From 1899 until shortly after his death in 1906, Paul Laurence Dunbar published six books of poetry in African American dialect, patterned ornately with Art Nouveau decoration, and illustrated extensively with photographs, positioning text and images with nearly equivalent emphasis. (1) Comprising half Dunbar's output of published poetry, and among his most popular volumes, the illustrated editions demonstrate Dunbar's substantial interaction with photography, and represent an early, extensive, and influential use of text published with photographs. Dunbar's Poems of Cabin and Field (1899), Candle Lightin' Time (1901), When Malindy Sings (1903), L'il Gal (1904), Howdy, Honey, Howdy (1905), and Joggin' Erlong (1906), all published by Dodd, Mead and Company, remain defining monuments of text and image in the history of African American letters and US publishing. Made possible only by the refinement of half-tone printing in the 1890s, the Dunbar books positioned text and photographs on the same page, one image per stanza, an established formula for the illustrated poetry of the day. (2) The photo books made a more substantial contribution to Dunbar's lifework and to US cultural history than scholars have estimated previously. The first two books in the series, Poems of Cabin and Field and Candle Lightin' Time, were published in five and four US editions of 5000, respectively, and several of the books were published additionally in English and Canadian editions (Martin and Hudson 21). (3) During his lifetime, many Americans would have read Dunbar's work in this form, and perhaps with the exception of the Farm Security Administration, the more than 450 total images that appear in the Dunbar books represent the largest body of photographs of African Americans published to date, a major unexplored resource in the history of American visual culture and African American studies. In addition to formal innovations anticipating cinematic montage, the Dunbar photo-texts add significantly to a limited canon of artistic images of African Americans, and clarify the poet's own iconography and range, frequently articulating tropes in Dunbar's work that remain latent suggestions in their purely textual form. Although the Dunbar books did not necessarily pioneer the photograph-and-poetry form, several later African American writers and/or photographers--among them, Langston Hughes, Roy de Carava, Gordon Parks, Richard Wright, and Walter Dean Myers--collaborated to produce illustrated books of poetry, making the form a lasting convention in African American letters, implicitly paying homage to Dunbar's foundational works in the genre. (4) Throughout the publication run of the books, the photographic illustrations were made by the predominantly white faculty and staff members of the Hampton Institute Camera Club; most hailed from New England and other areas of the Northeast. Citing Germanic art photography and the historic Pamunkey Indian name for the peninsula on which the school was located, the club was known internally, and presumably satirically, as the "Kiquotan Kamera Klub." In the first three published books, the photographs were credited to the "Hampton Institute Camera Club," to maintain the school's profile in the public eye, and evidently to suggest the poet's close connection to the school. An accomplished and judicious club member who emerged as the lead photographer, Leigh Richmond Miner illustrated the final three books individually. The Camera Club operated from 1893-1926, and folded a few years after Hampton's faculty was integrated in 1923. Including spouses, the Camera Club had only seven identifiable African American members throughout its history, although determining racial identity through textual documents is fraught with uncertainty; others may yet be identified. No Indians seem to have been members of the club, although substantial numbers attended the school through 1912. No students of either race were members of the club, and it does not appear that photography was taught as a trade or skill until later in the schools history. …


Only few previous studies used ecological momentary assessments to explore the time-of-day-dependence of tinnitus. The present study used data from the mobile application "TrackYourTinnitus" to explore whether tinnitus loudness and tinnitus distress fluctuate within a 24-h interval. Multilevel models were performed to account for the nested structure of assessments (level 1: 17,209 daily life assessments) nested within days (level 2: 3,570 days with at least three completed assessments), and days nested within participants (level 3: 350 participants). Results revealed a time-of-day-dependence of tinnitus. In particular, tinnitus was perceived as louder and more distressing during the night and early morning hours (from 12 a.m. to 8 a.m.) than during the upcoming day. Since previous studies suggested that stress (and stress-associated hormones) show a circadian rhythm and this might influence the time-of-day-dependence of tinnitus, we evaluated whether the described results change when statistically controlling for subjectively reported stress-levels. Correcting for subjective stress-levels, however, did not change the result that tinnitus (loudness and distress) was most severe at night and early morning. These results show that time-of-day contributes to the level of both tinnitus loudness and tinnitus distress. Possible implications of our results for the clinical management of tinnitus are that tailoring the timing of therapeutic interventions to the circadian rhythm of individual patients (chronotherapy) might be promising.


Cloud computing is a growing computing model that is influencing every other entity in the global business industry. Efficient load balancing techniques plays a major role in cloud computing by allocating requests to computing resources efficiently to prevent under/over-allocation of Virtual Machines (VMs) and improve the response time to clients. It is observed that during peak hours when request frequency is high, active VM load balancer (packaged in cloudAnalyst) over-allocates initial VMs and under-allocates later ones creating load imbalance. In this paper we propose a novel VM load balancing algorithm that ensures uniform allocation of requests to virtual machines even during peak hours when frequency of requests received in data center is very high to ensure faster response times to users. The simulations results suggest that our algorithm allocates requests to VM uniformly even during peak traffic situations.


There is considerable interest in determining whether recent changes in the temperature distribution extend beyond simple shifts in the mean. The authors present a framework based on quantile regression, wherein trends are estimated across percentiles. Pointwise trends from surface station observations are mapped into continuous spatial fields using thin-plate spline regression. This procedure allows for resolving spatial dependence of distributional trends, providing uncertainty estimates that account for spatial covariance and varying station density. The method is applied to seasonal near-surface temperatures between 1979 and 2014 to unambiguously assess distributional changes in the densely sampled North American region. Strong seasonal differences are found, with summer trends exhibiting significant warming throughout the domain with little distributional dependence, while the spatial distribution of spring and fall trends show a dipole structure. In contrast, the spread between the 95th and 5th percentile in winter has decreased, with trends of 20.718 and 20.858C decade, respectively, for daily maximum and minimum temperature, a contraction that is statistically significant over 84% of the domain. This decrease in variability is dominated by warming of the coldest days, which has outpaced the median trend by approximately a factor of 4. Identical analyses using ERA-Interim and NCEP-2 yield consistent estimates for winter (though not for other seasons), suggesting that reanalyses can be reliably used for relating winter trends to circulation anomalies. These results are consistent with Arctic-amplified warming being strongest in winter and with the influence of synoptic-scale advection on winter temperatures. Maps for all percentiles, seasons, and datasets are provided via an online tool.


Abstract: A structured research team experience can add a great deal to a graduate student's academic and professional training, and it also can support a positive research culture within a department. In this study, we discuss how one department developed and implemented collaborative learning research teams to enhance students' research experiences. We discuss the advantages of cooperative learning and share student and faculty reflections that further support the use of collaborative learning research teams. Key Words: cooperative learning, graduate education, professional development, research teams, teaching methods. Future family scholars should be well versed in theory, research, and best practices and have the skills necessary to conduct the research independently (Monroe, 1995). Yet, there are a number of challenges associated with the education of family scholars at all academic levels (i.e., Cianciolo & Henderson, 2003; Cianciolo, Henderson, Kretzer, & Mendes, 2001; Piercy et al., 2005; Sprenkle, 2002). Such challenges include integrating knowledge across multiple fields (Piercy et al.), ensuring that one is using the best pedagogical approaches to teach today's college students (Henderson & McWey, in press), and identifying the necessary skills and knowledge for students in today's information and technologically based economy (e.g., Buono, 1996; U.S. Department of Labor, 2000). On the one hand, graduate students themselves express ambivalence when it comes to research. For example, in one study, for every positive adjective students used to describe research, such as "rewarding" or "helpful," students also used words like "boring," "confusing," "difficult," and "frustrating" (Piercy et al., 2005). On the other hand, one goal of most family science departments is to increase the number of graduate students who are prepared to teach, conduct research, and provide leadership and professional services. Traditional approaches to teaching both undergraduate and graduate students include students attending classes, listening to lectures, and reading textbooks and articles. Although these methods may be good at imparting knowledge, students may not see the immediate relevance of the content they are learning (Cianciolo & Henderson, 2003). Thus, many have advocated for more innovative teaching strategies at the undergraduate and graduate levels (Cianciolo & Henderson; Cianciolo et al., 2001; Fontes & Piercy, 2000; McWey et al., 2002; Sprenkle & Piercy, 1984). Specifically, scholars assert that meaningful research training in undergraduate and graduate programs involves more than requiring students to take research methods and statistics classes and to complete a dissertation or thesis, but involves pedagogical approaches that connect course content to research practices (Anderson, 2003; Crane, Wampler, Sprenkle, Sandberg, & Hovestadt, 2002; Henderson & Martin, 2002; Piercy et al., 2005; Sprenkle, 2002). Cooperative learning (CL) has been identified as an effective pedagogical strategy that promotes a variety of positive cognitive, affective, and social outcomes (Cabrera et al., 2002; Nolinske & Millis, 1999; Slavin, 1995a). Specifically, CL strategies have been shown to improve the retention rates of students (Kluge, 1990; Totten, Sills, & Digby, 1991); provide students with increased opportunities for discussion, shared learning, and self-management (Slavin & Cooper, 1999); and enhance students' academic performance (Cianciolo et al., 2001; Nolinske & Millis, 1999; Walker, 1996). Despite the positive aspects of CL, many assert that more needs to be done in developing and evaluating CL pedagogical practices (i.e., Cabrera et al.; Slavin, 1995a, 1995b). The purpose of this study is to present a case study (Jarrett, 1992; Yin, 1984), reflecting the various CL processes and how one family studies department formalized CL research teams as an effort to enhance graduate student education. …


Previous research on classroom uses for political cartoons identified two negative trends: creative stagnation (as teachers utilized them solely for interpretation) and age limitation (as researchers suggested they fit best with gifted and older students). Recent scholarship has addressed both trends by enabling young adolescent students to creatively express newly generated understandings through construction of original political cartoons. During such authentic assessment activities, students demonstrated high levels of criticality by using effective and efficient technologies to create original political cartoons, which then elicited constructive whole class interpretative discussions. This prior research did not detail specific methodological steps that positively influenced students' original political cartoons. This paper compares students' original political cartoons generated from two methodological approaches that differ in two small, yet consequential steps. One teacher required students to utilize concept maps and substitution lists prior to original political cartoon construction while the other did not. Based on the collected data, these two steps enabled the former teacher's students to more effectively incorporate intricate and complex encoded messages through the use of abstract symbolism and complementary textual statements. The findings prove meaningful for teachers and researchers interested in enabling students' creative and critical expressions of historical thinking.


