nitrate and related groundwater constituents in 30 counties above the Seymour Aquifer, analyze temporal patterns of nitrate pollution, identify probable sources of pollution, and recommend water development strategies to minimize exposure to nitrate and reduce future aquifer contamination. Nitrate concentrations in excess of 44 mg/L (US EPA limit) were commonly observed in the Seymour Aquifer region, especially in the central agricultural belt. Data indicated that this is an ongoing problem in the Seymour Aquifer and that agricultural activity and rural septic systems are the likely sources of the nitrate. Inconclusive results emphasized the need for a more comprehensive spatial and temporal water quality monitoring.


On September 20, 2000, Jonathan Weill, a Wall Street Journal reporter in Dallas, Texas, published a piece questioning the profitability and accounting of Enron Corporation. He based his article on a study of Enron's financial statements and conversations with staff at the Financial Accounting Standards' Board (FASB), accounting professors, financial analysts, and others. "It took me a while to figure out everything I needed to... It probably took a good month or so. There was a lot of noise in the financial statements." His piece was read by James Chanos, founder and president of Kynikos Associates, a firm that specialized in short-selling. How did Weill and Chanos figure Enron out when so many others were pushing up the stock price? How did they know to do that kind of analysis? Only the answer is simple: through study, application, and more application. You cannot develop financial analysis expertise overnight. Our objective in this document, however, is to present a very basic structure for financial analysis that will help move you toward that goal. We focus on what to look for in the financial statements, how to do basic ratio analysis, what financial forecasting entails, and how analysts use financial statement data in valuation. We intentionally focus on the mechanistic nature of financial analysis because these tools are fundamental building blocks common to the analysis of most firms. Without understanding this basic structure the unique issues facing a firm would be difficult to interpret.


Although eicosanoids are involved in lung carcinogenesis they were poorly investigated in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALf) in patients with primary lung cancer. In this study 17 patients with diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer, 10 healthy smokers and 12 healthy nonsmokers were included. The levels of cys-LTs, 8-isoprostane, LTB4 and PGE2 were measured before any treatment in the EBC of all patients and in BALf of patients with lung cancer by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. 8-isoprostane, LTB4, cys-LTs and PGE2 were detectable in the EBC and BALf. There were no significant differences between healthy smokers and nonsmokers in concentrations of all measured mediators. Compared with both healthy controls, patients with diagnosed lung cancer displayed higher concentrations of cys-LTs (p < 0.05) and LTB4 (p < 0.05) in EBC. In patients with lung cancer, the mean concentrations of all measured mediators were significantly higher in BALf compared with EBC and there was a significant, positive correlation between concentration of cys-LTs, LTB4 and 8-isoprostane in BALf and their concentrations in the EBC (r = 0.64, p < 0.05, r = 0.59, p < 0.05, r = 0.53, p < 0.05 respectively). Since cys-LT, LTB4 and 8-isoprostane concentrations in EBC from patients with lung cancer reflect their concentrations in BALf, they may serve as a possible non-invasive method to monitor the disease and to assess the effectiveness of therapy.


Since the early 2000s, research by Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and their coathors has revolutionized our understanding of income and wealth inequality. In this paper, I highlight some of the key empirical facts from this research and comment on how they relate to macroeconomics and to economic theory more generally. One of the key links between data and theory is the Pareto distribution. The paper describes simple mechanisms that give rise to Pareto distributions for income and wealth and considers the economic forces that influence top inequality over time and across countries. For example, it is in this context that the role of the famous r-g expression is best understood.


