As in England and Wales, the private rented sector in Ireland plays a fundamental role in the
functioning of housing provision. Whilst owner occupation remains the largest tenure, the
Irish government has recently made significant and frequent changes to the administration
and taxation of the private rented sector, including changes to the taxation subsidy Mortgage
Interest Relief (MIR). In 1998, acting to reduce inflationary pressures, MIR was removed as
part of a raft of changes to housing taxation and subsidisation. By 2002 that decision was
reversed, with the reintroduction of MIR at 100%. In 2009 as a response to the financial crisis
the government reduced the level of MIR from 100% to 75%. In 2015 this change was reversed
for properties with tenants receiving social support, and in 2016 it was announced that there
would be an incremental change annually to 100% for all landlords by 2021.
This assessment included a desk based review of the academic and public literature on MIR in
Ireland between 1998 and 2016, and nine telephone interviews with landlords, their
representatives, academics and private practice analysts in November 2017.
The widespread changes to policy, subsidy and taxation that have taken place in Ireland have
occurred at a turbulent time for the economy, house prices and rental income. Disaggregating,
with a high degree of certainty, the impact that changes to MIR have had upon landlords and
the private rented sector collectively is challenging. The direct impact of altering the level of
subsidy through MIR appears to have had very little impact upon landlords collectively and
the private rented sector as a whole. This may be explained through three key findings:
Fluctuations in rents and house prices have relativised the changes to MIR;
Accidental landlords are a significant proportion of all landlords, many of whom are
'locked in' and not able to react to minor financial incentives; and
Recent trends suggest that new landlords are frequently cash buyers and therefore MIR is
not supporting significant numbers of leveraged landlords to enter the market.
These findings suggest that small scale changes to MIR are unlikely to act as a significant
incentive or disincentive in markets that are not stable or where large proportions of landlords
are not significantly affected by the changes. However, the level of MIR may act as an
indicator of the government's attitude towards landlords and therefore its function as a social
signal may also act as a (dis)incentive beyond the direct impact upon landlord's finances.


Cardiopulmonary events account for many of the serious gastrointestinal endoscopy complications. Pulse oximetry monitoring detects hypoxemia to allow prevention of complications. Alternatively, prophylaxis by continuous nasal oxygen during the procedure may offset any tendency toward oxygen desaturation. We monitored patients with major upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage by pulse oximetry during emergency upper endoscopy on room air or while receiving supplemental nasal oxygen (2 l/min). Desaturation (SpO2 < 90%) occurred in 80% of patients undergoing emergency procedures on room air but in only 25% of those receiving supplemental oxygen. For comparison, patients without significant cardiac or pulmonary disease undergoing elective procedures were studied on room air and desaturation only occurred in 29%. Thus, arterial oxygen desaturation as measured by pulse oximetry occurs more often during emergency than elective endoscopy. Supplemental oxygen decreases desaturation during emergency endoscopy but does not abolish it. We recommend that supplemental oxygen be used during emergency endoscopy to decrease desaturation, but it should not substitute for patient monitoring.


S ince the immune system is an organ that is dispersed in time and space, and, as a result, many of its cells are not in permanent contact with any others, it has evolved a number of cell surface–mediated molecular signaling systems to allow control of the immune response. Some of these controls derive from the interaction of soluble mediators such as lymphokines with their cognate receptors on the surface of the responding cells, while others result from cell-cell interactions that are involved in the activation of one or both engaging cells. The list of cell surface receptors critical to the immune response is large: surface immunoglobulin, T cell receptors, major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC class I) and class II (MHC class II) molecules, CD4 and CD8 coreceptors, ICAMs, integrins, receptors for Fc (FcR), chemokine receptors, lymphokine receptors (such as those for IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-12), many of the CD antigens, and many more. Throughout this book are described many methods for examining cell surface receptors and their ligand interactions, including staining of cell surface receptors with fluorescent antibodies (FACS; Chapter 5 and UNIT 6.21) and cell-based ELISA methods (Chapter 2). It has become clear, however, that a manual of this scope also deserves a chapter of its own describing methods for measuring, both qualitatively and quantitatively, interactions of either soluble ligands with their cell surface receptors, or the interactions of membrane molecules with their cognate cell surface ligands.


One recent, significant advance in modeling source code for machine learning algorithms has been the introduction of path-based representation – an approach consisting in representing a snippet of code as a collection of paths from its syntax tree. Such representation efficiently captures the structure of code, which, in turn, carries its semantics and other information. Building the path-based representation involves parsing the code and extracting the paths from its syntax tree; these steps build up to a substantial technical job. With no common reusable toolkit existing for this task, the burden of mining diverts the focus of researchers from the essential work and hinders newcomers in the field of machine learning on code. In this paper, we present PathMiner – an open-source library for mining path-based representations of code. PathMiner is fast, flexible, well-tested, and easily extensible to support input code in any common programming language. Preprint [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2595271]; released tool [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2595257].


ABSTRACT The Gezira area of the Sudan saw the construction of one of the major agricultural schemes in Africa in the beginning of the twentieth century (1925). The construction of this scheme led to a development of two different rural models of settlement: the colonial model established by the British Governors at the time and the traditional vernacular model built organically by the local people; the farmers who are the main stakeholder of the scheme. Through time the local settlements have been subjected to changes in many aspects of housing design and quality. In the Sudan, the need to reorganize the organic villages is a critical issue, but government planning initiatives failed to pay attention to the simple planning issues of the organic settlements within their planning processes. The recognition of the simplicity and humbleness of the rural traditional villages may be itself a merit to those settlements that adapted themselves to changing conditions of many factors such as changing environment, changing socio-cultural behaviour and changing spatial arrangements and persist in competing with the planned organized agricultural scheme, which has exerted influential limitations on their development. These architectural changes in settlement patterns, structure, and in the external appearance of the local houses indicate the complexity of their causes. We are trying to understand the changes that the relationships of spaces and society have conveyed. The basic focus will be on the relationship between the socio-cultural factors and the built environment at three levels of development: regional settlement, local settlement and dwelling. To achieve this aim a systematic approach is used to investigate the relationship of socio-cultural behaviour with the built environment as it has evolved in the Gezira area of the Sudan. The analytical approach includes aspects of history and sociocultural factors that could expose the complex relationships between the settlement patterns, houses and their users. A second important feature of this research is its comparative character. The comparative characters of the planned settlement of the agricultural scheme, the organic settlement and the new extension of the organic village may explain the socio-cultural relationships. The research, also, contributes to explain the impact of built environment infrastructures and the planning interventions processes carried out by the Government to organise the organic vernacular settlements on the Gezira settlements. The research explores a wide range of literature and information resources to address these issues and draw a conceptual framework. The Gezira area is taken as a case study as it is characterised by different types of settlements that have emerged within the fabric of a developed agricultural scheme. Data collected for a case study of two space domains representing two types of settlements is used to consolidate the information used in the research. The thesis provides evidence that, working empirically; people are well able to navigate themselves to shape resources nearer to the realisation of their values. Evidence that at least tells us there are many ways in which to make a home meaningful, sustainable and far from rural deprivation. These ways could be reflected within the traditional vernacular architecture.The Gezira area of the Sudan saw the construction of one of the major agricultural schemes in Africa in the beginning of the twentieth century (1925). The construction of this scheme led to a development of two different rural models of settlement: the colonial model established by the British Governors at the time and the traditional vernacular model built organically by the local people; the farmers who are the main stakeholder of the scheme. Through time the local settlements have been subjected to changes in many aspects of housing design and quality. In the Sudan, the need to reorganize the organic villages is a critical issue, but government planning initiatives failed to pay attention to the simple planning issues of the organic settlements within their planning processes. The recognition of the simplicity and humbleness of the rural traditional villages may be itself a merit to those settlements that adapted themselves to changing conditions of many factors such as changing environment, changing socio-cultural behaviour and changing spatial arrangements and persist in competing with the planned organized agricultural scheme, which has exerted influential limitations on their development. These architectural changes in settlement patterns, structure, and in the external appearance of the local houses indicate the complexity of their causes. We are trying to understand the changes that the relationships of spaces and society have conveyed. The basic focus will be on the relationship between the socio-cultural factors and the built environment at three levels of development: regional settlement, local settlement and dwelling. To achieve this aim a systematic approach is used to investigate the relationship of socio-cultural behaviour with the built environment as it has evolved in the Gezira area of the Sudan. The analytical approach includes aspects of history and sociocultural factors that could expose the complex relationships between the settlement patterns, houses and their users. A second important feature of this research is its comparative character. The comparative characters of the planned settlement of the agricultural scheme, the organic settlement and the new extension of the organic village may explain the socio-cultural relationships. The research, also, contributes to explain the impact of built environment infrastructures and the planning interventions processes carried out by the Government to organise the organic vernacular settlements on the Gezira settlements. The research explores a wide range of literature and information resources to address these issues and draw a conceptual framework. The Gezira area is taken as a case study as it is characterised by different types of settlements that have emerged within the fabric of a developed agricultural scheme. Data collected for a case study of two space domains representing two types of settlements is used to consolidate the information used in the research. The thesis provides evidence that, working empirically; people are well able to navigate themselves to shape resources nearer to the realisation of their values. Evidence that at least tells us there are many ways in which to make a home meaningful, sustainable and far from rural deprivation. These ways could be reflected within the traditional vernacular architecture.