The growing market for online games and their significant share in the internet traffic has allured researchers to investigate the factors affecting the game playing experience of the end user. In this work an investigation has been done on how one-way delay affects the First Person Shooter game there by Quality of Experience of the player. The data that is analyzed was collected at Dream Hack Winter-2007 by Telecommunications research team of Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden. It consisted of 57 experiments conducted using Battle-Field2 game in a controlled LAN, with between 2 and 4 players. The network was monitored using Distributed Passive Measurement Infrastructure. This thesis implemented tools to generate accurate delay plots for each relevant stream in the captured game traffic traces. The delay plots have been ensured by identifying what IP that was disturbed and when the disturbance occurred in the trace, as per the shaper settings. Then the investigation is mainly concentrated on the analysis of one-way delay and how it affects the end-user Quality of Experience. As a part of this work we also looked at the affect of packet delay variation on end user's perception, delay distribution of the shaper and packet length distribution of the client - server and server - client packets. Conclusions were made by stating that one-way delay and packet delay variation has considerable impact on end users perception. It is found that the delay of 400 ms is threshold delay value to get a good user response and packet delay variations of 100 ms and 200 ms with variable amounts of delay are detectable by the player.


ABSTRACT The development of immunoassays specific for the diagnosis of Johne's disease in cattle requires antigens specific to Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. However, because of genetic similarity to other mycobacteria comprising the M. avium complex, no such antigens have been found. Through a comparative genomics approach, 21 potential coding sequences of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis that are not represented in any other mycobacterial species tested (n = 9) were previously identified (J. P. Bannantine, E. Baechler, Q. Zhang, L. Li, and V. Kapur, J. Clin. Microbiol. 40:1303-1310, 2002). Here we describe the cloning, heterologous expression, and antigenic analysis of these M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis-specific sequences in Escherichia coli. Nucleotide sequences representing each unique predicted coding region were amplified and cloned into two different E. coli expression vectors encoding polyhistidine or maltose binding protein (MBP) affinity purification tags. All 21 of the MBP fusion proteins were successfully purified under denaturing conditions and were evaluated in immunoblotting studies with sera from rabbits and mice immunized with M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. These studies showed that 5 of the 21 gene products are produced by M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis and are antigenic. Immunoblot analysis with a panel of sera from 9 healthy cattle and 10 cattle with clinical disease shows that the same five M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis proteins are also detected within the context of infection. Collectively, these studies have used a genomic approach to identify novel M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis antigens that are not present in any other mycobacteria. These findings may have a major impact on improved diagnostics for Johne's disease.


Abstract Tiny green crystals from Kabwe, Zambia, associated with hopeite and tarbuttite (and probably first recorded in 1908 but never adequately characterized because of their scarcity) have been studied by X-ray diffraction, microchemical and electron probe microanalysis, infrared spectroscopy, and synthesis experiments. They are shown to be orthorhombic, stoichiometric CuZnPO4OH, of species rank, forming the end-member of a solid-solution series to libethenite, Cu2PO4OH, and are named zincolibethenite. The libethenite structure is unwilling to accommodate any more Zn substituting for Cu at atmospheric pressure, syntheses using Zn-rich solutions precipitating a mixture of zincolibethenite with hopeite, Zn3(PO4)2·4H2O. Single-crystal X-ray data confirm that the Cu(II) occupies the Jahn-Teller distorted 6-coordinate cation site in the libethenite lattice, and the Zn(II) occupies the 5-coordinate site. The space group of zincolibethenite is Pnnm, the same as that of libethenite, with unit-cell parameters a = 8.326, b = 8.260, c = 5.877 Å, V = 404.5 Å3, Z = 4, calculated density = 3.972 g/cm3 (libethenite has a = 8.076, b = 8.407, c = 5.898 Å, V = 400.44 Å3, Z = 4, calculated density = 3.965 g/cm3). Zincolibethenite is biaxial negative, with 2Vα(calc.) of 49°, r


Diabetes insipidus is a clinical syndrome characterized by the excretion of copious volumes of dilute urine combined with persistent intake of abnormally large quantities of fluid. There are two general forms of the disease, central (vasopressin deficient) and nephrogenic (vasopressin resistant). Diabetes insipidus of central origin most often results from lesions in the hypothalamic-neurohypophyseal axis. Twenty-six cases of central diabetes insipidus were evaluated with the use of high-field-strength MR imaging. A wide variety of precipitating conditions were found, including Langerhans cell histiocytosis, neoplasia, trauma, and infection. A thickened pituitary infundibulum was seen in most patients, and an absence of high intensity signal in the posterior pituitary lobe on T1-weighted images was seen in every case. Analysis of stalk morphology; associated brain findings; and correlation with the patient's age, sex, history, and radiographs of other body parts improved diagnostic specificity. When combined with clinical information, MR imaging is able to provide a specific diagnosis in almost all cases of central diabetes insipidus.


Photo/electrochemical splitting of water to hydrogen (H2) fuel is a sustainable way of meeting our energy demands at no environmental cost, but significant challenges remain: for example, the sluggish anodic reaction imposes a considerable overpotential requirement. By contrast, urea electrolysis offers the prospect of energy-saving H2 production together with urea-rich wastewater purification, whereas the lack of inexpensive and efficient urea oxidation reaction (UOR) catalysts places constraints on the development of this technique. Here we report a porous rod-like NiMoO4 with high oxidation states of the metal elements enabling highly efficient UOR electrocatalysis, which can be readily produced through annealing solid NiMoO4·xH2O as a starting precursor in Ar. This precursor gives the derived Ni/NiO/MoOx nanocomposite when switching the shielding gas from Ar to H2/Ar, exhibiting platinum-like activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline electrolytes. Assembling an electrolytic cell using our developed UOR and HER catalysts as the anode and cathode can provide a current density of 10 milliamperes per square centimeter at a cell voltage of mere 1.38 volts, as well as remarkable operational stability, representing the best yet reported noble-metal-free urea electrolyser. Our results demonstrate the potential of nickel–molybdenum-based materials as efficient electrode catalysts for urea electrolysers that promises cost-effective and energy-saving H2 production.


The limited available evidence about effects on marine fishes of high CO 2 and associated acidification of oceans suggests that effects will differ across species, be subtle, and may interact with other stressors. This report is on the responses of an array of early life history features of summer flounder ( Paralichthys dentatus ), an ecologically and economically important flatfish of the inshore and nearshore waters of the Mid-Atlantic Bight (USA), to experimental manipulation of CO 2 levels. Relative survival of summer flounder embryos in local ambient conditions (775 μatm p CO 2 , 7.8 pH) was reduced to 48% when maintained at intermediate experimental conditions (1808 μatm p CO 2 , 7.5 pH), and to 16% when maintained at the most elevated CO 2 treatment (4714 ppm p CO 2 , 7.1 pH). This pattern of reduced survival of embryos at high-CO 2 levels at constant temperature was consistent among offspring of three females used as experimental subjects. No reduction in survival with CO 2 was observed for larvae during the first four weeks of larval life (experiment ended at 28 d post-hatching (dph) when larvae were initiating metamorphosis). Estimates of sizes, shapes, and developmental status of larvae based on images of live larvae showed larvae were initially longer and faster growing when reared at intermediate- and high-CO 2 levels. This pattern of longer larvae – but with less energy reserves at hatching – was expressed through the first half of the larval period (14 dph). Larvae from the highest-CO 2 conditions initiated metamorphosis at earlier ages and smaller sizes than those from intermediate- and ambient-CO 2 conditions. Tissue damage was evident in larvae as early as 7 dph from both elevated-CO 2 levels. Damage included dilation of liver sinusoids and veins, focal hyperplasia on the epithelium, and separation of the trunk muscle bundles. Cranio-facial features changed with CO 2 levels in an age-dependent manner. Skeletal elements of larvae from ambient-CO 2 environments were comparable or smaller than those from elevated-CO 2 environments when younger (7 and 14 dph) but were larger at developmental stage at older ages (21 to 28 dph), a result consistent with the accelerated size-development trajectory of larvae at higher-CO 2 environments based on analysis of external features. The degree of alterations in the survival, growth, and development of early life stages of summer flounder due to elevated-CO 2 levels suggests that this species will be increasingly challenged by future ocean acidification. Further experimental studies on marine fishes and comparative analyses among those studies are warranted in order to identify the species, life stages, ecologies, and responses likely to be most sensitive to increased levels of CO 2 and acidity in future ocean waters. A strategy is proposed for achieving these goals.