Coexistence in schools inevitably carries a higher risk of conflicts among peers. This fact can be detrimental to the well-being and academic achievement of the students. In many developed countries, about 90% of the pupils in compulsory secondary education report witnessing assaults among peers. In this regard, recognizing, controlling and managing emotions is key to ensure a healthy and effective interaction with others. Negative emotions, such as anger, can trigger conflicts or even episodes of violence if not regulated properly. Interactive tools, such as specialized software's, have shown high rates of efficacy for the training of different kinds of competences like the regulation of emotions. The aim of the present work is to describe the Happy Emotional Education Program and its effects over a sample of secondary school students. This software focuses in the training of emotional competences of the students with the objective of solving conflicts in a more assertive way. The design employed in the present work was a quasiexperimental design with pretest and posttest with a control group. Results show that Happy Emotional Education Program contributes to the management of emotions and the absence of negative affect or anxiety in a significant way. Additionally, the constant use of this interactive tool enhances motivation and the learning process of students. Results also indicate the importance of assessing the effects of the program in the long term. This would enable researchers to further assess the effects of the program over those emotional competences that are more resistant to change given its stable nature.


There are economic and knowledge-based challenges that must be addressed for indoor farms to be viable in the United States despite their potential benefits. A mixed-methods approach was used to identify the needs of specialty crop growers and stakeholders interested in or currently using indoor propagation environments to grow seedlings, cuttings, and tissue-cultured plants. An online survey evaluated specialty crop growers' current use of indoor plant propagation environments and their needs related to indoor plant propagation. A focus group was then conducted to further understand the needs for indoor plant propagation by stakeholders. Industry participants were largely motivated to adopt indoor propagation environments to reduce crop losses ("shrinkage"), increase productivity per unit of land area, ensure faster germination or rooting, improve plant quality, and profit from anticipated economic benefits. Research and education priority areas identified by stakeholders included economic costs and benefits (including capital investment and energy costs), improved crop quality, production time, uniformity, reduced shrinkage, and strategies to improve light management indoors. Based on the results, research efforts must determine and prioritize the most important economic considerations and production advantages to fill important gaps in knowledge about indoor plant propagation.


In this paper we discuss a new automatic speech recognition ASR approach based on independent processing and recombination of several feature streams In this framework it is assumed that the speech signal is represented in terms of multiple input streams each input stream representing a di erent characteristic of the signal If the streams are entirely synchronous they may be accommodated simply as they usually are in state of the art systems However as discussed in the paper it may be required to permit some degree of asynchrony between streams This paper introduces the basic framework of a statistical structure that can accommodate multiple asynchronous observation streams possibly exhibiting di erent frame rates This approach will then be applied to the particular case of multi band speech recognition and will be shown to yield signi cantly better noise robustness


Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are powerful architectures to model sequential data, due to their capability to learn short and long-term dependencies between the basic elements of a sequence. Nonetheless, popular tasks such as speech or images recognition, involve multi-dimensional input features that are characterized by strong internal dependencies between the dimensions of the input vector. We propose a novel quaternion recurrent neural network (QRNN), alongside with a quaternion long-short term memory neural network (QLSTM), that take into account both the external relations and these internal structural dependencies with the quaternion algebra. Similarly to capsules, quaternions allow the QRNN to code internal dependencies by composing and processing multidimensional features as single entities, while the recurrent operation reveals correlations between the elements composing the sequence. We show that both QRNN and QLSTM achieve better performances than RNN and LSTM in a realistic application of automatic speech recognition. Finally, we show that QRNN and QLSTM reduce by a maximum factor of 3.3x the number of free parameters needed, compared to real-valued RNNs and LSTMs to reach better results, leading to a more compact representation of the relevant information.


Analysis of circulating tumor cells from prostate cancer patients reveals a mechanism that contributes to treatment failure. Cancer drugs often lose their effectiveness because tumors acquire genetic changes that confer drug resistance. Ideally, patients would be switched to a different drug before tumor growth resumes, but this requires early knowledge of how resistance arose. Miyamoto et al. have developed a noninvasive method to spot resistance by sequencing RNA transcripts in single circulating tumor cells (CTCs) (see the Perspective by Nanus and Giannakakou). For example, in prostate cancer patients, drug resistance was triggered by activation of the Wnt signaling pathway. But CTCs are rare and fragile, and the technology needs further development before use in clinical practice. D. T. Miyamoto, Y. Zheng, B. S. Wittner, R. J. Lee, H. Zhu, K. T. Broderick, R. Desai, D. B. Fox, B. W. Brannigan, J. Trautwein, K. S. Arora, N. Desai, D. M. Dahl, L. V. Sequist, M. R. Smith, R. Kapur, C.-L. Wu, T. Shioda, S. Ramaswamy, D. T. Ting, M. Toner, S. Maheswaran, D. A. Haber, RNA-Seq of single prostate CTCs implicates noncanonical Wnt signaling in antiandrogen resistance. Science 349, 1351–1356 (2015). [Abstract] [Full Text] D. M. Nanus, P. Giannakakou, Cancer therapies that are gone with the Wnt. Science 349, 1283–1284 (2015). [Summary] [Full Text]