Arecent poll found that an overwhelming majority of Americans from across the political spectrum think prevention should be given priority in health reform. Given its intuitive appeal, that result is not surprising. Who could be against the idea of investing in keeping people healthy? But as it turns out, prevention has its detractors. The debate turns on questions about its exact meaning, whether it is cost-effective, and the complexity of the enterprise. Like most Americans, I am a fan of prevention. My view of what prevention is, however, may not be widely shared. Prevention to my mind means assuring that all persons are able to live in safe, clean houses and neighborhoods; eat healthy foods; socialize with family and friends; get exercise; rest and manage stress. Prevention in this sense is "primary," in that it aims to prevent disease and promote health by creating social and environmental conditions associated with health and well-being. Primary prevention can be distinguished from "secondary" and "tertiary" prevention, although the divisions lack precision. Secondary prevention aims to detect early signs of disease through screening and other interventions to delay its onset or reduce its progression. And tertiary prevention is really management; it aims to reduce the severity of and complications associated with disease. So, what flies under the banner of "prevention" involves a wide range of actors and activities that take place in a variety of settings, often with quite divergent assumptions and goals. This heterogeneity contributes to debate over whether prevention will save money, as so many politicians claim. Few health interventions—whether aimed at prevention or treatment—save money. They are investments in a good that people value. Like education and clean air, health contributes to the well-being and productivity of individuals, communities, and society. Health interventions can, however, be cost-effective investments, and whether preventive interventions are cost-effective is a matter of debate. Steven Woolf, a physician and professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and colleagues have argued that the cacophony of conflicting reports on the subject can be explained in part by technical variations among studies, such as whether costs are examined from a societal perspective or that of a particular sector (such as payers) or posit a shortor long-term time horizon. Of course, some prevention interventions—like so many diagnostic and medical services—are not cost-effective. But this debate, Woolf notes, has overshadowed significant consensus on the worth of a core set of clinicaland community-based preventive interventions, some of which even save money. Making prevention a principle of health reform faces a more basic challenge. It involves changing human behavior—which is never easy—on two fronts. First, it requires changing health-related habits that have complex developmental, psychological, cultural, and socioeconomic roots. Second, reducing the prevalence of poor health habits will require rethinking how and where health happens. While individuals do sometimes "just do it"—put down the cigarettes or put on the sneakers—behavior change usually requires extensive environmental and social supports that reach across and connect communities, schools, and workplaces. Health happens where people live, learn, love, work, and play. Prevention in the deep, primary sense requires comprehensive urban policy, the commitment of multiple social sectors, and an active, engaged community. Prevention is among President Obama's core principles of health reform, and if the poll is correct, the American people stand behind him. A majority of those polled reported not only that prevention should be made a priority, but that it merits increased funding. Currently, only 3 to 5 percent of our health budget goes to prevention. However, real gains depend on embracing serious primary prevention. In the absence of efforts that address the social and environmental determinants of health, those who are at risk or sick are very unlikely to improve their health outcomes. Moreover, nothing will slow the rate at which new people enter the at-risk population. Some forty million Americans are projected to join the ranks of the chronically ill by 2030. We can do nothing, or we can work to prevent that future. Health Reform: What's Prevention Got to Do with It?


Long-read sequencing technologies are transforming our ability to assemble highly complex genomes. Realising their full potential relies crucially on extracting high quality, high molecular weight (HMW) DNA from the organisms of interest. This is especially the case for the portable MinION sequencer which potentiates all laboratories to undertake their own genome sequencing projects, due to its low entry cost and minimal spatial footprint. One challenge of the MinION is that each group has to independently establish effective protocols for using the instrument, which can be time consuming and costly. Here we present a workflow and protocols that enabled us to establish MinION sequencing in our own laboratories, based on optimising DNA extractions from a challenging plant tissue as a case study. Following the workflow illustrated we were able to reliably and repeatedly obtain > 8.5 Gb of long read sequencing data with a mean read length of 13 kb and an N50 of 26 kb. Our protocols are open-source and can be performed in any laboratory without special equipment. We also illustrate some more elaborate workflows which can increase mean and average read lengths if this is desired. We envision that our workflow for establishing MinION sequencing, including the illustration of potential pitfalls, will be useful to others who plan to establish long-read sequencing in their own laboratories.


OBJECTIVES
To explore whether distinct trajectories of anxiety and depression exist among liver transplant candidates, and to gain insight into demographic, clinical, and individual characteristics related with these trajectories.

DESIGN
A multicentre, prospective cohort study among 216 liver transplant candidates. Respondents filled out a questionnaire at study entrance and subsequently every 6 months until transplantation or removal from the waiting list.

METHODS
Anxiety (STAI6), depression (CES-D), demographic, and individual variables were assessed by questionnaire. Clinical variables were retrieved by medical record review. The SAS PROC TRAJ procedure was used to identify distinct trajectories. Univariate and multiple ordinal logistic regression analyses were used to explore related variables.

RESULTS
Regarding anxiety, three stable trajectories were identified as follows: below clinical level (51%), slightly above clinical level (34%), and high above clinical level (15%). Regarding depression, four stable trajectories were identified as follows: below clinical level (23%), slightly below clinical level (34%), slightly above clinical level (28%), and high above clinical level (6%). For anxiety as well as for depression, experiencing more liver disease symptoms, a lower level of personal control, making more use of emotional coping, and making less use of task-oriented coping increased the likelihood of membership in those trajectories with higher symptom levels.

CONCLUSION
Distinct, but stable, trajectories of anxiety and depression were present in liver transplant candidates. The trajectories with symptom levels above clinical relevant levels for anxiety or depression comprised, respectively, 49% and 34% of the respondents. Therefore, psychological screening and subsequently providing appropriate interventions are warranted early in the transplant process. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject For transplant candidates, the waiting-list period is a period of uncertainty and unpredictability. Psychological problems, such as anxiety and depression, are common among liver transplant candidates. Several demographic, clinical, and individual characteristics are associated with anxiety and depression, but these results remain inconclusive. What does this study add Distinct trajectories of symptoms of anxiety and depression are present among liver transplant candidates. Given the stability of the trajectories over time, the symptom level at baseline is indicative of the symptom level during the waiting-list period. Experiencing more liver disease symptoms, low mastery, more use of emotional coping, and less use of task-oriented coping are associated with trajectories of high symptom levels.


This paper describes an operational geographically distributed and heterogeneous cloud infrastructure with services and applications deployed in the Guifi community network. The presented cloud is a particular case of a community cloud, developed according to the specific needs and conditions of community networks. We describe the concept of this community cloud, explain our technical choices for building it, and our experience with the deployment of this cloud. We review our solutions and experience on offering the different service models of cloud computing (IaaS, PaaS and SaaS) in community networks. The deployed cloud infrastructure aims to provide stable and attractive cloud services in order to encourage community network user to use, keep and extend it with new services and applications.


In April 2003, the national eligibility framework for the provision of community care services, Fair Access to Care Services (FACS), was implemented. The aim of the framework was to ensure geographical equity in the provision of services, including equipment and minor works, so ending the postcode variability of care described in the Audit Commission report Fully Equipped. This study reports a postal questionnaire survey of a representative sample of 100 local authority occupational therapy teams across England to examine the implementation and use of the criteria for equipment provision. A 60% response rate revealed that only 9 out of 60 teams (15%) used solely FACS criteria; the remainder still used local criteria. Between-colleague differences in equipment provision persisted (68%). This suggests that the implementation of the FACS eligibility criteria has not achieved its goal.


This paper examines the relationship between typology and historical linguistics through a case study from the history of Armenian, where two different stress systems are found in the modern language. The first is a penult system with no associated secondary stress ([… σ́σ]ω). The other, the so-called hammock pattern, has primary stress on the final syllable and secondary stress on the initial syllable of the prosodic word ([σ̀ … σ́]ω). Although penult stress patterns are by far more typologically common than the hammock pattern in the world's languages, I will argue that the hammock pattern must be reconstructed for the period of shared innovation, the Proto-Armenian period.


The properties of gene conversion as measured in fungi that generate asci containing all the products of meiosis imply that meiotic recombination initiates at specific sites. The HIS2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae displays a high frequency of gene conversion, indicating that it is a recombination hotspot. The HIS2 gene was cloned and sequenced, and the cloned DNA was used to make several different types of alterations in the yeast chromosome by transformation; these alterations were used to determine the location of the sequences necessary for the high levels of meiotic conversion observed at HIS2. Previous work indicated that the gene conversion polarity gradient is high at the 3' end of the gene, and that the promoter of the gene is not necessary for the high frequency of conversion observed. Data presented here suggest that at least some of the sequences necessary for high levels of conversion at HIS2 are located over 700 bp downstream of the end of the coding region, extend over (at least) several hundred base pairs, and may be quite complex, perhaps involving chromatin structure. Additional data indicate that multiple single base heterologies within a 1-kb interval contribute little to the frequency of gene conversion. This contrasts with other reports about the role of heterologies at the MAT locus.