This investigation reports on the synthesis of a new class of ionic liquid crosslinked shape-memory polyurethane (PU-IL) based on polycaprolactone diol and 4,4′-methylenebis(phenyl isocyanate) (MDI), which can overcome the major drawbacks of conventional shape-memory polyurethanes. In this case, the ionic liquid crosslinker in PU-IL exhibited not only a higher shape-recovery ratio (98%), but also showed excellent shape-fixity (98%). In the second cycle of the cyclic tensile test, PU-IL showed almost complete shape recovery while maintaining excellent shape fixity. The higher shape-fixity value in PU-IL was also supported by its higher crystallization and melting enthalpy, as evidenced by DSC analysis. The properties of this PU-IL were compared with those of conventional linear PU having 1,4 butanediol (BDO) as a chain extender as well as of non-ionic crosslinked PU using trimethylolpropane (TMP). Ionic liquid as a crosslinker reduced the glass transition temperature (Tg), whereas the non-ionic crosslinker increased the Tg. Interestingly, the soft segment crystallinity as well as melting enthalpy of PU-IL is higher than that of PU-BDO, whereas no melting or crystallization peak was observed in the DSC thermograms of PU-TMP. The DSC results were supported by DMA analysis. The higher Tg and the absence of a soft domain melting transition indicated complete intermixing of hard and soft phases in PU-TMP, but the ionic interaction in PU-IL restricted this. Inter-domain mixing in PU-TMP was also supported by the absence of a scattering peak in SAXS analysis. FT-IR spectroscopy showed stronger hydrogen bonding in PU-BDO followed by PU-TMP and PU-IL.


Traditionally, project managers produce cost and time forecasts by predicting the future course of specific events. In contrast, reference class forecasting (RCF) bypasses human judgment by basing forecasts on the actual outcomes of past projects similar to the project being forecasted. The RCF technique is compared with the most common traditional project forecasting methods, such as those based on Monte Carlo simulation and earned value management (EVM). The conducted evaluation is entirely based on real-life project data and shows that RCF indeed performs best, for both cost and time forecasting, and therefore supports the practical relevance of the technique.


Is the observed large increase in consumer indebtedness since 1970 beneficial for U.S. consumers? This paper quantitatively investigates the macroeconomic and welfare implications of relaxing borrowing constraints using a model with preferences featuring temptation and self-control. The model can capture two contrasting views: the positive view, which links increased indebtedness to financial innovation and thus better consumption smoothing, and the negative view, which is associated with consumers' over-borrowing. The author finds that the latter is sizable: the calibrated model implies a social welfare loss equivalent to a 0.4 percent decrease in per-period consumption from the relaxed borrowing constraint consistent with the observed increase in indebtedness. The welfare implication is strikingly different from the standard model without temptation, which implies a welfare gain of 0.7 percent, even though the two models are observationally similar. Naturally, the optimal level of the borrowing limit is significantly tighter according to the temptation model, as a tighter borrowing limit helps consumers by preventing over-borrowing.


On the topic of oceanic variability near the Coriolis frequency; generation mechanisms, observations, and implications for interior mixing Byron Frank Kilbourne Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Dr. James B. Girton Ocean Physics Department Internal waves with frequency near the Coriolis frequency, the frequency of oscillations due to the Coriolis acceleration (commonly denoted by the symbol f), are ubiquitous throughout the world's oceans. However, observational constraints on their global energetics and impact on subsurface mixing remain sparse. This study investigates near-inertial (inertial and Coriolis frequency are used interchangeably) waves in the Southern Ocean using measurements of water velocity made by Electromagnetic Autonomous Profiling Explorers (EM-APEX). Initial observations from the eastern Pacific showed that coherent near-inertial waves were episodic and enhanced at mid-depth between 500 and 1000 m. The observed waves showed depth-integrated horizontal kinetic energy between 1 and 7 kJ m−2, with an average of 1.6 kJ m−2, and a typical group velocity of 40 m d−1. These observations imply an average energy flux of 3 mW m−2 at the mixed layer base decreasing to approximately 25% of that value at 1500 m. Simulations of near-inertial surface currents forced with reanalysis winds along each float track agree with observed surface currents from EM-APEX, provided that mixed layer depth is restricted to the layer of weakest observable stratification, interpreted as the maximum depth which remains mixed over an inertial period. Simulations using the Price-Weller-Pinkel model, which permits time varying stratification, provides a better match to the observations; emphasizing the importance of near-surface stratification in amplifying wind power input. These simulations indicate an average wind power input of 3 mW m−2 in the eastern Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. The thickness of the active mixing-layer, the turbulent layer in contact with wind stress, is needed to accurately estimate wind power input. Vertical shear, Langmuir cells, and buoyant convection were investigated as possible mechanisms for maintaining turbulent mixing within the mixing-layer. Over 90% of the observed variance of the mixing-layer thickness is explained by either shear-driven entrainment, which is simulated using the Price-WellerPinkel model, or by a parameterization of downwelling plumes due to Langmuir cell convergence. In general, surface buoyancy fluxes are too weak to drive mixed-layer turbulence. The density profiles shown here indicate that a fine-density threshold between the finest possible criterion of 0.002 kg m−3 and the previous finest criterion of 0.01 kg m−3 is needed to better diagnose the surface mixed-layer thickness. The results of wind driven simulations suggest that this criterion is 0.005 kg m−3. Comparison of National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) climatological mixed-layer thickness to those determined using the 0.005 kg m−3 density threshold suggests a multiplicative seasonally varying correction of 1.5 to 3.5 should be applied to estimates of wind work made using the NODC climatological mixed-layer thickness in the Southern Ocean. The vertical structure of the inertial-band of the internal wave field was observed by EM-APEX in the eastern Pacific, Scotia Sea, and western Atlantic sectors of the Southern Ocean. Downward propagating internal wave variance is shown to vary with the seasonal cycle in both wind stress and surface mixed-layer depth. Mixed-layer depth was found to inhibit the formation of near-inertial waves in the Pacific during the austral winter. Inertialband internal-wave energy in the Scotia Sea is dominated by upward propagating waves, likely generated by interaction of the strong currents found in this region with rough seafloor topography. Inertial-band internal wave energy in the Atlantic was observed to vary with the seasonal cycle in near-inertial wind-stress. Diapycnal diffusivity in the 300 to 1500 m depth range, estimated using observed vertical shear in the Gregg et al. (2003) parameterization, is 1.96±0.36×10−5 m2 s−1, 1.08±0.08×10−4 m2 s−1, and 7.96±1.17×10−5 m2 s−1 in the eastern Pacific, Scotia Sea, and western Atlantic sectors of the Southern Ocean. In the eastern Pacific and Scotia Sea these values similar to direct observations of diapycnal diffusivity inferred from the vertical spread of tracer in the Diapycnal and Isopycnal Mixing Experiment in the Southern Ocean.


In the last two decades a surge in antibiotic resistance has limited antibiotic effectiveness increasing the risk of uncontrolled epidemics especially for biofilm-related infections. The National Institute of Health reports that 80 % of human infections are biofilm related. The Proteus mirabilis bacteria were focused on in this study as they are significant biofilm formers in chronic infections such as biofilm-related urinary tract infections for which there are currently no completely effective treatment strategies. As biofilms can increase antibiotic resistance by up to 1000-fold, there is an urgent need for the development of novel antimicrobials. Thus, bacteriophages which are viruses that target and kill bacteria have been proposed as suitable alternatives, but factors like storage stability and re-isolation pose limitations. Towards investigating the development of new antimicrobial strategies, the aims of this thesis were to assess: (i) the therapeutic potential of bacteriophages against Proteus mirabilis biofilms and (ii) the development of a novel antimicrobial strategy based on a synthetic biology approach for improvement of bacteriophage-based biofilm control. The work presented in this thesis led to or may lead to four areas of development, which have the potential to contribute to fields of biofilm research, bioengineering and materials science. Firstly, novel bacteriophages against clinical strains of Proteus mirabilis were isolated with physicochemical and genomic characterisation. Unlike other studies, the effect of temperature was included in the selection of favourable bacteriophages for anti-biofilm use. Secondly, towards improving bacteriophage-based treatment, dendrimeric nanoparticles known as dendron were posed as alternatives, these were synthesised and characterised, and demonstrated improved biofilm reduction and eradication by 35 % and 100 % respectively compared with the most effective bacteriophage.Thirdly, this study developed insight into the dendron's mechanism of action, which was previously unreported, and was proposed to be through disruption of Proteus mirabilis DNA systems. Fourthly, in a unique approach, the dendron was bioengineered with bacteriophage DNA using electrostatic interactions. The results suggested that the dendron has potential to be used as a carrier for bacteriophage DNA, and presents the first attempt in published literature at combining the anti-biofilm properties of bacteriophages and dendrons towards futuristic development of synthetic bacteriophages. The results also provide a promising antimicrobial strategy for use of
dendrons as therapeutic agents, alone or in combination with antibiotics and bacteriophages for treatment of biofilm-related infections.


The amphetamine, methylphenidate (Ritaline) has been proposed as being of interest in the treatment of asthenia in patients with advanced cancer. To evaluate this hypothesis a randomised controlled double-blind parallel-group national multi-centre trial is proposed versus placebo. Three previous randomised controlled studies and one open study have suggested that the administration of methylphenidate may be of interest in the palliative care of asthenic cancer patients. However, these studies do not permit a definitive conclusion to be drawn. This article presents the protocol of our new trial. The primary objective is to evaluate the anti-asthenic effect of methylphenidate using a visual analogue scale (VAS) after 7 days of treatment of cancer patients in palliative care, i.e. when the cancer is considered to be rapidly evolving or as terminal. One hundred and ten patients are treated for 28 days at a starting dose of 20 mg/day, and adjustment of the dose is possible. It is important to stress that only the concerted efforts of an interdisciplinary team (somatologues, psychiatrists, psychologists, paramedical carers and social workers) can tackle the challenges posed by the difficult symptom of asthenia. The medical treatment is only one element of the approach to caring for these patients.