One of the main issues in the long-form census controversy concerned the relationship between science and politics. Through analysis of the arguments and underlying assumptions of four influential and exemplary interventions that were made in the name of science, this paper outlines a normative account of this relationship. The paper nuances the science-protective ideals that critics invoked and argues that such conceptual resources are needed if science is to be protected from undue political encroachment. However, in their zeal to defend the rights of science critics claimed for it more than its due, eclipsing the value dimension of policy decisions and failing to respect the role of politics as the rightful locus of decision making for value issues. An adequate normative account of the relationship between science and politics in public policy must be capable not only of protecting science from politics but also of protecting politics from science.


This is a resource for animal researchers who need to complete and alternatives search for an IACUC protocol. More information can be found on the Cornell IACUC page here: https://www.iacuc.cornell.edu/


Vol. 7-1996 Economic agents tend to maximize their welfare given a set of information, and for investors, accounting data constitute an essential element of the set. Moreover, if this set is homogeneous, comparisons can easily be established, thus inflecting positively on allocation of resources. Although there is an economic agreement endorsed by the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, obstacles remain to be overcome, so as to fulfill the objectives of the agreement. It is argued in the present paper that, harmonization of accounting would, enhance the pace toward increasing trade and investment between these states. The present state of applying nondomestic accounting practices, is seen as a force which has the potentials of encouraging the Gulf states to develop their customized accounting practices. However, some forces may work in the opposite direction.


The central star of the planetary nebula (CSPN) M 2-29 shows an extraordinary R Coronae Borealis-like fading event in its optical lightcurve. The only other CSPN to show these events are CPD-56 ◦ 8032 (Hen 3-1333) and V651 Mon (NGC 2346). Dust cloud formation in the line of sight appears responsible but the exact triggering mechanism is not well understood. Understanding how planetary nebulae (PNe) trigger dust obscuration events may help understand the same process in a wide range of objects including Population-I WC9 stars, symbiotic stars and perhaps asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars with long secondary periods (LSPs). A binary scenario involving an eccentric, wide companion that triggers dust formation via interaction at periastron is a potential explanation that has been suggested for LSP variables. Model fits to the lightcurves of CPD-56 ◦ 8032 and M 2-29 show the dust forms in excess of 70 AU at the inner edge of a dust disk. In the case of CPD-56 ◦ 8032 this radius is far too large to coincide with a binary companion trigger, although a binary may have been responsible for the formation of the dust disk. We find no direct evidence to support previous claims of binarity in M 2-29 either from the OGLE lightcurve or deep medium-resolution VLT FLAMES spectroscopy of the CSPN. We classify the CSPN as Of(H) with Teff = 50 ± 10 kK and log g = 4.0 ± 0.3. We find a mean distance of 7.4 ± 1.8 kpc to M 2-29 at which the MV = −0.9 mag CSPN could potentially hide a subgiant luminosity or fainter companion. A companion would help explain the multiple similarities with D � -type symbiotic stars whose outer nebulae are thought to be bona-fide PNe. The 7.4 kpc distance, oxygen abundance of 8.3 dex and Galactic coordinates (� = 4.0, b = −3.0) prove that M 2-29 is a Galactic Bulge PN and not a Halo PN as commonly misconceived.