Background Markers for longevity that reflect the health condition and predict healthy aging are extremely scarce. Such markers are, however, valuable in aging research. It has been shown previously that the N-glycosylation pattern of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) is age-dependent. Here we investigate whether N-linked glycans reflect early features of human longevity. Methodology/Principal Findings The Leiden Longevity Study (LLS) consists of nonagenarian sibling pairs, their offspring, and partners of the offspring serving as control. IgG subclass specific glycosylation patterns were obtained from 1967 participants in the LLS by MALDI-TOF-MS analysis of tryptic IgG Fc glycopeptides. Several regression strategies were applied to evaluate the association of IgG glycosylation with age, sex, and longevity. The degree of galactosylation of IgG decreased with increasing age. For the galactosylated glycoforms the incidence of bisecting GlcNAc increased as a function of age. Sex-related differences were observed at ages below 60 years. Compared to males, younger females had higher galactosylation, which decreased stronger with increasing age, resulting in similar galactosylation for both sexes from 60 onwards. In younger participants (<60 years of age), but not in the older age group (>60 years), decreased levels of non-galactosylated glycoforms containing a bisecting GlcNAc reflected early features of longevity. Conclusions/Significance We here describe IgG glycoforms associated with calendar age at all ages and the propensity for longevity before middle age. As modulation of IgG effector functions has been described for various IgG glycosylation features, a modulatory effect may be expected for the longevity marker described in this study.


A dielectric multi-layered structure is studied in this letter. It is found that at some frequency ranges, the equal-frequency contours (EFCs) are almost flat for one polarization but still curve for the other. Based on this property, we propose a novel polarization beam splitter.


Title of Document: Cycling the City: Locating Cycling in the Continued (Re)Structuring of North American Cities Oliver James Collard Rick, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Directed By: Professor David L. Andrews Department of Kinesiology Bicycling is a growing mobility practice within contemporary U.S. cities that has multiple effects on the formation of the urban as "We are surrounded by cycling" (Horton et al, 2007, p. 1). This project investigates how cycling has shaped the city by analyzing the role that the governance and practice of cycling currently plays in the political, economic, social, spatial, and affective re-formation of the urban. Through the use of a combination of methods, working at various levels of analysis, the aim is to locate the impact of cycling policies and practices on the structural, discursive, and embodied dimensions of contemporary urban (re)structuring. It is an analysis of macro political processes, the formation of cycling communities, and the experiential dimension of riding in the city. Latham & McCormack (2010) state "cities are constantly generating new forms of collective life, novel ways of being together" (p. 55). Thus, this project interrogates the various ways in which cycling impacts upon cities, and influences their (re)formation in potentially "historically unprecedented ways" (Wachsmuth et al, 2011, p. 741). Through studying cycling in Boston, Baltimore, and Washington DC this project provides a multi-sited analysis of how cycling is positioned within U.S. cities currently, as well as the complex and diverse processes that inform the contemporary organization of these urban spaces. U.S. cities currently exist within a broad "climate of cuts, austerity and state retrenchment" (Newman, 2013, p. 1) that has defined current patterns of urban governance. I have researched the ways in which cycling has underpinned and simultaneously challenged these broad shifts toward neoliberal governance. Cycling is both drawn into "marketing of urban "culture" and history by entrepreneurial governance" (Cherot and Murray, 2002, p. 432), but also underpins cities as entities that "defy efforts to be classified into types, reduced to essential characteristics, and fixed by boundaries (intellectual or otherwise)" (Prytherch, 2002, p. 772). As such this project investigates this simultaneously overlapping and contradictory impact of cycling on the city, mapping the multiple locations of cycling within the perpetual (re)formation of the urban. CYCLING THE CITY: LOCATING CYCLING IN THE CONTINUED (RE)STRUCTURING OF NORTH AMERICAN CITIES


A temporal interface for a system component is a finite automaton that specifies the legal sequences of input events. We evaluate and compare three different algorithms for automatically extracting the temporal interface from the transition graph of a component: (1) a game algorithm that computes the interface as a representation of the most general environment strategy to avoid a safety violation; (2) a learning algorithm that repeatedly queries the component to construct the minimal interface automaton; and (3) a CEGAR algorithm that iteratively refines an abstract interface hypothesis by adding relevant state information from the component. Since algorithms (2) and (3) have been published in different software contexts, for comparison purposes, we present the three algorithms in a uniform finite-state setting. We furthermore extend the three algorithms to construct maximally permissive interface automata, which accept all legal input sequences. While the three algorithms have similar worst-case complexities, their actual running times differ greatly depending on the component whose interface is computed. On the theoretical side, we provide families of components that exhibit exponential differences in the performance of the three algorithms. On the practical side, we evaluate the three algorithms experimentally on a variety of real world examples. Not surprisingly, the experimental evaluation confirms the theoretical expectation: learning performs best if the minimal interface automaton is small; CEGAR performs best if only few component variables are needed to prove an interface hypothesis safe and permissive; and the direct (game) algorithm outperforms both approaches if neither is the case.


The introduction of the term periglacial by Łoziński in 1909 to describe the cold-climate conditions in the zone adjacent to, but beyond, the Pleistocene glaciers encouraged the separate development of geocryological and glaciological research. Geological and geomorphological processes at the interface between glaciers and permafrost have, as a result, been given less attention than they warrant, and the influence of one on the other has in many respects been neglected. This book includes a collection of papers that emphasize glacier-permafrost interactions. Papers consider permafrost and its influence on glacitectonic processes, glacial meltwater systems and ground-ice development in proglacial and ice-marginal environments. In addition, recent research findings are reported on paraglacial processes, permafrost evolution, rock glaciers, the formation of ice-wedge casts and periglacial slope evolution. It is hoped that this book will stimulate interest in the interface between glacial and periglacial systems, and encourage further collaborative research involving glaciologists and glacial geologists on the one hand, and geocryologists and permafrost scientists on the other.


one-of-a-kind introduction to the theory and application of modeling and simulation techniques in the realm of international studies Modeling and Simulation for Analyzing Global Events provides an orientation to the theory and application of modeling and simulation techniques in social science disciplines. This book guides readers in developing quantitative and numeric representations of real-world events based on qualitative analysis. With an emphasis on gathering and mapping empirical data, the authors detail the steps needed for accurately analyzing global events and outline the selection and construction of the best model for understanding the events data. Providing a theoretical foundation while also illustrating modern examples, the book contains three parts: Advancing Global Studiesintroduces the what, when, and why of modeling and simulation and also explores its brief history, various uses, and some of the advantages and disadvantages of modeling and simulation in problem solving. In addition, the differences in qualitative and quantitative research methods, mapping data, and conducting model validation are also discussed. Modeling Paradigmsexamines various methods of modeling including system dynamics, agent-based modeling, social network modeling, and game theory. This section also explores the theory and construction of these modeling paradigms, the fundamentals for their application, and various contexts for their use. Modeling Global Eventsapplies the modeling paradigms to four real-world events that are representative of several fundamental areas of social science studies: internal commotion within an anarchic state, a multi-layered study of the Solidarity movement in Poland, uni-lateral military intervention, and the issue of compellence and deterrence during a national security crisis. Modeling and Simulation for Analyzing Global Events is an excellent book for statistics, engineering, computer science, economics, and social sciences courses on modeling and simulation at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also an insightful reference for professionals who would like to develop modeling and simulation skills for analyzing and communicating human behavior observed in real-world events and complex global case studies.


The VISIR instrument for the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) is a thermal-infrared imager and spectrometer currently being developed by the French Service d'Astrophysique of CEA Saclay, and Dutch NFRA ASTRON Dwingeloo consortium. This cryogenic instrument will employ precision infrared bandpass filters in the N-(λ=7.5-14μm)and Q-(λ=16-28μm) band mid-IR atmospheric windows to study interstellar and circumstellar environments crucial for star and planetary formation theories. As the filters in these mid-IR wavelength ranges are of interest to many astronomical cryogenic instruments, a worldwide astronomical filter consortium was set up with participation from 12 differing institutes, each requiring instrument specific filter operating environments and optical metrology. This paper describes the design and fabrication methods used to manufacture these astronomical consortium filters, including the rationale for the selection of multilayer coating designs, temperature-dependant optical properties of the filter materials and FTIR spectral measurements showing the changes in passband and blocking performance on cooling to <50K. We also describe the development of a 7-14μm broadband antireflection coating deposited on Ge lenses and KRS-5 grisms for cryogenic operation at 40K.


The aim of Bhamaha was to bring into existence a theoretical treatise on rhetoric as to facilitate a critical study of the subject with a view to serve as a practical handbook in the art and poetical composition. This work is not only to the advantage of the reader but also constitute a legitimate act of homage to the first great rhetorician Bhamaha. It also includes a translation and notes of the original text.