We use a panel of 16 OECD countries over several decades to investigate the effects of government debts and deficits on long-term interest rates. In simple static specifications, a one-percentage-point increase in the primary deficit relative to GDP increases contemporaneous long-term interest rates by about 10 basis points. In a vector autoregression (VAR), the same shock leads to a cumulative increase of almost 150 basis points after 10 years. The effect of debt on interest rates is non-linear: only for countries with above-average levels of debt does an increase in debt affect the interest rate. World fiscal policy is also important: an increase in total OECD-government borrowing increases each country's interest rates. However, domestic fiscal policy continues to affect domestic interest rates even after controlling for worldwide debts and deficits.


[Absent]: Rock fracture using continuous, high speed water jets is an existing technology used in the mining industry. However, it appears that a number of potential benefits can be derived by using pulsed liquid jet technique instead. Reductions in energy and water consumption should be possible because of improvements in efficiency associated with the pulsed water jet technique. However before a pulsed jet technique can be optimised and implemented in a practical system that yields the anticipated performance
improvements relative to the continuous jet system, a thorough understanding of the physical processes involved needs to be obtained.

This project endeavoured to gain a better understanding of pulsed jet technology by modifying the USQ gas gun to include a water reservoir downstream of the barrel which
was used to generate a single, high speed water jet for analysis. A piston with a mass of approximately 55 grams was arranged to impact on the reservoir at different speeds up to 300 m/s. Pressures above 300 MPa were generated in the water reservoir when the piston was decelerated, and these pressures were sufficient to generate a single pulsed
water jet at speeds over 1000 m/s.

High speed photography was used to visualise the establishment of the high speed water jet and analyse the characteristics of the pulse. The pulse impacted on a strike plate which was attached to a vertical brass tube that extended to the floor. The brass tube was instrumented with strain gauges to characterise the high speed water jet. A pressure transducer was used at low pressures to determine the magnitude of the pressure pulse in the water reservoir. This data was then correlated with data recovered from the brass tube to establish a relationship between the two.


Digital preservation practitioners are often asked to make collection and preservation decisions about content they steward; more often than not this is simply because a collection contains or is solely composed of digital content. However, traditional preservation practitioners typically do not make these same decisions in a vacuum for analog collections; they are informed and prioritized by selectors, liaisons, or curators who make decisions based on content and collection priorities in concert with information provided by the preservation practitioners. In this paper, we argue that this model should not change simply because the nature of the materials has changed. While digital preservation may be new to an institution, basic preservation decisions are best prioritized by the people building collections and selecting content, which is complemented by the knowledge and expertise from digital preservation practitioners. Selectors and curators are collaborative preservation partners whose roles and expertise render them best able to judge the value of the content they collect. Digital preservation practitioners have an obligation to work with selectors and curators to help them understand the ways in which technical characteristics, descriptive records, and financial impact, along with value, affect selection choices for digital content and how these choices affect a digital preservation program. Digital preservation practitioners need to provide selectors and curators with guidelines and criteria to help them make informed selection decisions for digital content. In this paper, we will address this issue in five parts. First, we review existing literature and workflows on the issue of selection for general collections. Second, we review existing literature on the topic of appraisal in special collections. Third, we provide an analysis of how these practices compare and contrast. Fourth, we discuss differences between preserving analog and digital content. Finally, we recommend specific guidelines and criteria geared toward selectors and curators to aid with content selection for digital preservation in both general and special collections. International Conference on Digital Preservation 2018, September 24-28, 2018, Boston, MA, United States. CONFERENCE THEMES ADDRESSED Collaboration and capacity-building; mapping out sustainable digital preservation approaches and communities.


Global population increases drastically but the production of quality food grains has decreased in the same way that may results the poor nutrition content in the food. The reason behind less quality of food grain is the continuous use of chemical fertilizers in field in order to produce higher yield but these inorganic fertilizers increase yield and other side it decreases the soil fertility and cause effect to soil ecofriendly organisms and cause pollution in the soil and environment. Instead of using those inorganic fertilizers replace with using organic amendments like FYM, Poultry manure, Vermicomposting, sheep and goat manure, bone meal, slurry, sewage and sludge along with the bio fertilizers plays key role to enrich nutrient content, increase microbial population, improves water holding capacity in soil and provides the better aeration around plant rhizosphere. Growing of sole crop with organic amendments may reduce yield. Instead of these we fallow intercropping systems like cereals + pulse, cereal + oil crop, cereal + cereal crop may provide the better production and among intercropping systems cereal +pulse crop of wheat and chickpea with recommended ratios of (2:2,3:1,2:1,1:1) has shown the better results in crop production with good quality grain yield ,LER, better growth rate per unit area by better utilization of N2 from legume crop by fixation and makes profit to the farmer by reducing the incidence of disease, pest and weed . key words: organic farming, intercropping, Global population, chemical fertilizers, quality, yield, soil fertility, environment.


Typically, user authentication based on something that a user knows (typically a PIN, a password) or something that a user has (a key, a token, a magnetic or smart card, a badge, a passport etc.). Unfortunately, these traditional methods of the user authentication do not authenticate the user as such. Traditional methods are based on properties that can be forgotten (password), disclosed, lost or stolen (smart card)[9]. Nowadays, password authentication is the most common authentication system. A strong and efficient server farm authentication method using biometrics-based smart card and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC)[10][20]. In this paper, a new multi-factor authenticated key exchange method, which combines with biometrics, password and the picture puzzle is proposed[4]. Compared with the previous methods, this method has higher security in remote authentication and preserves privacy of biometrics, and most of the previous methods rely on the smart card to verify biometrics[3][15][16]. We then propose a new secure server farm authentication protocol using biometrics and ECC with more security functionalities. The advantage of these approaches is that the user's biometrics is not shared with the remote server, which can resist insider's attack and preserve the privacy of the biometrics. To achieve multifactor certification, a new function called one-way function with distance-keeping, which is used to preserve privacy of user's biometrics, is popularised. It is proven secure under the random oracle and is suitable to the environment which lacked communication resource and needed higher security.


Abstract This article explores the relationship between the UK and Rwanda, using the lens of the UK Department for International Development's integrated approach to state building and peace building in fragile and conflict-affected states. It identifies a number of priorities for UK aid under such a framework, but shows that in the case of Rwanda these have not been foregrounded in the bilateral aid relationship. The article suggests a number of reasons for this, arguing that, by refusing to acknowledge or address Rwanda's deviations from what was considered a positive development trajectory, the UK is becoming internationally isolated in its support for the rpf regime. It concludes that, while this bilateral relationship may support achievement of stability and relative security in Rwanda, promoting such a narrow form of state building is detrimental to more holistic peace building, both nationally and regionally.


About this series The CMS series covers all topics dealing with essential usage of mathematics for the formal conceptualization, modeling, theory, computation, and technology in music. Comprehensiveness The series comprises symbolic, physical, and psychological reality, including areas such as mathematical music theory, musical acoustics, performance theory, sound engineering, music information retrieval, AI in music, programming, softand hardware for musical analysis, composition, performance, and gesture. The CMS series also includes mathematically oriented or computational aspects of music semiotics, philosophy, and psychology. Quality All volumes in the CMS series are published according to rigorous peer review, based on the editors' preview and selection and adequate refereeing by independent experts. Collaboration The editors of this series act in strong collaboration with the Society for Mathematics and Computation in Music and other professional societies and institutions.


Though excellent clinical results have been reported for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, the medium-term effect of TKA on RA disease activity remains unknown. This analysis aimed to assess changes in disease activity after TKA in patients with established RA. We analyzed the systemic effects of TKA on RA disease activity 3 years after intervention. Routine clinical and laboratory assessments were recorded at baseline, less than less than 0.5 years after TKA, and 3 years after TKA. Of the registered RA patients, 130 TKA patients were followed for 3 years after surgery. RA disease activity was measured using the Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28). Patients were divided into three groups by preoperative baseline DAS28: low (DAS28 ≤ 3.2, n = 8), moderate (DAS28 > 3.2 but ≤5.1, n = 68), and high (DAS28 > 5.1, n = 54) disease activity. The postoperative DAS28 (<0.5 years [DAS1] and 3 years [DAS3] after surgery) scores of each patient were compared to their baseline (DAS0) scores using the paired t-test. The mean DAS28 decreased from 4.85 (DAS0) to 4.14 (DAS1; P = 1.07E-12), and this decrease was sustained at 3 years (DAS3 = 3.97; P = 4.73E-15). Subanalysis results revealed a systemic effect of TKA on disease activity in patients with moderate or high disease activity (DAS0 = 4.33; DAS1 = 3.72 [P = 5.94E-06]; DAS3 = 3.81 [P = 7.89E-06]; and DAS0 = 5.79; DAS1 = 4.86 [P = 1.14E-08]; DAS3 = 4.37 [P = 1.03E-11], respectively). While no significant changes in medication were noted, the average dose of prednisolone tended to decrease over time. We conclude that TKA, which is known to result in good clinical outcomes for damaged knees, has a secondary systemic effect on RA disease activity. Combination therapy consisting of medical treatment and surgical intervention is thought to effectively improve the condition of RA patients who have destructive arthritis in the knee joint, with the effect lasting for at least 3 years.