Background: The knee is one of the most common places to develop a primary sarcoma. Malignant bone tumors are rare conditions that may be encountered by non-oncologic surgeons only a few times in their careers, but a delay in diagnosis or a misinterpretation of data can have limb and life-threatening consequences.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 4 cases of knee joint problems. Patients admitted to the hospital between June 2016 to March 2019. We identified 2 males and 2 females with knee joint malignancy, aged 38 ~76 years. The diagnosis was confirmed by histopathology. All 4 patients underwent total knee joint tumor resection with prosthesis replacement.

Results: The interventions were successfully completed without vascular and nerve injury, but in 1 case, the wound healing was delayed. Knee function was recovered satisfactorily after 24-37 months of follow-up. At the last follow-up, the knee flexion angle range for the 4 patients was 95°, 100°, 100°, and 110°, respectively, and the delay of knee extension was 5°, 10°, 10° and 5°, respectively; tissue tumor association scores were 53%, 77%, 80%, and 83%. Quadriceps muscle strength was grade 4 in two cases and grade 5 in the other two cases. No tumor recurrence or metastasis was detected, and no death occurred.

Conclusion: We identified 4 cases of malignant tumor involving the knee in which total and partial excision and reconstruction were performed.


Every day, everywhere in the world, people deal with sickness (both physical and mental), and must choose ways to address the illnesses from which they suffer. Some will go to doctors, take medicine, have surgery. Others will do nothing. Still others try a combination of prayer and medical attention. And some communities rely on religious, spiritual, and ritual healing methods that employ various techniques to heal their loved ones. Here, a renowned anthropologist takes the reader on a tour of the myriad spiritual healing traditions from around the world. Lessons from communities in rural Ireland, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, Israel, Russia, Africa, and the U.S. will provide a road map for readers as they navigate through the many traditions, rituals, and sacred mysteries of healing. Eleven degrees south of the equator in Africa, members of a small, mud-hut village gathered around a little African shrine-just a forked pole-to heal a member of their community. Holy things were being done. Music played. The old medicine men sang, and everyone joined in. The crowd was intent on singing-out a harmful spirit from the body of a sick woman. Would the ritual work? Would the woman be healed? The stories and anecdotes found here will enlighten readers about alternative, non-medical approaches to healing a variety of illnesses through spirit and ritual. The stories, told from first-hand accounts in many cases, are fascinating and will move readers to a greater understanding of the role of religion and the spirit in the life of the body. Anyone facing an illness of any sort, or caring for a loved one, will find strength in these pages, and possibly new approaches that engage the mind, the spirit, and the body in the fight against sickness.


In this study, the effect of competition on stand, tree, and wood structure was examined in the context of the viability of high-density eucalyptus plantations for the production of quality timber. The study was based on a 4-year-old Eucalyptus grandis trial planted in south-eastern Queensland in March 1999 by Greenfield Resource Options P/L. Stocking densities of 250, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 stems/ha allowed growth traits in extreme stockings to be compared. High stocking densities led to greater stand growth and also greater inequality in tree size. The largest trees in high stocking densities were smaller than those in low stocking densities, however high stocking densities had more trees in the largest cohort and they were more uniform in size. Consequently the total stem volume of the largest 1,000 st/ha was similar for all stocking densities, and the total stem volume of the remaining trees increased with stocking density. The allocation of tree biomass skewed away from crown production and towards stem production as stocking density (general competition) increased and as stem diameter (competitive status) decreased. Dominant trees in high stocking densities had similar aboveground biomass accumulation per unit leaf area compared to dominant trees in low stocking densities, but had a larger proportion of biomass allocated to the stem when compared to the crown. Dominant trees in high stocking densities therefore had similar tree growth efficiency but better stem growth efficiency than dominant trees in low stocking densities. Increased competition appeared to restrict the growth of dominant trees by restricting resource capture rather than by reducing the efficiency of growth, since the tree growth efficiency of dominant trees was not affected by competition. Examination of the stem wood structure revealed that the largest trees in high stocking densities exhibited more desirable wood properties including more uniform wood density, less variability in wood anatomy, and better branch-shed (hence low knot content) than the largest trees in the low stocking densities. This suggests that densely stocked plantations could be of better value for timber production than lightly stocked plantations. The results illustrate the importance of including stand structure in forest research since a failure to do so will underestimate the productivity of the largest trees in densely stocked stands and does not adequately account for the structural benefits of high stocking density. The findings are based on a young plantation, however they indicate that densely stocked plantations could be used to provide an early cash return from a harvested biomass crop with no detrimental effect on a retained solid hardwood crop of the largest 1,000 st/ha. The results of this study indicate that the perception that densely stocked plantations cannot produce an equivalent volume of sawlogs of similar quality wood to that produced from lightly stocked plantations is incorrect.