GPUs have been shown to deliver impressive computing performance, while also providing high energy efficiency, across a wide range of high-performance and embedded system workloads. However, limited support for efficient communication and synchronization between the CPU and the GPU impacts our ability to fully exploit the benefits of heterogeneous systems. Recently, the Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) was introduced to address these issues with synchronization and communication, but given the low-level nature of HSA, it was not easily adopted by the broader programming community. In 2016, AMD described the Radeon Open Compute (ROC) platform that brings high-level programming frameworks such as OpenCL, HC++, and HIP to end users. These high-level programming frameworks offer a simpler programming experience by wrapping complex HSA APIs, while still delivering the power of HSA. To date, there has been little evaluation of the potential performance benefits and trade-offs of leveraging the ROC platform. In this work, we evaluate the performance of the ROC platform using the Hetero-Mark and DNNMark benchmark suites. Equipped with Hetero-Mark, we compare the performance of different programming frameworks, including OpenCL, HC++, and HIP on both integrated APUs and discrete GPUs. We also present three new CPU-GPU collaborative patterns and employ three new benchmarks to evaluate system-level atomics. With DNNMark and a new DNN Face Detection benchmark, we evaluate the performance of ROC libraries including rocBLAS and MIOpen. We also provide guidance on best practices to programmers when developing applications leveraging the ROC platform.


Abstract. HIRESSS (HIgh REsolution Slope Stability Simulator) is a physically based distributed slope stability simulator for analyzing shallow landslide triggering conditions in real time and on large areas using parallel computational techniques. The physical model proposed is composed of two parts: hydrological and geotechnical. The hydrological model receives the rainfall data as dynamical input and provides the pressure head as perturbation to the geotechnical stability model that computes the factor of safety (FS) in probabilistic terms. The hydrological model is based on an analytical solution of an approximated form of the Richards equation under the wet condition hypothesis and it is introduced as a modeled form of hydraulic diffusivity to improve the hydrological response. The geotechnical stability model is based on an infinite slope model that takes into account the unsaturated soil condition. During the slope stability analysis the proposed model takes into account the increase in strength and cohesion due to matric suction in unsaturated soil, where the pressure head is negative. Moreover, the soil mass variation on partially saturated soil caused by water infiltration is modeled. The model is then inserted into a Monte Carlo simulation, to manage the typical uncertainty in the values of the input geotechnical and hydrological parameters, which is a common weak point of deterministic models. The Monte Carlo simulation manages a probability distribution of input parameters providing results in terms of slope failure probability. The developed software uses the computational power offered by multicore and multiprocessor hardware, from modern workstations to supercomputing facilities (HPC), to achieve the simulation in reasonable runtimes, compatible with civil protection real time monitoring. A first test of HIRESSS in three different areas is presented to evaluate the reliability of the results and the runtime performance on large areas.


The business forecaster, either corporate or academic, is in a unique position to assist attorneys in providing economic damages. In some cases, business clients have suffered losses or experienced declines in revenues and profits. In other cases, clients are employees who have incurred damages because they can no longer work and receive salaries. Both instances represent scenarios where streams of either past or future income has been lessened or eliminated. To claim for such damages, the law requires that their magnitude be estimated as precisely as humanly possible. Forecasters can be of service for estimating the revenues that the client company or individual would have earned in the absence of the act which reduces the stream of income. (The act includes automobile accident, unfair trade practice, and illegal boycott). These estimates can be compared with the stream of income that the client actually earned, over the relevant time period. The difference between the two estimates, discounted for present value, measures monetary damages. Courts will accept well-fomlulated forecasts as evidence. Further, juries (or judges when juries are not used) will accept the forecasts as admissible indicators of damage. But, these acceptances cannot be guaranteed, even if the forecast is conducted scientifically. This paper provides guidelines for those who strive to be successful in court cases. GENERAL FORECASTING PROCEDURE Forecasters should provide documentation that they are qualified to act as expert witnesses. A succinct and comprehensive vita is a necessity for this purpose. The vita should document degrees held, academic experience, industry experience, court experience, and special capabilities, such as familiarity with the industry to which the court case applies. If, for instance, the case involves a textile producer, experience in this industry, or manufacturing in general, may be well received as evidence of expertise. Past experience as an expert witness, arbitrator, or mediator also is often well received, as this signals expertise in the legal arena. Generally, uncomplicated forecasting methods are preferable to those which are difficult to explain and cannot easily be grasped by the jury and judge. Included in the preferred methods are surveys, expert opinions, moving averages, and trends. It is important that the method(s) used have face validity. If the methods do not seem to be too logical or are too complicated to understand, juries and judges may be leery of them. The forecaster should carefully explain the methods used, in language that is meaningful to the judge and jury. As far as possible, lengthy tables, complex graphic material, formulas, and complex calculation should be avoided. It is tempting for someone who is academic to rely heavily upon transparencies for presentation. Often a better approach is to employ flip-charts--where the expert witness extemporaneously writes figures on a chart in a dramatic fashion, in order to induce an element of flair into the presentation. When possible, it is useful to employ multiple forecasting methods, using each one as a control over the others. This process helps to develop confidence in the forecasted figures. Time series estimates, for example, can be validated through the use of survey forecasts. If the estimates are reasonably similar, confidence in the time series estimates is enhanced. There are various practices which tend to enhance the courtroom behavior of the forecaster. Preparation and rehearsal are both must. It is necessary to be well-prepared for the testimony, so that the presentation can be made without relying on extensive notes. Reading text or notes can be boring and lead to inattention. Further, it can create the impression that the expert is not well prepared. Rather, an apparently extemporaneous mode is most impressive--even if it has been more or less completely memorized beforehand. …


The dramatic increase in married women's labor force participation has resulted in two-earner, husband-wife families outnumbering families in which the wife is not employed (Hayghe and Haugen 1987). In the past, wife's employment was viewed as secondary or intermittent but married women are now a significant and permanent part of the paid work force. Wives' employment frequently leads to more dependence on the marketplace for goods and services as wives' time for home work and leisure declines (Stroker 1977; Vickery 1979). Employed-wife families appear to substitute one-use goods and purchased services, e.g., meals away from ome and child care, for wives' home time (Bellante and Foster 1984), but appear to spend less on at least some durables when wives devote more time to paid labor due to complementarity with wives' home time (Bryant 1988). In addition, the number of family earners may affect child-adult income apportionments, as well as service flows from market purchases and real income (Lazear and Michael 1980; 1986). Clothing expenditures have been studied extensively, (1) but questions still exist about the impact of married women's employment on family members' clothing. Such information can be useful to producers and retailers in the textile and apparel industry. Heightened domestic and international competition has led the industry toward a strong marketing orientation, more dedicated to understanding and addressing consumer markets (Harding 1985) and thus to a need for more information about factors affecting expenditures. With rising labor force participation by married women, the industry has tended to focus on employed women themselves, often equating "working women" with career professionals, and giving limited attention to implications of their employment for other family members (McCall 1984; Retail Week 1978). Research on women's employment effects also can be useful to individuals who assist families with management and budgeting and to policy-makers interested in influencing household expenditures, as through incentives and transfer payments. The purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of wife's employment, unearned income, and implicit wage (imputed value of market time) on individual family members' and household per capita clothing expenditures. Data from the 1980-1981 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) are analyzed via tobit. PREVIOUS RESEARCH It is well established that wife's employment increases aggregate household clothing expenditures when controlling for income and other variables (Dardis, Derrick, and Lehfeld 1981; Frisbee 1985; Hafstrom and Dunsing 1965; Hager and Bryant 1977; Norum 1989; Vickery 1979). Dardis, Derrick, and Lehfeld (1981) and Hafstrom and Dunsing (1965) examined how family clothing expenditures vary by wife's employment status (working/not working). Frisbee (1985) and Vickery (1979) focused on wife's employment hours (full- or part-time), Norum (1989) her occupation (white- or blue-collar), and Hager and Bryant (1977) and Vickery (1979) her earnings. Frisbee (1985) found that two-earner families, with the spouse employed full- part-time, spend more on clothing than do one-earner families. Norum (1989) found higher clothing expenditures with white-collar wives than with nonemployed wives (in spring and winter quarters), but lower expenditures with blue-collar wives than with nonemployed wives in all quarters except winter. Hager and Bryant (1977) and Vickery (1979) found a higher marginal propensity to consume clothing out of wife's income than out of other income sources. Because clothing is one of the work-related expenses of women in the paid labor force, increased household expenditures for clothing sometimes are attributed to the wife's job-related wardrobe (Dardis, Derrick, and Lehfeld 1981; Vickery 1979). Drake, Ruffin, and Kocher (1983) and Nelson (1989) analyzed wife's employment effects on expenditures for the wife's clothing, work-related or not. …


The salinity of the ground water along the coastal aquifers of north Kelantan was investigated using both geophysical and hydrogeochemical methods. In the geophysical method, a geoelectrical sounding technique was employed using ABEM SAS 300C terrameter. A total of 53 sounding stations had been established and resistivity values of the ground water in different aquifers were determined. Salinity ofthe ground water was interpreted using a classification made by Flathe (1974). Based on this classification, ground water with resistivity values of less than 45 Ohm-m is considered as saline or brackish water and those of greater than 45 Ohm-m is fresh water. The results show that the ground water of the first top aquifer is fresh with resistivities ranging from 47 Ohm-m to 164 Ohm-m except in an area along the coast where the water is brackish. The ground water of the second aquifer generally has resistivity lower than 45 Ohm-m and has been classified as brackish water. Resistivity map of the second aquifer indicates that the brackish water covers an area of up to about 6 kilometres from the coastal line. Only few resistivity data were obtained for the third aquifer and values are generally low (ranging from 56 to 72 Ohm-m) indicating that the ground water is relatively fresh. Salinity of the groundwater in all of the aquifers was also studied by analysing their chloride content. Ground water with chloride concentration of less than 250 mg/l is classified as fresh water and those having higher concentration of chloride is considered brackish or saline. Results of the water analysis show that the chloride concentration of the first aquifer is low and averages to only 15.8 mg/l. The fresh water/ saline water interface in this aquifer is generally located directly in the coastal area, or very close to it. The concentration of chloride in the second aquifer is high with values ranging from 500 to 3,600 mg/l and covers an area of up to about 6 kilometres from the coast. Beyond this area, the concentration of chloride appears to be low, with values ranging from 2 to 110 mg/l. Continuous monitoring of its chloride content (Haryono, 1997) indicates'little changes with time inferring that the high salinity is not due to seasonal sea water intrusion. The analysis also reveals low concentrations of sulphate which suggest that the groundwater of the second aquifer may represent fossilised sea water. The chloride content in the third aquifer is generally low with values ranging from 2 to 210 mg/l and thus the ground water in this aquifer is considered fresh and good for domestic use.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the electronic medical databases used in antiretroviral therapy (ART) programmes in lower-income countries and assess the measures such programmes employ to maintain and improve data quality and reduce the loss of patients to follow-up.