The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of chicken manure and green manure Calopogonium mucunoides on the growth and production of vegetable soybean under organic farming system. The study was conducted at IPB research station, Leuwikopo, Darmaga, Bogor from June 2004 to March 2005.  The experiment used split plot design with chicken manure dosages (0 and 10 ton/ha) as main plots and seed of green manure dosages (0, 7.5, 15, and 30 ton/ha) as sub plots. Chicken manure significantly resulted in better agronomic characters compared to that of without chicken manure. Green manure significantly increased plant height on 4 to 7 weeks after planting (WAP), number of leaves on 6 WAP. Interaction between chicken manure and green manure significantly influenced fresh weight of root nodule and 100 seeds. Fresh weight of 100 seeds was the highest with the application of either 10 ton chicken manure/ha or 15 kg seed of green manure/ha. Except plant height and number of leaves, generally growth and production of soybean under organic farming system were better than those under conventional farming Key words: Vegetable soybean, organic farming, chicken manure, green manure, Calopogonium mucunoides


Despite wide acceptance that the attributes of living creatures have appeared through a cumulative evolutionary process guided chiefly by natural selection, many human activities have seemed analytically inaccessible through such an approach. Prominent evolutionary biologists, for example, have described morality as contrary to the direction of biological evolution, and moral philosophers rarely regard evolution as relevant to their discussions. "The Biology of Moral Systems" adopts the position that moral questions arise out of conflicts of interest, and that moral systems are ways of using confluences of interest at lower levels of social organization to deal with conflicts of interest at higher levels. Moral systems are described as systems of indirect reciprocity: humans gain and lose socially and reproductively not only by direct transactions, but also by the reputations they gain from the everyday flow of social interactions. The author develops a general theory of human interests, using senescence and effort theory from biology, to help analyze the patterning of human lifetimes. He argues that the ultimate interests of humans are reproductive, and that the concept of morality has arisen within groups because of its contribution to unity in the context, ultimately, of success in intergroup competition. He contends that morality is not easily relatable to universals, and he carries this argument into a discussion of what he calls the greatest of all moral problems, the nuclear arms race. "Crammed with sage observations on moral dilemmas and many reasons why an understanding of evolution based on natural selection will advance thinking in finding practical solutions to our most difficult social problems." U "Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences" "Richard D. Alexander" is Donald Ward Tinkle Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology, and Curator of Insects, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. A recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Alexander is the author of "Darwinism and Human Affairs."


In explaining the emergence of new strategic action fields, in which social movements' and organizations' logic, rules and strategies are forged, inter-field dynamics remain under-explored. The case of Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (SEE) shows how new fields can emerge through field encroachment, whereby shifts among overlapping fields create structural opportunities for the ascendency of new fields, which may adapt logics borrowed from adjacent fields to construct legitimacy. SEE leveraged the 1980s' shift between first-order market and state fields to encroach on the political strategies of community organizing, birthing a neoliberal social movement to create a new field addressing social problems using market-based, profit-motivated approaches. With its borrowed veneer of justice, SEE rapidly developed a high academic and public profile over just three decades, despite little evidence its approach to solving social problems works. In encroaching on proven political strategies for solving social problems, it may further undermine democratic practices.


Despite exponential increases in the size, number, and coverage of protected areas (PAs), biodiversity continues to decline worldwide. Additionally, emerging evidence shows that PAs are often located in 'residual' areas, locations with minimal value for extractive activities, such as agriculture, development, mining and fishing. Over recent decades, systematic conservation planning (SCP) has developed new and sophisticated methods for ensuring that protected areas are complementary and representative, so that PA networks avoid redundancy and maximise biodiversity within their bounds. However, the SCP literature has few analyses that aim to maximise conservation impact. Impact is measured as the difference in biodiversity outcomes that occur when a given conservation intervention is applied, compared to when it is not (referred to as a 'counterfactual' scenario). As a result, many modern approaches to SCP have questionable impact, and might do little to counteract residual biases and ongoing biodiversity declines.

The goal of my thesis is develop methods for estimating impact in SCP, and to use these methods to compare alternative spatial prioritisation strategies. To achieve this goal I set three objectives:

1. Establish a framework for using counterfactual-based impact estimation in conservation planning

2. Estimate and compare the impact of currently widespread conservation prioritisation strategies

3. Develop evidence-based spatial prioritisation strategies (i.e. 'rules of thumb') for cost effectively maximising impact in conservation planning

In the first chapter, I introduce the concept of systematic conservation planning, and discuss modern approaches to conservation impact evaluation. I then identify four key knowledge gaps with respect to incorporating impact evaluation into conservation planning using counterfactual methods: (1) What methods can be used to implement counterfactual scenarios and estimate impact in spatial conservation prioritisation? (2) How effective are modern approaches to spatial conservation prioritisation at achieving impact? (3) What is the spatial relationship between threats and costs, and how does this affect conservation prioritisation to maximise impact? (4) How should we prioritise areas for conservation based on spatial patterns of costs, biodiversity, and threats?

In the second chapter, I first address Objective 1 by developing a theoretical model to explore how the impact of alternative prioritisation strategies, compared to a counterfactual, can vary according to various factors. I compare two alternative prioritisation strategies: protecting high-threat frontier areas, or low-threat wilderness areas. I explore how the relative efficacy of either strategy compared to the counterfactual scenario varies depending on spatial patterns of threats, biodiversity values, conservation costs, timeframes within which impacts are measured, rates of biodiversity recovery, and temporal changes in threats. In doing so, this chapter also contributes to Objective 3, by identifying circumstances under which either frontier prioritisation, wilderness prioritisation, or a combination of both are likely to be most effective.

In the third chapter, I further contribute to Objective 3 by aiming to quantify the spatial relationship between acquisition costs and threats to biodiversity using empirical data in a conservation landscape. As I show in the prior chapter, this spatial distribution has a large influence on the cost-efficiency of any given prioritisation strategy. In this chapter, I use high-resolution datasets of rates of vegetation clearance in Queensland, Australia. I then combine this data with land sales transactions, land valuations, and agricultural profitability to examine the spatial relationship. I then use a classic economic model to explore the potential drivers behind this relationship. I found that counter to what is widely assumed in conservation science, there is no clear spatial relationship between rates of land clearing and acquisition costs, and the relationship displays enormous variability. As a result, the landscape appears to contain a large number of sites with relatively low cost and potential for high impact.

In the fourth chapter, I address all three objectives by implementing an ex post method to measure counterfactual outcomes and estimate impacts for several alternative prioritisation strategies. This chapter also uses the case study of Queensland, Australia. With the ex post method, the counterfactual scenario is measured using historical changes in vegetation in a landscape with no protected areas. I then retrospectively implement alternative prioritisation strategies and predict how outcomes might have differed compared to the counterfactual. Specifically, I compare four alternative prioritisation strategies: cost minimisation; threat prioritisation and cost minimisation; representation and cost minimisation; and representation, threat prioritisation and cost minimisation. These alternative strategies represent the extremes of how much importance should be placed on costs, threats and biodiversity when aiming to maximise impact. I find that the most effective strategy to maximise impact is to prioritise highthreat locations, and that aiming to achieve representation targets, a widely adopted practice in conservation planning, can be counter-productive to achieving impact.

In the fifth chapter, I provide an alternative method to estimating impacts, which is to use ex ante predictions of expected outcomes in counterfactual scenarios and when alternative strategies are implemented. In this chapter, I estimate the impact of several strategies on the coral reefs of Micronesia: frontier prioritisation; wilderness prioritisation; representation; and representation with connectivity. This chapter complements the previous chapter by providing a method for estimating impacts when historical data on changes in biodiversity are unavailable, and when aiming to estimate impacts over long timeframes. Importantly, this chapter incorporates an additional component to measuring impact, which is to compare all strategies to a 'best-case' scenario, where biodiversity outcomes are known and impact can be optimised. Comparing strategies to a counterfactual and best-case allow absolute impacts to be measured. In this chapter I also find that the most effective strategy is generally to prioritise high-threat frontier areas, and that representation targets can be counterproductive to maximising impact.

In achieving the above objectives and addressing the respective knowledge gaps, my thesis provides an important contribution towards incorporating counterfactual-based impact estimation in conservation planning. The global protected area network is expanding at an exponential rate, yet little is known about how well the strategies to spatially allocate these protected areas achieve positive conservation impacts. Given the severity and imminence of global biodiversity declines, it is essential that we develop an evidence base from which conservation policy and practice can draw upon to ensure that future conservation efforts can efficiently maximise impact and prevent further declines.