Training convolutional neural networks (CNNs) requires intense compute throughput and high memory bandwidth. Especially, convolution layers account for the majority of execution time of CNN training, and GPUs are commonly used to accelerate these layer workloads. GPU design optimization for efficient CNN training acceleration requires the accurate modeling of how their performance improves when computing and memory resources are increased. We present DeLTA, the first analytical model that accurately estimates the traffic at each GPU memory hierarchy level, while accounting for the complex reuse patterns of a parallel convolution algorithm. We demonstrate that our model is both accurate and robust for different CNNs and GPU architectures. We then show how this model can be used to carefully balance the scaling of different GPU resources for efficient CNN performance improvement.


Adolescents with conduct disorder frequently engage in aggressive and disruptive behaviors. Often these behaviors are controlled or managed through behavioral or other psychosocial interventions. However, such interventions do not always ensure lasting changes in an adolescent's response repertoire so that he or she does not engage in aggression when exposed to the same situations that gave rise to the behavior previously. Mindfulness training provides a treatment option that helps an individual focus and attend to conditions that give rise to maladaptive behavior.Using a multiple baseline design,we assessed the effectiveness of a mindfulness training procedure in modulating the aggressive behavior of three adolescents who were at risk of expulsion from school because of this behavior. The adolescents were able to learn the mindfulness procedure successfully and use it in situations that previously occasioned aggressive behavior.This led to large decreases in the aggression of all three individuals. Follow-up data showed that the adolescents were able to keep their aggressive behavior at socially acceptable levels in school through to graduation. Maladaptive behaviors, other than aggression, that the adolescents chose not to modify, showed no consistent change during mindfulness training, practice, and follow-up.


[1] A satellite-derived (NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) cloud climatology over the Scandinavian region covering the period 1991–2001 has been used to evaluate the performance of cloud simulations of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute Rossby Centre regional climate model (RCA3). Several methods of adapting the satellite and model data sets to allow a meaningful comparison were applied. RCA3-simulated total cloud cover was shown to agree within a few percent of the satellite-retrieved cloud amounts on seasonal and annual timescales. However, a substantial imbalance between the respective RCA3 contributions from low-, medium- and high-level clouds was seen. The differences from satellite-derived contributions were +2.4% for high-level clouds, −5.2% for medium-level clouds and +4.0% for low-level clouds. In addition, an overrepresentation of cloud categories with high optical thicknesses was seen for all vertical cloud groups, particularly during the summer season. Some specific features of the geographical distribution of cloudiness were also noticed. Most pronounced were the excess of cloud amounts over the Scandinavian mountain range and a deficit leeward of the mountains. The overall results imply problems with the RCA3-modeled surface radiation budget components by causing reduced incoming solar radiation and increased downwelling longwave radiation.


This presentation explores how convicted or charged sexual offenders within a Probation Approved Premises (probation hostel) experience life within the hostel in terms of group structures.

The presentation considers the findings of an ethnographic case study of a probation hostel which drew upon the work of Sykes and Matza, Goffman and Foucault. The hostel accommodated medium-high and high risk offenders, and was mixed in terms of the offences that residents had committed and also by gender. The fieldwork was conducted over two years, within which time participant observation and in-depth interviewing was undertaken; paying attention to the social interactions of staff and residents of the hostel.