METHODS
In 15 countries of Africa, South America and Asia, a survey was conducted from December 2006 to February 2007 on the use of electronic medical record systems in ART programmes. Patients enrolled in the sites at the time of the survey but not seen during the previous 12 months were considered lost to follow-up. The quality of the data was assessed by computing the percentage of missing key variables (age, sex, clinical stage of HIV infection, CD4+ lymphocyte count and year of ART initiation). Associations between site characteristics (such as number of staff members dedicated to data management), measures to reduce loss to follow-up (such as the presence of staff dedicated to tracing patients) and data quality and loss to follow-up were analysed using multivariate logit models.

FINDINGS
Twenty-one sites that together provided ART to 50 060 patients were included (median number of patients per site: 1000; interquartile range, IQR: 72-19 320). Eighteen sites (86%) used an electronic database for medical record-keeping; 15 (83%) such sites relied on software intended for personal or small business use. The median percentage of missing data for key variables per site was 10.9% (IQR: 2.0-18.9%) and declined with training in data management (odds ratio, OR: 0.58; 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.37-0.90) and weekly hours spent by a clerk on the database per 100 patients on ART (OR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.90-0.99). About 10 weekly hours per 100 patients on ART were required to reduce missing data for key variables to below 10%. The median percentage of patients lost to follow-up 1 year after starting ART was 8.5% (IQR: 4.2-19.7%). Strategies to reduce loss to follow-up included outreach teams, community-based organizations and checking death registry data. Implementation of all three strategies substantially reduced losses to follow-up (OR: 0.17; 95% CI: 0.15-0.20).

CONCLUSION
The quality of the data collected and the retention of patients in ART treatment programmes are unsatisfactory for many sites involved in the scale-up of ART in resource-limited settings, mainly because of insufficient staff trained to manage data and trace patients lost to follow-up.


Initiatives in electronic conveyancing and registration show the potential of new technologies to transform such systems, reducing costs and enhancing legal security. However, they also incur substantial risks of transferring costs and risks among registries, conveyancers and rightholders, instead of reducing them; entrenching the private interests of conveyancers, instead of increasing competition and disintermediating them; modifying the allocation of tasks in a way that leads in the long term to the debasement of registries of rights with indefeasible title into mere recordings of deeds; and empowering conveyancers instead of transactors and rightholders, which increases costs and reduces security. Fulfilling the promise of new technologies in both costs and security requires strengthening registries' incentives and empowering rightholders in their interaction with registries.


Abstract Aung et al. (2014, 2015) described the activation of kaolin samples to remove coloured pigments from rice-bran oil, the effects of various treatments on their decolourization capacity, and the characterization of these kaolin samples by physical methods. This research used a kaolin sample from Ranong in southern Thailand, and investigated the effects of grinding and heat treatment prior to acid activation of the mineral. The various activated mineral phases were then characterized by a combination of X-ray diffraction, Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence. This work represented an extension of research reported previously by Worasith et al. (2011a), in which various samples of the same Ranong kaolin were characterized after grinding and acid activation, and their capacities to decolourize rice-bran oil evaluated (Worasith et al., 2011b). However, despite the similarities in the experiments, there are some important differences in the results presented in these two sets of publications, which raise questions concerning the conduct of this type of research and the generality of any conclusions derived.


Modern workplaces must learn how to respond effectively to two trends which can cost employers billions of dollars each year in lost productivity: presenteeism and absenteeism. In 2010, the annual cost of presenteeism, $180 billion, surpassed the cost of absenteeism, $118 billion (Weaver, 2010). According to the American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language (2006), presenteeism is defined as "the practice of coming to work despite illness, injury, anxiety, etc., often resulting in reduced productivity". According to Dictionary.com Unabridged (n.d.), absenteeism is defined as "habitual failure to appear, especially for work or other regular duty". In the past, the main attributable factor for presenteeism and absenteeism was workers being sick; however, this research uncovered other underlying causes for this phenomenon. In addition, this research expanded the existing research and found other ways employees cost employers in lost productivity, one of which included conducting personal business during working hours. The research concluded, through the use of Chi-Square tests for independence, there was dependency between some of the variables.


Abstract. As the largest water conservancy project, Three Gorges Dam starts its impoundment in 2003 and henceforth the efficient operation of a multi-purpose dam has aroused a great concern on the effectiveness on flood control and water management over Yangtze River Basin. In this paper, we consider the relationship between rainfall from 136 weather stations and streamflow from 5 hydrological stations including Cuntan, Yichang, Luoshan, Hankou and Datong. Meanwhile, the spatial average rainfall over 21 subbasins was computed. The analysis of the correlation demonstrated that the correlation of spatial average rainfall and streamflow for each station is consistent with that between rainfall by stations and streamflow. Then, two options were selected to develop the linear models, including option a) using rainfall by stations to forecast streamflow and option b) using spatial average rainfall to forecast streamflow. The canonical correlation analysis enabled a large degree of spatially coherent information of rainfall by linear transforms to maximize the correlation of rainfall and streamflow for developing linear models. The model resulting from option b) best fits the observations. Coefficient of determination for each model and statistics such as reduction of error, coefficient of efficiency under cross validation serve as a test of good performance of the model. An analysis of streamflow characteristics across the stations illustrated that the streamflow of Cuntan and Yichang have different modes of variability from that of the rest stations below the dam. The comparison of risk type changes between observations and predictions during the post-dam period showed the dam effectively relieved the risk of upstream while not always played a positive role in risk mitigation of downstream. The spatial and temporal patterns of rainfall anomalies over the whole basin helps to explain how the dam impact the streamflow. Some applications as to possible operational strategies are discussed.


Objective: Perthes' disease is one of the most common pediatric surgical disease and affects children's health seriously. Pathogenesis of Perthes' disease is associated with pressure overload and inflammation. Puerarin was proved with promising efficacy on adult surgical disease. Our study is aimed explore effect of puerarin on cartilage injury of juvenile rat.
Methods: BALB/C rats were randomly assigned into three groups, including control group (A group), saline-treated group (B group) and puerarin-treated group (C group). Every group contains 10 rats. Saline and puerarin were treated with intragastric administration for B group and C group, respectively (2.18 g/kg, twice a day, 4 w). Cartilage injury of juvenile rat model was established with Hulth method for B group and C group. Pathologic change of articular cartilage was assessed for three groups. Cellular activity was examined with MTT assays. Apoptosis was assessed with flow cytometry.
Results: Intact and smooth structure integrity of chondrocyte was observed in control group. Compared with saline-treated group, cartilage injury in puerarin-treated group was significantly alleviated, including reduced surface rupture, intact cell structure and relieving inflammation (P<0.05). Puerarin treatment significantly reduced the percentage of apoptosis and enhanced cell activity of chondrocyte (P<0.05).
Conclusions: Puerarin promotes rehabilitation of cartilage injury in juvenile rat model. Potential mechanism was that puerarin inhibited apoptosis and enhanced cell activity of chondrocyte.


Although poverty rates have reduced during the last 15 years, Peru is still one of the countries in Latin America with the highest level of income inequality. Nearly one out of two Peruvians lives in poverty – three out of five in the case of children1 – and one out of five is extremely poor. Income inequalities and, more generally, inequalities in human development between urban and rural areas, between Spanish and non-Spanish speakers and across climatic zones are remarkable; most of the extreme poor live in rural areas in the highlands and in the rural jungle and have Quechua, Aymara and other languages, rather than Spanish, as native tongues. They have fewer opportunities to progress through life and, as one might expect, this matters a great deal in explaining differences in child development indicators. Within this context, the objective of this review is to describe the performance of key child development indicators in Peru between 1993 and 2005 and to link these esults with findings from the recent literature on childhood poverty. The focus is on quantitative studies. Three dimensions of child development are reviewed: health and nutrition, schooling and child work. These topics are essential to understanding the persistence of poverty and childhood poverty in Peru and, as such, remain at the core of the debate on poverty alleviation.