Phospholipase C (PLC) signaling in plants is likely different from the well-established animal paradigm as the prime targets for IP 3 and DAG are absent, and plants contains very small amounts of the putative PLC substrate, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP 2 ). Nonetheless, the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana encodes 9 PLC genes. To increase our understanding of PLC signaling in plants, we have started to analyze various knock-out (KO), knock-down (KD) and overexpression lines of Arabidopsis. Here, we functionally characterized Arabidopsis PLC7. Promoter-GUS analyses revealed that PLC7 is specifically expressed in the phloem of roots, leaves and flowers and also in trichomes and hydathodes. Two T-DNA insertion mutants were obtained, with plc7-3 being a KO- and plc7-4 a KD line. In contrast to earlier-characterized phloem-expressed PLC mutants, plc3 and plc5 , plc7 mutants revealed no defects in primary- or lateral root development. Nonetheless, like plc3 mutants, plc7 mutants were found to exhibit a reduced sensitivity to ABA during stomatal closure. Double-knockout plc3 plc7 lines were found to be lethal, whereas plc5 plc7 (plc5/7) mutants were viable, and revealed several new phenotypes, not observed earlier in the single mutants. These include a defect in seed mucilage, enhanced leaf serration, and an increased tolerance to drought. PLC7 overexpression lines showed an enhanced drought tolerance, similar to what was found for PLC3 and PLC5 overexpression lines. In vivo 32 P i -labeling of seedlings treated with sorbitol, to mimic drought stress, revealed increased PIP 2 responses in both drought tolerant plc5/7 and PLC7 - OE mutants. Together, these results reveal several novel functions for PLCs in plant stress and development. Potential mechanisms for this are discussed.


During the past 60 years, United States prisons have become one of the primary institutions caring for mentally ill individuals. Factors such as privatization of mental health care with a focus on profit-maximization, ineffective jail diversion programs, and unsuccessful mental health courts have contributed to prisons having an increased population of mentally ill inmates. In fact, about 20% of people who are currently incarcerated suffer from a major mental illness (Mason, 2007). Other elements outside of the justice system such as a lack of mental health awareness and a lack of resources have led to damaging interactions between the mentally ill and law enforcement and have added to this growing rate of mentally ill incarcerated. Given the harsh realities of prison, this overrepresentation of those suffering from mental illness is even more concerning and is worsened by aspects of prisons such as solitary confinement. This issue coupled with the lack of appropriate mental health care services being provided and the lack of support after release has led those suffering from mental illness to be potentially worse off than when they entered prison. This paper focuses on mental health care in prisons from admittance to post-release and provides evidence for the need to overhaul how those suffering from mental illness are treated. The responsibility of mental health care has been placed on prisons due to the escalation of inmates with mental illness, the failure of programs inside the justice system, and the lack of post-release follow-up. The physical setting, behavioral interactions, and personnel influences in prisons have led to worsening symptoms and have inhibited the ability to effectively treat these inmates. Given 95% of inmates will be released, these issues need to be addressed more comprehensively for the benefit of our society as a whole (Binswanger, Nowels, Corsi, Long, Booth, Jutner, & Steiner, 2011).


The Inter-America n Development Bank (IDB), through the Labour Markets and Social Security Unit, has been supporting a comprehensive labour market study (LMS) in The Bahamas to collect and analyse data that will provide guidelines for labour market policies on training provision to enhance employability and productivity in the country and other issues. This work is part of a regional project to improve understanding of these issues
throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The Bahamas has relatively high living standards, and ranks as a High Human Development country. But there are important challenges: high exposure to shocks; high dependency on the external economy; skills shortages and high unemployment. The analysis performed for this LMS also finds that there is space for improving the alignment of training provision to new skills demands from the employers in different industries.


Surveillance now is ubiquitous—each of us is decomposed along multiple axes into discrete data points, and then recomposed on screens and in combinatory algorithms that organize our life chances. Such surveillance is directly screened in popular culture, however, quite rarely. It is hard to see ubiquitous surveillance, and the harder something powerful is to see, the more powerful it tends to be. The essays of this Screen Shot offer perspective on various concrete instances of contemporary surveillance, both ubiquitous and granular, and in so doing offer tools for negotiating its suffusive presence in and organization of our lives.


Investigation of the functional macro-scale organization of the human cortex is fundamental in modern neuroscience. Although numerous studies have identified networks of interacting functional modules in the gray-matter, limited research was directed to the functional organization of the white-matter. Recent studies have demonstrated that the white-matter exhibits blood oxygen level-dependent signal fluctuations similar to those of the gray-matter. Here we used these signal fluctuations to investigate whether the white-matter is organized as functional networks by applying a clustering analysis on resting-state functional MRI (RSfMRI) data from white-matter voxels, in 176 subjects (of both sexes). This analysis indicated the existence of 12 symmetrical white-matter functional networks, corresponding to combinations of white-matter tracts identified by diffusion tensor imaging. Six of the networks included interhemispheric commissural bridges traversing the corpus callosum. Signals in white-matter networks correlated with signals from functional gray-matter networks, providing missing knowledge on how these distributed networks communicate across large distances. These findings were replicated in an independent subject group and were corroborated by seed-based analysis in small groups and individual subjects. The identified white-matter functional atlases and analysis codes are available at http://mind.huji.ac.il/white-matter.aspx. Our results demonstrate that the white-matter manifests an intrinsic functional organization as interacting networks of functional modules, similarly to the gray-matter, which can be investigated using RSfMRI. The discovery of functional networks within the white-matter may open new avenues of research in cognitive neuroscience and clinical neuropsychiatry. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In recent years, functional MRI (fMRI) has revolutionized all fields of neuroscience, enabling identifications of functional modules and networks in the human brain. However, most fMRI studies ignored a major part of the brain, the white-matter, discarding signals from it as arising from noise. Here we use resting-state fMRI data from 176 subjects to show that signals from the human white-matter contain meaningful information. We identify 12 functional networks composed of interacting long-distance white-matter tracts. Moreover, we show that these networks are highly correlated to resting-state gray-matter networks, highlighting their functional role. Our findings enable reinterpretation of many existing fMRI datasets, and suggest a new way to explore the white-matter role in cognition and its disturbances in neuropsychiatric disorders.


An increase in the birth rates and a decrease in mortality is currently one of the priority lines of the development of society. From a purely technocratic standpoint, development of the population should be based on accurate knowledge of the number of consumers and the movement of needs, without which it is impossible to solve many social problems in general. The paper addresses a question of the need to orient the economy towards the development of a person and the population as a whole. The purpose and objectives of the study were to identify the dynamics of the population size, natural increase, the main trends in the growth of birth rate, the analysis of the causes of death, including infant mortality, the study of the marriage and divorce rates, migration. In the main part of the paper, the indicators of the population size in the republic over the past 17 years and in recent years are considered, including: the main trends in population growth, factors affecting the growth and decrease in mortality, causes of infant mortality, migration balance, marriage and divorce rates, both in the republic as a whole and region-wise. In conclusion, proposals were made to create favourable conditions for the demographic growth of population of the republic. Today, the solution of problems in the field of demographic policy is becoming increasingly important. It is necessary to accurately determine the priority paths of demographic growth, taking into account the specifics of the development of the population of Kazakhstan. In the future, this would facilitate the solution of demographic problems in terms of improving the demographic situation, which will contribute to the prosperity of the whole state.


This paper applies the time-varying parameter vector autoregressive model to the Japanese economy. The both parameters and volatilities, which are assumed to follow a random-walk process, are estimated using a Bayesian method with MCMC. The recursive structure is assumed for identification and the reversible jump MCMC is used for the ordering of variables. The empirical result reveals the time-varying structure of the Japanese economy and monetary policy during the period from 1981 to 2008 and provides evidence that the order of variables may change by the introduction of zero interest rate policy.


: A flood risk curve is the relation between annual maximum economic damage due to floods and its exceedance probability, which provides useful information for quantitative flood risk assessment. This study proposed to examine the applicability of d4PDF, a large ensemble climate projection dataset, to develop a probabilistic flood risk curve for the Yodo River basin (8,240 km 2 ), Japan. The d4PDF is a climate dataset under historical and 4 K increase conditions with tens of ensembles and provide a physically-based and reliable estimation of ensemble flood risk curves and their future changes. We identified that d4PDF rainfall data has bias for the spatial variability of rainfall probably due to coarse spatial resolution, while not for basin-averaged rainfall. This typical type of bias was removed by incorporating basin-averaged rainfall of d4PDF and observed spatial pattern of rainfall into analytically-based probabilistic rainfall modelling. Derived ensemble flood risk curves provided a histogram of T-year flood damage. The histogram had a long tail and showed that T-year flood damage may be larger than its deterministic estimate located at the median. Estimated ensemble flood risk curves at present/ future climates showed a clear increase of flood risk and its uncertainty at 4 K increase scenario.


It is an article of faith among American bankers and their regulators that some daylight overdrafts are necessary to the efficient functioning of large-dollar wire transfer systems. But the Swiss have injected an element of doubt by developing a system that does away with daylight overdrafts. Their new system processes a payment only if sufficient clearing funds are on deposit in the sending bank's reserve account. If sufficient funds are not available, the payment is held in a queue until covering funds have arrived. Vital and Mengle describe the first eighteen months of the system's operation.