There is little prior research undertaken on the practice of hostels, the experiences of offenders in hostels or work undertaken with sex offenders within hostels. The findings of this study are intended to address this neglect. Key findings presented include the manner in which sex offenders group together in the hostel, the function and use of the group by members and non-members. The sex offender group structure is placed in the context of other resident and staff grouping, and the extent to which sex offenders are regarded as 'other' within the hostel. This presentation includes a consideration of how grouping can affect the work of hostel staff aimed towards reintegration and rehabilitation.


We define a weakly threshold sequence to be a degree sequence $d=(d_1,\dots,d_n)$ of a graph having the property that $\sum_{i \leq k} d_i \geq k(k-1)+\sum_{i > k} \min\{k,d_i\} - 1$ for all positive $k \leq \max\{i:d_i \geq i-1\}$. The weakly threshold graphs are the realizations of the weakly threshold sequences. The weakly threshold graphs properly include the threshold graphs and satisfy pleasing extensions of many properties of threshold graphs. We demonstrate a majorization property of weakly threshold sequences and an iterative construction algorithm for weakly threshold graphs, as well as a forbidden induced subgraph characterization. We conclude by exactly enumerating weakly threshold sequences and graphs.


This doctoral research is about the EU and the ASEAN regarding with their developments of policy, politics and polity for transformation of different types of governance in their own way. The EU is regarded as the most successful regional integration project in the modern world because of its unique characteristics like Single Market, European Monetary Union (EMU), its single currency (Euro) and etc. Due to this sui generis character of the EU, some argued that there is no other possibly comparable instance of international integration in the global political scene. However, whether or not the EU is a motivating factor and admiring object for all other late comers of regional integration projects, it is undeniable that there are also relatively successful regional integration projects in the world outside the EU realm, for example, the ASEAN in Southeast Asia. It is also very interesting how heterogeneous members of the ASEAN manage to form a regional organization encompassing all countries in the region even though there is a great disparity of development and growth and also deep variances of own interests. At least the ASEAN can also be compared with the EU in the sense to explain why there is absence of war among member states by using both organizations as independent variable in terms of their economic, political and security cooperation. This study is a comparative analysis of different approaches to regional integration between the EU and the ASEAN as well as their changing modes of governance resulting from these approaches respectively. For the comprehensive understanding of politics and policy-making in the EU and the ASEAN, an analytical study of institutional designs, structures and organizational developments was carried out. Focus is to explain the major differences between the EU and the ASEAN and also to study internal factors and major processes, which determine the achievements, failures and stagnations of both organizations in the past decades. For analysis of policy-making and governance in the EU and the ASEAN, case studies on Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the EU, Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU, ASEAN political and security cooperation, ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) are conducted. It also examines the critical question whether the EU is in fact a system of governance with its own sui generis polity or whether it is just a useful instrument of its member states. Simultaneously, this study attempts to give a comprehensive view of the governance approach that has played an important role in the vitalization of regional integration studies in the recent years.


The advance of object tracking technologies leads to huge volumes of spatio-temporal data collected in the form of trajectory data stream. In this study, we investigate the problem of discovering object groups that travel together (i.e., traveling companions) from trajectory stream. Such technique has broad applications in the areas of scientific study, transportation management and military surveillance. To discover traveling companions, the monitoring system should cluster the objects of each snapshot and intersect the clustering results to retrieve moving-together objects. Since both clustering and intersection steps involve high computational overhead, the key issue of companion discovery is to improve the algorithm's efficiency. We propose the models of closed companion candidates and smart intersection to accelerate data processing. A new data structure termed traveling buddy is designed to facilitate scalable and flexible companion discovery on trajectory stream. The traveling buddies are micro-groups of objects that are tightly bound together. By only storing the object relationships rather than their spatial coordinates, the buddies can be dynamically maintained along trajectory stream with low cost. Based on traveling buddies, the system can discover companions without accessing the object details. The proposed methods are evaluated with extensive experiments on both real and synthetic datasets. The buddy-based method is an order of magnitude faster than existing methods. It also outperforms other competitors with higher precision and recall in companion discovery.