A gait model capable of generating human-like walking behavior at both the kinematic and the muscular level can be a very useful framework for developing control schemes for humanoids and wearable robots such as exoskeletons and prostheses. In this work we demonstrated the feasibility of using deep reinforcement learning based approach for neuromuscular gait modelling. A lower limb gait model consists of seven segments, fourteen degrees of freedom, and twenty two Hill-type muscles was built to capture human leg dynamics and the characteristics of muscle properties. We implemented the proximal policy optimization algorithm to learn the sensory-motor mappings (control policy) and generate human-like walking behavior for the model. Human motion capture data, muscle activation patterns and metabolic cost estimation were included in the reward function for training. The results show that the model can closely reproduce the human kinematics and ground reaction forces during walking. It is capable of generating human walking behavior in a speed range from 0.6 m/s to 1.2 m/s. It is also able to withstand unexpected hip torque perturbations during walking. We further explored the advantages of using the neuromuscular based model over the ideal joint torque based model. We observed that the neuromuscular model is more sample efficient compared to the torque model.


Implications of recently well-measured neutron star masses, particularly near and above 2 solar masses, for the equation of state (EOS) of neutron star matter are highlighted. Model-independent upper limits to thermodynamic properties in neutron stars, which only depend on the neutron star maximum mass, established from causality considerations are presented. The need for non-perturbative treatments of quark matter in neutron stars is stressed through studies of self-bound quark matter stars, and of nucleon-quark hybrid stars. The extent to which several well-measured masses and radii of individual neutron stars can establish a model-independent EOS through an inversion of the stellar structure equations is briefly discussed.


Between August 9 and September 19, 2009, Atkins conducted data recovery operations at the Hawkwind site (41HS915) under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 5356. Data recovery at the site was initiated as the location was subject to proposed highway improvements. The field effort included mechanical and manual unit excavation within a single 24-unit excavation block. Mechanical excavation was conducted with a Grade-All, and fill was passed through a motorized screening bucket affixed to a Bobcat Skid Steer Loader. Approximately 139 cubic meters (m3) of fill was removed in the excavation block during data recovery operations at site 41HS915. About 123 m3 of sediment was mechanically excavated, and 66 m3 of fill was mechanically screened. Sixteen cubic meters of sediment was manually excavated, and 12.50 m3 of sediment was screened by hand. The use of mechanical excavation equipment and motorized screen at Hawkwind was a strategy that was aimed at maximizing data return at a relatively low-density, poorly stratified archeological site while avoiding the cost and time-consumption associated with traditional excavation methods. Atkins archeologists collected over 3,800 artifacts during the data recovery effort at the site. This total includes 3,253 pieces of lithic manufacturing debris and 184 chipped stone tools. Included in the chipped stone tool total are 105 projectile points. In addition to 6 indeterminate dart points, the following types were identified: Catahoula arrow point (n = 1), Friley arrow point (n = 1), Ellis dart point (n = 3), Ensor dart point (n = 1), Gary dart point (n = 73), Godley dart point (n = 1), Morrill dart point (n = 1), and Yarbrough dart point (n = 18). One-hundred sixty-six ceramic artifacts were recovered from the Hawkwind site during data recovery. This assemblage consists of 157 prehistoric sherds, 7 burned clay fragments, and 2 modified raw clay fragments. The primary research objective of the ceramic analysis was to expand our knowledge of Woodland period ceramics in the Mill Creek culture area of east Texas and to assess how the ceramics from the Hawkwind site compare to other known sites in the Middle Sabine River basin. The study began with a detailed technological and decorative analysis of the ceramics recovered at the site. Next, employing the same suite of attributes used to characterize the Hawkwind ceramics, a sample of the ceramics recovered at the Resch site and the entire Folly site ceramic assemblage were reanalyzed, thus enabling comparability of the ceramic attributes associated with all three sites. These data, along with Perttula's (2001) detailed analysis of the ceramics from the Herman Ballew site, assured that the ceramic assemblages from four of the major middle Sabine River basin sites were examined in a similar manner, therefore enabling a more accurate comparative analysis of the ceramics recovered from each site. Sixteen radiocarbon dates were obtained from samples including carbonized material found on a thermally altered stone, 10 botanical specimens retrieved during screening at the site and from flotation, 4 samples of carbonized residue found adhering to pottery, and the bulk organics from one ceramic sherd. The 16 radiocarbon dates ranged from 1260 B.C. to A.D. 970; however, all but two align with Woodland period occupations at the site. In addition to radiocarbon dating, a number of special studies were performed, including macrobotanical analysis of plant remains from flotation samples, ceramic petrography, instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), microwear analysis of selected stone tools, and residue analysis.


We have mapped the CO(3{2) line emission from several nearby galaxies, using the Heinrich-Hertz- Telescope on Mt. Graham, Arizona. Unlike earlier observations, our investigation is not restricted to starburst galaxies, but includes twelve galaxies of various types and in dierent stages of star forming activity. Furthermore, we have not only observed the central positions of these objects, but have obtained maps of the extended CO(3{2) emission, with a typical map extent of 2 to 3 arcmin in each direction. Our observations show that this extended mapping is necessary to reveal spatial changes of the ISM properties within the galaxies. In this paper we present the data sets and some data analysis. We compare the galaxies in view of their morphology and excitation conditions, using line ratios, luminosities and other properties, like the extent of the CO(3{2) emission. The main results of this CO(3{2) survey are: 1. In none of the observed objects the emission is conned to the nucleus, as claimed in some earlier publications. CO(3{2) emission can be detected for some objects to the same extent as the CO(2{1) and the CO(1{0) lines. 2. The emission is more concentrated to the vicinity of star forming structures (nuclear regions and spiral arms) than the lower CO transitions for most of the observed objects. This is shown by decreasing (3{2)/(1{0) line intensity ratios from the very centres towards larger radii. The (deconvolved) sizes of the central emission peaks in the CO(3{2) line vary from about 300 pc up to 3 kpc. 3. The CO(3{2) luminosity is stronger in objects that contain a nuclear starburst or morphological peculiarities. The total power emitted in the CO(3{2) line from the central regions (i.e. excluding spiral arms/outer disk) is highest in the starburst galaxies NGC 2146, M 82, NGC 3628, and in the spiral galaxy M 51. When comparing the total power normalized to the size of the emission region, the starburst galaxies M 82 and NGC 253 show the highest values (about three times higher than most other objects), while NGC 278 and NGC 4631 show the lowest. 4. With the present spatial resolution, the line ratios R3;1 seem to be independent of Hubble type, color or luminosity. Most galaxies with enhanced central star formation (\starbursts") show line ratios of the integrated intensities of R3;1 1: 3i n the very centre and 1.0 at a radius of about 1 kpc. Objects with a ring-like (or double-peak if seen edge-on) molecular gas distribution (NGC 253, M 82, and NGC 4631) show lower ratios. The two galaxies that have CO(3{ 2) emission distributed over their spiral arms (NGC 891 and M 51) show very low line ratios despite their high infrared luminosities. This result suggests that CO emission in these objects reflects a large amount of molecular gas, but not enhanced star forming activity. 5. Starburst galaxies show CO(3{2) emission also in their disks. The line intensities are higher than that of normal galaxies. This suggests that even if a starburst is a localized phenomenon, it is related to dierent properties of the molecular gas over the whole galaxy.


The arrival and spread of emerald ash borer (EAB) across the western Great Lakes region has shifted considerable focus towards developing silvicultural strategies that minimize the impacts of this invasive insect on the structure and functioning of black ash (Fraxinus nigra) wetlands. Early experience with clearcutting in these forests highlighted the risks of losing ash to EAB from these ecosystems, with stands often retrogressing to marsh-like conditions with limited tree cover. Given these experiences and an urgency for increasing resilience to EAB, research efforts began in north-central Minnesota in 2009 followed by additional studies and trials in Michigan and Wisconsin to evaluate the potential for using regeneration harvests in conjunction with planting of replacement species to sustain forested wetland habitats after EAB infestations. Along with these more formal experiments, a number of field trials and demonstrations have been employed by managers across the region to determine effective ways for reducing the vulnerability of black ash forest types to EAB. This paper reviews the results from these recent experiences with managing black ash for resilience to EAB and describes the insights gained on the ecological functioning of these forests and the unique, foundational role played by black ash.


Stereo Image Processing as a part of three dimensional image processing become more and more important for industrial measuring, quality assurance and industrial automation. While classical image processing get it features from an image plane, additional information is obtained in direction of the optical axis. In comparison to active stereo methods, which need a projector or laser source and scanning device, passive stereo need at minimum two images from different perspectives. The paper starts with the basics of passive stereo, required optical setup and electronics. Some Information about the implementation of a stereo IP core in the used Xilinx SoC FPGA embedded system given. The program flow in ARM core and FPGA is illustrated. To get a high performance image processing system, the optimization of the parameters and the implementation settings on the used FPGA is very important. A comparison of several core parameter setups is done. Finally, some ways for further optimization with new hardware technologies are given.