The central nervous system is plastic, in that the number and strength of synaptic
connections changes over time. In the adult the most important driver of such changes is
experience, in the form of learning and memory. There are thought to be a number of
rules, operating relatively local to each synapse that govern changes in strength and
organisation. Some of these such as Hebbian plasticity or plasticity following repeated
activation of a connection have been studied in detail in animal preparations. However,
recent work with non-invasive methods of transcranial stimulation in human, such as
transcranial magnetic stimulation, has opened the opportunity to study similar effects in
the conscious human brain.
In this thesis I use these methods to explore some of the presumed changes in synaptic
connectivity in the motor cortex during different forms of motor learning. The
experiments only concern learning in the healthy brain; however it seems likely that the
same processes will be relevant to neurorehabilitation and disease of the nervous system.
This thesis explores the link between neuroplasticity and motor learning in humans using
non-invasive brain stimulation, pharmacological agents and psychomotor testing in 6
related studies.
1) Chapter 3 reports initial pharmacological investigations to confirm the idea that
some of the long term effects of TMS are likely to involve LTP-like mechanisms.
The study shows that NMDA agonism can affect the response to a repetitive form
of TMS known as theta burst stimulation (TBS)
2) Following up on the initial evidence for the role of NMDA receptors in the long
term effects of TBS, Chapter 4 explores the possible modulatory effects of
dopaminergic drugs on TBS.
3) Chapter 5 takes the investigations to normal behaviours by examining how the
NMDA dependent plasticity produced by TBS interacts with learning a simple
motor task of rapid thumb abduction. The unexpected results force a careful
examination of the possible mechanisms of motor learning in this task.
4) Chapter 6 expands on these effects by employing a battery of TMS methods as
well as drug agents to examine the role of different intracortical circuits in
ballistic motor learning.
5) Chapter 7 studies the plasticity of intracortical circuits involved in transcallosal
inhibition.
6) Chapter 8 studies the interaction between synaptic plasticity invoked by TBS and
sequence learning.
The studies described in the thesis contribute to understanding of how motor learning and
neuroplasticity interact, and possible strategies to enhance these phenomena for clinical
application.


ABSTRACT The status of scientific knowledge in political liberalism is controversial. Although Rawls argued that the noncontroversial methods and conclusions of science belong to the kind of reasons that citizens can legitimately call forth in public deliberation, critics have observed that the complexity and elaborateness of scientific arguments drive them away from the spirit of public reason, i.e., that which should reflect judgments that are the product of general beliefs and forms of reasoning found in common sense. In other words, scientific claims remain as inaccessible as esoteric or religious reasons. This paper contends that this objection can be met by introducing a crucial assumption, drawn from W. V. O. Quine and the 'naturalized epistemology' tradition: that scientific reasoning and everyday reasoning are not two different epistemic categories but rather form a continuum. The former is just a filtered or refined version of the latter. Accordingly, evidence-based scientific reasoning is common to all citizens, regardless of their actual acceptance of specific scientific claims. Following the Quinean Assumption, political liberals may argue that, unlike religious or esoteric sources of knowledge, scientific reasoning is the expression of a cognitive operation that is fundamentally shared across comprehensive doctrines and politically reasonable individuals.


The need for revolution in modern physics is a well known and often broached subject, however, the precision and success of current models narrows the possible changes to such a great degree that there appears to be no major change possible. We provide herein, the first step toward a possible solution to this paradox via reinterpretation of the conceptual-theoretical framework while still preserving the modern art and tools in an unaltered form. This redivision of concepts and redistribution of the data can revolutionize expectations of new experimental outcomes. This major change within finely tuned constraints is made possible by the fact that numerous mathematically equivalent theories were direct precursors to, and contemporaneous with, the modern interpretations. In this first of a series of papers, historical investigation of the conceptual lineage of modern theory reveals points of exacting overlap in physical theories which, while now considered cross discipline, originally split from a common source and can be reintegrated as a singular science again. This revival of an older associative hierarchy, combined with modern insights, can open new avenues for investigation. This reintegration of cross-disciplinary theories and tools is defined as the Neoclassical Interpretation.


This paper describes a linear-image-transform-based algorithm for reducing stripe noise, track line artifacts, and motion-induced errors in remote sensing data. Developed for multibeam bathymetry (MB), the method has also been used for removing scalloping in synthetic aperture radar images. The proposed image transform is the composition of an invertible edge detection operator and a fast discrete Radon transform (DRT) due to Götz, Druckmüller, and Brady. The inverse DRT is computed by using an iterative method and exploiting an approximate inverse algorithm due to Press. The edge operator is implemented by circular convolution with a Laplacian point spread function modified to render the operator invertible. In the transformed image, linear discontinuities appear as high-intensity spots, which may be reset to zero. In MB data, a second noise signature is linked to motion-induced errors. A Chebyshev approximation of the original image is subtracted before applying the transform, and added back to the denoised image; this is necessary to avoid boundary effects. It is possible to process data faster and suppress motion-induced noise further by filtering images in nonoverlapping blocks using a matrix representation for the inverse DRT. Processed test images from several MB data sets had less noise and distortion compared with those obtained with standard low-pass filters. Denoising also improved the accuracy in statistical classification of geomorphological type by 10-28% for two sets of invariant terrain features.


The new mineral raadeite, Mg 7(PO4)2(OH)8, was found in nodules of apatite + Mg-phosphates within the Tingelstadtjern serpentinite body, Modum district, Norway. It occurs as veinlets, a few tens of µ m wide, crosscutting althausite crystals; also as rare, up to 150 µ m large anhedral inclusions in holtedahlite; and with apatite, althausite and magnesite in fibrous coronae replacing heneuite. It is colourless, transparent, biaxial (- ); for l = 589 nm, n x 1.5945(5), n y 1.6069(5), n z 1.6088(5), 2V meas 45.6(1)° , 2V calc 43° ; strong dispersion r > v, n y // b. The infrared spec- trum shows prominent OH stretching bands at 3375, 3475, 3540 and 3580 cm -1. Electron-microprobe analyses indi- cate near-end-member composition, with minor As, Fe and Mn. Raadeite could be synthesized from 3 to 15 kbar, 500 to 700° C. It is monoclinic, space group P21/n, a = 5.250(1), b = 11.647(2), c = 9.655(2) A , b = 95.94(1)° , Z = 2. Single-crystal structure study ( R = 0.021) shows raadeite to be isostructural with the Mn-arsenate allactite and could localize the four protons. The structure consists of brucite-derived layers with 2/7 octahedral vacancies, which are linked by sharing a face and corners with interlayer Mg polyhedra (5+1 coordination) and corners with the PO 4 tetra- hedra. Raadeite and similar hydrous Mg-phosphates on the join brucite- Mg 3(PO4)2 (olivine-type structure) can be formally compared with the polysomatic humite series and other dense hydrous Mg silicates on the brucite- forsterite join. However, the structural variety of the relevant phosphates cannot be accounted for by a polysomatic series, nor are they all high-pressure phases.The new mineral honours Gunnar Raade, for his contribution to the mineralogy of Mg-phosphates.


About the book: Medicine is concerned with the most intimate aspects of private life. Yet it is also a focus for diverse forms of public organization and action. In this volume, an international team of scholars use the techniques of medical history to analyse the changing boundaries and constitution of the public sphere from early modernity to the present day.
In a series of detailed historical case studies, contributors examine the role of various public institutions - both formal and informal, voluntary and statutory - in organizing and coordinating collective action on medical matters. In so doing, they challenge the determinism and fatalism of Habermas's overarching and functionalist account of the rise and fall of the public sphere.
Of essential interest to historians and sociologists of medicine, this book will also be of value to historians of modern Britain, historical sociologists, and those engaged in studying the work of Jurgen Habermas.


Pterosaurs were important flying vertebrates for most of the Mesozoic, from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (225–65 Ma). They varied enormously through time in overall size (with wing spans from about 250 mm to about 12 m), and in features of their cranial and postcranial skeletons. Comparisons of disparity based on discrete cladistic characters show that the basal paraphyletic rhamphorhynchoids (Triassic–Early Cretaceous) occupied a distinct, and relatively small, region of morphospace compared to the derived pterodactyloids (Late Jurassic–Late Cretaceous). This separation is unexpected, especially in view of common constraints on anatomy caused by the requirements of flight. Pterodactyloid disparity shifted through time, with different, small portions of morphospace occupied in the Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous, and a much larger portion in the Early Cretaceous. This explosion in disparity after 100 Ma of evolution is matched by the highest diversity of the clade: evidently, pterosaurs express a rather 'top heavy' clade shape, and this is reflected in delayed morphological evolution, again an unexpected finding. The expansion of disparity among pterodactyloids was comparable across subclades: pairwise comparisons among the four pterodactyloid superfamilies show that, for the most part, these clades display significant morphological separation, except in the case of Dsungaripteroidea and Azhdarchoidea. Finally, there is no evidence that rhamphorhynchoids as a whole were outcompeted by pterodactyloids, or that pterosaurs were driven to extinction by the rise of birds.


Vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria, which are transmitted by infected female mosquitoes, affect nearly half of the world's population. The emergence of insecticide-resistant mosquito populations is reducing the effectiveness of conventional insecticides and threatening current vector control strategies, which has created an urgent need to identify new molecular targets against which novel classes of insecticides can be developed. We previously demonstrated that small molecule inhibitors of mammalian Kir channels represent promising chemicals for new mosquitocide development. In this study, high-throughput screening of approximately 30,000 chemically diverse small-molecules was employed to discover potent and selective inhibitors of Aedes aegypti Kir1 (AeKir1) channels heterologously expressed in HEK293 cells. Of 283 confirmed screening 'hits', the small-molecule inhibitor VU625 was selected for lead optimization and in vivo studies based on its potency and selectivity toward AeKir1, and tractability for medicinal chemistry. In patch clamp electrophysiology experiments of HEK293 cells, VU625 inhibits AeKir1 with an IC50 value of 96.8 nM, making VU625 the most potent inhibitor of AeKir1 described to date. Furthermore, electrophysiology experiments in Xenopus oocytes revealed that VU625 is a weak inhibitor of AeKir2B. Surprisingly, injection of VU625 failed to elicit significant effects on mosquito behavior, urine excretion, or survival. However, when co-injected with probenecid, VU625 inhibited the excretory capacity of mosquitoes and was toxic, suggesting that the compound is a substrate of organic anion and/or ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. The dose-toxicity relationship of VU625 (when co-injected with probenecid) is biphasic, which is consistent with the molecule inhibiting both AeKir1 and AeKir2B with different potencies. This study demonstrates proof-of-concept that potent and highly selective inhibitors of mosquito Kir channels can be developed using conventional drug discovery approaches. Furthermore, it reinforces the notion that the physical and chemical properties that determine a compound's bioavailability in vivo will be critical in determining the efficacy of Kir channel inhibitors as insecticides.