This research investigates the possibility of controlling a simple biped having two degrees of freedom only. The biped robot walked on large feet. Having large feet enabled the robot to stand on one leg stably. At any time, the robot's center of gravity remained above the area covered by one of the feet. Two servos actuated the two degrees of freedom tilting the robot to the side or moving the legs forward and backward. The biped moved by alternately tilting and striding. Turns were produced by dragging the feet along the ground. As the feet dragged, the friction generated under the feet created a turning moment that rotated the robot. Thus, the robot was able to step and turn on a flat surface. A control algorithm was developed to attempt trajectory tracking with the biped. Trajectories along a surface can be defined in terms of linear and angular velocities. In this research, it was assumed that a high level controller had transformed a desired trajectory into discrete steps of linear and angular velocities. Motion tests showed how various settings of the servos affected the step length and turning angle of the robot. To produce the desired velocities, a program was created to select the servo commands and set the speed parameters. This program applied knowledge of the expected step length and turning angle and performed feedforward control of the velocities. This investigation identified a trajectory tracking scheme that could be used in an observer feedback scenario to achieve accurate control.


Abstract. This article describes the development of a mobile roadside survey procedure for obtaining corroboration data for the remote sensing of agricultural land use practices. The key objective was to produce a dataset of geo-referenced roadside digital images that can be used to compare to in-field photos for measuring agricultural land use and land cover associated with crop residue and cover cropping in the non-growing season. It was concluded that a very high level of correspondence (> 90 % level of agreement) could be attained using a mobile survey vehicle, as presented in this research, to detailed in-field ground verification data. Classification correspondence was carried out against 114 field sites with a level of agreement at 93 %. The few discrepancies were in the differentiation of residue levels between 30–60 % and > 60 %, both of which may be considered as achieving conservation practice standards. The mobile roadside image capture has advantages of relatively low cost and insensitivity to cloudy days, which often limits optical remote sensing acquisitions during the study period of interest. We anticipate that this approach can be used to reduce associated field costs for ground surveys, while expanding coverage areas and may be of interest to industry, academic and government organizations for more routine surveys of agricultural soil cover during periods of seasonal cloud cover.


Spoofing is the act of masquerading as a valid user by falsifying data to gain an illegitimate access. Vulnerability of recognition systems to spoofing attacks (presentation attacks) is still an open security issue in biometrics domain and among all biometric traits, face is exposed to the most serious threat, since it is particularly easy to access and reproduce. In this paper, many different types of face spoofing attacks have been examined and various algorithms have been proposed to detect them. Mainly focusing on 2D attacks forged by displaying printed photos or replaying recorded videos on mobile devices, a significant portion of these studies ground their arguments on the flatness of the spoofing material in front of the sensor. However, with the advancements in 3D reconstruction and printing technologies, this assumption can no longer be maintained. In this paper, we aim to inspect the spoofing potential of subject-specific 3D facial masks for different recognition systems and address the detection problem of this more complex attack type. In order to assess the spoofing performance of 3D masks against 2D, 2.5D, and 3D face recognition and to analyze various texture-based countermeasures using both 2D and 2.5D data, a parallel study with comprehensive experiments is performed on two data sets: the Morpho database which is not publicly available and the newly distributed 3D mask attack database.


In contrast to non-partisan Get Out the Vote (GOTV) campaigns, political parties do not aim to increase turnout across the board. Instead, their principal goal is to affect the outcome of an election in their favor. To find out how they realize this aim, we carried out a randomized field experiment to evaluate the effect of campaign visits and leafleting by Conservative Party canvassers on turnout in a marginal English Parliamentary constituency during the 2014 European and Local Elections. Commonly-used campaign interventions, leaflets and door-knocks, changed the composition of the electorate in favor of the Conservative Party, but did not increase turnout overall. Supporters of rival parties, particularly Labour self-identifiers, were significantly less likely to mobilize in response to Conservative campaign contact than Conservative supporters. In contrast to the non-partisan GOTV literature, we show that impersonal campaign leaflets were as effective in shaping the local electorate in the Conservative's favor as personal visits. The common practice of contacting all constituents irrespective of their party preferences was effective as a campaign tactic, but had no civic benefits in the aggregate.