On 20 August 1998, an undisclosed number of US Navy ships and submarines located in the Arabian and Red seas launched more than 79 cruise missiles in a simultaneous attack on alleged terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan. Afghanistan-bound missiles targeted the Zhawar Kili Al-Badr Camp, an alleged terrorist training facility located about 160 kilometers southeast of the country's capital, Kabul. The Sudanese target was a manufacturing facility suspected to be producing precursor chemicals for the nerve agent VX. The attacks were carried out as part of a US response to terrorist attacks against US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. According to press and government reports, the missiles hit their targets as planned and the US government subsequently deemed the attacks a success. Because the two operations were essentially attacks by a state against non-state actors, American officials betrayed some uneasiness when confronted with questions about official terrorist involvement by the governments of Sudan and Afghanistan. Moreover, US military officials broke with previous practice by refusing to disclose damage assessments out of fear that it would give vital information to interested terrorist organizations. In defense of the government's policy of operational secrecy, General Hugh Shelton noted that such an antiterrorist operation required "different techniques" because "we are in a different ball game today." [1] Although the US attacks in Afghanistan and Sudan were widely viewed as unequivocal responses to global terrorism, they were, in many respects, symbolic of a much larger trend: the emerging tendency of nation-states to turn to military forces to deal with post-Cold War era security threats that are transnational and not state-centered. Increasingly, governments are characterizing problems that were once considered law enforcement or public health problems as security challenges. Some examples of these emerging threats include international organized crime, terrorism, arms trafficking, pandemics, and international illegal migration flows. Unlike traditional state-centered security threats, these transnational threats often emerge slowly and their causes and effects are often not easily ascertained. As transnational security challenges continue to grow in severity around the world, military leaders and planners are facing the almost inevitable reality that armed forces will be deployed against them in the decades ahead. This trend is not occurring without controversy, however. Some military leaders strongly oppose the use of military forces in non-warfare operations for a variety of reasons, including fears that such missions detract from military training and readiness. Nevertheless, governments around the world are increasingly discovering that civilian agencies which would normally manage these problems--such as police, health, environment, or immigration ministries--simply cannot cope with the magnitude of the problems they are confronting. This trend implies a major change in how countries will likely deploy their armed forces in the decades ahead. More important, however, it suggests a fundamental new role for military forces in the 21st century. Transnational Security Issues: Defining the Threat Transnational security issues, as the name implies, are nonmilitary threats that cross borders and either threaten the political and social integrity of a nation or the health of that nation's inhabitants. Moreover, such issues might be deemed as threats that tend "to degrade the quality of life for the inhabitants of a state." [2] Typically transnational threats or challenges arrive in the host state because of their intrinsic nature (e.g., air pollution that crosses an international border due to prevailing winds) or because of porous borders resulting from government policies that reflect either an unwillingness or inability to restrict or regulate cross-border flows. …


In this paper we discuss the use of clustering techniques to enhance the user experience and thus the success of collaborative tagging services. We show that clustering techniques can improve the user experience of current tagging services. We first describe current limitations of tagging services, second, we give an overview of existing approaches. We then describe the algorithms we used for tag clustering and give experimental results. Finally, we explore the use of several techniques to identify semantically related tags.


In Bill C-51, the Canadian government wants to jail people who, by speaking, written, recording, gesturing or through other visible representations, knowingly advocate or promote the commission of terrorism offences in general, while aware of the possibility that the offences may be committed. This offence raises many serious issues, and should (at best) be considered extremely concerning. The scope of the new offence is not clear and the offence is sweeping in its criminalization of advocacy and promotion of "terrorism offences in general", because terrorism offences themselves are sweeping.We have serious doubts whether it is consistent with the Charter. We have no doubts that it is capable of chilling constitutionally-protected speech, and ultimately proving an offence that undermines more promising avenues of addressing terrorism.The backgrounder contains our full legal analysis.


Abstract Title: Client Information Needs of MFIs: A Case Study of ASA Bangladesh Author: Juber Ahmed Academic Advisor: Dr. Klaus Solberg Soilen Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology Course: Master Thesis in Business Administration Purpose: To enrich the knowledge base of client's needs of financial services and assessing the tools MFIs used to collect clients' information and how they utilized the information for developing new products and services or modifying existing products and services or their terms and conditions to meet the needs of financial services of their clientele. Also how MFIs organized and managed the information and how they categorized their clients using that information. Method: The investigation conducted from both a theoretical and an empirical point of view. The deductive approach used for the study and the case study method deployed. I studied ASA which is an MFI renowned in Bangladesh and beyond. At first, I had gone through a secondary research for collecting a number of successful methods and standard types of information used by successful MFIs from existing literature. In primary research, I interviewed 10 Managers (Assistant Directors) for ASA to determine which of the methods found in the literature were more effective for collecting clients' information for them and also asked them to add their ideas to the list. At last I asked interviewees to rate the methods and results presented in this paper. Theory: This study was an exploratory one where I discussed the related aspects for the study - Microfinance, Client Assessment, Clients of Microfinance, Information needs and Management Information System. Findings: The study showed that ASA utilized client information for developing their credit products and services and based on number of loans taken by the clients they categorized their clients and modified or developed new products and services for each category of clients. Although ASA executed several tools for collecting client information but the managers think that their staffs' collection of information from regular meeting with clients was more effective than others for modifying products' terms and conditions and modifying or developing new products and services to their women and small enterprise clients. The conducted study also revealed that in ASA impact study was necessary to know clients' overall level of satisfaction but management needed specific information on what aspects of ASA and its credit products and services clients preferred and did not prefer and the reasons of the preferences. Also they needed action plan to address clients' specific concerns, so they needed the information on a continual basis and they were successful to achieve this continuous flow of information. For ASA, the best way to get this type of information would be through client satisfaction Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), although they utilized several tools but not often as discussed in part 3 in chapter 5. ASA owned an MIS (AMMS) for monitoring and managing clients' information and they utilized this to categorize their clients based on the collected information about their number of loans. Conclusion: This study revealed that ASA served only women and small enterprise clientele that included the vulnerable non-poor and could contribute to the profitability of ASA. There was no attempt to diversify the products to include all poor that should be the goal of microfinance to alleviate poverty. Moreover client treated as individual client but the loans used to fulfill household or family needs of the clients. There were tools for collecting information on household about impact of credit programs participation but they took seldom effort for collecting information of the household money management or in other words how they utilized the loans for variety of household needs. There is lack of access to a variety of financial services for poor clients, even though MFIs are mostly serving vulnerable non-poor instead of taking consideration of all categories of poor. It revealed from the study that MFIs could gain long term success by serving specific market segment but it should not be only focus of MFIs, their initiative should be to include all poor in their clients profile with a priority to a specific market segment. This could help them to become sustainable and to minimize risks by spreading it in different market segments. The study found that ASA considered FGDs as an effective tool for collecting clients' information as their staffs and managers were familiar with this tool, moreover it was cost effective for them. It observed that they seldom followed Tool Selection Process and it was the top management that decided over the tools, the decision might influence by internal and external interest groups and the competition. MFIs should organize client information in a way so that they could be able to manipulate the specific client information to serve client better and to take effective decision, although it is imperative to argue that they may like to serve the wealthier clients. This research paper is also presenting some important findings from existing literature of microfinance and a number of recommendations based on the study experience and scholars opinions from existing microfinance study that may help MFIs to prepare themselves to adopt client-oriented approach by utilizing client assessment tools to fulfill the needs of financial services of their clients that may hopefully include all poor irrespective of their categories.


This document describes a method for controlling two specific types of
Ethernet switching via Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching
(GMPLS). This document supports the types of switching required to
implied by the Ethernet services that have been defined in the context
of the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) and International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) G.8011. Specifically, switching in support of Ethernet
private line service and Ethernet virtual private line service.
Support for MEF and ITU defined parameters are also covered. Some of
the extensions defined in this document are generic in nature and not
specific to Ethernet.


To the Editor: An outbreak of Cryptococcus gattii cryptococcosis has been ongoing in the US Pacific Northwest (PNW) since 1999 (1–3). In contrast to C. neoformans infections, which typically cause meningitis in HIV-infected persons, outbreak-associated C. gattii infections occur primarily in persons without HIV and often cause pneumonia (1–3). Sporadic, nonoutbreak-associated C. gattii infections often cause meningitis and have been reported outside the PNW (1–4). The prevalence of both types of C. gattii infection in the United States is unknown because diagnostic practices and awareness vary among physicians.

Some reports indicate that patients with C. gattii infections may respond to treatment more slowly and relapse more frequently than patients with C. neoformans infections and, thus, may require more aggressive clinical management (5–8). Therefore, differentiation of C. gattii from C. neoformans infections may be necessary for optimal patient management. However, cryptococcal infections are often diagnosed by antigen testing, which cannot distinguish between C. gattii and C. neoformans, and differential agar necessary to distinguish species in culture (9) is not uniformly used in clinical laboratories. In addition to possible missed diagnoses caused by the atypical manifestation of outbreak-associated C. gattii, outbreak-associated and sporadic C. gattii infections in the United States are likely being misdiagnosed as C. neoformans infections.