ABSTRACT In this paper I investigate intergenerational transmission in religiosity among immigrants and natives, comparing families affiliating with Christianity, Islam or any other religious denomination in Germany. Thereby, I focus on the role of transmission opportunities and perceived benefits of religious transmission within and outside the family on the chance of successfully passing on religious attachment from parents to children. Furthermore, I investigate whether these factors contribute to explain group differences in the intergenerational transmission in religiosity. Using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), my empirical results show that family characteristics and everyday interactions influence the strength of intergenerational secularisation, but they can only partly account for differences in divergent transmission patterns.


The aim of this study was to examine voter behaviour in general elections and its implications on the development of liberal political democracy in Kenya. An examination of voting behaviour in general elections might shed some light to the country's pursuit of a  ̳stable' political democracy. Consequently, this study endeavoured to examine the factors that structure voting behaviour, namely; purposive corporate social bonds, primordial corporate social bonds and socio-demographic variables. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design with a multi-stage sampling technique involving purposive and systematic random sampling methods to select 600 informants from six constituencies of which two were urban and four were rural in four regions of the republic of Kenya. Because of delimitations in terms of resources and logistics, only four regions were sampled out of the possible then eight provinces of Kenya. These four regions were the then Nairobi Province, NEP, Western Province and Nyanza Province. The four regions were chosen based on their unique voting behaviour in general elections. The main data collection instrument was structured questionnaire and where necessary secondary data were used to augment the study findings. SPSS was used in data management and analysis. The descriptive statistics used in this study included frequency distributions; percentages, means and later cross-tabulations were computed. Inferential statistics such as ANOVA, t-test and linear regression were also employed to test relationships, predictions and draw conclusions. Focus group discussions were carried out, summarised, categorised and emerging themes used in the discussion to augment quantitative information. Research findings obtained revealed that region, religion and income were the best predictors of voting behaviour. Voters in the then Nyanza (Luo) were highly influenced by social bonds in their voting behaviour , while Islam had a persuasive influence in shaping voting behaviour of its adherents more than any other religion. Voters earning more than Ksh. 10,000 were found to be independent of social bonds in their voting behaviour. On the basis of these findings, the research concluded that this might be some kind of modern day functionalism. Some form of  ̳function'-tangible or intangible that some regional or religious affiliation performs for voters which is why they are more likely to stick to one of their kind (or against as the case may be) or vote the highest bidder for those with low incomes. It was also concluded that it is because of lack of civic education coupled with strong primary social bonds (i.e in-group identity writ large). This means that voters are more likely to vote for candidates who originate from their regions, confirming voters' strong attachment to the notion of ―home district‖. The notion of ―home district‖ or region in Kenyan politics is a surrogate for ethnicity and/or clanism. On the basis of this finding, this research recommended that a policy framework be worked out for IEBC, NCIC and other players involved in civic education to engender liberal civic principles and consciousness in their curriculum that will inculcate in the citizens liberal democratic ethos necessary for the development of liberal democracy in Kenya.


It is widely acknowledged that the days of museums solely being places of contemplation for the educated, with a concentration on collecting, conservation and research, have now passed. The challenge for the modern museum is that, in addition to these traditional roles which still remain, they are now also expected to inform, educate and entertain, and to provide a 'value' museum experience within a competitive marketplace. Central to this challenge is the changing nature of the public, and how their expectations as informed and technologically aware consumers can shape museum activities. There are, then, significant social, economic and cultural changes that have affected the way museums need to operate and how they see themselves and their audiences.

One response to this can be seen in the rise of marketing as a vital component of museum management. Such a marketing emphasis means museums actively seek to communicate with their publics. In order to do this, given the changes in the dynamics of the museums' marketplace, there is now the necessity to use electronic media within integrated marketing communication strategies. This use of electronic marketing as a strategy within the museum sector has received little attention in the academic literature.

The position taken here is that the developments seen in the museum sector are best viewed by adopting a narrative approach to the structure of the thesis. Each chapter builds on the preceding, but each then carries the narrative forward, from the genesis of the modern museum, to the subsequent analysis of Australia's state museums. Within this context, this study takes a qualitative and interpretivist approach to the overall research aim, which is to investigate the factors that influence the extent to which the Australian state museums incorporate electronic marketing strategies into their overall marketing activities. It uses a multi-case method, with data drawn from interviews with operational- and strategic-level staff, extensive field visits and analysis of annual reports, marketing collateral and websites from the six Australian state museums. The thesis subsequently analyses the case study museums from a 'marketing perspective', using secondary data to compare and contrast each museum's strategies. It also seeks to reveal a 'museum perspective' by reporting and critically analysing the data drawn from interviews with staff from the Australian state museums. These perspectives are synthesised in a concluding chapter which also considers the research questions in light of the findings. In addition, this chapter addresses the extent to which the research has provided insight into the overall research aim.

The thesis makes a significant contribution to museum marketing research by suggesting likely relationships between the use of electronic marketing in Australia's state museums, and the various internal factors and external forces evident both in the literature and in the findings presented here.


Monitoring of the phytoplankton pigment chlorophyll-a is often used as an indicator of eutrophication in coastal waters. Improved water quality monitoring using data sourced from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer)-sourced data allows for infrequently sampled sites to be interrogated for long-term trends. Despite the wide availability and good spatial and temporal coverage of MODIS data, these data have had little use in operational coastal monitoring of chlorophyll-a in New Zealand. This is in part due to the poor performance of global oceanic algorithms applied in the coastal waters. Accessible algorithm tuning methods that can be validated by in situ measurements may assist the uptake of satellite data for coastal monitoring. This study presents results from regional tuning and validation of two empirical algorithm approaches, including a new simple exponential model, to estimate chlorophyll-a for two coastal locations in New Zealand. A novel method of training chlorophyll-a models using smoothed in situ data to match spatial scales of satellite observations was applied, and shows promise for improving tuned model performance. This approach shows potential for lowering barriers for researchers and coastal managers wishing to make use of the growing satellite data resource in their coastal environments.


We report high-resolution photodetachment spectra of the cryogenically cooled iron monoxide clusters Fe4O(-) and Fe5O(-) obtained with slow photoelectron velocity-map imaging (cryo-SEVI). Well-resolved vibrational progressions are observed in both sets of spectra, and transitions to low-lying excited states of both species are seen. In order to identify the structural isomers, electronic states, and vibrational modes that contribute to the cryo-SEVI spectra of these clusters, experimental results are compared with density functional theory calculations and Franck-Condon simulations. The main bands observed in the SEVI spectra are assigned to the (15)A2←(16)B2 photodetachment transition of Fe4O(-) and the (17)A'←(18)A″ photodetachment transition of Fe5O(-). We report electron affinities of 1.6980(3) eV for Fe4O and 1.8616(3) eV for Fe5O, although there is some uncertainty as to whether the (15)A2 state is the true ground state of Fe4O. The iron atoms have a distorted tetrahedral geometry in Fe4O(0/-) and a distorted trigonal-bipyramidal arrangement in Fe5O(0/-). For both neutral and anionic species, the oxygen atom preferably binds in a μ2-oxo configuration along the cluster edge. This finding is in contrast to prior predictions that Fe5O(0/-) exhibits a μ3 face-bound structure.


Social psychologists have relied on computerized shooting tasks to test whether race influences decisions to shoot. These studies reveal that under some conditions untrained individuals shoot unarmed Black men more than unarmed White men. We modeled the decision to shoot as a sequential sampling process in which people start out with prior biases and accumulate evidence over time until a threshold is reached, prompting a decision. We used this approach to test how prior information (a proxy for police dispatch information) and police experience influence racial bias in shooting decisions. When no prior information was given, target race biased the rate at which untrained civilians accumulated evidence, leading to a greater rate of shooting Black targets. For sworn police officers, the race of the target impacted prior bias, but not evidence accumulation. Moreover, officers showed no race bias in the observed decision to shoot. For both untrained civilians and sworn police officers, prior information about a target's race was sufficient to eliminate racial bias in shooting decisions both at the process and behavioral level. These studies reveal that factors present in real-world shooting decisions (dispatch information and police experience) can moderate the role that race plays both in the underlying cognitive processes and ultimately on the observed decision. We discuss the benefits of using a dynamic cognitive model to understand the decision to shoot and the implications of these results for laboratory analogues of real-world decisions.


Nearly all energy-producing states elect to adopt and sustain a tax on the extraction of their oil and gas resources through so-called severance taxes, generating significant revenue for general as well as specialized state funds. Political support for such taxes generally crosses party lines and endures across multiple partisan shifts in the political control of a state. This reflects numerous features that tend to make these taxes quite popular and durable across election cycles. This long-standing pattern, however, faces one major exception: Pennsylvania's enduring reluctance to follow the path of other major energy-producing states and adopt such a tax. This article explores what it deems "Pennsylvania exceptionalism," as it seeks to address the issue of why one leading energy-producing state would refrain from tax adoption in contrast to every other such state. It places particular emphasis on the past decade, in which natural gas in shale deposits has triggered a dramatic expansion of production in Pennsylvania and ongoing political controversy over whether or not a severance tax should be adopted.