We conducted a survey of US infectious disease physicians to better understand the clinical approach to diagnosing cryptococcal infections, the relative regional frequency of C. gattii, and the capacity of clinical laboratories to differentiate cryptococcal species. To survey physicians, we used the Emerging Infections Network (EIN), a sentinel public health surveillance system of infectious disease clinicians that is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and sponsored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (10). During February–March 2011, web-based surveys were distributed by email or fax to the 1,342 EIN members, of whom 792 (59%) responded.

Analysis was restricted to 286 (36%) respondents (representing 43 states) who treated a cryptococcosis patient during the past year. We compared answers from respondents in the 4 US census regions (Table; Technical Appendix). Results were analyzed by using SAS version 9.2 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC).

Table

Physician responses, by US region, to a survey about cryptococcosis, February–March 2011*

The approximate number of reported physician consults for cryptococcosis was similar among respondents from all regions (Table). More respondents from the West (40%), compared with the South (21%), Midwest (22%), and Northeast (19%), reported that >25% of their cryptococcosis patients had pneumonia; this finding may reflect the higher prevalence of outbreak-associated C. gattii infections in the West (1–3). The percentage of respondents who treated cryptococcosis patients without known risk factors for infection (including HIV) during the past 5 years was also higher in the West (53%) compared with other regions (Table).

Most (93%) respondents reported that they were aware of the C. gattii outbreak. However, only 63% of respondents consider Cryptococcus species a factor of interest during diagnosis or treatment, and 54% would consider C. gattii as a differential diagnosis for pneumonia in a patient from the PNW. Although awareness of C. gattii appears high, recognition of infection may be delayed when diagnostic plans do not include species identification.

Of the respondents, 94% reported that they most often use the cryptococcal antigen test for diagnosis, although 73% of respondents report that they commonly request a culture. Furthermore, 76 (27%) of respondents report using a combination of tests (cryptococcal antigen, microscopy, histopathology) that does not include culture. Tests that do not differentiate between cryptococcal species represent missed opportunities for diagnosis of C. gattii infections. When respondents were asked if their clinical laboratory could differentiate C. neoformans from C. gattii isolates, 131 (46%) responded "yes, either routinely or when requested"; 68 (24%) responded "no"; 87 (30%) did not know. When we excluded respondents who did not know, only 66% of respondents from the West indicated that their laboratory could differentiate species. This finding is concerning because outbreak-associated C. gattii is clearly endemic to the region. A better understanding of which laboratories perform this service and which send specimens to a reference laboratory will help identify where additional capacity is needed.

A lower percentage of respondents from the Northeast (10%), Midwest (5%), and South (3%), compared with those from the West (44%), reported having ever consulted on a case of C. gattii infection. This may reflect a low incidence of C. gattii infections in these regions, or it may be a result of decreased clinical suspicion for C. gattii infections outside the PNW.

Results from this study suggest that although most EIN members are aware of C. gattii and the ongoing outbreak in the PNW, missed opportunities for diagnosis still exist. To understand the true incidence of C. gattii inside and outside the PNW, vigilance among physicians nationwide is necessary. Clinicians and laboratorians should be aware of the need to obtain specimens for culture and of the need to develop methods to differentiate cryptococcal species. An accurate diagnosis of cryptococcosis cases in the United States will lead to a better understanding of the epidemiology and incidence of C. gattii in this country and may result in improved treatment.


The boundary between economics and sociology is presently being redefined--but how, why, and by whom? Richard Swedberg answers these questions in this thought-provoking book of conversations with well-known economists and sociologists. Among the economists interviewed are Gary Becker, Amartya Sen, Kenneth Arrow, and Albert O. Hirschman; the sociologists include Daniel Bell, Harrison White, James Coleman, and Mark Granovetter. The picture that emerges is that economists and sociologists have paid little attention to each other during most of the twentieth century: social problems have been analyzed as if they had no economic dimension and economic problems as if they had no social dimension. Today, however, there is a dialogue between the two fields, as economists take on social topics and as sociologists become interested in rational choice and "new economic sociology." The interviewees describe how they came to challenge the present separation between economics and sociology, what they think of the various proposals to integrate the fields, and how they envision the future. The author summarizes the results of the conversations in the final chapter. The individual interviews also serve as superb introductions to the work of these scholars.


This paper investigates the association between goodwill impairment losses and proxies of economic impairment, earnings management incentives and corporate governance mechanisms. The results demonstrate significant associations between proxies of economic impairment and goodwill impairment losses, suggesting that impairment losses in goodwill to some extent reflect economic impairment. Some evidence, however, suggests that impairment losses are associated with earnings management incentives. Corporate governance mechanisms are not found to play a significant role in accounting for impairment losses in goodwill. The empirical results are based on observations from the 288 largest firms listed at the London Stock Exchange over the fiscal years 2005 to 2009.


Postures and muscle activity in the upper body were recorded from 50 academics office workers during 2 hours of normal work, categorised by observation into computer work (CW) and three non-computer (NC) tasks (NC seated work, NC standing/walking work and breaks). NC tasks differed significantly in exposures from CW, with standing/walking NC tasks representing the largest contrasts for most of the exposure variables. For the majority of workers, exposure variability was larger in their present job than in CW alone, as measured by the job variance ratio (JVR), i.e. the ratio between min–min variabilities in the job and in CW. Calculations of JVRs for simulated jobs containing different proportions of CW showed that variability could, indeed, be increased by redistributing available tasks, but that substantial increases could only be achieved by introducing more vigorous tasks in the job, in casu illustrated by cleaning. Practitioner Summary: Too little exposure variation is a general concern in computer-intensive office work. This study shows, using a novel metric, that available NC tasks can, indeed, increase variation compared to doing only CW, but also that a substantial increase in variation requires introducing more vigorous tasks such as cleaning.


In this paper, we investigate the threats and challenges when using untrusted network links
for communication with the connected car. A prototype system using the Diagnostics over IP
(DoIP) protocol has been implemented within our project. We highlight the DoIP security
challenges that we have identified. We further discuss how the environment appears to
attackers, which vulnerabilities can be exploited and what the possible consequences can
be. Possible countermeasures and security mechanisms are discussed to address these
threats and vulnerabilities.


Peyronie′s disease (PD) is an acquired fibrotic disease of the penile tunica albuginea accompanied by penile pain, curvature, erectile dysfunction, and psychosocial problems. Recent evidence suggests an increasing prevalence of PD with current uncertainty of its etiology and pathophysiology. According to the natural history of PD, the disease can be divided into acute phase and fibrotic phase that greatly determines the treatment plan. Oral, intralesional medication, and topical therapy are suitable for acute phase while surgical therapy is suggested only in fibrotic phase with the formation of stable plaques. Although a number of pharmacologic agents have been evaluated in preclinical and clinical studies, a few of them can be used in the clinic with satisfactory outcome. Recent studies showed promising results in improving symptoms and limiting disease progression, especially the only Food and Drug Administration-approved collagenase Clostridium histolyticum as well as some multimodal therapies. In this study, we reviewed currently available medications and focused on recent advances in PD pharmacotherapy. However, further high-quality studies are much needed to clarify the pathogenesis of PD and, more importantly, to find out effective and safe medicines for PD treatment.


In many African countries, children and young people have become critical stakeholders and advocates in achieving the 'child rights agenda'. In addition, the pervasiveness of social media and information technologies has expanded opportunities and platforms for digital activism by young people. Against this backdrop the paper explores the context, content and complexities of children and young people's advocacy in Africa. It describes the diverse advocacy interventions undertaken to promote their rights, including children's parliament, participation in national and international conferences, Voices of Youth, 'speaking to power' through performances and information campaigns for issue positioning. However, most of the approaches are still donor-driven, adult-initiated and patronising. Besides, the complexity of social change and policy influence and the limitations of digital media create considerable challenges in achieving expected advocacy outcomes by children and young people in society. Thus, the paper argues for a re-examination of existing participation and advocacy paradigms and practices in line with the complexities of development programming and Africa's social and political contexts. Strategies for addressing the weaknesses in children and young people's advocacy are outlined.


Arachis pintoi is the forage that has multiple functions like improving soil fertility, preventing soil erosion, as well as for feed and shade tolerance. A research has been conducted at Reasearch Institute of Animal Production for one year in order to study the effect of shading and cutting interval on forage production of Arachispintoi. The shade was made of paranet, Arachispintoi were planted using pols in pots with a diameter of 36 cm. Pots were placed on the artificial shade 2,5 x 2,5 m wich each side was covered with a shade appropriate treatment. Shade to the plant height of two meter. A factorial randomized block design was arranged with three replications, as the first factor was the intensity of shading which consists of: N0 = Control without shade, N1 = Shade using 1 layer paranet (50% shade), N2 = Shade using 2 layers of paranet (70% shade), N3 = Shade using 3 layers of paranet (80% shade), N4 = Shade using 4 layer paranet (90% shade), as a second factor was the cutting interval which consisted of: the interval 1 month, 2 months, 3 months and 4 months. The results showed that the level of shading and cutting interval effect highly significant (P <0.01) on forage production of freshand dry weight of Arachis pintoi. Until at the 50% shade level (N1) the production of forage Arachis pintoi did not significantly different compared to the production of forage Arachis without shade. While cutting interval of 3 month showed higher production when compared with Arachis production cut at intervals of 1, 2 and 4 months.